April 22, 2024

Today’s log is more of a brain dump than anything polished. I’ve got a ton on my mind as we move into an era where serverless functions and AI infrastructure seem to be at every turn.

The Meta Llama 3: A Cloud Architect’s Nightmare?

First up, the Meta Llama 3 news hit like a tsunami. It’s hard not to feel overwhelmed when you hear about a new generation of language models. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks wrangling with how to manage our infrastructure against such demands. We’re running a fair amount of chatbots and AI integrations, and adding Meta Llama 3 means rethinking a lot of our compute and storage plans.

The Man Who Killed Google Search? – A Cautionary Tale

The story about the supposed “man who killed” Google Search was interesting. I can’t help but think it’s a bit exaggerated, but there is truth in the narrative that platforms are ever-changing. It got me thinking: how much of our current tech stack will be obsolete by the time we need to upgrade again?

Equinox.space – A Space for Developers

Equinox.space caught my eye too. This new platform seems to offer some interesting developer tools and resources, but I’m not sure it’s quite ready for primetime yet. It’s still a bit green around the edges compared to what we’re used to.

Mario Meets Pareto: Efficiency Over Everything?

The “Mario meets Pareto” post was a good reminder of the Pareto Principle in action. In our engineering meetings, I’ve been arguing that 80% of the value comes from 20% of the features. It’s easy to get sidetracked with less impactful changes and lose sight of what truly matters.

Leaving Rust Gamedev After 3 Years

Leaving Rust gamedev after three years was a real eye-opener. I’ve spent some time looking at alternatives for our game development workloads, and it got me thinking about how the tooling landscape is evolving. Rust is fantastic for systems-level programming, but its ecosystem can be daunting.

The Hardest Problem in Computer Science: Centering Things

Speaking of challenges, centering things in CSS has always been a pain point. But I recently read a post on how this seemingly simple problem is actually incredibly complex. It made me realize that even the most basic UI issues can consume a lot of time and energy.

Obituary for a Quiet Life (2023)

The obituary for “a quiet life” was a poignant reminder of the human cost behind all our tech advancements. It got me reflecting on my own career journey, thinking about how much I’ve learned in 20+ years and what legacy I want to leave.

FinOps and Cloud Cost Pressure

FinOps is definitely top-of-mind as cloud cost pressures continue to rise. We’re in the middle of a big budget review, trying to find ways to optimize our expenses without sacrificing performance. It’s tough to balance innovation with financial constraints.

DORA Metrics and Staff+ Engineering Tracks

Lastly, DORA metrics are still something I wrestle with daily. They provide a great framework for continuous improvement, but it can be hard to track all the moving parts. The normalization of staff+ engineering tracks is also making its way into our org structure, which I’m excited about.

Wrapping Up

So there you have it—some random thoughts and reflections on this week’s tech landscape. It’s a mix of excitement and anxiety as we navigate through another wave of technological change. For now, I’ll keep pushing forward and hoping that every day brings us one step closer to making our infrastructure more resilient and efficient.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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