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Michael Levan explains how specialized teams and smart abstractions can lead to better outcomes. Drawing from cognitive science and his experience in platform engineering, Michael presents practical strategies for building effective engineering organizations.You will learn:Why specialized teams (or "silos") can improve productivity and why the real enemy is ego, not specialization.How to use Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) and abstractions to empower teams without requiring everyone to be a Kubernetes expert.How to balance specialization and collaboration using platform engineering practices and smart abstractionsPractical strategies for managing cognitive load in engineering teams and why not everyone needs to know YAML.SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Testkube — scale all of your tests with Kubernetes, integrate seamlessly with CI/CD and centralize test troubleshooting and reporting.More infoFind all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/qlZPfM-zrInterested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.

Xe Iaso shares their journey in building a "compute as a faucet" home lab where infrastructure becomes invisible and tasks can be executed without manual intervention. The discussion covers everything from operating system selection to storage architecture and secure access patterns.You will learn:How to evaluate operating systems for your home lab — from Rocky Linux to Talos Linux, and why minimal, immutable operating systems are gaining traction.How to implement a three-tier storage strategy combining Longhorn (replicated storage), NFS (bulk storage), and S3 (cloud storage) to handle different workload requirements.How to secure your home lab with certificate-based authentication, WireGuard VPN, and proper DNS configuration while protecting your home IP address.SponsorThis episode is sponsored by Nutanix — innovate faster with a complete and open cloud-native stack for all your apps and data anywhere.More infoFind all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/2kzj2MgfHInterested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.

If you're trying to make sense of when to use Kubernetes and when to avoid it, this episode offers a practical perspective based on real-world experience running production workloads.Paul Butler, founder of Jamsocket, discusses how to identify necessary vs unnecessary complexity in Kubernetes and explains how his team successfully runs production workloads by being selective about which features they use.You will learn:The three compelling reasons to use Kubernetes are managing multiple services across machines, defining infrastructure as code, and leveraging built-in redundancy.Why to be cautious with features like CRDs, StatefulSets, and Helm and how to evaluate if you really need them.How to stay on the "happy path" in Kubernetes by focusing on stable and simple resources like Deployments, Services, and ConfigMaps.When to consider alternatives like Google Cloud Run for simpler deployments that don't need the full complexity of KubernetesSponsorThis episode is sponsored by Syntasso, the creators of Kratix, a framework for building composable internal developer platformsMore infoFind all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/VB-0WYqtbInterested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.

This episode explores Admission Controllers and Webhooks with Gordon Myers, who shares his experience implementing webhook solutions in production. Gordon explains the lifecycle of Kubernetes API requests and how webhooks can intercept and modify resources before they are stored in etcd.You will learn:How the Kubernetes API processes requests through authentication, authorization, and Admission Controllers.The difference between Validating and Mutating webhooks and how to implement them using JSON Patch.Best practices for testing webhooks and avoiding common pitfalls that can break cluster deployments.Real-world examples of webhook implementations, including injecting secrets from HashiCorp Vault into containers.SponsorThis episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — get started on your Kubernetes journey through comprehensive online, in-person or remote training.More infoFind all the links and info for this episode here: https://ku.bz/Dmn93dd7MInterested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.