Jeffery Hoffman

"No More Blue Fridays" and eBPF, it's just a one-minute reading: https://lnkd.in/gAAmNU4D if you haven't seen it. That's precisely what I speculatively said to my colleagues, without even reading anything about it, answering their question about how that could happen: "BlueFriday was most likely triggered by the ring0 kernel driver accessing the invalid memory. It's hard to say without knowing details, but Ring0 could be the only way on Windows to access a particular functionality, like Network Stack." Undoubtedly, eBPF is a great tech, but is it a silver bullet? Can it replace Ring0 or kernel drivers? I do not think so. It's excellent for its niche, but is it safe? No. Is it safer than kernel drivers? Yes, it is way safer (as well as any other indirection layer that provides an infiltrated interface).

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I've spent the past 12 years helping orgs move from a dev-ops team to a dev-ops mentality. One thing I've refined and learned with others along the way is the concept of a "Dev Ops Contract". It's a concept so simple, it's often overlooked, but some powerful benefits are: - Clear understanding of what software requires to be operational - Reduced complexity in runner configs (github actions, AWS codebuild, etc...) - Developer autonomy - Parity with local and remote task execution And more if you're interested: https://lnkd.in/gyRmQPq9 Is anyone else out there decoupling their CICD from their services in a similar way?

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Developer downtime: don’t overwork your devs. It’s memorial weekend and I’m lazily sitting on my porch. My kids keep coming in and out of the house, but get stuck because the sliding door keeps coming off the rails and won’t open. Well, since I’ve got nothing else scheduled for the afternoon I investigate the issue. Turns out sliding doors have a bunch of adjustment screws. I adjust them till the door slides smooth. Left in the broken state my kids learned to hit top left side of the door before opening it. Bringing this back to work, I know customer success teams that have a cheat sheet of these maneuvers. Give devs space to observe, we naturally fix these issues.

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Building off of yesterday's fictional book announcement (https://lnkd.in/gBAU8nyZ) Here's the next book in the Nate Taylor Management Series.

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Interesting perspective shared by Kent Beck on the importance of refactoring: "Why refactor? Because I accept an ethical obligation to my teammates to not unnecessarily complicate their future work." Check out the full thread here: https://lnkd.in/gvKTm_cv.

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Is this valid TypeScript? Why or why not? I 💖 type safety. I recently gave an engineering talk on it at Stay AI and this line of code helps explains the differences between values and types in TypeScript quite succinctly.

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✨ Dask.Dataframe support is kicking off in Narwhals! 🤗 Narwhals is a completely independent community-owned project 🎁 See here for how you (yes, you!) can contribute to the Dask backend: https://lnkd.in/eYDQfdad 🕊 Narwhals is an extremely lightweight compatibility layer between Polars, pandas, Modin, cuDF, and PyArrow - and if we complete this issue, it'll also be a zero-cost-abstraction on top of Dask Dataframe! 📖 Read the docs: https://lnkd.in/gubwy5Yh ⭐ Github: https://lnkd.in/eCfkUA5E

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Jr. Devs, You need to start thinking outside the box when it comes to your career. I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and they were telling me about a small business their children (12 and under) had started. I won’t reveal what it is to protect their small advantage. :) But basically, it's providing a simple service that takes very little time for very little cost. It's offering a convenience. Anyway, as he was telling me about it, it was so simple, so obvious, but something I would have never thought of on my own. I’m not really an idea person. I need something to start with, a clear problem to solve. I often need a pre-defined path to follow. Many Jr. Devs need to be less like me, trying to follow the pre-defined path, and more like my friend, looking for things other people might be missing, opportunities no one may notice. Think about ways you could implement what you are learning to help individuals, small businesses, local governments… virtually anyone; to fix a problem, meet a need, or simply make someone’s life easier in areas they may not have thought of themselves. The traditional route into development is clogged right now, so perhaps it’s time to look around and see opportunities from a different perspective. Find a non-traditional route to begin using your skills in a career that might look a little different from everyone else. Who knows, you just might stumble on the next Uber or Airbnb or maybe you just build a great list of clients who need simple work from a trustworthy developer. Take a fresh look at the problem and find a creative solution. #juniordeveloper #mentoring

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Along with general engineering and architecture efforts, I've spent the past 12 years helping orgs move from a dev-ops team to a dev-ops mentality. One thing I've refined and learned from+with others along the way is the concept of a "Dev Ops Contract". It's a concept so simple, it's often overlooked, but some powerful benefits are: - Clear understanding of what software requires to be operational - Reduced complexity in runner configs (github actions, AWS codebuild, etc...) - Developer autonomy - Parity with local and remote task execution Read about additional gains here: https://lnkd.in/gMNbtcP3 Is anyone else out there decoupling their CICD from their services in a similar way?

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I deeply appreciate those who make learning approachable. The willingness to share knowledge is one of the things I love about the #RubyOnRails community. I saw Collin Jilbert present at RailsConf and loved his presentation. If you get a chance, check out his podcast where he shares some of his and Chris's experiences. https://lnkd.in/gfReKa2k #RailsConf #ROR #Ruby #LearningCommunity #TechTalks #PodcastRecommendations #DevCommunity

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The number of characters that need to change to fix a bug is inversely proportional to the amount of time it takes to find the bug.

