Shows
Platform Engineering PodcastSimplicity at Scale: Cleaning House for Platform Teams with Brian ChildressWhy do so many “modern” platforms feel slow, fragile, and painful to work on?Platform engineer and fractional CTO Brian Childress joins Cory to discuss how over-engineering, resume‑driven development, and scattered tooling quietly block teams from shipping value. They explore why simplicity is a competitive advantage for platform teams, especially as AI becomes part of everyday development.You’ll learn:How to design a simple platform MVP that developers actually like usingWhat a good local‑to‑prod story looks like (and why it’s the real scaling superpower)Practical ways to onboard humans and AI tools s...
2025-12-1740 min
Platform Engineering PodcastUsing Feature Flags to Tame Complexity with Mike ZornWhat if changing a single flag could save you from a failed migration, a broken API, or a late-night rollback?Join us as we dive into how feature flags become a practical tool for changing application behavior at runtime, not just toggling UI elements. Cory talks Mike Zorn about real stories from LaunchDarkly and Rippling, covering how teams use flags to ship safely, debug faster, and simplify complex systems.You’ll hear about:Using feature flags to avoid staging overload and ship directly to productionMigrating critical systems and databases with minimal downtime and riskControlling lo...
2025-12-0343 min
Platform Engineering PodcastPolicy as Code: Kyverno and Securing Kubernetes at Scale with Jim BugwadiaMost Kubernetes security breaches don't come from zero-day exploits - they come from misconfigurations. While your team runs scanners and reviews reports, containers are already running as root, network policies are missing, and compliance violations are piling up across dozens of repositories.Jim Bugwadia, co-founder and CEO of Nirmata and creator of Kyverno, joins Cory to talk about a different approach: policy as code. Instead of asking developers to remember security best practices across every repo, what if your cluster automatically enforced secure defaults and blocked non-compliant deployments before they ever reached production?You'll learn...
2025-11-1942 min
Platform Engineering PodcastGuest Host: Kelsey Hightower - Beyond Pipelines: Infrastructure As DataIs your Git repo really the source of truth for infrastructure - or just a suggestion?Guest host Kelsey Hightower sits down with Cory O’Daniel to unpack why many teams hit dead ends with CI/CD for provisioning, where GitOps struggles with drift, and when TicketOps helps or hurts. They explore a different model: infrastructure as data with typed contracts, shared artifacts, and workflows that embed policy, validation, and upgrades from the start. You’ll hear practical ways to reduce cognitive load for developers while giving operations reliable control and better day‑2 levers.You’ll learn...
2025-11-0548 min
Platform Engineering PodcastGuest Host: Kelsey Hightower - Are CI/CD and GitOps Just Making Things Harder?What if your production environment had a live, trustworthy blueprint you could zoom in and out of on demand?Kelsey Hightower guest-hosts a candid conversation with Cory about why CI/CD pipelines and GitOps often break down for cloud infrastructure. They explore a simpler operational model: treat infrastructure as data, lean on clear checkpoints instead of rigid “golden paths,” and make production legible for both developers and ops.You’ll learn:Where CI/CD adds friction for infra and what to do insteadWhy GitOps works for apps but hits limits for databases, networks, and multi...
2025-10-2230 min
Platform Engineering PodcastGuest Host: Kelsey Hightower — Why IaC Alone Isn’t EnoughEver wonder why strong Terraform modules still lead to long review queues and fragile pipelines? From hand-built scripts and early data center migrations to cloud sprawl and Kubernetes, configuration management has changed a lot - but the core struggle remains: too many decisions, not enough guardrails. Guest host Kelsey Hightower sits down with Cory O’Daniel to unpack where Infrastructure as Code succeeds and where teams get stuck.What you’ll learn:How to avoid “choice overload” in cloud configs by moving decisions upstreamPractical ways to pair IaC with UX, policies, and SLAs to reduce toilWhen click-op...
2025-10-0839 min
Platform Engineering PodcastHow to Ship Faster with Feature Flags: Insights from UnleashStill freezing code before Black Friday and hoping nothing breaks? Feature flags can help you ship smaller, safer changes continuously—without the “big bang” risk or painful rollbacks.Cory O’Daniel talks with Unleash VP of Marketing Michael Ferranti about how modern teams use flags as a core delivery primitive alongside CI/CD and trunk-based development. They dig into kill switches for instant mitigation, progressive rollouts tied to real metrics, and why homegrown “if-statement” systems turn into hidden platforms you didn’t mean to build. They also cover the rising volume of AI‑assisted code and how flags provide th...
2025-09-2443 min
Platform Engineering PodcastGraphQL, MCP, and the Future of APIs with Apollo CEO Matt DeBergalis**UPDATE** - Apollo GraphQL has kindly offered us a few free passes to join them at the GraphQL Summit in San Francisco, October 6-8, 2025. If you are interested in going, the code is: PodcastSummit25What if your API layer could help you ship faster today and make tomorrow’s AI workflows safer and easier to build?Apollo CEO Matt DeBergalis explains how GraphQL became a practical standard for unifying messy backends, why declarative schemas and strong types are the “bedrock” for agentic systems, and where MCP fits when you want agents to call business data safely...
