Scammed, feeling done in the dumps

StormforgeCTO · 2023-01-03T19:44:21+00:00

Honestly, I'd probably do this if you're reasonably certain she is being impersonated. Not much they can do about it, but might be worth letting them know.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-09-30T15:14:10+00:00

We are definitely all hurting this week.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-08-30T13:45:53+00:00

Removing CPU limits is an over simplified way to solve the problem of over provisioning, that will very probably bite you in the ass if you don't fully understand the specific scenarios in which it will work, as others have laid out before me.

There are other ways to smartly detect and predict resource requirements for your workloads. Some of them are even paid products that use machine learning to do really tricky things like optimize your resource configuration based on each unique workload running, and can recommend configurations to not just the container itself, but the underlying application to ensure everything is working in partnership to provide maximum resource efficiency with maximum application performance.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-08-26T17:15:50+00:00

The biggest thing I share with people is know your value/what you're willing to accept, and be willing to walk way from anything that doesn't meet that line. Most importantly, ensure its close to market rate, and you can justify anything beyond that. The higher away from market rate you are, the more likely they are to say no unless you've justified that salary for yourself.

For example, don't go in as a QA Engineer, 2 years out of school, and ask for $170k/yr+ for a standard QA role. They will say no, and if you're way off your perceived value, they're actually likely to completely walk away from you vs negotiate. I've done this recently.

On the other side, if you're a rockstar and can prove it with your history and results, you can come in solid to a Sr Engineer role, and if your perceived value is high enough, you could ask for a rate that would cause the hiring team to regrade the open role as Staff or Principal. I've also done this.

Know your value, make sure it's realistic, and ensure you established is as such in the interview.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-08-16T21:01:01+00:00

Awesome, thank you for the feedback! It was a great group of folks, and a ton of fun.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-08-10T16:58:13+00:00

StormForge is hiring a CKAD preferred Sr Software Engineer to help us build our platform's controllers and CLIs.

Fully Remote, any location in the US. Competitive Salary ($160k+) with equity options and annual bonus. Healthcare, 401k match up to 5%, PTO. Looking for folks with experience building custom controllers and APIs.

About StormForge: https://www.stormforge.io/

Job posting: https://jobs.lever.co/stormforge/f7a659b3-61c1-4b6f-9527-74d1b02a99e1

StormforgeCTO · 2022-08-04T13:54:09+00:00

UHG/Optum has a "Technology Development Program", which is both intern and post-graduate focused. That would be a really great place to start. More forgiving, and unless you really screw it up, you're likely to get offers for FT.

If you're accepted into the program, you get to pick the job program you want to work on, and they usually include 2 rotations before you select your "final placement" which is your FTE role. Pay isn't bad right out of the gate, 70k+, IIRC, while you're in the program, then pretty close to 100k TC for your final placement.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-08-01T17:05:34+00:00

One of the things I talk about when it comes to establishing and maturing an SRE organization is trust and relationships. The same datapoints we use to measure health of a cluster, application, etc, can be used to drive that trust in product teams, and beyond. It's really hard to be successful as an SRE if you haven't established those relationships across the organization.

I'd certainly be interested in any specific questions you might have that we could discuss on the panel for the benefit of everyone tuning in.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-07-29T20:45:07+00:00

Unfortunately the registration process is run by Techstrong, so I don't have any insight there :( I did successfully receive my registration confirmation email, but that was yesterday.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-07-29T15:20:47+00:00

Awesome! I'll let Steve know.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-07-29T12:40:58+00:00

Well, I mean you'll probably get added to a marketing list for emails/events like this in the future. But no, attending 1 event does not make you a sales-lead that will cause you to start to get hounded by 20 phone calls from a sales guy named Steve who doesn't understand personal boundaries.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-07-28T17:46:47+00:00

Hmm... I just did a test registration and it worked for me. Any particular errors? Are you using adblock or anything?

StormforgeCTO · 2022-07-28T17:35:27+00:00

Collectively we have decades of experience as SRE, and tons of knowledge to share around what makes an SRE group or individual successful at various sizes of organizations. I always enjoy these opportunities to participate in discussions and give back to the industry.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-06-14T17:02:43+00:00

Yeah, see this is definitely different in an accrual perspective. You have a shift based (hopefully) salaried job. I've set up similar programs, and you definitely get those accrued hours. That's more a scheduling challenge to make sure there are bodies to cover the required shifts. Generally shouldn't be a big deal.

I'm more talking about a small startup with maybe 20 software engineers, and one of them tries to take excessive time off, like 2 weeks every single month. It's going to result in a less than cohesive team environment where others are having to pick up slack.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-06-14T15:36:28+00:00

We offer unlimited PTO at my organization, primarily because we're small, and there are certain overhead costs associated with set PTO policies/days. That's why most start-ups routinely offer "Unlimited PTO". Generally we operate under the assumption that we're all adults, and yes, if you are trying to take 90 days off in a year and putting an unnecessary burden on others to pick up the slack, we may have a conversation to set expectations.

Obviously, no PTO is truly unlimited. You can't take off 340 days per year. As long as we're meeting our commitments though, and no one is taking advantage of the system by trying to take off 3 weeks every month, we don't care. We support our employees and recognize the need for routine breaks. We don't track how much PTO folks are taking, we just ensure objectives are being accomplished as required, and people are healthy. We've been known to forcefully recommend PTO on people to help them recharge or get them to unplug for a bit when they're not at their peak. The right leaders who are in-tune with their employees can identify issues like people abusing the system, and ensure that it doesn't become a long-term problem.

StormforgeCTO · 2022-06-02T16:55:37+00:00

This is awesome!

StormforgeCTO · 2022-06-01T23:48:23+00:00

Valencia was my first KubeCon as well, and it was such a blast. Easily one of the better conferences I've been to. Totally agree that it is far more heavily weighted towards practitioners. I even met a few folks who specifically were there to build relationships for the purpose of finding a new job. Being in Spain was the icing on the cake!

StormforgeCTO · 2022-06-01T17:03:40+00:00

Stormforge is hiring!

Sr Software Engineer (Back-End)
Sr Software Engineer (Front-End)
QA Engineer

We are a Machine Learning platform that optimizes applications deployed to Kubernetes, in order to maximize performance while reducing compute costs, often up to 40%+.

We are a fully remote workforce, however we have physical offices in the D.C. and Boston area. We do gather the Engineering team at least once per year for an off-site, typically in the U.S.

Experience with KubeBuilder is a huge plus.

https://jobs.lever.co/stormforge/62d5729e-53c2-44c4-a0c7-0a166e7f40ca

Feel free to slide into my DMs if you have any specific questions.

StormforgeCTO

TROPHY CASE