ShipTalk - SRE, DevOps, Platform Engineering, Software Delivery
ShipTalk is a podcast series that explores the ins, outs, ups, and downs of software delivery. It brings aboard industry tech leaders, seasoned engineers, and insightful customers to navigate through the currents of the ever-evolving software landscape. Each session covers real-world challenges and victories encountered by today's tech innovators, covering topics like SRE, DevOps, Platform Engineering, and Software Delivery. The podcast is hosted by Harness and aims to provide invaluable insights for Engineering Managers, Software Engineers, and enthusiasts.
Episodes
ShipTalk Season 4 Finale: Engineering Excellence at AWS re:Invent
Welcome to the Season 4 finale of the Ship Talk podcast! Join special host Thomas Dockstader and several industry leaders at AWS re:Invent to discuss the intersection of AI and software delivery. The following is a series of interviews with partners, customers, and engineering leaders on the front lines of AI transformation.Don't miss the "Ship It or Skip It" segment, where our gues
Special ShipTalk Episode from DND NYC 2026
This is a special episode where we sat down with the speakers at DevOpsNotDead NYC 2026 to hear their perspectives on how AI is transforming software delivery.Connect with our guests:https://www.linkedin.com/in/diamondbishophttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sadiojonas/https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuamlee/https://www.linkedin.com/in/akash-thakur-00367a155/https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahender-mangalasri
Special ShipTalk Episode from SREday NYC 2026
This is a special episode where we sat down with the speakers at SREday NYC 2026 to hear their perspectives on how AI is transforming software delivery.
Crown Jewels In, Crown Jewels Out – The Hidden Risk of AI with Devan Shah (IBM)
How do you secure data in the age of Agentic AI? 🤖🔐In this episode of ShipTalk, Dewan Ahmed sits down with Devan Shah, Chief Architect of Data Security at IBM, to explore the massive shift from traditional DevOps to AI-infused software delivery.Devan shares his journey from being a chef to leading an "army" of 450+ developers at IBM. They dive deep into the technical bedrock of IBM’s &qu
CTO Predictions for 2026: How AI Will Change Software Development (with Harness Field CTO Nick Durkin)
In this special predictions episode of ShipTalk, host Dewan Ahmed (Principal Developer Advocate, Harness) sits down with Nick Durkin, Field CTO at Harness, to unpack what’s actually coming in 2026—beyond the hype.They explore whether we’re heading toward the first AI-caused production meltdown, how much trust we should place in AI "confidence," and why many teams may face a wave of AI-dr
Beyond the Magic Box: Solving AI Hallucinations with Precision RAG (with Evgeny Ilinykh)
In this episode of the ShipTalk Podcast, host Dewan Ahmed (Principal Developer Advocate at Harness) sits down with Evgeny Ilinykh (Founder of GuidedMind.ai and former Tesla Engineering Manager) to move past the AI hype and get into the engineering reality of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).If your AI agents are hallucinating, the problem probably isn't your model—it’s your retrieval laye
Shipping Practical AI: How to Build Real-World ML for 2D Drawings (with Marina Petzel)
In this episode of Ship Talk, host Dewan Ahmed (Principal Developer Advocate, Harness) sits down with Marina Petzel, Senior ML Engineer and AI Productivity Lead at Autodesk, to unpack what it actually looks like to ship AI into long-lived, production software.Marina shares her journey from classic predictive analytics to computer vision and LLMs, and how her team brings intelligent features like S
Beyond Dashboards: How AI Is Redefining Developer Productivity with Adeeb Valiulla
In this episode of ShipTalk, host Dewan Ahmed sits down with Adeeb Valiulla, a leader in developer productivity and engineering excellence at Harness, to explore how AI is transforming the very definition of software productivity.Adeeb shares his journey from building early engineering metrics systems at Sensormatic to leading developer efficiency initiatives for Fortune 500 companies. Together, t
AI for Security vs Security for AI: From IBM Master Inventor to Microsoft AI Architect