2025-09-1043 min
Platform Engineering PodcastBeyond Cracking the Coding Interview with Mike MroczkaEver wondered how many “perfect” candidates simply learned the test—or how many great engineers get filtered out by bad interview design? Mike Mroczka, interview coach and ex-Googler, shares what really goes on behind technical hiring and how to navigate it to your advantage.What you’ll learn:How leaked question banks and standardized puzzles can distort hiring signals - and where they still helpPractical ways companies can make interviews fairer and harder to game, both on-site and remoteA balanced take on data structures and algorithms: when they’re useful and when they’re noiseTactics to spot and red...
2025-08-201h 08
The Data Flowcast: Mastering Apache Airflow ® for Data Engineering and AIInside Modern Data Infrastructure at Massdriver with Cory O’Daniel and Jake FerrieroManaging modern data platforms means navigating a web of complex infrastructure, competing team needs and evolving security standards. For data teams to truly thrive, infrastructure must become both accessible and compliant without sacrificing velocity or reliability.In this episode, we’re joined by Cory O’Daniel, CEO and Co-Founder at Massdriver, and Jacob Ferriero, Senior Software Engineer at Astronomer, to unpack what it takes to make data platform engineering scalable, sustainable and secure. They share lessons from years of experience working with DevOps, ML teams and platform engineers and discuss how Airflow fits into the...
2025-07-3131 min
Platform Engineering PodcastFrom React to Dagster: Pete Hunt on Data, Infra, and AI-Ready PlatformsIs Postgres actually a better message queue than Kafka? This provocative question is just one of many insights Pete Hunt shares in this conversation about data orchestration, platform engineering, and the evolution of infrastructure.Pete Hunt, CEO of Dagster Labs and former React co-founder at Facebook, brings his unique perspective from working at tech giants like Instagram and Twitter to discuss how different platform team approaches impact product development. Having witnessed both Facebook's clear delineation between product and infrastructure teams and Twitter's DevOps-style ownership model, Pete offers valuable comparisons of these contrasting philosophies.The conversation...
2025-07-3049 min
The Everything Feed - All Packet Pushers PodsTCG054: Framing Up the Future of Infrastructure-as-Code and User Experience with Cory O’DanielHow is Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) evolving? How does user experience fit in? Today on The Cloud Gambit, Cory O’Daniel, Co-Founder & CEO of Massdriver, lends his experience as a coder, architect, and founder to help us answer these questions. Cory also discusses what it was like building and funding a startup in the 2021-2022 market, the... Read more »
2025-07-231h 01
The Everything Feed - All Packet Pushers PodsTCG054: Framing Up the Future of Infrastructure-as-Code and User Experience with Cory O’DanielHow is Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) evolving? How does user experience fit in? Today on The Cloud Gambit, Cory O’Daniel, Co-Founder & CEO of Massdriver, lends his experience as a coder, architect, and founder to help us answer these questions. Cory also discusses what it was like building and funding a startup in the 2021-2022 market, the... Read more »
2025-07-231h 01
The Cloud GambitFraming Up the Future of Infrastructure-as-Code and User Experience with Cory O'DanielHow is Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) evolving? How does user experience fit in? Today on The Cloud Gambit, Cory O’Daniel, Co-Founder & CEO of Massdriver, lends his experience as a coder, architect, and founder to help us answer these questions. Cory also discusses what it was like building and funding a startup in the 2021-2022 market, the... Read more »
2025-07-231h 01
Platform Engineering PodcastBuilding Better Platforms with Dapr: Abstractions, Portability, and Durable Systems with Mark FussellCloud lock-in isn't just about where your data lives—it's about how deeply cloud-specific code permeates your applications. Mark Fussell, co-creator of Dapr and CEO of Diagrid, joins Cory O'Daniel to explore how Dapr provides clean abstractions for common distributed system patterns, enabling teams to build portable applications without sacrificing cloud-native capabilities.The conversation covers:How Dapr creates a clean separation between application code and underlying infrastructure services like messaging, state management, and secretsWhy platform teams struggle with tight coupling between applications and infrastructure, and how Dapr solves this problemThe benefits of Dapr's sidecar architecture for lo...
2025-07-1648 min
Platform Engineering PodcastWhat CVEs Did for Security, CREs Are Doing for ReliabilityDid you know that software engineers often "learn things the hard way" because they lack a standardized system to share knowledge about reliability issues? While security professionals have CVEs to catalog vulnerabilities, reliability engineers have been left to reinvent the wheel with each new bug or outage.Tony Meehan, co-founder and CTO of Prequel, introduces us to Common Reliability Enumerations (CREs) - an open-source approach that's doing for reliability what CVEs did for security. After spending a decade at the NSA hunting vulnerabilities, Tony recognized that the same community-driven approach could revolutionize how we handle reliability issues.
