Platform Engineering Podcast

Testing smart TV applications presents unique challenges that traditional web testing approaches can't solve. Dave Lucia, CTO and co-founder of TV Labs, shares how his team built a platform that virtualizes televisions and set-top boxes to help media companies test their smart TV apps on physical devices.Learn about TV Labs' innovative architecture and how they handle everything from camera-based testing systems to their custom Lua-based DSL for faster test execution. A key highlight is how choosing Elixir as their primary technology has enabled TV Labs to build a robust orchestration system. The language's built-in capabilities for fault tolerance, process isolation, and distributed computing make it particularly well-suited for managing concurrent connections and real-time state across multiple devices.The discussion also explores practical insights about system architecture, including how TV Labs leverages Phoenix presence for real-time device state tracking and achieves microsecond-level performance for message broadcasting.Guest: Dave Lucia, CTO & Co-Founder at TV LabsDave is a technology leader with deep experience designing and scaling systems across industries including media, sports betting, finance, and developer tooling. He is a prominent member of the BEAM community, regularly speaking at conferences such as Code BEAM SF, ElixirConf, The Big Elixir, and RabbitMQ Summit.Dave Lucia, WebsiteDave Lucia, XDave Lucia. BlueskyTV LabsTV Labs, LinkedInLinks to interesting things from this episode:Appium“The Road to 2 Million Websocket Connections in Phoenix”“From $erverless to Elixir”eBPF

Why do 70% of organizations still struggle to adopt infrastructure as code? Sören Martius, CPO and co-founder of Terramate, joins Cory O'Daniel to tackle the challenges of modern infrastructure management and the delicate balance between vendor trust and lock-in.The conversation explores practical solutions for common infrastructure challenges, from managing monolithic state files to orchestrating complex deployments. Martius shares insights on: When to maintain a monolithic state file versus breaking it into smaller unitsHow infrastructure needs evolve as engineering teams grow beyond 100 peopleWhy anti-lock-in features build trust with operations teamsThe role of AI in detecting and remediating infrastructure misconfigurationsFor teams wrestling with infrastructure complexity or evaluating new tools, this discussion offers practical perspectives on building scalable, maintainable infrastructure while avoiding common pitfalls around vendor lock-in and team adoption.Guest:  Sören Martius, Founder at TerramateSören is an entrepreneur and technologist who loves building and delivering digital products and managing and scaling engineering teams for various kinds of businesses. His interests in technologies lie with DLT’s, Distributed Networks, Machine Learning, Microservices, Serverless Compute, Docker (and Kubernetes), AWS, Spark, Scala, Go, Elixir & OTP, Python, Rust, and Typescript among many others. Sören likes simplicity, pragmatism and common sense while bridging business, product and technology.Sören Martius, XTerramate, websiteTerramate, GitHubLinks to interesting things from this episode:TerragruntWizStakpakReclaim AIFyxerCursorWindsurf

Building infrastructure tooling doesn't require massive VC funding or a huge team - just ask Malcolm Matalka, co-founder of bootstrapped Terrateam. Malcolm shares his journey from real estate websites to investment banking to biotech, before landing in infrastructure automation.Learn how Terrateam takes a unique "libraries over frameworks" approach to development, prioritizing simplicity and control by carefully selecting dependencies and building critical components in-house. Malcolm explains how this philosophy leads to more maintainable code and better security outcomes.As an early participant in the OpenTofu fork, Malcolm provides insights into the community response and adoption challenges. He discusses how Terrateam helps teams streamline their infrastructure workflows by integrating directly with existing tools and processes rather than forcing new ones.For platform engineers looking to simplify their infrastructure management, Malcolm describes the ideal Terrateam user as someone who wants infrastructure changes to flow naturally through their existing development process without added complexity.Guest: Malcolm Matalka, Software Engineer, Co-Founder of TerrateamAs a co-founder at Terrateam, Malcolm enables teams to deliver infrastructure faster with their tools and services. They leverage Terraform and OpenTofu to automate, manage, and scale cloud infrastructure for developers and organizations.With over 20 years of experience in software engineering, he has a strong background in cloud computing, distributed systems, and infrastructure.Malcolm is also passionate about aerospace and bioinformatics, which led him to found Cosmo Labs AB and work as a software consultant at Abiogenesis Computer Systems Lab. At Cosmo Labs AB, they provided software solutions for satellite communication, orbital mechanics, and data analysis. At Abiogenesis Computer Systems Lab, they tackled bioinformatics challenges such as genome sequencing, protein structure prediction, and drug discovery. Prior to that, he worked for Spotify managing storage solutions at scale.Malcolm Matalka - RedditTerrateamTerrateam - LinkedInLinks to interesting things from this episode:ErlangRiakMnesiaOCamlPuppetTokio

Dave Williams, co-founder of Massdriver, shares his extensive experience in cloud engineering and interactive art. He challenges the limits of GitOps, suggesting it may hinder teams more than help. The discussion reveals innovative strategies for creating automated self-service platforms that enhance developer productivity without sacrificing security. Williams emphasizes the need for proactive compliance and tailored infrastructure approaches, making a strong case for evolving cloud operations to empower engineers and streamline workflows.

