Mine’s going through its greatest era. (And no, there’s nothing secret or security-compromising on my laptop screen in these photos — in fact, it’s documentation that I wrote for Writer, and you’re supposed to see that.)
Category: What I’m Up To
Since March 13, 2017, I’ve posted a weekly list of tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events happening in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas. I’ve continued to do this to this day, with me typically assembling the list on Thursday and posting it on Friday.
Today is Thursday, so I’m assembling the list — or more accurately, a Jupyter notebook running some Python code I wrote is scraping various sites and creating a checklist like the one you see in the screenshot above.
Back when I first started the list, I used to put it together manually, but as Tampa Bay’s tech scene and events grew, so did the list. It wasn’t long before assembling the list was eating up the better part of an afternoon, and that’s when I decided to add some automation to the process.
The checklist contains likely candidates for inclusion in the list, and each item in the list is checked by default. The checklist is there to allow me to apply my final judgement as to what goes and doesn’t go into the list.
There’s a hug “deny” list of key words and phrases that cause an event to not make it into the checklist because it doesn’t fall under the umbrella of “tech, entrepreneur, or nerd.” For example, events with the words “real estate” don’t make it into the list — they often contain the word “developer,” which my code is looking for, but that’s not the right kind of developer event for the list.
Would any of you be curious as to what’s in my tech events list-creating code and how it works? Would you like me to do a presentation at a local meetup or on YouTube explaining how it works? Let me know.
There aren’t that many free trials that manage to convert me into a paying customer, but GitHub Copilot is now one of the exceptions. I don’t think I’ve seen a programming add-on tool that’s been this useful or beloved by developers since…well, maybe ReSharper back during my time as a Microsoftie (2008 – 2011).
It’s pretty good — but far from perfect — at generating Python code I’m thinking of writing as I type it in, which has resulted in a speed boost for me. Between Copilot (which I’ve had for free for a bit) and Claude Sonnet (which I’ve been paying for), I’ve been enjoying the new assisted world that I’ve been coding in.
Your mileage will vary with the programming language you’re using and the sort of application you’re working on. If what you’re doing matches lots of examples in Copilot’s training set, you’ll get lots of good suggestions. However, if you’re coding in a more obscure programming language, or writing a kind of application for which there would’ve been few examples to add to Copilot’s training set, you’ll get fewer suggestions, and a good number of them will be wrong.
But for me, Copilot’s a very helpful programming tool that I’ve harnessed in order to do more. Pardon me while I go pull out Atypical Consulting LLC’s credit card…
I was pointing someone to the Amazon page for the book I co-wrote a little while back — iOS Apprentice, Eighth Edition — and I saw what you’re seeing in the screenshot above.
I like to think of my technical writing as sexy, but I didn’t think it was this sexy!
In case you’re curious, here’s what the actual cover looks like:
DevOpsDays Tampa Bay 2024 took place last Thursday, September 19th, and I’m pleased to report that it was a success, with 230 attendees, great talks, an enthusiastic audience, and a lot of participation, all in my favorite conference venue!
DevOpsDays is a worldwide series of community-run technical conferences covering topics of software development, IT infrastructure operations, and the intersection between them.
DevOpsDays Tampa Bay is “The Other Bay Area’s” edition of DevOpsDays, organized, produced, and executed by volunteers from Tampa Bay and beyond, for the benefit of the tech scene here on “The Other West Coast.”
Here are my photos from the event…
Andrew Clay Shafer opened the conference with his keynote, The Ghost of DevOps Past…
…which was followed by PJ Hagerty’s presentation, DevOps — Philosophy vs. Practice. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of his talk, as I was getting ready to give my talk, Python Meets DevOps!
I was followed by Aman Sharma’s presentation on what he termed “GenOps” — in other words, DevOps for Generative AI applications:
After Aman was Omer Farooq, who gave his talk, Modernized Approach to Container DevSecOp through Software Development Lifecycle.
And then: lunch!
One of the best things about last year’s and this year’s DevOpsDays Tampa Bay was that they took place at Armature Works. It’s not just a great conference venue, but also a great place to eat!
Rather than feed us standard-issue tech conference food, we were each given a $25 coupon redeemable at any of the food vendors.