2025-07-0247 min
Platform Engineering PodcastFrom DevOps to 'Vibe Coding': Gene Kim on AI-Assisted Development and Platform EngineeringWhat if you could turn a five-year software project into a one-month endeavor? Gene Kim, co-founder of IT Revolution and author of The Phoenix Project, reveals how AI-powered Vibe Coding is transforming the way developers work.Kim shares insights from his upcoming book about how developers are achieving unprecedented productivity, including how his co-author produces 12,000 lines of production-ready code daily using AI assistance. But it's not just about speed - learn how this approach enables developers to tackle previously impossible projects and explore larger design spaces.From DevOps evolution to practical AI implementation, Kim discusses:
2025-05-2856 min
The Secure DeveloperThe Evolution Of Platform Engineering With Massdriver CEO Cory O’DanielEpisode SummaryDive into the ever-evolving world of platform engineering with Cory O’Daniel, CEO and co-founder of Massdriver. This episode explores the journey of DevOps, the challenges of building and scaling infrastructure, and the crucial role of creating effective abstractions to empower developers. Cory shares his insights on the shift towards platform engineering as a means to build more secure and efficient software by default.Show NotesIn this episode of The Secure Developer, host Danny Allan sits down with Cory O’Daniel, CEO and co-founder of Massdriver, to discuss the dynamic land...
2025-05-2740 min
All Content Archives - Software Engineering DailyOpenTofu with Cory O’Daniel and Malcolm Matalka
OpenTofu is an open-source alternative to Terraform, designed for managing infrastructure as code. It enables users to define, provision, and manage their cloud and on-premises resources using a declarative configuration language. OpenTofu was created to ensure an open and community-driven approach to infrastructure tooling, and it emphasizes compatibility and extensibility for diverse deployment scenarios.
Cory O’Daniel is the CEO of Massdriver and he’s a founding member of OpenTofu. Malcolm Matalka is a Co-Founder at Terrateam and he’s also a founding member of OpenTofu. They join the podcast to talk about the OpenTofu project.
Sea...
2025-05-2747 minSoftware Engineering DailyOpenTofu with Cory O’Daniel and Malcolm Matalka
OpenTofu is an open-source alternative to Terraform, designed for managing infrastructure as code. It enables users to define, provision, and manage their cloud and on-premises resources using a declarative configuration language. OpenTofu was created to ensure an open and community-driven approach to infrastructure tooling, and it emphasizes compatibility and extensibility for diverse deployment scenarios.
Cory O’Daniel is the CEO of Massdriver and he’s a founding member of OpenTofu. Malcolm Matalka is a Co-Founder at Terrateam and he’s also a founding member of OpenTofu. They join the podcast to talk about the OpenTofu project.
Sea...
2025-05-2747 minPodcast Archives - Software Engineering DailyOpenTofu with Cory O’Daniel and Malcolm Matalka
OpenTofu is an open-source alternative to Terraform, designed for managing infrastructure as code. It enables users to define, provision, and manage their cloud and on-premises resources using a declarative configuration language. OpenTofu was created to ensure an open and community-driven approach to infrastructure tooling, and it emphasizes compatibility and extensibility for diverse deployment scenarios.
Cory O’Daniel is the CEO of Massdriver and he’s a founding member of OpenTofu. Malcolm Matalka is a Co-Founder at Terrateam and he’s also a founding member of OpenTofu. They join the podcast to talk about the OpenTofu project.
Sea...
2025-05-2747 min
Software Engineering DailyOpenTofu with Cory O’Daniel and Malcolm MatalkaOpenTofu is an open-source alternative to Terraform, designed for managing infrastructure as code. It enables users to define, provision, and manage their cloud and on-premises resources using a declarative configuration language. OpenTofu was created to ensure an open and community-driven approach to infrastructure tooling, and it emphasizes compatibility and extensibility for diverse deployment scenarios.
Cory O’Daniel is the CEO of Massdriver and he's a founding member of OpenTofu. Malcolm Matalka is a Co-Founder at Terrateam and he’s also a founding member of OpenTofu. They join the podcast to talk about the OpenTofu proj...
2025-05-2748 min
Platform Engineering PodcastSnyk’s Danny Allan on Making Security Developer-FriendlySecurity often feels like a roadblock to developers, but what if it could be seamlessly integrated into the development process? As software delivery becomes increasingly automated and self-service, the traditional approach to security needs a major overhaul.Danny Allan, CTO at Snyk, shares practical insights on transforming security from a bottleneck into an enabler of developer productivity. Drawing from his extensive experience at IBM, VMware, and Veeam, Allan discusses how security teams can shift left effectively without creating friction.Key topics covered:Building successful security champions programs that cultivate curiosity rather than relying solely...