Feeling overwhelmed by the number of apps you need to manage while building developer trust, managing costs, and trying to create an extensible platform that teams actually want to use?Joel Vasallo shares practical insights from scaling TAG's platform engineering initiatives across multiple healthcare organizations. Learn how his team transformed deployment times from weeks to minutes while maintaining security and compliance. Joel breaks down the journey from initial Kubernetes adoption to managing 70+ applications. Listeners will gain actionable strategies for:Starting small with platform initiatives and building organic buy-inBalancing standardization with team autonomyManaging cloud costs across multiple organizationsBuilding trust through visibility and auditabilityWhether you're in healthcare or any regulated industry, this conversation provides a practical roadmap for evolving your platform engineering practice.Guest: Joel Vasallo, Senior Director of Platform Engineering at TAGJoel is the Senior Director of Platform Engineering at TAG - The Aspen Group where he leads teams focused on DevOps, SRE, and Delivery Engineering. Together, these teams aim to build and architect highly available cloud environments, develop infrastructure and development tools, and empower developers through fully automated deployment pipelines. In his spare time, he runs monthly meetups in Chicago through the Google Developers program. When he isn’t working, he loves exploring Sweet Home Chicago!Joel Vasallo - XJoel Vasallo - MediumThe Aspen Group (TAG)Links to interesting things from this episode:ArgoIstioSoloPrometheusKarpenter“From $erverless to Elixir”DuckbillCorey QuinnMalört

Navigating cloud migrations and building modern platforms is challenging in the best of circumstances. Alex Voorhees, VP of Cloud Engineering at 66 Degrees, shares valuable lessons from helping organizations as they take on these challenges.Don’t miss his insights on:How to tackle the human and organizational challenges that come with cloud transformationPractical strategies for upskilling teams transitioning from traditional ops to cloud operationsKey considerations when implementing platform engineering solutions across different organizational maturity levelsIntegrating AI capabilities into cloud architectureCommon pitfalls to avoid when moving legacy applications to the cloudApproaches for balancing innovation with practical business needs during cloud migrationWhether you're leading a cloud migration, building a platform team, or interested in the future of cloud operations, this episode offers concrete takeaways for navigating the technical and organizational challenges of modern infrastructure.Guest: Alex Voorhees, VP of Cloud Engineering at 66 DegreesAlex Voorhees is the Vice President of Cloud Engineering at 66degrees. Prior to joining 66degrees, he was the Vice President of Customer Engineering at Cloudbakers.Alex Voorhees - X66 Degrees - Website66 Degrees - XLinks to interesting things from this episode:BackstageSpaceliftJenkinsAnthropicInterview with Amey Patil from GoogleLattice

John Dietz, CEO and co-founder of Konstruct (formerly Kubefirst), joins us fresh from KubeCon North America to discuss the evolution of cloud-native platform adoption. John shares insights into Konstruct's mission to make Kubernetes and cloud-native technology more accessible, reducing the typical 18-month adoption timeline to minutes.The conversation explores Konstruct's two main products: Kubefirst, an open-source GitOps platform, and Colony, their new solution for bare metal and data center deployments. John discusses the company's philosophy on open-source licensing, the importance of building trust in platform engineering, and their unique approach to commercialization while maintaining core platform accessibility.Don’t miss our new segment: TrashOps!Guest: John Dietz, CEO and Co-founder of KonstructJohn Dietz is the friendly CEO and relentless technical cofounder driving Konstruct (formerly Kubefirst). John and his cofounder, Jared Edwards, embarked on the Kubefirst venture with humble beginnings, building the product off-hours while navigating a year-long stealth enterprise pilot before open sourcing the project onto the CNCF landscape. Kubefirst was acquired by Kubeshop in 2022, and then again by the Civo Cloud in 2024.John’s entrepreneurial spirit sparked at a young age. At 22 he bootstrapped his own software and services company, a role he dedicated 19 years to before founding Kubefirst. During that time he doubled as engineering leads in the DevOps space in numerous successful startup and enterprise environments, gaining expertise in high scale software delivery, site reliability, platform architecture, and cloud engineering. His pivotal role in transitioning USA Today to the public cloud atop a hybrid cloud abstraction layer showcased his ability as a software platform architect of the early enterprise public cloud adopter.John has been at the forefront of Kubernetes adoption since 2017 and has assisted hundreds of companies in their transition to cloud native architectures with the Kubefirst open source platform.John Dietz - XKonstruct - WebsiteKonstruct - GitHubLinks to interesting things from this episode:Civo CloudgroundcoverInfisicalFlatcarOpenTofuTinkerbell

