Episodes

#27 - Yan Cui: Serverless on AWS

Today's episode is with Yan Cui, Principle consultant at TheBurningMonk Limited. We have covered several topics related to serverless in terms of adoption, architecture, security, tooling and frameworks, testing and monitoring, and much more

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Background

02:54 Running a Consultancy Company

07:59 Self-Publishing vs. Working with a Publishing Company

11:25 The Value of Workshops and Courses

22:02 Working in different settings

25:43 Adopting serverless

39:13 Typical Serverless Architecture

44:37 Serverless Frameworks

57:28 Security Considerations in Serverless Architectures

01:00:28 Challenges and Limitations of Serverless Computing

01:03:52 Serverless as the right choice for a project

01:10:06 Ditching Serverless for monolithic applications

01:16:00 Ditching the cloud towards hosting on dedicated servers

01:21:22 Testing Serverless applications

01:31:33 Monitoring Serverless applications

01:36:41 Yan's podcast: Real World Serverless

01:37:37 Most rewarding aspect of Yan's work

01:38:31 Mental Health question

Links about topics mentioned in the episode:

Prime video shift towards monolithic: https://www.primevideotech.com/video-streaming/scaling-up-the-prime-video-audio-video-monitoring-service-and-reducing-costs-by-90

Spotify Test Honeycomb https://engineering.atspotify.com/2018/01/testing-of-microservices/

Yan doesn't just share insights; he also offer transformative courses and workshops designed to elevate your skills and knowledge in serverless. Whether you're looking to gain a competitive edge or deepen your understanding, Yan's unique blend of practical wisdom and innovative strategies is something you won't want to miss

Yan's course offering: https://theburningmonk.com/courses/

Yan's consultancy offering: https://theburningmonk.com/hire-me/

Production Ready Serverless workshop: https://productionreadyserverless.com/

AppSync Masterclass course: https://appsyncmasterclass.com/

Testing Serverless course: https://testserverlessapps.com/

AWS Step Functions course: https://school.theburningmonk.com/courses/complete-guide-to-aws-step-functions

AWS Lambda Best Practices course: https://school.theburningmonk.com/courses/learn-you-some-lambda

Serverless Architecture book: https://www.manning.com/books/serverless-architectures-on-aws-second-edition?a_aid=aws-lambda-in-motion&a_bid=9318fc6f

Yan's podcast: https://realworldserverless.com/

(P.S. The links shared here do not contain any affiliate codes, and Reconfigured is not affiliated with Yan to promote his offerings. I have personally invested in his courses and have benefited tremendously in my professional life)

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#26 - Christophe Zoghbi: AI Education in MENA

Today's episode is with Christophe Zoghbi, founder at Zaka AI and Beirut AI. We have covered several topics related to AI from its impact on daily activities, trends, challenges and bias regarding AI, and much more 00:00 Intro 00:23 Christophe's intro 00:57 Christophe's journey into the world of AI 06:32 Challenges educating in the AI space 12:00 Significant ways AI is impacting society and culture 14:53 Using AI as a buzzword in business proposals 18:20 Decision between in-house AI or externally hosted AI 24:52 Data privacy around AI 28:05 Bias in AI 32:38 Social challenges in AI 34:43 Emerging trends in AI 39:15 Is academia preparing students for the market or is there a gap? 42:21 What is the most rewarding aspect in Christophe's perspective 44:51 Christophe's perspective on certain things did work out but not as expected 52:48 When people think AI is getting dumber by time 56:02 What people take for granted 01:00:00 Mental Health question 01:03:28 Outro If you are interested to stay up to date with upcoming podcast episodes then consider subscribing to our newsletter! We release every Wednesday interesting articles and podcast episodes releases, available at https://www.reconfigured.co/newsletter Follow us on: Website: https://www.reconfigured.co Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/reconfiguredco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconfiguredco YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@reconfiguredco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reconfiguredco LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reconfiguredco/