Dewan Ahmed sits down with Fatih Bulut, AI Architect at Microsoft and former IBM Research Master Inventor, to separate hype from reality in AI for software delivery and cybersecurity. Fatih clarifies AI for security vs security for AI, walks through detection engineering as real software engineering, and explains proactive defense across an attack’s phases. He digs into the hard part of shipping:
Debugging Developer Productivity in an AI-native World with Aravind Putrevu (CodeRabbit)
In this episode of ShipTalk, Chinmay Gaikwad sits down with Aravind Putrevu, Head of Developer Relations at CodeRabbit, and dives into the evolving landscape of AI in software development. Aravind shares insights on the influence of AI tools across the software development lifecycle, from coding and code reviews to automation and security. Aravind highlights the pivotal role of context engineering
DORA, DevEx, and the Role of AI with Nathen Harvey (Google Cloud)
In this kickoff episode of ShipTalk Season 4, Dewan sits down with Nathen Harvey, DORA Lead and Developer Advocate at Google Cloud, to explore how DevOps metrics and AI are transforming software delivery.From his early days in DevOps to leading the DORA initiative, Nathen shares lessons from open-source communities, the role of culture, and how AI is reshaping documentation, incident response, and
From Windows Kernel to AI-Native Platforms: Scaling Engineering Teams and Systems with Puneet Saraswat
In this special season 3 finale of ShipTalk, host Dewan Ahmed sits down with Puneet Saraswat, VP of Engineering at Harness, for an inspiring conversation about engineering leadership, system design, and the evolution of software delivery.What You'll Learn:Career Journey: Follow Puneet's path from discovering programming in a hot computer lab in North India to building Windows 7 kernel co
Virtualizing Kubernetes: Efficiency and Developer Experience with Lukas Gentele from Loft Labs
In this episode of the ShipTalk podcast, co-host Eric Minick talks with Lukas Gentele, co-founder and CEO of LoftLabs, about revolutionizing Kubernetes infrastructure through virtualization. Lukas shares his entrepreneurial journey starting from age 16 and explains how his company pivoted to create vcluster, a technology that virtualizes Kubernetes control planes similar to how VMs virtualize phys
ShipTalk S03E08 - From Motocross to Microservices (Kyle Galbraith, CEO of depot.dev)
In this episode, Dewan sits down (virtually) with Kyle Galbraith, co-founder of Depot, to explore his unique journey from motocross videographer to startup founder. Kyle shares how his early experiences in film and programming shaped his approach to solving technical problems, and why he co-founded Depot to tackle the challenge of slow build processes.Kyle dives into the real impact of inefficient
DevOps Decoded: Navigating the ServiceNow Ecosystem with Ron Gidron
In this edition of ShipTalk podcast, Ron Gidron, CEO of X Type, discusses the unique challenges of DevOps in platform-based environments like ServiceNow, emphasizing the complexities of managing multiple code bases and environments. He highlights the importance of visibility, governance, and automation in modern software development, sharing insights from his decades of experience in the tech indu
Write It Down: Brendan O'Leary from Prefect.io
Brendan O’Leary shares his journey from helping GitLab scale to IPO to his current role at Prefect.io, focusing on Pythonic orchestration. He explains why Prefect chose Python and how orchestration tools like Prefect complement CI/CD platforms like GitLab CI/CD and Harness in DevOps workflows.We discuss the evolution of Developer Relations, its ROI, and tips for building sustainable open-source co
The Right Time for Adoption: DevOps Trends with Cerbos' Alex Olivier
In this episode of ShipTalk, host Dewan Ahmed sits down with Alex Olivier, the CPO and Co-founder of Cerbos, to explore the evolving landscape of DevOps and the critical role of authorization in modern software development. With a wealth of experience designing enterprise solutions, Alex shares his insights on how to balance developer productivity with security, making the case for adopting tools
Mastering Stress and Automation in DevOps with Vishwa Krishnakumar (Zenduty)
