Conversations with professionals in various fields and companies
About
The Reconfigured Podcast is a show that brings professionals from various backgrounds to talk about their extended experience whether it is technical or not. We got people from Facebook, Google, Amazon, and much more.
Today's episode is with Don MacKinnon, co-founder and CTO at Searchcraft. We have covered several topics from how Searchcraft started to transitioning from agency work to startup and managing teams
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and what is Searchcraft
02:55 Searchcraft being closed source but downloadable and their cloud offering
04:26 Licensing mechanism of Searchcraft and difference between their cloud offering and on-premise
07:00 AI reshaping search and where Searchcraft fits
09:48 Prioritizing developer experience first
11:27 Picking the right tool for the right job
13:58 Searchcraft getting angel investment and the process/experience dealing with investors
17:09 Transition from agency to startup
24:25 Integration of AI into software development and the lose of software craftmanship
27:17 Definition of a CTO and managing team dynamics
35:45 When it is the right time to leave and do something new
40:16 Mental health question
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Today's episode is with Michael Dowden, Founder and CEO at Andromeda Galactic Solutions. We have covered several topics related to starting your own business, hiring the right people, when it is the right time to take the leap, and much more
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Background
01:43 Michael choosing to become a consultant with its benefits
04:48 Hiring the right people, generalists vs specialists
10:43 When it is the right time to start your own thing
15:07 What you wish you would be prepared for before becoming independent + planing a strategy
29:08 Difference between being a consultant vs being a business owner
47:54 Advantage of partnering with big corperations
01:07:15 Advice for people starting out in the software industry
01:17:47 Mental health question
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
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
(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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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
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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
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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
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
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
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
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!
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
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
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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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
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
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:
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