#25 - Patrick Samy: Reaching your peak performance

Today's episode is with Patrick Samy. Patrick is currently working on Peak (https://www.joinpeak.co/), co-founder and CEO of Span (acquired by Eight Sleep). We have talked about several topics from working in big corps, starting your own company, providing market fit, and much more 00:00 Intro 00:23 Patrick Intro 01:08 Peak 09:57 Span (from start till Eight Sleep acquisition) 23:16 Providing market fit 24:48 Perspective on entrepreneurship and product development after acquisition 26:53 Intersection of modern technology on fitness and wellness industry (Artificial Intelligence) 35:45 The influence of Patrick's technical expertise on his approach towards product development 42:02 Working in a big corp (Microsoft) 45:09 The 30 year old rule 47:20 Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to build a successful product 56:10 Privacy and security in the fitness/wellness industry 01:04:39 Misconceptions and myths surrounding sleep/fitness products 01:07:32 Intuitive and user friendly design's effects on people's psychology 01:20:02 Most rewarding aspect of Patrick's work and what he is proud of 01:21:59 Does Patrick attribute himself lucky with all of his endeavours and achievements 01:23:53 Doing something that worked out but not for the reason he thought it would work 01:25:59 Patrick's take on what people take for granted 01:29:46 How has Patrick changed in the last 3 years 01:32:31 Mental health question 01:36:23 Outro If you are interested to stay up to date with upcoming podcast episodes then consider subscribing to our newsletter! We release every Wednesday interesting articles and podcast episodes releases, available at https://www.reconfigured.co/newsletter Follow us on: Website: https://www.reconfigured.co Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/reconfiguredco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconfiguredco YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@reconfiguredco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reconfiguredco LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reconfiguredco/

#24 - Shane Afsar: how to be an effective engineering manager

Today's episode is with Shane Afsar, Senior Engineering Manager at Algolia. We have talked about several topics including engineering management, remote team management, dealing with legacy systems, getting involved in the business of things, how to know if someone fits your team, and much more

00:00 Intro

00:41 Shane's intro

01:05 Shane's role at Algolia

02:55 Developer experience, how does it work?

04:42 Algolia's crawler and how it functions

05:44 Shane's experience working at LinkedIn for 8 years

20:15 Dealing with legacy systems

21:47 Shifting from writing code to getting involved into the business aspect

23:26 Shane's experience at Twitter before and after Elon's acquisition

30:30 Twitter's Community Notes feature

31:55 The work environment difference between a big corp and a small corp

35:31 Switching teams in large corps and small corps

36: 53 The journey from software developer to engineering manager

41:07 Pitfalls during transition and what to take into consideration when starting out as an engineering manager

57:57 How to grow a team of 5 developers to a team of 12 cross functioning developers

01:05:34 How to manage remote teams efficiently

01:13:29 Fostering a culture of growth and skills within a team

01:16:32 How to know if someone is fit for your team

01:18:43 Evaluating employees who use AI extensively for work

01:27:01 Does academia prepare you to enter the market

01:37:09 Mental Health question

01:45:49 Outro

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#23 - Fadi Boulos: Hiring right and supporting local in companies

Today's episode is with Fadi Boulous, founder and CEO of Supportful. We have discussed several topics from supporting local talent, decreasing the brain drain, supporting companies efficiently, dealing with remote teams, hiring the right talent, and much more

00:00 Intro

00:44 Fadi's intro

01:13 Fadi's journey switching from academia to entrepreneurship

03:15 Lebanon's 2019 crisis

04:11 Key takeaway from entrepreneurship

04:38 Formal education is no longer critical

06:38 How Supportful started as a side hustle

09: 11 Creating connections with people

11:38 Supportful's mission

13:47 Maintaining strong remote teams

15:46 Criteria to prioritize when hiring new talent + company culture

17:15 Community influence on direction and growth

20:20 Key strategies for visibility, sales, and customer base

22:16 Personal accounts vs company accounts for authenticity

26:05 Balancing technical skills with sales

28:51 Strategies and practices in building a talent pool + keeping the team up to date

35:54 Culture difference between France and Lebanon

37:54 Customer feedback's influence on service development

39:13 Fadi's leadership philosophy

40:59 Where the tech industry heading towards in the next 5 years

47: 42 Advice for people to become founders

49:48 Work life balance for founders and CEOs

53:36 Mental health question

01:02:14 Outro

If you wish to learn more about Supportful then feel free to check out their official website https://www.supportful.world

