Title: Notes from a Stormy November

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November 28th, 2022 feels like an interesting day to reflect. The AI/LLM wave is still rolling, but the tech world seems more contemplative than before. Looming layoffs and the inevitable changes in how big tech companies operate are on everyone’s mind, especially as developers and engineers.

Reflecting on the Past Month

This month started with a bang—really, it felt like an earthquake. Meta’s massive layoffs shook up not just the social media space but all of us in tech. The news was sobering; it hit close to home. We’ve been seeing signs for a while now that the party can’t go on forever, and here we are.

Another event that caught my eye was the accidental bypass of Google’s Pixel lock screen. It’s always interesting when you see the intricate layers of security fail in such public and unexpected ways. These incidents remind us that no matter how robust our systems are, human error or oversight can still introduce vulnerabilities.

Debugging with WebAssembly

On a more technical note, I spent some time this month digging into a performance issue with WebAssembly (Wasm). We were running a Wasm module in one of our microservices and noticed it was slower than expected. After hours of tracing the code and profiling the runtime, we found that there was an unnecessary blocking operation causing delays.

The solution? A simple change to how we handled asynchronous operations within Wasm. Once fixed, the performance improvement was noticeable. This experience reinforced my belief in the power of Wasm but also highlighted its limitations when it comes to handling certain concurrency patterns.

Platform Engineering and FinOps

Platform engineering continues to be a buzzword, with teams across the board clamoring for better tooling and processes. In our organization, we’re still navigating how to define roles and responsibilities around platform engineering versus traditional dev ops. The idea of FinOps is gaining traction as well—managing costs in cloud environments is no longer an afterthought.

One project I worked on involved optimizing cloud spending by identifying underutilized resources and consolidating redundant services. Using tools like Cloud Custodian, we were able to automate some of these tasks, which was a significant win for our FinOps efforts.

Learning and Growing

This month also brought me face-to-face with the reality that learning never stops in tech. I’ve been diving into new areas like DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics, which are increasingly being used to measure development team performance. The idea of adopting these metrics makes sense—quantifying our workflows can help us identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement.

I had a heated discussion with a colleague about the merits of using Jira for tracking work vs. more lightweight tools like Trello or even just a simple markdown file. While the traditionalists argued for Jira’s granular control, I’m starting to lean towards simpler approaches that don’t create unnecessary overhead.

Personal Thoughts

Reflecting on this month, it feels like we’re in a period of transition. Big changes are happening, and while some may seem scary or overwhelming, there’s also an opportunity to shape the future of tech in positive ways. As engineers, we need to be adaptable, continuously learning, and finding new ways to leverage technology for good.

I’m looking forward to what December brings and how it might shape our industry further. Here’s to a productive (if not always easy) year ahead!

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That’s my take on November 2022. Let me know if you need anything more!