Coding Over Cocktails

Our guest for today is a consultant, author, and instructor. He's the founder of microapis.io and the author of "Microservice APIs". Recognised as a thought leader in the fields of cloud computing, DevOps, and automation, he speaks regularly at international conferences and frequently organizes public workshops and seminars.

With APIs designed to be automated and used by machines, they become easy targets for automated attacks and vulnerabilities as well. This episode, we find out what it takes for web APIs to be secure as they are rolled out. Joining us is active IETF member and author of "API Security in Action" Neil Madden, who discusses the dangers that an API is exposed to, its security mechanisms, and secure coding practices to keep your API safe from attacks.

In this episode, we talk about the “smells” in API design that one should look out for. Keith Casey from ngrok's Product and GTM Team tells us how to evaluate your API design, what a great (and terrible) API design looks like and how API design smells can be dealt with. He also talks to us about his time trying to figure out how much data is in the Library of Congress and his underlying goal of bringing good technology to the hands of good people.

One of the ways organisations are looking to unlock more avenues for business and operational growth is through data. Couple it with AI, the possibilities are almost endless. In this round of cocktails, ThoughtWorks Australia's Director of Data and AI Practice David Colls talks to us about data and AI capabilities and how they can be tapped for product development and business strategies. He also shares the ethical and societal implications of the growth of big data and AI and what our responsibilities are in the process.

Getting started on DynamoDB? Join us for a round. This episode, we take a deep dive into DynamoDB with consultant and author of The DynamoDB Book Alex DeBrie, who talks to us about the database's key offerings, the problems it solves, use-cases and how to work around its consistency models.

How does one go about managing API products in an organisation? Why is it important that we view APIs as products and practice product thinking? Postman's Product Strategy Leader Deep Goyal answers as she joins us in this round of cocktails. She also shares with us her experience and expertise during the course of her career as a former API Product Manager for Twilio and Paypal and tells us how evolving one important API metric can generate better revenues for an organisation.

What does it take for one to become a Product Manager? We find out in this episode. In this edition of Coding Over Cocktails, we are joined by Matt LeMay, author of Agile For Everybody and Product Management in Practice and co-founder of Sudden Compass, and talks to us about the responsibilities and qualities that entail being a product manager and how much technical knowledge is needed for the role. He also tells us why he is tired of Agile and how the power we delegate to made-up concepts is “weird.”

What exactly does it mean to be a Developer Advocate and what roles do they play in the development community? In this episode, we talk to Geertjan Wielenga, author of “Developer, Advocate!,” who answers what a Developer Advocate actually does and who qualifies as one. He also discusses the ethics of Developer Advocacy, the challenges in connecting and interacting with the developer community, and how he was able to gather information and learning experiences from 32 fellow developer advocates.

The API industry is rapidly evolving, and so are the trends that impact its landscape as well. In this episode, ALIAS co-founder and APIDays founder Mehdi Medjaoui returns and talks to us about the “API Industry Landscape 2022” report. He shares his findings on the trends that drive the growth of APIs and API tool providers and companies, the impacts of regulation, and what the future holds for the industry.

Over the last two decades, REST has become the de facto standard when it comes to designing Web APIs, as it doesn't require any special initialisation or libraries when working with APIs and offered structured access to resources. But as the need for more efficiency and flexibility for requirements arose, GraphQL started to become a favored alternative. While both offer their own advantages, which one should you be using? Two key folks from Postman answer this on our third Technology Smackdown, with OpenAPI Lead Arnaud Lauret returning to represent REST and Open Technologies Technical Lead Doc Jones for the GraphQL side.

According to Gartner, organisations will be investing in more hyperautomation initiatives in 2022 in order to increase efficiency and to deliver a better digital experiences to their customers. These initiatives will include both business process automation (BPA) and robotic process automation (RPA). In this Technology Smackdown, we were joined by Tom Taulli, author of “The Robotic Process Automation Handbook" and Nandan Mullakara, CEO of Innomatiq, to explore the differences between the two automation approaches, and how each can help drive digital transformation forward within organisation.

As systems continue to become more and more distributed, optimising and organising logs becomes much needed as well. In this episode, Oracle Cloud Developer Evangelist and author of "Logging in Action" Phil Wilkins leads us in a discussion on unifying logs and proper log management through the use of Fluentd. He also talks about the importance of making log entries easier to understand and achieving "Clear Language."

Event-driven architectures are known to improve agility and scalability in systems while offering a great advantage when used with microservices. In this episode, we take a deeper dive into event-driven microservices with Confluent Staff Technologist Adam Bellemare, who discusses the concepts, patterns and workflows behind event-driven architectures in a microservices setting.

While SOLID is the known standard when it comes to software design and architecture, it may be hard to apply for some as it limits developers to specific techniques in going about it. In this episode, Daniel Terhorst-North, originator of Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD)and Deliberate Discovery, presents his arguments on why SOLID isn't exactly the best bet when if comes to design principles, offering an alternative that can help against the misapplications of various agile practices.