Jessica Kalinowski, VP of DevOps and Corporate IT at Connect RN, shares her journey from corporate IT to implementing DevOps and platform engineering in a startup environment. Jessica discusses the challenges and successes of applying tech strategies in healthcare.The episode covers strategies for platform adoption, including early engineer engagement and flexible implementation. Jessica discusses how automation has enabled efficient management with a small team, benefiting the entire organization.Guest:  Jessica Kalinowski, Vice President of DevOps and Corporate IT at connectRNVice President of DevOps and Corp IT with 15+ years’ experience in IT as well as a proven ability to promote and champion best-in-class cloud migrations. Expertise in leading and managing transformational/ cultural change comprehensively throughout multinational organizations. Strength areas include strategic thinking and IT/ cloud thought leadership, adaptability and resiliency, complex problem-solving, and optimal solution identification through collaboration and partnership. De-centralized leadership style with emphasis on building strong, self-sufficient teams.connectRNLinks to interesting things from this episode:Office SpaceFoundations of the Cloud With Mark Burgess, CFEngineFoundations of The Cloud With Adam Jacob, ChefFoundations of The Cloud With Mitchell Hashimoto, TerraformFoundations of The Cloud With Brian Grant, Kubernetes

In this episode, Solomon Hykes discusses the journey from Docker's inception to its widespread adoption, the challenges faced in open-source development, and his current work with Dagger. He explains how Dagger aims to revolutionize continuous integration by making pipelines more modular and efficient, addressing the "push and pray" problem in software development. Hykes also shares insights on the evolution of DevOps, the complexities of open-source business models, and his vision for the future of software development workflows.Guest: Solomon Hykes, Co-founder of Docker and DaggerSolomon Hykes is the co-founder and CEO of Dagger.io, the first programmable CI/CD engine. Before that, he was the co-founder of Docker, where he served for 10 years as CEO then CTO, and a founding member of the CNCF Technical Oversight Committee. Solomon grew up in France, and now lives in San Francisco.Solomon Hykes - TwitterDockerDagger.ioDagger - DiscordDagger - YouTube“The Future of Linux Containers”Links to interesting things from this episode:FirecrackerCloudflareFastlyWebAssemblyHerokuVercelNetlifyAnsibleBazelNixJenkinsHaskellPre-commitKubesimplifyDagger Workshop with Solomon Hykes: Hands-On Tutorial & Community Collaboration

In this episode of the Platform Engineering Podcast, Cory O'Daniel sits down with Justin Berman, Vice President of Platform Engineering and Chief Information Security Officer at Thirty Madison. Justin shares his journey from software engineering to security leadership, discusses the challenges of building secure and scalable platforms, and offers insights into the future of platform engineering and security integration.Guest: Justin Berman, VP of Platform Engineering and Chief Information Security Officer at Thirty MadisonJustin Berman is the VP of Platform Engineering and Chief Information Security Officer at Thirty Madison. Prior he was Head of Security at Dropbox, responsible for Dropbox’s information/cyber security, content safety, and platform abuse prevention capabilities, which provide unmatched protections to their users, staff and products. In this role, Justin and his team ensured that Dropbox enables storing, sharing and collaborating on various kinds of content in a trustworthy and secure manner, for all their customers worldwide, from large enterprise Dropbox business accounts to individual consumers. Prior to Dropbox, Justin was the CISO at Zenefits, where he was responsible for scaling the security and IT capabilities and developing the privacy and risk/compliance capabilities.Thirty MadisonLinks to interesting things from this episode:DatadogSplunkFoundations of The Cloud With Mitchell Hashimoto, TerraformFoundations of The Cloud With Brian Grant, KubernetesFoundations of The Cloud With Adam Jacob, ChefFrom Netflix to the Cloud: Adrian Cockroft on DevOps, Microservices, and Sustainability