If you are interested to stay up to date with upcoming podcast episodes then consider subscribing to our newsletter! We release every Wednesday interesting articles and podcast episodes releases, available at https://www.reconfigured.co/newsletter

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#22- Jonathan Gottfried: empowering hackers, launching impactful hackathons

Today's episode is with Jonathan Gottfried, co-founder of Major League Hacking (MLH). We have discussed several topics from organizing hackathons to fostering diverse events and building the next generation

00:00 Intro

00:41 Jon's intro

00:51 Rewarding aspect of building and growing MLH over the years

02:19 MLH's role of documenting stories of student hackers

05:34 MLH's impact on participants career

08:58 MLH's contribution to foster a sense of inclusivity and diversity

12:32 Organizing events of people from different skill levels

14:50 First time hackathon experience

16:26 Challenges that aspiring software developers face when transitioning to a technical founder

19:01 Developers preferring to create B2B services than B2C

21:55 MLH collaborating with Fortune 500, FANG, Big Four companies and the impact it has on people's careers

23:58 Key attributes essential for individuals to become successful technical founders

26:11 Finding a good co-founder

27:28 MLH shifting from LLC to C-corp then B-corp

30:02 Transitioning to B-corp inspiration for other companies who might want to consider

32:06 Translating hackathon collaboration skills to the software industry

34:49 MLH initiatives reaching global reach, how MLH addresses cultural and societal nuance

37: 38 MLH activities affects on becoming a developer evangelist

40:21 Difference between evangelist and developer relations

41:05 MLH mentorship from alumni/experienced hackers

43:18 MLH challenges and obstacles when starting and running it for the past 10 years

45:41 What sparked Jon's interest into the world of hacking and technology

52:08 What developer evangelism means to Jon

53:53 Jon's experience as a developer evangelist at Twilio

55:24 The State of Developer Education podcast

57:12 Consideration of the idea of pursuing something new in the future

59:30 Going outside the comfort zone to starting something new like a startup

01:02:31 Mental health question

01:07:03 Outro

If you are interested to stay up to date with upcoming podcast episodes then consider subscribing to our newsletter! We release every Wednesday interesting articles and podcast episodes releases, available at https://www.reconfigured.co/newsletter

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#21 - Karl Swanepoel: empowering freelancers, building impactful startups

Today's episode is with Karl Swanepoel, CEO of Revolancer. We have discussed multiple topics ranging from how freelancer websites are doing things wrong, how Revolancer empowers freelancers, starting your own business, connecting with the right people, and much more!

00:00 Intro

00:42 Karl's introduction

01:00 What is Revolancer and what they offer?

01:43 What is the role of a CEO?

02:47 Cultural difference between a startup and a company

03:46 Finding the right people to work at your startup

07:10 Advice on starting your own startup for someone entering the field of entrepreneurship

15:14 Advice on finding the right people to ask for advice/mentoring

18:04 Revolancer's seed round + procedure of getting a seed round and investment advice

27:32 Why would someone aim to secure funds from an investor?

30:49 Karl's adventures starting BuySellJobs at age 15

33:07 Karl's adventures being the youngest-ever brand ambassador for Britain’s largest business conference, The Business Show

34:40 Founding RocketBlast Digital and how agencies should be fair with their clients

38:51 The role of a CMO (chief marketing officer) and steps to help a startup get noticed in the public

42:42 Karl co-founding Leapinto (non profit organization) with Kevin Mansell-Abell where they helped students with their career concerns by connecting them to industry professionals and opening their eyes to the real work world.

47:34 Karl's adventure managing The Watch Face, a watch oriented magazine which he managed from age 16 till 18

49:51 Karl's advice on how can someone market themselves online

52:47 Did growing up in different countries affects Karl's view on doing business?

55:23 Studying artificial intelligence + consideration of leaping into AI

56:59 Mental health question

01:01:38 Outro

I really enjoyed recording this episode with Karl! If you are interested to connect with Karl then please consider following him on LinkedIn!