In this episode of the Ship Talk podcast, host Dewan Ahmed welcomes Vishwa Krishnakumar, co-founder of ZenDuty, to delve into the complexities of software delivery, from managing stress as a startup founder to the nuances of DevOps and SRE practices. Vishwa shares his journey from a young coder to a successful entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of physical and mental well-being in high-press
10 years into K8s; when is a problem worth solving? Ken Ahrens - Speedscale
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined with Ken Ahrens, CEO and Founder of Speedscale. Kubernetes is turning 10 this summer and we dig into how the ecosystem has been evolving. Learn more from Ken as he walks through his journey on:* Don't forget the fundamentals * 10 Years into K8s, what is still challenging* Enthusiasm, a very important skill
From Code to Culture: Matt Anger's Odyssey in Software Engineering at DoorDash
Explore the ins and outs of software engineering and organizational culture in the ShipTalk Podcast. In this episode, Dewan Ahmed, a Principal Developer Advocate at Harness, engages in a compelling conversation with Matt Anger, a Senior Staff Engineer at DoorDash.In this insightful discussion, Matt reflects on his career, from a fresh graduate to his current role as an engineering leader at DoorDa
Starting an SRE Practice in a Critical Industry - Vlad Ukis - Siemens Healthineers
Welcome to the latest season of ShipTalk! In this episode, we get to talk to Dr. Vlad Ukis, Head of R&D for Siemens Healthineers and author of Establishing SRE Foundations. We cover several great topics from starting and scaling an SRE function in a healthcare/regulated industry to how to go about renegotiating your SLOs. * Road to SaaS* How to renegotiate SLOs* Changes in SRE practices throug
ShipTalk - S02E08 - Home automation, the remote worker to manager gap, and living in an RV - Scott Lee - Arch Mortgage Insurance Company
In this episode of ShipTalk, Arch Mortgage Insurance Company's Head of Infrastructure and Operations, Scott Lee, discusses his home automation solution, deep dives into the massive gap between remote workers and their managers, and share a story about that one time he lived in an RV for 18 months with his wife and 2 dogs.IntroductionsJust for fun #1 - Automate all the things at homeMain topic
ShipTalk - S02E07 - Cloud Native DevOps in Financial Services, Croatian magic, and health education for kids - Bijit Ghosh - Deutsche Bank
In this episode of ShipTalk, Deutsche Bank's Head of Cloud Engineering , Bijit Ghosh, takes us on a culinary journey to Croatia, discusses cloud native adoption and cultural change in the high stakes world of financial services, and brings us all home for meal time with the Ghosh family.IntroductionsJust for fun #1 - Bijit's favorite travel destinationMain topic - Cloud Native adoption a
ShipTalk - S02E06 - Its All About the People - Imposter Syndrome - Deserted Island Foods
In this episode of ShipTalk, our host Jim Hirschauer interviews many of the speakers from the WTF is SRE conference and discusses the many life lessons they express. This episode is packed with important lessons to help you interact with your co-workers and to succeed in life in general. The crew also has some fun discussing foods for a deserted island.IntroductionWhat's your favorite...?If y
ShipTalk - A new word for techies, using your observability data lake to do good, and some HEMA-toma inducing sword play - Hilliary Lipsig - Red Hat
In this episode of ShipTalk (The SRE Edition), Red Hat's Chief Mermaid, Hilliary Lipsig, defines a new word that all techies should adopt into their vocabulary. For the main course, Hilliary describes how to use Observability data to do so much more than most companies are doing today. She also shares her favorite hobby which is something I have never heard of before.IntroductionsJust for fun
ShipTalk - The value of IDP at AWS, the $1M cellular outage, and the most useless beer cooler ever - Kyle Shelton - Consultant to Toyota Racing
In this episode of ShipTalk (The SRE Edition), Kyle Shelton tells us about his experience using and building developer platforms to enhance the developer experience. He also shares his favorite hobby and cautionary tale about a preventable outage that cost ~$1M ... ouch! Be sure to check out Kyle blog site at https://chaoskyle.com/IntroductionsJust for fun #1 - Kyle's favorite hobbyMain topic
ShipTalk - A "Civ tech tree" for SREs, the M-word, and a new unit of measure called "Micro-Jacksons" - Steve McGhee - DevRel at Google
