As the autumn season begins, we enter a time of change and vibrant colors. In the world of cloud native technology, this season is filled with opportunities for growth and innovation. Our September edition embodies this spirit of renewal and progress, offering carefully selected insights and developments that promise to enhance your journey into the cloud native landscape. Each article leafs you better off, providing the chance to explore topics like the transformative power of reading or delve deep into the technical intricacies of OpenTelemetry and Kubernetes. Have a nice read, I hope you fall in love with all these new developments in the CNCF ecosystem!

Interested in submitting content to the newsletter? Send it to us at wotc@cncf.io

These 38 reading rules changed my life

Discover the 38 reading rules that transformed Ryan Holiday's life as a "professional reader" and prolific author. Dive deep into his strategies that enhance the reading experience and foster a richer understanding and appreciation for books.

On sizing your engineering organizations

Dive into the intricacies of scaling engineering organizations with Kellan Elliott-McCrea as he shares his seasoned insights on the pivotal role of team size in achieving your top priorities. 

How to write an effective progress report 

Unlock the secrets to crafting progress reports that keep stakeholders informed, build trust, and foster a collaborative and positive environment in your project team.

Be recognized at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA Chicago 2023 with the CNCF Top End User Award

It’s time to step into the limelight and get the recognition you deserve! The Cloud Native Computing Foundation is inviting nominations for the prestigious 2023 KubeCon NA End User Award.

CNCF ECOSYSTEM PULSE: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Launching the new CNCF End User Technical Advisory Board: Amplifying end user voices
Read about the movement to amplify CNCF end user voices in the cloud-native ecosystem with the newly forming CNCF End User Technical Advisory Board (TAB).

Added flexibility and better performance are driving new use cases for WebAssembly 

Check out the evolving landscape of WebAssembly (Wasm) as it breaks free from its initial role in web application development to forge paths in data visualization, IoT, AI, and more, creating a booming $59.4B economic value.

Argo rollouts 1.6 release

Learn about the exciting new features such as support for multiple ALB ingresses, self-service notification configurations, a refreshed dashboard UI, and the introduction of release attestations at SLSA Level 3, enhancing the security and functionality of your Argo Rollouts experience.

Kubernetes 1.28: What's new?

Understand the significance and impact of Kubernetes’s latest features, including CEL-based admission policies, improved handling of secret-based service account tokens, and advancements in container image signature handling, all designed to foster a more secure, efficient, and resilient Kubernetes environment.

CNCF Microsurvey: Training helps developer careers and pay, but lack of time and cost hinder efforts

Read about the pivotal role of training and certifications in advancing developer careers, as revealed in the recent CNCF microsurvey, which highlights the tangible benefits, such as higher pay and increased work engagement, while shedding light on the barriers like time and cost constraints.

Navigating success: the power of roadmaps in open source projects

Embark on a journey with Riaan Kleinhans of the TAG Contributor Strategy as he draws parallels between a remarkable road trip across Europe and the challenges open source contributors face navigating complex projects without clear guidance.

A practical guide to data collection with OpenTelemetry and Prometheus

Goutham Veeramachaneni of Grafana Labs shares expert tips and best practices, from full metric normalization to understanding naming conventions and leveraging semantic patterns.

Introduction: what is container runtime security?
Understand the criticality of this stage in the container lifecycle, the working of container runtime security, and the various tools available to ensure real-time, automated protection measures, fostering a resilient and secure DevOps environment.

TECH DIVE: IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL ARTICLES

OpenTelemetry in 2023 

Join Kevin Lin as he takes you on a journey through the evolution and current state of OpenTelemetry (OTEL). This project has become the second most active in the CNCF, offering a stable standard for the three pillars of observability: metrics, logs, and traces.

Some practical, non-obvious Postgres patterns

Tips such as defining explicit ON DELETE semantics, utilizing the citext extension for email addresses, and creating mutually exclusive columns through constraints, provide you with the tools to enhance your Postgres proficiency and foster a more robust and efficient database environment.

Long live the test pyramid

Revisit the relevance of the "Test Pyramid" in today's fast-paced software development landscape with Ramona Schwering as she explores contemporary testing strategies that prioritize user perspective and maintain a favorable cost-benefit ratio.

Good performance is not just big O

Julio Merino challenges the overemphasis on big O complexity in tech interviews. He highlights the myriad other factors that can affect app performance and responsiveness, from understanding different memory/storage mediums and their access times to optimizing database queries and being aware of the nuances in handling network latency.

Tumblr shares database migration strategy with 60+ billion rows

The intricate database migration strategy employed by Tumblr, a platform housing over 60+ billion relational rows in a MySQL database, as they share their journey of migrating database leaders between data centers without compromising user experience.

I wrote a string type

"Yarn," a highly optimized string type that promises efficiency and flexibility in memory management, as it navigates the delicate balance between memory and cycle-count performance; delve into its unique properties and the clever layout-hacking that powers it in this detailed breakdown.

Aging code

Vadim Kravcenko's contemplative piece on the merits of aging code draws parallels between the wisdom accrued in fine wine and mature codebases over time. 

How Instagram scaled to 14 million users with only 3 engineers

The remarkable journey of Instagram as it scaled to 14 million users with just three engineers, leveraging fundamental principles and a robust tech stack that included AWS, Django, and Python, among others.

BEHIND THE SCENES: PROCESS AND PEOPLE NEWS

Growth in a downturn

Build a work-back plan with your manager, focusing on increasing your impact and building a robust body of proof of your competencies, preparing you to seize opportunities when they arise, and positioning you as a safe bet for future promotions, armed with greater context and domain knowledge.

The journey to Staff Engineer: Main takeaways

Five seasoned Staff Engineers share their paths to reaching the pivotal Staff Engineer level at big tech companies. They offer a treasure trove of advice, from making your work visible and building robust relationships to leading high-impact technical projects and understanding the business perspective.

The two healthbar theory of burnout

Understand how the outer bar can heal with positive experiences. In contrast, the core bar represents a deeper, more permanent level of burnout that is much harder to recover from, offering a nuanced perspective on the signs of deep burnout and the critical need for proactive prevention strategies, including envisioning a fulfilling path forward and nurturing long-term relationships, to foster a healthier work environment and a more satisfying career trajectory.

The silent killer of your operating practice: Fear
Navigate the fears that can derail your company's strategic planning sessions with Amanda Schwartz Ramirez, a seasoned COO advisor for tech startups and former PayPal strategy leader, as she shares tactical advice to sidestep the five most common fears in the workplace, fostering an environment conducive to collaboration and success. 

Better teams, better products
Join Shreyas Doshi, a product management expert with a rich history of leading successful products at Stripe, Twitter, Google, and Yahoo, in a deep dive into the symbiotic relationship between building robust teams and superior products in the latest episode of The Knowledge Project Podcast.

The ultimate guide to developer counter-productivity
A deep dive into Developer Counter-Productivity with John Cutler as he sheds light on how developers engage in low or negative-leverage activities, often due to factors beyond their control.

7 simple habits of the top 1% of engineers
Learn the habits that distinguish the top 1% of engineers in the tech industry as the Engineer's Codex shares insights gleaned from working with phenomenal engineers at large companies and startups. 

Currencies (on motivating different people)

Ed Batista's comprehensive exploration of the nuanced world of employee motivation, the works of Frederick Herzberg, and the insightful concepts introduced by Allan Cohen and David Bradford offer leaders a rich inventory of "currencies" — intrinsic and extrinsic motivators that can foster both movement and true motivation in the workplace.

FOLLOW US