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlswa/  

Karl's Website - https://karlswanepoel.com/about/

Video: https://youtu.be/FJ_aiSMxWPg

Audio: https://podcast.reconfigured.co

If you are interested to stay up to date with upcoming podcast episodes then consider subscribing to our newsletter! We release every Wednesday interesting articles and podcast episodes releases, available at https://www.reconfigured.co/newsletter

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#20 - Jillian Funes: from software development to product management

Today's episode is with Jillian Funes, Technical product manager at Canopy Servicings. We have discussed several topics from how to get into product management, transitioning from software development to product management, difference between project management and product management, and much more!

00:00 Intro

00:42 Jillian Intro

00:55 What is Canopy and what they offer

02:13 What is the role of a technical product manager

03:13 What is the flow to take a product from planning to development

10:27 Utilizing developer advocates for product ideas + Jillian's experience working with the development team

12:18 Difference between project management and product management

16:16 Estimating technical task issues with non technical product managers

19:06 Consulting the tech lead or CTO for task management for non technical product managers

21:43 Does it make sense to shift from software development to product after working in the industry for 7 years?

29:08 After 9 years of software develop then to product, did it change Jillian's perspective of the software industry?

31:38 Jillian's experience at ArcelorMittal (a Fortune500 company)34:15 Consideration of entering a corporate job

39:21 Jillian's experience at Payroc, a fintech company

44:00 Should companies hire people who are generalists or specialists?

49:42 Jillian's love for product showed at Payroc, what would happen if she didn't join Payroc? would she transition to product management?

51:39 Bootcamp graduates effect on a product in the perspective of a technical product manager

57:03 Consideration of starting your own startup or playing it safe in the future

01:10:12 Mental health question

01:21:29 Outro

If you are interested to stay up to date with upcoming podcast episodes then consider subscribing to our newsletter! We release every Wednesday interesting articles and podcast episodes releases, available at https://www.reconfigured.co/newsletter

Video: https://youtu.be/QoKPuA71tFI

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#19 - Liz Acosta: Skyflow, Twilio, From coding bootcamp to Dev Advocacy

Today's episode is with Liz Acosta, Developer Advocate at Skyflow. We have discussed several topics from how to get into developer advocacy, getting into a bootcamp from a non-tech background, and much more.

00:00 Intro

00:42 Liz's introduction

01:49 Liz's current position at Skyflow

03:50 What Skyflow offers

05:44 Use case of handling something on your own versus using a managed service

10:54 Role of a developer advocate

16:07 Advocating a product based on needs

21:28 Authenticity when advocating for a product and knowing your audience

28:01 Liz tells Mohamad that he would be a great developer advocate

29:11 How to get into developer advocacy when not being comfortable around people

34:07 Using developer advocacy as a way to get a job while writing code as a hobby

39:52 Her experience at Twilio working as a software developer after joining a coding bootcamp + Twilio's apprenticeship program called "Hatch"

44:44 Current employment conditions for people starting out

48:25 Coding bootcamps taking advantage of non technical people who are trying to get a tech job

57:18 Companies hiring bootcamp grades but on lower conditions to fit their needs

01:03:27 Personal Experience with coding bootcamps

01:08:57 Shifting from Software development towards Developer Advocacy

01:15:48 Neo-divergence and ADHD affects on learning

01:22:14 Possibility of a career change in the future where Liz considered the idea of becoming a snowboard instructor

01:25:25 Sean's introduction of Liz from her being a dog-walker towards becoming a developer advocate + not working in the film industry

01:31:39 Liz's experience being a cancer survivor

01:40:09 General mental health question

01:44:15 Outro

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#18 - Wesley Faulkner: AWS, Community Management, DevRel

Today's episode is with Wesley Faulkner, Senior Community Manager at AWS. We have discussed several topics ranging from community management, community ops, becoming a devrel, and much more!  