Two of the most popular message brokers used today are JMS and Kafka. While both have their own pros and cons, which one should you actually use? In this episode, we have our first-ever Technology Smackdown, where we pit two technologies or architectural styles against each other for a friendly sparring match. Today, we find out how JMS and Kafka stack up against each other and how they apply to certain use-cases. Joining us are Red Hat's Senior Principle Software Engineer Clement Escoffier for the JMS side, and Confluent's Field CTO Kai Waehner for the Kafka side.

What exactly does GDPR mean for businesses and API developers? In this episode, we talk about the important concepts on GDPR and how APIs can help organisations with compliance. We are joined by the APIDays Conference founder and ALIAS co-founder Mehdi Medjaoui, who also discusses the API-as-a-product mindset and some of the most popular API styles today.

APIs are one of the pillars in enabling digital transformation. In this episode, we discuss the business value of APIs and API strategies and why implementing them is beneficial to an organisation and to several industries. We are joined by Oracle Hospitality Senior Director of Product Management Luis Weir, who talks about his first-hand experiences in overseeing API strategies and tackles some concepts behind Streaming APIs.

What makes OpenAPI today's standard when it comes to designing APIs? This episode, we tackle the advantages of using the OpenAPI description format and its proper applications when designing APIs. SmartBear senior architect Joshua Ponelat and API consultant Lucas Rosenstock, co-authors of “Designing APIs with Swagger and OpenAPI,” give us a closer look at the specification and tooling that has become the standard choice today and share some tips in building well-designed APIs

In this episode, we take a look at the importance of testing and a good test strategy model when developing software and APIs. We are joined by Ministry of Testing's OpsBoss and author of Testing of Web APIs Mark Winteringham, who tells us why he advocates for API testing even before a line of code is written. He also talks about how testing helps control risk and quality during the development lifecycle, and how it can help bring IT teams and stakeholders together on the same page.

How do you drive value to your organisation's digital transformation? In this episode, we are joined by one of the co-authors of "Edge: Value Driven Digital Transformation" Linda K. Luu, who educates us on where organisations should invest in to find success with their digital initiatives. She also gives an overview of the "lean value tree" and how it can help set priorities and put value in the organisation's work.

What should companies prioritise as we continue to shift towards a more digitally transformed world Interarbor Solutions Principal Analyst and host of the BriefingsDirect podcast Dana Gardner answers this and discusses the values that should be fostered inside organisations in order to keep up with the technological change that comes with digital transformation.

How does the existing gender gap permeate into the areas of IT and digital transformation? In this episode, we tackle how we can make opportunities in the tech industry more accessible for women and how they add value to the workforce. Joining us is Director of the Digital Leadership Institute Cheryl Miller Van Dyck, who also educates us on their approach to bringing women to the IT space by equipping them with skills on leadership, entrepreneurship and digital literacy.

As we move forward to a more digitally transformed world, the task of migrating your legacy systems can be daunting and could set you up for failure. How do you prepare for that? In this episode, Associate Partner at Oliver Wyman Alina Timofeeva joins us for a round and discusses the process and what to expect during your transformation journey. She also talks about her experiences in the industry and how overcoming her personal failures helped her move forward and inspire her work.

How did APIs become instrumental to driving digital transformation in 2021? In this episode, Postman's Director for API Platform Ecosystems and Digital Transformation Matthew Reinbold returns to talk to us about their findings in The 2021 State of API report, and how APIs have become essential in allowing businesses to adapt to massive change. We also learn how IT teams are approaching API development, how to become a high-performing API company, and some tips to get the competitive edge against slow-adaptors.

How do you come up with a well-designed digital transformation strategy? Author of "Digital Transformation Game Plan" Gary O'Brien tells us how by identifying an organisation's "degree of fluency" and the necessary change one must be prepared to face to find success. He also shares his experiences working firsthand with modern digital businesses and how they are able to continuously transform themselves by taking a step ahead.

In this episode, we are joined by The Adecco Group's Senior Vice President and Regional Transformational Lead Sabine Laute, who shares her experiences in leading digital transformation initiatives in a global organisation. She also gives advice in managing these initiatives and what it takes to truly embrace digital transformation.

In this round of Cocktails, we talk to Eric Broda, an Executive Consultant for Open Banking, where he educates us on how Open Banking is currently being explored in Canada and the opportunities it can create in the banking industry, potentially paving the way towards digital transformation.

API thought leader and Contovista AG Chief Product Officer Amancio Bouza joins us again to discuss the innovations that are driving the fintech industry, such as autonomous finance and Open Banking. He also shares his insights on whether or not the pandemic paved the way for companies to achieve "true" digital transformation.

In this episode, Google Cloud's Head of Developer Engagement Stephanie Wong shares a thing or two about creating content that can help engage and educate developers and discusses some of Google's offerings for this year. She also shares insights on being a woman in the tech space and how we could do better in making the industry a safe space for women to grow.

In this episode, author of The Agile Idea Zigurd Mednieks joins us and discusses the important concepts in the Agile methodology, how it has evolved, and the approach modern organisations should take towards it. He also lets us in on how some tech giants apply agile in their management and how it helps facilitate digital transformation.