2025-04-3045 min
Lights On Data ShowUnpacking DevOps Bull: Challenges, Solutions, and the FutureJoin George Firican as he hosts Cory O'Daniel, CEO and co-founder of Massdriver, in an engaging episode of the Lights On Data Show. They delve into the complexities of cloud operations, DevOps, and infrastructure management. Cory discusses his controversial article 'DevOps is Bull(bleep)' and shares insights on why traditional DevOps practices are failing modern businesses. They explore the evolving landscape of infrastructure management, the necessity of infrastructure as code, and how Massdriver aims to simplify and enhance these processes. This episode is a must-watch for anyone involved in cloud operations and looking to understand the future of...
2025-04-1826 min
Platform Engineering PodcastvCluster with Lukas Gentele: Rethinking Kubernetes Multi-TenancyAre your platform teams constantly saying "no" to requests for new Kubernetes clusters? The traditional approach to Kubernetes multi-tenancy forces organizations to choose between cluster sprawl or restrictive namespaces - neither of which fully meets the needs of modern development teams.Lukas Gentele, CEO and co-founder of Loft Labs, shares how vCluster is transforming the way organizations handle multi-tenancy in Kubernetes. By running virtual Kubernetes control planes inside namespaces, vCluster enables teams to experiment with different versions, operators, and configurations while maintaining efficient resource usage.Key topics covered:How vCluster solves the limitations of...
2025-04-1640 min
Platform Engineering PodcastBuilding Real-World Platforms: Abby Bangser on CNCF, Kratix, & SyntassoWhen organizations grow beyond using third-party platforms, they face a critical challenge: how to build internal platforms that enable teams to work efficiently while maintaining security and compliance. Abby Bangser, founding principal engineer at Syntasso, shares insights on creating real-world platforms that strike the right balance between standardization and flexibility.Key InsightsThe shift from external platforms to internal ones often comes from specific business needs, like compliance requirementsSuccessful platform engineering requires finding the right balance between prescriptive standards and flexible customizationPlatforms should offer multiple levels of abstraction - from simplified "paved paths" to advanced customization...
2025-04-0253 min
Platform Engineering PodcastSmart TV Testing Made Simple with Dave Lucia of TV LabsTesting 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...
2025-03-1947 min
Platform Engineering PodcastTrust, Lock-in, And Better Infrastructure ManagementWhy 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 re...
2025-02-261h 03
21st Century EntrepreneurshipCory O'Daniel: Will AI Fix the Cloud Skills Crisis?Cory O'Daniel is the CEO and co-founder of Massdriver and a co-founder of OpenTofu. We spoke about the growing skills crisis in cloud operations, the limitations of AI in solving it, and how companies can bridge the gap between software development and infrastructure management.Cory warns of an impending "existential crisis" in cloud expertise: "There is not a ton of people that understand how to use the cloud… and a lot of people are banking on AI solving it." But the problem, he explains, is that AI isn’t trained on the real, private complexities of cloud oper...
2025-02-1229 min
Platform Engineering PodcastMeeting Developers In Their Existing Workflows: The Terrateam AdvantageBuilding 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...
2025-02-0557 min
Startup DadYour Family Is Your #1 Investor | Cory O'Daniel (Dad of 2, co-founder and CEO, Massdriver)Cory 'O’Daniel is the co-founder and CEO of Massdriver, a platform designed to simplify and streamline the management of cloud infrastructure and DevOps processes. Cory had been a software architect and engineer for 20 years leading up to the founding of MassDriver. In addition to being an incredible founder he’s also a husband and the father of two young kids. We discussed:* Conversations he and his wife had had as he was borrowing from retirement to start Massdriver* Why enterprise sales is like your kid pooping in the bathtub* Time dedication - to y...
2025-01-231h 18
Platform Engineering PodcastBeyond GitOps: Rethinking Cloud Self-Service with Dave WilliamsIs GitOps holding your team back? In this thought-provoking conversation with Massdriver co-founder Dave Williams, we challenge conventional wisdom around cloud infrastructure management and explore why traditional approaches to compliance and self-service may be creating more problems than they solve.Discover how leading organizations are moving beyond ceremonial approval processes to create truly automated, self-service platforms that enhance developer productivity while maintaining security and control. Learn why treating infrastructure as code differently from application code could be the key to unlocking engineering velocity.Key topics covered:Why compliance doesn't require manual GitOps workflowsCreating meaningful...
2025-01-221h 16
Kubernetes for Humans#034 - Infrastructure Automation & the Future of Ops with Cory O'Daniel (Massdriver)This podcast features Cory O'Daniel, CEO of Massdriver, an infrastructure automation platform. O'Daniel discusses his extensive background in software engineering and cloud operations, highlighting his expertise in Erlang and Elixir programming languages and their applications within Kubernetes. He explains Massdriver's role in simplifying infrastructure management for both developers and operations engineers by visually representing infrastructure-as-code. The conversation also touches upon comparisons with other similar platforms like Backstage and Crossplane, emphasizing the need for tailored solutions based on organizational needs and maturity levels. Finally, O'Daniel shares his perspective on future industry trends, predicting a shift towards simpler systems while expressing...