(0:00) Podcast intro 

(0:41) Wesley's intro 

(1:19) Being a 1st generation American 

(3:33) Role of a Community Manager at AWS 

(7:36) Being a board member at The Experience Firm 

(11:01) Head of Community at SingleStore 

(13:06) Fostering internal communities within a company 

(19:44) Developer advocacy in a startup and corporate (IBM and Dailyco) 

(23:47) MongoDB Community Management 

(26:12) CommunityOps: operations for maintaining a community 

(30:32) Instructions to adopt CommunityOps in your company 

(37:29) Does having marketing and social media skills help in devrel? 

(40:26) The rise of Slack over Atlassian HipChat while Wesley was working at Atlassian  

(46:07) Managing different roles at AMD 

(49:51) Discovering what you love and finding your outlet of joy 

(51:53) Interesting references and ChatGPT 

(57:07) Using ChatGPT for DevRel 

(1:02:54) Running for 2016 City Council in Austin Texas 

(1:08:35) What to recommend for DevRel based on Wesley's 20 years experience in tech 

(1:13:38) Shifting careers 

(1:17:53) Certifications for DevRel 

(1:15:39) Mental health question  

(1:23:35) Outro   

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reconfiguredco/

#17 - Tiffany Jachja: Engineering Management, Career Coaching

Today's episode is with Tiffany Jachja, Engineering Manager at Vox News and Career Success Coach at Correlation One. We have discussed the following: 

- What is the role of a Career Success Coach 

- What is the role of an Engineering Manager 

- Difference between Engineering Manager and other roles like Tech Lead 

- The role and responsibilities of being hired as a consultant 

- Hierarchies within companies and how roles are structured 

- and much more  

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Website: https://www.reconfigured.co  

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/reconfiguredco   

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconfiguredco   

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@reconfiguredco     

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reconfiguredco   

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reconfiguredco/

#16 - Karl Hughes: Draft.dev, Writing, CTO, Content Marketing

Today's episode is with Karl Hughes, Founder and CEO of Draft.dev. We have discussed the following: 

- What Draft provide 

- Marketing content with a content marketing engine 

- His adventures of being a CTO 

- Difference between Tech Lead and Head of Engineering 

- The feeling of being the first employee twice in two different startups 

- and much more

Follow us on:  

Website: https://www.reconfigured.co

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/reconfiguredco 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconfiguredco 

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Podcast rebranding + announcement of two projects

This episode is not a guest episode, it is just an announcement about the rebranding of the podcast (nothing major, it became part of a project) plus the announcement of two projects that I am working on which is the "Reconfigured" branding and my own startup that I am going to launch in the future

#15 - Alexandra-Irina Nicolae: Product Management, Ideas, Axel Springer

Today's episode is with Alexandra-Irina Nicolae, Senior Product Owner at Axel Springer. We have discussed the following:  

- What Axel Springer is  

- What Axel Springer offers  

- What is Product Ownership  

- Her shift from English and History and Academia towards Product Management as Product Owner  

- The Ideas Engineering Division at Axel Springer  

- The Ideas Council Initiative at Axel Springer   

- and much more    

Video version: https://youtu.be/aBuWOsBG9lU 

Audio version: https://www.reconfigured.stream

#14 - Virginia Zuloaga: Digital Marketing, B2B, Mentoring

Today's episode is with Virginia Zuloaga, Founder of Brieffin Consulting and Co-Founder of CreaGeen. We have discussed the following topics:

- Being a Career Mentor at Westminster University

- What Brieffin offer when it comes to digital marketing

- How Virginia cooperate with her co-founder digitally while she never met her co-founder in person

- Setbacks of digital marketing 

- and much more

Video version: https://youtu.be/C67vuYupXXc

Audio version: https://www.reconfigured.stream 

#13 - Eddie Hinkle: Management, Glassdoor, Empathy | The Reconfigured Podcast

Today's episode is with Eddie Hinkle, Engineering Manager of the Design Systems & Front-End Foundations Team at Glassdoor and host of the WebJoy Podcast. We have discussed the following:

- What Glassdoor provides 

- Role of an Engineering Manager

- Frontend Foundations and management

- User Experience 

- People management in small and big teams 

- His core values 

- and much more

Video version: https://youtu.be/Y26XMpviXDQ 

Audio version: https://www.reconfigured.stream

#12 - Jason St-Cyr: Developer Relations, Advocacy, Sitecore | The Reconfigured Podcast