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We are (at least some of us) being dishonest, or at least negligent. "Hallucinations" from AI.... Seems to me we are either passing the buck, being lazy, or just... well... being dishonest. So AI gives us some information: * We don't review: then being lazy or negligent. * We do review, and kind of ignore, well... being dishonest. With all the breakouts about AI "they took our jobs!!! (Southpark reference - https://lnkd.in/gV-aJuDd)".... Maybe they will one day. But today, they are incompetent at least 10% of the time.... The responsible thing to do is review and consider before we use....

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"But we'll have to rewrite/rebuild/redo it" "We don't want to do it twice" "It's just throwaway so it's a waste of time" Yea? So what? How do you know? You haven't built anything yet. Building things that don't exist yet, have zero 1:1 example, existing outside the realm of certain are ...messy. Not only are they messy, but it is also the definition of uncertain which scares the hell out of most people. When I hear concerns (fear) around not being perfect, I defer back to action, trying something, doing something, other than sitting around to talk about it. Why? 2 reasons. 1. I may not ever have to do it again because it might be good enough, and that buys me time to do other things. 2. If I need to build it again, I will have way more insight, skill, learnings and experience than I do right now to build something significantly better than I do right now. Maybe, just maybe ...it's ok to do it "wrong" the first time. https://lnkd.in/gg-F-mRA

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"The core art of Operations Management is observing the messy, human chaos of business and applying order to it." The Operator's handbook is a great guide to the various operations disciplines like #businessoperations or #bizops, #revenueoperations or #revops, #financialops or #finops,#legalops, #marketingops, #peopleops and #productoperations / #productops that have emerged as a result of shift from hardware to software-based value creation (see my previous post too --> https://lnkd.in/gwNWwkNh?). Great introduction, though I find it lacking as it did not include factory operations, supply chain, store operations that rely far more on offline-online interfaces. For any operator out there, process, analytics, metrics, cadence, solutioning and execution are the key concepts to apply.

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I recently facilitated a workshop where a classic "know-it-all" senior developer reluctantly participated. The goal of the day-long Kata Culture Intro workshop was to guide teams in discovering the benefits of TDD and Pairing through a hands-on, Coyote Teaching style collaborative approach. Predictably, this developer voiced common objections throughout the day to TDD, claiming it was unsuitable for complex problems, start-up environments, fast-paced projects, and his personal coding style. My responses aimed to address his misconceptions: Complex problems: I highlighted how TDD excels in these scenarios, actually streamlining the development and discovery process saving valuable time. Start-ups/fast-paced environments: I shared a relevant anecdote from our time at Premera, where we rapidly delivered 13 functional prototypes (these were more than just prototypes) while simultaneously learning Azure. Jim Speaker remember that? Personal coding style: By the end of the day, the developer surprised me by acknowledging, "I had the wrong idea about TDD. Seeing it in action, I realize it could be a huge time-saver for us." While I'm constantly seeking out new methodologies, TDD still remains the most effective tool I've found. When combined with pairing or ensemble programming, its impact on software development is undeniable. TDD is easy to gain awareness of, deceptively challenging to gain proficiency with, and very rewarding/timesaving to have gained fluency with. #TDD #TestDrivenDevelopment #SoftwareDevelopment #Programming #Coding #Agile #ExtremeProgramming #Pairing #EnsembleProgramming

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Not specific to coding screens so forgive me for going off-track but I feel like there can be a "you won't always have a calculator" discussion that might be interesting. In regards to open-book or closed-book, it is difficult to remember everything so referencing something you might have forgotten isn't uncommon but there is a distinct difference between refreshing your memory and searching for a solution. However, being able to research effectively is also a great skill. With access to this information so readily available and the growing popularity of AI, I can definitely see engineers trending toward having less technical fundamentals and critical thinking in favor of yielding quick results. Is it efficiency or laziness? Will it be damaging? I'm curious how it will affect the industry.

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I'm fast approaching my #opensource sweet 16. 16 years doing work under permissive license, where everyone can see your faults. To me, getting started the biggest hurdle was that I could do anything. People are so much better than me at everything. I feel like an idiot (because I put myself lower than others). I just am happy someone responds. When they ask me to create code, I feel like the war boy in mad max, like a god just looked at me, shiny and chromed. Then, reality. These are real humans, often borrowing time. You are actually helping, but also codependent. Maybe you feel you aren't pulling you weight, there's still an imposter syndrome but you know with enough work you can at least "cover your costs". You don't pay much attention to the time spent, maybe you should have. Then, leading. Wow people are great and weird and difficult. Sometimes your entire day has nothing to do with lines of code, and you try to figure out how to make your way through it all. Perhaps like me, you optimize for users or folks who are more reliable. You make choices, none are great, but the energy is rewarding as are the accomplishments. You feel a higher sense of duty and maybe debt. Then, community. No project is an island, and users are not sufficient to achieve a goal. You also recognize not everyone cares about your project, but maybe they care about open source in general, or the language, or just friendship, it doesn't matter. You still do the work on code, you must, and all the drama, but you also spend time to make sure what you do has impact. Also you want advice from other people through all these things. Maybe, burnout happens next ;) In my case, several times or stopping or whatever. You have the shame you feel, like you should be superhuman and just take whatever because you started something. Life happens, you realize there are constraints, choices, there's no easy decision. If you feel up to it you get a second, third or fourth wind. You keep your optimism despite the reasons to be careful. You try again, re-engage, give it your all, but not 100pct of your all. You learned that doesn't work, so you try to learn what can work. You still want the ideals to occur but ack life is complicated, for you and everyone else. You do your best, you try to keep real while incentivizing folks into a start you had 16 years ago, or a maturity you saw in the past or wish you had. That's where I'm at! I hope the story is interesting

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