I decided to try out a new-to-me place, Bap Bap and selected their Korean fried chicken and kimchi fries. I definitely would order it again:
Immediately after lunch was Micahel Levan’s presentation, Production-Ready Platform Engineering: From Conception To Build To FAIL, followed by Gwyneth Allwright’s Escaping the Legacy Infrastructure Labyrinth:
Next up was Al Rodriguez, with DevOps Like a Dev:
…follwed by Luis Hernandez with In The Deep End: My Experience as a Linux Kernel Mentee:
The final talks of the day were:
- Mike Butler, who introduced the Open Space portion of the conference with his quick talk, Open Spaces – The Greatest Thing about DevOpsDays,
- Ed LeGault, with Optimizing Software Delivery with DORA Metrics and EBM, and
- Josh Lee, with Modern Application Debugging: An Intro to OpenTelemetry.
Afterwards, we had 90 minutes devoted to Open Space discussions — I pretty much stuck around the AI-related discussion.
At the end of the Open Spaces portion, the conference came to a close with a quick curtain call by the organizers (listed from left to right, as they appear in these photos):
- James Gress
- Troy Koss
- Obie Muzon
- Seni Aguiar
- Chris Ayers
Assisting them were a number of volunteers, all of whose names I don’t have — but my thanks to them for keeping things running smoothly.
DevOpsDays Tampa Bay was a fun conference to speak at, attend, catch up with old friends, and make new ones. I’m looking forward to next year’s event!
Last night, Anitra and I had the pleasure of attending Tampa Bay Techies’ Social Networking Happy Hour, which took place at the coworking space Sorry Not Public in downtown Tampa.
Tampa Bay Techies is a group whose goal is to bring the Tampa Bay tech community together through social and educational events, and promote personal and career growth through training, mentoring, and volunteer work.
They picked an interesting venue for last night’s networking event: Sorry Not Public, a relatively new coworking space with a lo-fi startup vibe that had me convinced for a moment that I was in San Francisco or Toronto.
(They also had a lovely bar, and kudos to the bartender for making a great Bulleit-based whiskey sour.)
We had a great time chatting with old friends and meeting new ones. It’s great that Tampa Bay Techies events consistently attract new people and keep the scene lively!
We also had a chance to talk to the people who run Sorry Not Public. They’re expanding to incorporate different kinds of spaces to accommodate all kinds of working styles, and the amenities they provide are aimed squarely at creatives and techies, with meeting areas, a photo/video studio, and even a gym and sauna.
Tampa Bay Techies’ next event is on Saturday, September 28th — it’s another study group session at Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea in Midtown from 9:00 a.m. until noon. If you want to share ideas, show off a project, get help with a topic, or just hang out, you’ll want to attend this monthly event.
Congrats to Tampa Bay Techies on another successful social event, and thanks to Sorry Not Public for providing a lovely venue!
The newest video on the Global Nerdy YouTube channel is now online! Its title will and thumbnail will evolve over the next couple of days, but as I write this (the evening of Sunday, August 11, 2024), the thumbnail looks like the one above and the title is Surviving a Layoff: Mental Health Tips & Tricks.
(YouTube titles and thumbnails can be changed even after the video is posted, and many YouTubers change them as they figure out which versions attract “search” and “browse” viewers.)
Selected moments from the video
Near the start of the video, I suggest to viewers that they try to come up with their own mantra to help them through their layoff journey:
I also remind viewers that there’s a difference between being fired and being laid off:
Here are some layoff stats to reassure you that if you’ve been laid off, you’re not alone:
Making things worse is the fact that shareholders love layoffs — they’re cost savings, which can boost stock prices:
Remember this motto:
I also go through some of the items in the Life Events Inventory, a ranked list of the most stressful events in life. Guess where getting laid off is in the list — I won’t show you kere, though; you’ll have to watch the video!
Here’s the most pithy advice I have for expressing the emotions you may have in the aftermath of being laid off, courtesy of Scott Hanselman:
I talk about the benefits of exercise…
…remind the viewer that it’s always 5 p.m. somewhere…
…and yes, I make a reference not just to “That Site,” but That Site’s identifying drum riff:
You don’t need a unicorn gratitude journal to make it through a layoff, but you should practice gratitude to help you through the process:
I suggest that it might be therapeutic to get rid of at least some of your (former) company swag, but hang on to the stuff that’s useful. I’m hanging on to the Patagonia sweater they sent to me (ironically, a week or so before they laid me off) because it’s nice and warm, and I’m willing to put up with the “VC Bro’ vibes it gives off:
And finally, here’s one of the images I use to explain that if you need therapy or counseling, get it:
