Screaming in the Cloud Build vs Buy: The Hidden Costs of “Just Building It” with Ahmed Bebars
11 snips
Apr 2, 2026 Ahmed Bebars, principal engineer and cloud-native advocate at The New York Times, and noted AWS/CNCF community figure. He debates build vs buy trade-offs, Kubernetes complexity, and when managed services beat DIY. They also cover home lab pitfalls, testing strategies, and how scope and hiring shape long-term infrastructure decisions.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
How Public Speaking Started From Imposter Feelings
- Ahmed Bebars began public speaking in 2019 after realizing people found his practical experiences valuable.
- Early talks showed him that what feels obvious to you is new to many, which led to community contributions and ambassador roles.
Community Feedback Turns Assumptions Into Learning
- Honest community feedback surface gaps you didn't know existed and drives deeper investigation.
- Ahmed often followed audience corrections into new experiments that expanded his technical understanding and talks.
Don't Adopt Kubernetes Blindly At Small Companies
- Avoid adopting Kubernetes at small company scale without clear need; it adds operational complexity.
- Ahmed: if you use containers, evaluate criteria and fit rather than defaulting to Kubernetes because it’s fashionable.