In this episode of ShipTalk (The SRE Edition), Steve McGhee shares tells us about a new open-source project that helps SREs understand which capabilities are required to achieve increasing levels of reliability (the nines). He also shares some interesting stories about misadventures with user files and how Google handled the news that Michael Jackson had passed away.IntroductionsJust for fun #1 -
ShipTalk - Heavy Rock, Netflix vs. Google, Continuous Resiliency, and a Lost City - a conversation with Adrian Cockcroft
In this episode of ShipTalk (The SRE Edition), Adrian Cockcroft shares his thoughts on "the 5th accelerate metric" - reliability - and the State of DevOps, using error budgets, and how to achieve continuous reliability. He shares some interesting stories about the differences between Netflix and Google, as well as some personal stories to boot.IntroductionsJust for fun #1 - Adrian's
ShipTalk - Lean into pipelines for speed, efficiency, and reliability - Bryan Finster - Defense Unicorns
In this episode of ShipTalk (The SRE Edition), Bryan Finster discusses how to ensure reliability and resiliency across the SDLC by making everything part of the pipeline.IntroductionsJust for fun #1 - Bryan's favorite hobbyMain topic - Leaning into delivery pipelines to ensure reliability and resiliency while creating efficiencies.Just for fun #2 - Bryan's worst IT mess upClosing
ShipTalk - Don't Let Efficiency Nuke Your Reliability - Matt Schillerstrom - Harness
In this episode of ShipTalk (The SRE Edition), Matt Schillerstrom shares stories from his time working in reliability at a nuclear power plant and at Target. We've changed up the format of ShipTalk to include some sections that are just for fun...IntroductionsJust for fun #1 - 1 truth and 1 lieMain topic - The impact of efficiency initiatives and how to avoid/minimize the negative consequence
A Master Class in DevOps Executive Coaching - Joni - StackHawk
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by Joni Klippert who is the CEO of StackHawk. Joni has been in leadership roles in the DevOps space for over a decade helping run and launch exciting products in an ever-evolving space. Joni dove into cloud computing and DevOps and has not stopped growing. In this Master Class, we dive into what it takes to start in a new space from scratch. Navigating lo
A Time Before, During, and After Kubernetes - Santiago - GumGum
In this episode of ShipTalk we are joined by Santiago Campuzano. Santiago is a Lead DevOps Engineer at GumGum and has seen his fair share of distributed systems. Santiago used to build distributed Java/JEE applications for the financial sector and has gone through the early days of containerization leveraging technologies such as Apache Mesos and Apache Marathon before leveraging Kubernetes. We g
What is O11Y? Observability Demystified - Chris Riley - Splunk
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by Chris Riley who is a Senior Developer Advocate at Splunk. Chris's background spans years of professional services and being an advocate. Chris is part of the Observability Panel at {unscripted} 2021 and gives us a background in O11Y, aka Observability. With any new technology, there is an internal need to advocate for change. Chris also talks abou
From House Fires to Production Fires - James Bohrman - Cloudspeakers
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by James Bohrman who is the founder of Cloudspeakers. James had an interesting path to technology. James started his careeras an emergency dispatch technician for a security monitoring firm. From receiving calls about literal house fires to putting out metaphoric fires in production as a Site Reliability Engineer. Making the initial jump from a dispatch
DevOps in a Highly Regulated Industry - Donovon Carter - Dexcom
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by Donovon Carter who is a DevOps Engineer at Dexcom, a medical device company. Dexcom is one of the firms leading the charge against diabetes with CGM, constant glucose monitoring technology. Donovon graduated from university with a political science degree, which comes in handy with all of the negotiations that a DevOps organization and engineer have to
Shifting Complexities in DevOps - Jim Shilts - NADOG/Shipa