2025-01-2232 min
Platform Engineering PodcastBreaking Down Healthcare Delivery Barriers with Joel VasalloFeeling 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 a...
2025-01-0850 min
Platform Engineering PodcastCloud Migration Strategies with Alex Voorhees of 66 DegreesNavigating 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 ne...
2024-12-1152 min
Platform Engineering PodcastDemocratizing Kubernetes: The Kubefirst Journey with John DietzJohn 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.
2024-11-281h 05
Platform Engineering PodcastExecuting Well in Healthcare with Jessica KalinowskiJessica 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...
2024-11-1351 min
Modern Cyber with Jeremy SnyderCory O'Daniel of MassdriverIn this thought-provoking episode of Modern Cyber, Jeremy talks with Cory O'Daniel, Co-Founder and CEO of Massdriver, about the evolving world of infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and platform automation. Cory, known for his candid views on cloud operations and DevOps, shares Massdriver's approach to IaC, emphasizing simplicity, security, and efficiency in platform automation. From navigating challenges like Terraform’s hard fork to embracing a streamlined and developer-friendly module approach, Cory offers practical insights on creating a cloud environment where developers aren’t bogged down by complexity. The discussion also dives into the DevOps philosophy, addressing its ongoing challenges, and the promises (and...
2024-11-1248 min
Platform Engineering PodcastSolomon Hykes on Docker, Dagger, and the Future of DevOpsIn 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, t...
2024-10-3055 min
Dev InterruptedThe Real Measure of Success in Platform Engineering | MassDriver CEO Cory O'DanielIt’s time we recognize the idea of a ‘Golden Path’ is unrealistic.In this episode of Dev Interrupted, host Dan Lines is joined by Cory O'Daniel, CEO of MassDriver, to discuss Cory’s provocative article 'DevOps is Bullshit'. They cover the pitfalls of DevOps, the evolution of cloud operations and whether or not platform engineering is the solution the industry needs .Cory shares insights on why many organizations struggle with DevOps implementation, the impact of cloud technology on traditional operations, and how internal developer platforms are reshaping the industry.Topics:01:03...
2024-10-2245 min
Platform Engineering PodcastSecurity and Scalability with Justin Berman from Thirty MadisonIn 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 S...
2024-10-1759 min
Platform Engineering PodcastEngineering Culture Change with Stack Overflow’s Peter O’ConnorJoin us as we learn about Stack Overflow's monumental shift from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud with Peter O'Connor, Director of Platform Engineering. Peter shares invaluable insights on navigating the complexities of migrating a beloved developer platform, balancing technical challenges with team dynamics, and fostering a culture of innovation. From the intricacies of lift-and-shift strategies to the nuances of adopting microservices, this episode offers a masterclass in modern platform engineering. Discover how Stack Overflow is revolutionizing its architecture while maintaining its core mission of serving developers worldwide.Guest: Peter O'Connor, Director of Platform Engineering at Stack Overflow
2024-10-0354 min
Platform Engineering PodcastPlatform Engineering for Social Good with Code for America’s Grace HuntleyWant your work to mean more?In this inspiring episode of the Platform Engineering Podcast, we welcome Grace Huntley, Director of Engineering for DevOps, InfoSec, and Safety Net Innovation Lab at Code for America. Grace shares her unconventional journey from licensed plumber to civic tech leader, driven by personal experiences and a passion for solving societal challenges through technology. Discover how Code for America is revolutionizing government services, making them more accessible and efficient for those in need. Grace discusses the transition from private sector to civic tech, the challenges of working with government systems, a...
2024-09-1844 min
Platform Engineering PodcastBridging Tech and Human Factors in Platform Engineering with Morteza IrdmousaTechnical expertise is undoubtedly important when it comes to implementing Platform Engineering but unless you are also paying close attention to the human factor and the cultural aspects of building an effective team it will be much harder to succeed.Cory talks to Morteza Irdmousa, Head of Platform Engineering at Curative, about his experiences in Platform Engineering and DevOps. Join them as they explore the need for a holistic approach that considers both technical and cultural aspects of implementing Platform teams. Gain valuable insights and actionable takeaways as they discuss key issues such as team integration, psychological...
2024-09-0446 min
Roaring ElephantEpisode 417 – OpenTofu: the Platform Engineering Future?Listen to our guest Cory O'Daniel, CEO of Massdriver and one of the outspoken people behind Open Tofu explain why OpenTofu became inevitable after the Terraform license change by Hashicorps.