Today’s episode is with Jason St-Cyr, Director of Developer Relations at Sitecore. In this episode we have discussed the following:

• What is Sitecore and what it offers
• Role of a Director of Developer Relations
• What is Developer Relations all about
• Similarities and differences between Developer Relations, Advocacy, Technical Evangelism
• Being a Solution Architect
• And much more

Video: https://youtu.be/ctSpFvkR_0w

Audio: https://www.reconfigured.stream

#11 - Dan Moore: Developer Relation, CTO, Founder | The Reconfigured Podcast

Today’s episode is with Dan Moore, Head of Developer Relations at FusionAuth and author of the book “Letters to a New Developer” which is published by Apress . In this episode we have discussed the following:

• What is FusionAuth and what it offers
• Difference between implementing your own auth and using an existing service
• Role of a Solutions Architect
• His experience working in the consultancy world
• And much more

Video: https://youtu.be/anOYzU3On4A

Audio: https://www.reconfigured.stream

#10 - Luciano Mammino: Senior Architect, CTO, Writer, Speaker

Today’s episode is with Luciano Mammino, Senior Architect at fourTheorem and co-author of the well known book “Nodejs Design Patterns” that is published by Packt. In this episode we have discussed the following:

• What fourTheorem offers (and why they chose AWS as cloud provider of choice)
• Transitioning from just writing code to adopting the cloud
• Challenges being a CTO
• The challenges of co-writing a book
• Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional (MVP) program
• And much more

Video version of the episode: https://youtu.be/23bKVdY0gp8

Audio version of the episode: https://www.reconfigured.stream

Show transcript and notes: https://www.technolaaji.com

#9 - Jackson Gabbard: CTO, Facebook, Refactorer, and Mentor

Today’s episode is with Jackson Gabbard, CTO at Cord and ex-Facebook employee who started the engineering team for Facebook in the UK. In this episode we have discussed the follow:

• What Cord offers
• Requirements for someone to be qualified as a CTO
• Challenges coordinating a team of developers
• Refactoring code and real life examples of refactoring in production
• Hiring process of developers from high profile companies
• Facebook’s timeline implementation
• Facebook’s data capturing implementation + patent registry
• Facebook UK engineering team story
• Facebook’s Integrity and Safety measures
• And much more

Video version of the episode: https://youtu.be/hJqQvl6QK3A

Audio version of the episode: https://www.reconfigured.stream

#8 - Rawad Assaf: Founder, CTO, Mentor, and Clojure | The Reconfigured Podcast

Today’s episode is with Rawad Assaf, Founding Partner at RAMS services and CTO of UK Tech Hub Lebanon. In this episode we have discussed the following topics:

• What RAMS offers
• When it is time to start your own business
• Picking the right partners for your startup
• Why RAMS chose Clojure as programming language of choice
• Common issues startups faced when starting out when he was a CTO at UK Tech Hub
• Finding suitable candidates to hire for your company/startup
• Requirements for becoming a mentor/coach
• Interview processes and should companies adopt the typical interview process
• His adventures at Murex and why he stayed there for more than 10 years
• And much more

Video version of the episode: https://youtu.be/K_tLt-oHkP8

Audio version of the episode: https://www.reconfigured.stream

Show notes: https://www.technolaaji.com

#7 - William Collins: Cloud Architect, Multi Cloud, and Automation | The Reconfigured Podcast

Today’s episode is with William Collins, Principal Cloud Architect at Alkira. In this episode we have discussed the following:

• His role at Alkira
• Multi Cloud connections and how Alkira provides a reliable solution
• Multi Cloud in companies that adopt a one cloud provider
• When to use a monolith and when to use micro services
• Hybrid Cloud and how it operates (through his experience in Humana)
• Automating cloud resources with Terraform
• Certifications
• And much more

Video version: https://youtu.be/zhpIoPtRaQE

#6 - Sean Falconer: Developer Relation, CTO, Founder, ex-Google, and more | The Reconfigured Podcast

