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-driven tech debt before they find balance. Nick shares why the future isn’t about more tools or more ga...

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 layer. Evgeny breaks down how to turn the "black box" of LLMs into a transparent, production-ready syste...

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 Smart Blocks in AutoCAD from ideation to prototype to production on a tight yearly release cadenc...

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, they unpack how AI is changing what it means to be “productive” — from measuring outcomes instead...

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: execution, product alignment, and tight feedback loops with customers. On code generation, ...

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, the continued importance of human oversight in AI-driven workflows, and how teams can harness d...

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 even coding itself. They also dig into the 2025 DORA Survey, discuss when organizations should...

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 components at Microsoft, then transitioning to Azure's distributed systems, and finally joining Harness as ...

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 physical machines. They discuss the inefficiencies of running many small Kubernetes clusters versus o...

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 builds on developer productivity, team morale, and business innovation. He explains his leader...

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 industry. Gidron is particularly optimistic about the potential of AI to transform DevOps, predicting...

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 communities. Brendan also offers advice on balancing a tech career with family life. In closing, B...

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 like Cerbos at the right time.Alex's journey in tech has taken him through esteemed roles at Micr...

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-pressure environments.They discuss how ZenDuty emerged from a need to address incident management and ...

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

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 DoorDash. The conversation covers the evolution of software delivery methodologies, touching on Matt's ...

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 through the years

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 - A doctoral discussion on remote workingJust for fun #2 - Scott's life in an RV and how he incorpora...

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 and cultural change in Financial ServicesJust for fun #2 - Bijit's favorite hobby

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 you could give yourself one...what would it be?Just for fun ... Deserted island food