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2024-09-0334 min
Platform Engineering PodcastFrom Netflix to the Cloud: Adrian Cockroft on DevOps, Microservices, and SustainabilityIn this episode Cory sits down with Adrian Cockroft, a pioneering technologist who played a crucial role in Netflix's transition to cloud computing and microservices architecture. Adrian shares insights from his impressive career, including his work at Netflix, AWS, and beyond. He discusses the evolution of DevOps practices, the rise of microservices, and the challenges of platform engineering in today's complex cloud environments. Adrian also delves into the pressing issue of sustainability in tech, offering valuable perspectives on the environmental impact of AI and machine learning workloads. Whether you're a seasoned DevOps professional or just starting your journey in...
2024-08-221h 01
Platform Engineering PodcastFoundations of The Cloud With Brian Grant, KubernetesIt’s episode four of the Platform Engineering Podcast’s special series on the Foundations of The Cloud! This time Cory O'Daniel sits down with Brian Grant, the original lead architect of Kubernetes, to dive deep into the history and evolution of Kubernetes in cloud operations. Brian shares his journey from working in supercomputing to joining Google and helping develop Kubernetes. He also provides insights on the importance of Kubernetes' declarative model, managing complexity in cloud native environments, and the extensive impact and future potential of Kubernetes. Tune in to learn more about the intricate details of platform engineering and...
2024-08-0756 min
Platform Engineering PodcastFoundations of The Cloud With Mitchell Hashimoto, TerraformIn this third episode of the Platform Engineering Podcast’s special series on the Foundations of The Cloud, host Corey O'Daniel interviews Mitchell Hashimoto, co-founder of HashiCorp and creator of Terraform, Vault, and Nomad. They discuss the intricacies of platform engineering, the history and evolution of Terraform, the advent of infrastructure as code, and the challenges accompanying it. Mitchell also shares insights on his new project, Ghostly, a high-performance terminal emulator, and delves into how generative AI will transform operations engineering. Listen to this episode to get valuable lessons for both industry veterans and newcomers.Guest: Mitchell Ha...
2024-07-2453 min
Platform Engineering PodcastFoundations of The Cloud With Adam Jacob, ChefIn this second episode of the Platform Engineering Podcast’s special series on the Foundations of The Cloud, Cory O’Daniel meets up with Adam Jacob, co-founder of Chef and System Initiative. They discuss his early interest in infrastructure and automation, the development and impact of Chef in the DevOps community, and his transition to becoming a CEO. The conversation emphasizes the community and technological advancements Chef brought to the industry and introduces the ambitious goals of his current project, System Initiative. Don't miss this insightful conversation—tune in now to discover the future of infrastructure and automation!Gues...
2024-07-101h 00
Founders TableWhy DevOps is Bulls**t with Cory O’DanielCory O'Daniel is the CEO and co-founder of Massdriver, a cloud platform and visual development environment. Massdriver aims to simplify cloud infrastructure management and DevOps processes, allowing engineering teams to focus on building products rather than managing complex cloud setups. Prior to Massdriver, Cory spent over a decade working on backend, cloud, and platform - Massdriver started out as an internal tool he build to help automate much of that work.In today's episode, we talk about:* where to find the best taco's in Los Angeles* recurring frustrations with ops and cloud that...
2024-07-1055 min
Cloud RealitiesCR071: Bridging the cloud infrastructure talent gap with software with Cory O'Daniel, MassdriverThe rising shortage of IT professionals is a critical issue, driven by rapid technological advancements and a growing demand for specialized skills, leaving businesses struggling to fill crucial roles at a time that they are still struggling to implement and/or mature new devops concepts.This week, Dave and Rob talk to Cory O'Daniel, CEO and Co-Founder at Massdriver about using software to bridge the cloud infrastructure talent gap, the role of platform engineering in this ongoing challenge, a state of the nation on maturity on the ground in platform engineering devops teams and...
2024-07-041h 07
Platform Engineering PodcastFoundations of the Cloud with Mark Burgess, CFEngineIn this special episode of the Platform Engineering Podcast on Foundations of The Cloud, Cory O'Daniel chats with Mark Burgess, the creator of CFEngine and a pioneer in configuration management. They dive into Mark's journey from physics to computer science, the birth of CFEngine, and the dynamic world of system administration and DevOps. They also explore the evolution of IT operations, the challenges of managing modern infrastructures, and the future promises of AI and autonomous systems in tech. Join us for an insightful discussion filled with historical anecdotes, practical advice, and visionary ideas for the future of platform engineering.
2024-06-2657 min
Platform Engineering PodcastNavigating AI And Platform Engineering With Amey PatilIn this episode of the Platform Engineering Podcast, Cory O’Daniel speaks with Amey Patil, Head of Platform Engineering at Google Ads and Google Analytics. They discuss the evolving landscape of platform engineering, the integration of AI and ML, and the human factors essential for leading successful platform teams. From managing legacy code migrations to fostering a culture of innovation, Amey shares insights and strategies that are vital for both seasoned professionals and newcomers to the field. Tune in to gain valuable knowledge and stay ahead in the dynamic world of platform engineering.Love the show? Subscribe, ra...