Today’s episode is with Sean Falconer, head of developer relations at Skyflow. In this episode we have discussed the following:

• His role as Head of Developer at Skyflow
• What Skyflow offers and how it can impact businesses on a large scale
• His adventures at Google
• The benefits Google provides to its employees
• His position being a CTO and founder to a startup
• His experience being a Postdoc at Stanford
• And much more

Video version of the episode: https://youtu.be/58TnzeeHgW8

#5 - Startups in Lebanon with Maysaa Ajjan

Today’s episode is with Maysaa Ajjan, a journalist at Arab News. We have discussed the following topics:

• Her contributions to Al Annahar on the “Startup City” segment
• How Arabnet had the ability to track some startups in details
• Funding mechanism for startups from BDL (circular 331), bootcamps, competitions, and angel investing
• Lebanese startups conditions before the 2019 economic crisis (failed, operating, exited, migrated)
• Lebanese startups conditions after the 2019 economic crisis
• Fundings
• Migration of talents and startups
• The rising new economy of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin being used in current Lebanese startups

Audio version of the episode is available on: https://www.reconfigured.stream

Video version of the episode is available on: https://youtu.be/RNDs4ki0YtY

#4 - Advocating on AWS with Faz

Today's podcast episode is with Faz, a Senior Developer Advocate at AWS. We have discussed some interesting topics ranging from:

- how AWS supports developers to adopt the cloud

- his experience being a Senior Solution Architect at AWS

- the challenges he faced when iterating and optimizing software at Randstad (a 24.5 billion dollar scale company that has multiple high scaled clients and offices all over the world)

- his shift from corporate to independent consulting on his own then back to the corporate world

- his experience acquiring the Scrum Master and PMP certifications 

- his shift in his career working in India, China, Malaysia, and UAE

- and much more

I really enjoyed recording this episode with Faz and I hope it benefits you in your career!

video version of the episode is available at: https://youtu.be/uhImsA8mQTE

#3 - Startups on AWS with Nicolas David

This is my interview with Nicolas David, Senior Startup Solutions Architect Middle East at Amazon Web Services. We have discussed some interesting topics ranging from:

• How startups receive guidance and support from AWS
• His role on the Cloud Innovation Centers (CIC) program: a program provides opportunities for non profits, education institutions, and government agencies to collaborate with other public sectors utilizing AWS
• His adventures on being a Technical Trainer for AWS
• His shift from software develop and IT towards business management and consulting
• and much more

I really enjoyed recording this episode with Nicolas and hope it brings value for you in the future.

video version of this episode is available at: https://youtu.be/jZWGr1BNZ5Q

#2 - Fear

We fear from a lot of things in our lives and that is something we will constantly face in our lives, in this episode Mohamad tries to deconstruct fear and recommend using a method called "Fear Setting" which is created by Tim Ferris that utilizes the Stoic's premeditatio malorum—the premeditation of the evils and troubles that might lie ahead

#1 - Web3: The Good, The Scams, and The Hype

This episode we will dive deep into web3 in various aspects. We are going to talk about the advantages, the disadvantages, as well as the scams and hype around certain aspects of web3 even though the technology behind of it is pretty interesting.

We will also talk about why do people buy some of those scams and how it is related to the metaverse in a certain way. I have decided to talk about web3 because it is the most hyped topic on the internet and I have received multiple messages and offers to work on web3 based projects so I wanted to highlight on some points about web3.

At the end we will highlight why Bitcoin is still better for doing transactions on the web and that you don't need certain projects and smart contracts to do basic actions like sending money safely from one place to another.

Introduction to the podcast

Hello there! I'm Mohamad Kalaaji and I am an AWS Community Builder and Software Engineer. I've decided to launch my podcast "The Reconfigured Podcast" as a way to spread zero cost information to the general public through sharing my experience as a software engineer ever since I entered the field at the age of 17 years old.

The podcast will also host guests where they will share their knowledge and wisdom as well! I would be grateful if you subscribed to the podcast to stay up-to-date for upcoming episodes in the near future.

You can subscribe to the newsletter at https://newsletter.reconfigured.stream

Background music: Blue Dot Sessions - Speaker Joy