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by Jim Shilts who is the founder and organizer of North American DevOps Group or NADOG and is a developer advocate at the cloud-native firm Shipa. Jim has been working on solving engineering efficiency problems for over 20 years working at firms such as Build Forge and Electric Cloud, pre-dating the inception of Hudson/Jenkins. As Jim walks through his ex
Washing Away Imposter Syndrome - Bart Farrell - Data on Kubernetes Community
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by Bart Farrell who leads the Data on Kubernetes Community. Bart certainly has not had a traditional path to technology with stops in theology and talent management. Bart has made two leaps, one into tech and one into a more bleeding edge/crypto part of technology, running stateful workloads on Kubernetes. Not being afraid of change and finding confidence
The Brass Tacks of Open Source - Tracy Miranda - Continuous Delivery Foundation
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by Tracy Miranda who is the Executive Director of the Continuous Delivery Foundation which is part of the Linux Foundation. Tracy has been leading open source communities prior to her time at the CDF at Cloudbees and has spent time on the governing board of the Eclipse Foundation. Tracy chats through her experience creating thriving open source communitie
Dev and Ops, DevOps from the Ops Side - Chris - ABC Fitness
In this episode of ShipTalk, we talk to Chris Jowett who is a DevOps Architect at ABC Fitness. Chris has significant system engineering experience and has worked on several operations teams in various organizations. DevOps is the operational focus on development scaling e.g engineering efficiency. There is no one path for a DevOps engineer, learn from Chris as the evolution in operations teams oc
Finding Your Tribe - Tracy Ragan - DeployHub
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by Tracy Ragan who is the CEO of DeployHub. Tracy is no stranger to open source communities spending time with the Eclipse Foundation and Continuous Delivery Foundation [part of the Linux Foundation]. A software and open source community is more than just a place to get free software, the community aspect is crucial. Especially during the COVID pandemic,
Scaling to Scale - Bob Chen - ADP
In this episode of ShipTalk, we are joined by Bob Chen who is a Director of DevOps at ADP. Bob has been practicing and now leading DevOps organizations since the inception of the term DevOps. Bob talks about the art and tact required to scale your team, technology, and to further the craft. The tips and advice can be used across any set of new technology paradigms.
DevOps and Education, Closer Than You Think - David - GoSpotCheck
In this episode of ShipTalk, we have a great conversation with David Sudia who is a Senior DevOps Engineer at GoSpotCheck. Prior to being a DevOps Engineer, David was an educator then software engineer for a large eCommerce site. Balancing long and short-term goals, sometimes moving a mountain takes time and sometimes incremental confidence can happen in a sprint. Learn from David in his vast exp
Always Stay Curious - DevOps Leadership - Frank - DataStax
In this episode of ShipTalk, we talk to Frank Moley who is a Senior Manager of platform engineering at DataStax. Having the ability to respect multiple points of views and opinions are critical in modern engineering roles. We are sum total of our experiences and opinions are usually formed by tangential thoughts and opinions of others. In this episode learn from Frank as he evolved from software
Scaling Your Career and DevOps Organization - Nidhi - Nationwide
In this episode of ShipTalk, Nidhi Allipuram who is the AVP of DevOps Platforms at Nationwide Insurance talks about a career journey to DevOps and how the genesis of the DevOps transformation at Nationwide started. In this excellent episode, we chat about empathy and how leaders can empathize. Nidhi has an interesting approach where she mob programs with her teams to keep her skills sharp. As her
Site Reliability Engineering 101 - Bob Strecansky - MailChimp
In this episode, we talk to Bob Strecansky who is a Staff SRE at MailChimp. A packed podcast about all things Site Reliability Engineering (SRE). Learn about how to become an SRE, the rise of blameless culture, a clear definition of black-box vs white-box approaches, and much more!
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