2024-06-1255 min
The CollabTalk PodcastEpisode 129 | Bridging the Cloud Infrastructure Talent Gap with Software with Cory O'DanielFor this episode, I spoke with Cory O'Daniel (@coryodaniel), CEO and Co-Founder of Massdriver, on innovative software solutions for addressing the cloud infrastructure talent gap.
You can find more information on my guest on my blog at https://buckleyplanet.com/2024/06/collabtalk-podcast-episode-129-with-cory-odaniel/
2024-06-0650 min
Platform Engineering PodcastThe Role Of Startups In Moving Platform Engineering Forward With Colton Dempsey Of Next 47Startups always bring refreshing perspectives and brand-new ideas to any space, and the platform engineering industry is no different. In this episode, Cory O'Daniel sits down with Colton Dempsey of Next47 to discuss the important role of startup ventures in the progress of platform engineering. He explains the five categories of startups, why many of them are building more diverse feature sets, and the most effective monetization approaches for open-source projects. Colton also delves into the rise of cloud-native technologies and Kubernetes, detailing how they influenced his investment strategies.Guest: Colton Dempsey, Partner at Next47Colt...
2024-05-0858 min
Platform Engineering PodcastUnlocking the Potential of Hybrid Cloud with Cory O'DanielIn this episode Chris Hill asks Cory O’Daniel, CEO and co-founder of Massdriver, to explain the concept and benefits of hybrid cloud, including the use of multiple cloud providers and container services for scalability and flexibility. The discussion also addresses the security and networking challenges that using hybrid cloud implies. Guest: Cory O'Daniel, CEO at Massdriver
2024-04-1010 min
Platform Engineering PodcastInfrastructure As Code: Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery With Cory O'DanielChris Hill sits down with Cory O'Daniel to talk about how Infrastructure as Code can help with disaster recovery and business continuity. From the technology and personnel challenges to scenarios such as losing one of your regions and the importance of backup plans, learn how IaC can be used to help ensure data and operations are not affected.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, & share! Guest: Cory O'Daniel, CEO at Massdriver
2024-03-2710 min
Platform Engineering PodcastDevOps & Platform Engineering - What's The Difference? With Dave WilliamsIn this week's episode, Chris Hill gets Dave Williams to go deeper into how platform engineering is moving one step beyond DevOps. Listen in as they discuss the skill sets, principles, and mindset needed to enable this evolution in the field.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, & share!Guest: Dave Williams, CTO at Massdriver
2024-03-1308 min
Cloud UnfilteredCory O'Daniel on DevOps vs. Platform EngineeringCory O'Daniel, CEO of Massdriver discusses his blog series, which contains the article entitled "DevOps is BS!". Find out why he and others are coming to the conclusion that this may be the case. Additionally, Cory discusses the need for a more consolidated approach to DevOps and how platform engineering may be the answer. Find Out: - What is DevOps. Do we all agree? - What is Platform engineering and how does it help? - How do we handle security in a cloud native manner? - What do we really care about for sloud nartive development? Find out this...
2024-03-1149 min
Platform Engineering PodcastIs DevOps Bullshit? An Interview With Cory O’Daniel, Author Of The “DevOps Is Bullshit” Blog PostDevOps was conceived as a way to bring developers and operations together, but has it really worked? In this episode, Dave Williams sits down with Cory O’Daniel to discuss his controversial blog post “DevOps Is Bullshit.” Find out why Cory sees platform engineering as a solution. Discover its potential as an antidote to the unmet promises and inherent challenges within the current DevOps landscape. Tune in now!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, & share!Guest: Cory O'Daniel, CEO at MassdriverLinks to interesting things from this episode:MassdriverMicrosoft For StartupsArticle: DevOps i...
2024-02-2817 min
Platform Engineering PodcastWhat Is Platform Engineering? A Cloud Operation Engineer’s PerspectiveFor teams ingrained in DevOps practices, Platform Engineering ushers in a broader horizon, a fresh perspective on managing infrastructure. But what does Platform Engineering offer, especially for those adept in cloud operations? In this episode, Cory O’Daniel talks to Chris Hill about platform engineering from the perspective of a cloud operations engineer. From the importance of security and compliance and the challenges faced by developers to the impact of Massdriver to deliver infrastructure management to engineers, Chris shares insights from his decade-long experience. Tune in for an exploration of platform engineering's evolution!Love the show? Subscribe, ra...
