Networks

Introduction

I run the DevOps team at Livestream, which includes all of the technical operations as well as some of the back-end and internal tool development for the company.

What languages/frameworks do you use (Java, .NET, PHP, Ruby, etc.)?

I'm old school, I still prefer perl (I know, I know). But at work we use python, node.js, rails, scala, and java (although I'll admit I don't touch any java).

What topics might you be interested in?

I've come up through the operations ranks into a leadership role, and so while I've worked hand-in-hand with developers my entire career, and done and led a certain amount of development, it hasn't been a primary focus. I'd love to get more of a jumpstart there, learn about techniques, pitfalls, etc. from people who've spent more time than me in the software development trenches. I'm also interested in networking and learning more about what's going on around me - it's easy to get stuck in a rut with the demands of the job, and I don't want to lose touch with what's out there.

Do you have any specific areas of expertise? Would you be willing to share it with the group?

As I mentioned, most of my career I've worked on the operational side, so that's my primary expertise. I'd be willing to contribute.

What is your favorite unit test framework and why?

This is where some of my inexperience in the dev side of things shows through... I've played a little bit w/ the Test::* frameworks in Perl, and done even less w/ a few others, but I can't honestly say I've spent a lot of time w/ any of them in any language.

What is your favorite version control system and why?

Git... I've used cvs, svn, and git, and git is super-fast and pretty easy to pick up, once you get the general concept. But any vcs is better than none. :)