In this episode, Seconize co-founder and CTO Sashank Dara talks to us about the challenges associated with cybersecurity and how the pandemic has affected it. We also learn about the costs of cyberattacks and how a company board can get involved in strengthening their defenses.

In this episode, the founder of the Institute of Digital Transformation Charles Araujo aims to address some misconceptions most companies have when it comes to digital transformation and argues why 2020 wasn't the transformational year we all thought it was. He also talks about the importance of "intellectual curiosity" and why we should stop adhering to the "tech company fallacy."

How have companies fared in their digital transformation initiatives this year? Research Director Omar Akhtar gives us a look at some of their findings at Altimeter and their predictions on how far we'd have to go to become "digitally mature." He also discusses convergence between sales and marketing in the modern business landscape, creating an agile content system, and why a transformation management office is something to consider.

In this round of Cocktails, industry analyst and CXOTalk host Michael Krigsman shares some stories from experts and leaders in the tech space as they take on their digital transformation initiatives. He also discusses how organisations rethink business strategies as they navigate their own transformation initiatives -- and how customers and stakeholders play a crucial role during the journey.

In this episode, API Handyman Arnaud Lauret joins us and discusses the design of web APIs - from making them consistent and discoverable, to the roles that the API gateway plays. He also chimes in on whether adopting new technologies and trends in API architecture would be the best approach to design your APIs.

In this episode, Lardi & Partner CEO and one of Awards Magazine's "Top 50 Women in Tech Influencers" Kamales Lardi joins us for a round and guides us through a typical organization's journey through digital transformation. She also shares with us her experiences in transforming organisations, and what it really takes to find success in your digital transformation initiatives.

Are microservices really the solution that could help make your teams more autonomous and speed up your delivery to the market? Microservices author and thought leader Sam Newman answers this, and talks about what you need to consider before you do your migration (or if a migration is even necessary).

In this episode, Senior Research Associate from Cambridge University and author of "Designing Data Intensive Applications" Martin Kleppmann discusses how they are finding ways to make software collaboration and ownership properly coexist through their "local-first software" project, which will allow users to work offline without compromising important security aspects and user data control.

In this episode, former ThoughtWorker and independent software consultant Pete Hodgson talks about addressing pain points in software development teams and cross-team collaboration. He also educates listeners on code-ownership, technical debt, and better product engagement in developing internal platforms.

Going from a Marine into a hacker is quite the story. In this episode, world-renowned cybersecurity expert Bryan Seely tells us what it's like, as he tackles various issues hacking and cybersecurity, and what companies can do to protect themselves against attacks.

In this episode, Confluent Senior Developer Advocate Robin Moffat talks about Apache Kafka and the advantages it offers, the future of the event-streaming space, and his role in the community as a developer advocate.

"Just Enough Software Architecture" author and Google Software Engineer George Fairbanks joins us for a round and educates us on technical debt and how it's a natural part of the software development process. He also gives practical advice on dealing with technical debt and the philosophies that have changed along with the evolution of software architecture.

How safe are your security mechanisms for a potential cyberattack? In this episode we talk to Laurie Williams, Distinguished University Professor from North Carolina State University joins us and discusses cybersecurity, taking a proactive stance on it, and how organisations can get started on building more secure software products.

In this episode of Coding Over Cocktails, Author of Practical Process Automation, Bernd Ruecker talks about the relationship between automation and workflow engines, how we can implement process automation effectively, and the relevance of isolation and boundaries in automation. He also gives his thoughts on robotic process automation and explains why he considers it a "short-term painkiller" for organisations.

In this episode, 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know Kevlin Henney joins us for a round, where he talks about a collection of thoughts and pieces from different experts and leaders in Java programming and sets the record straight on why programming languages, including Java, will never die.

In this episode of Cocktails, “The Evil Tester” Alan Richardson joins us for a round and discusses how we can change our approach towards testing, as well as the important qualities that a good tester should have. He also talks about Agile Testing in relation to development, as well as various models on testing that we're seeing today.

In this episode of Cocktails, "Identity Woman" and Self-Sovereign Identity expert Kaliya Young joins us and discusses the value of a self-sovereign identity on the internet and how it works. She also talks about identity management and why advocating for our digital selves is important.

Publicis Sapient Director of Technology and microservices expert Ronnie Mitra joins us for a round to give some practical advise on how to get your microservice architecture up-and-running.

Nordic APIs' editor-in-chief Bill Doerrfeld sits with us for a round and talks about how they help businesses make smart tech decisions by keeping an eye on emerging technologies and processes within the API space.

In this episode, CIO and digital transformation thought leader Isaac Sacolick joins us and educates on what makes for a successful digital transformation - from adopting new technologies and the right business models to addressing necessary changes needed in the organization.

Where exactly is the edge of the internet? Principal Technical Evangelist of F5 Lori MacVittie answers and discusses the principles of edge computing, its drivers for adoption, and how it works in real-world applications.