2024-02-1415 min
Adventures in DevOpsNavigating DevOps Challenges with Cory O'Daniel - DevOps 191Cory O'Daniel is the CEO and co-founder of Massdriver. They dive into the world of DevOps, technology decisions, and the challenges of working with Ops teams. In this episode, they explore the frustrations and bottlenecks of integrating external databases, the humorous side of help desk horror stories, and the impact of AI on software engineering. Cory shares his insights on scaling Ops, the evolving nature of cloud infrastructure, and the changing landscape of employment in the tech industry.SocialsLinkedIn: Cory O'Daniel
2024-02-081h 27
Platform Engineering PodcastWhat Is Platform Engineering? From A Developer's PerspectiveFor teams ingrained in DevOps practices, this term ushers in a broader horizon, a fresh perspective on managing infrastructure and applications. But what does Platform Engineering offer?In this episode, Cory talks to Dave Williams about platform engineering and why he sees this as the future of running applications in the cloud.Guest: Dave Williams, CTO at Massdriver
2024-02-0714 min
Legacy Code RocksSustainable Opensource with Cory O’DonelBack in August 2023, HashiCorp announced that after nine years of Terraform being open source under the MPL license, they were switching it to a non-open source BSL license. This sent shockwaves through the software development community. Today we talk with Cory O'Daniel, a CEO and co-founder of Massdriver, a company helping improve developers' experience of cloud operations, offering self-service capabilities along with governance and guardrails to developers. Cory is also one of the drivers behind the Open TF initiative in response to Hashicorp's changing their open source licenses from MPL to BSL. He tells us why this s...
2024-01-0855 min
Starting to KnowHow & When To Raise MoneyCory O'Daniel is the CEO and Co-Founder at Massdriver, a company that helps to improve the developer experience of cloud operations, offering self-service capabilities along with governance and guardrails to developers. A seasoned expert in DevTools, SRE, and platform engineering, Cory has built startups and managed cloud operations for over 20 years. Cory is also the creator of Bonny, an Elixir-based Kubernetes operator framework. Everyone, from Systems Engineers to SaaS founders, from CTOs and CEOs to VCs, needs to hear what Cory has to share about the future of the cloud and how to deploy secure, best-practice clo...
2023-12-0226 minSoftware Engineering DailyPlatform Engineering with Cory O’DanielPlatform engineering is difficult to get right, and in the age of DevOps and cloud computing, software developers increasingly serve as platform engineers while they're building their applications. This can be an engineering challenge because organizations often require their platforms to provide fine-grained control and compliance management.Cory O'Daniel is the CEO and Co-Founder of Massdriver, which he started in 2021 with the goal of helping engineering and operations teams build internal developer platforms. Cory's company was in the 2022 Y Combinator class, and he has been hard at work developing his platform. He joins the show today to...
2023-10-1947 min
Secure Talk PodcastA Better Way to Deploy Cloud InfrastructureCory O'Daniel is the CEO and Co-Founder of Massdriver a company that provides self-service capabilities for deploying cloud infrastructure in an optimal manner for both cost and governance. Cory talks a bit about Massdriver's service and explains the challenges of traditional dev ops, and how dev ops is evolving. He also talks about what founders should look for when selecting a funding partner.
Massdriver
https://www.massdriver.cloud/
The Secure Talk Podcast
https://securetalkpodcast.com/
2023-07-2744 min
Industrial IoT SpotlightEP 174- The future of low-code DevOpIn this episode, we talked to Cory O'Daniel, CEO and co-founder at Massdriver. Massdriver helps engineers deploy best-practice cloud architectures with integrated observability and security without being a DevOps expert. In this talk, we discussed the evolution of DevOps and cloud computing and why traditional DevOps practices don't work well for many start-ups today. We also explored the promise of generative AI to alien DevOps programming. Key Questions: What industries are mostly involved in DevOps programming? What are the improvements needed for DevOps nowadays? How do you see the democratization of access to AI...
2023-04-2552 min
Elixir WizardsCory O'Daniel and the Future of DevOps in Elixir ProgrammingIn this episode of Elixir Wizards, Cory O'Daniel, CEO of Massdriver, talks with Sundi and Owen about the role of DevOps in the future of Elixir programming. They discuss the advantages of using Elixir for cloud infrastructure and the challenges of securing cloud systems. They elaborate on their hopes for the future, including processes and automation to streamline operations so programmers can spend more time doing what they love … writing software!
Major topics of discussion in the episode:
Cory’s ideal ratio of hot sauce to honey (recommended for chicken)
Why this episode was renamed “how Cory a...
2023-03-3045 min
DevOps For EveryoneCory O'Daniel - CEO & Co-Founder at MassdriverCory O'Daniel is the CEO and one of 3 Co-Founders of Massdriver - the company that helps engineers deploy best-practice cloud architectures with integrated observability and security without being a DevOps expert.
In this chat we hear about Cory's journey to becoming CEO, we hear how they treat Kubernetes as the 4th cloud and we find out what it was like to raise investment in this economy.
As well as CEO and Co-Founder, Cory is an Elixir specialist lending his knowledge and expertise to the continued development of Massdriver's platform.
Reach out to Cory via...
2022-07-2542 min