Stephen Ball

If you're the kind of person who's excited about all the recent S3 feature announcements (bucket policy unlocks via temporary root sessions, up to millions of buckets per account, pagination and region filtering for ListBuckets, conditional writes, ListCallerAccessGrants API) and you're attending re:Invent, then you should come to our storage track session, STG306 Advanced security patterns on Amazon S3. Learn how to use all the exciting new stuff securely in the most interactive format available at re:Invent!

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User (highest mileage segment) feed-back at its finest :-)

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We've recently added database migrations features to nodestream. Checkout this blog post I wrote walking through where we are with the feature and where we're going. #nodestream #graphdb https://lnkd.in/gcZszvaH

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A quick Domain Join Hardening reminder - The removal of the NetJoinLegacyAccountReuse registry key is scheduled for August (See linked doc). If anyone is using it, this is a gentle reminder to deploy the alternative methods documented in https://lnkd.in/eHSKBWDt

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I will be speaking and looking forward to catching up with folks next week in Raleigh at All Things Open Conference. Topic: Secure Authentication for Modern Web Apps: Leveraging Azure AD and PKCE DM me, or stop by and say hello. #allthingsopen #opensource #FidelityAssociate

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Did some terraform.  Turned 10 files into a single module for Fuuse Create a DBCreate an identity Assign DB permissions to IDDeploy a dac PACDeploy application 8 lines to call the module. Repeatable, templatable services.

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Just one month until my talk at KCDC: "Testcontainers: The Secret Weapon of Modern Software Development". Come listen and learn some cool things about automated testing with Containers! https://kcdc.info #KCDC #Testcontainers #Docker

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Has anyone used the Sourcegraph Code Search tool? It's adjacently related to something else I'm researching and evaluating but I'm just not "getting it". I feel like I'm missing something critical because I know people use it but I don't see the value in dropping money on a "better code search" tool. If you've ever used it, could you please help me understand why it matters? It's not a dig at the product, it's just not clicking for me. Better semantic searches? Stronger contextual awareness? Makes Ruby easier? What is it?

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Be sure to mark your calendars for this one! #kcdnug #dotnet #questanalytics

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I see TDD as a tool, not a religion. I’ve often advised teams against going all-in on TDD. Why? Because, TDD is not a universal answer. It’s helpful, yes—but there are times when full TDD just doesn’t make sense. I’ve worked on projects where TDD felt like a superhero, saving the day. But I’ve also been on teams where going full TDD would’ve sunk the project before it even started. Here’s the thing: TDD makes sense in theory. But in real life? It’s not always the best fit. For startups or fast-moving projects, testing every single detail can feel like running a marathon while juggling. Testing every line can feel like trying to build a house of cards on a windy day. You’ll spend so much time on the tests that you may never get the product shipped. In certain projects, like embedded devices, TDD is almost impossible. Testing on-chip when emulators are glitchy or incomplete? It can take more time to set up the tests than to build the actual code. But don’t get me wrong—we eventually clean up those "TDD-free zones." The goal is always to deliver and maintain quality. 💡 The lesson I’ve learned? TDD isn’t sacred. It’s a tool—use it when it fits, skip it when it doesn’t, and don’t force it where it hurts. If I demanded full TDD on every project, I’d guess we’d have lost 75% of the bids we’ve won. Budgets are tight, timelines are tighter, and not everyone sees the value upfront. Instead of being rigid about methodologies, I’ve found success in being flexible, understanding the context, and focusing on what the project really needs to succeed. So, what do you think about TDD? #TDD #SoftwareDevelopment #SoftwareEngineering #TechTalks

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#throwbackthursdays After having a good time mob programming with introductory roles like driver/navigator, what are some examples of "turning up the good" even more? What are unique ways to help people in the ensemble grow? What mobbing tactics can you employ to improve the product in very particular ways? Picking up from where we left off last time, come join us having another fantastic time playing the Mob Programming Role Playing Game with Lisa Crispin, Joe Justice, and Willem Larsen. This time, we focus on embodying level 2+ roles like Sponsor, Archivist, Rear Admiral, Nose, Traffic Cop, Automationist, Anthropologist, and Dr. Feel Good. Not only do you get to see how things like "graphic kanban" can be used alongside ensemble programming but you also get the feel of some of the many unique ways to contribute to a mob. https://lnkd.in/gA_54uYV

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There were other examples of this around the web, but none explained _how_ automatic reloading worked in Django. Some implementations felt half-baked. I think this one stands apart. This is also my 70th blog post on DEV 😮 https://lnkd.in/gtC6sBMr

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I've spent the past 12 years helping orgs move from a dev-ops team to a dev-ops mentality. One thing I've refined and learned with others along the way is the concept of a "Dev Ops Contract". It's a concept so simple, it's often overlooked, but some powerful benefits are: - Clear understanding of what software requires to be operational - Reduced complexity in runner configs (github actions, AWS codebuild, etc...) - Developer autonomy - Parity with local and remote task execution And more if you're interested: https://lnkd.in/gyRmQPq9 Is anyone else out there decoupling their CICD from their services in a similar way?

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In other news today, Delta Lake UniForm is now Generally Available. No more data silos, interoperability FTW! UniForm allows you to use a single table format for your lakehouse, getting the top-of-the-line performance and features of Databricks and Delta Lake, but being able to access the data using *any* engine that supports *any* of the common lakehouse formats Delta Lake, Iceberg, or Hudi.

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I've been fortunate to work in product organizations where Developer Experience (DevEx) is at the heart of product development. Not only that, but I’ve also spent several years building platforms designed to enhance DevEx. Despite this, the core workflows I relied on as a developer—build, deploy, monitor, reconfigure, repeat—often meant jumping between at least five different tools: some mix of Git (GitOps), Jenkins (build), ArgoCD (deploy), Sumo Logic (monitor), and Slack (notification). This fragmented experience wasn’t just inefficient—it introduced more opportunities for errors and became a source of frustration. Feeling this pain firsthand, we made it our mission at Kapstan to simplify the process. Our goal? Replace the complexity with a single, shiny "Deploy" button or a straightforward API. Fast forward 1+ year, and our customers love Kapstan's Deploy button. It still amazes me how much complexity it hides—bringing together various tools, technologies and configurations into one clean, simple workflow for developers. But this is just the start. We envision a future where every DevOps workflow is self-served and frictionless for developers. What’s the most frustrating workflow you deal with? #DevEx #DevOps #Kapstan

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I have a question for software teams that meet ISO-27001 / SOC 2 Type II *and* who use outsourced software development with git. Do you have all your contractors sign all your policies so they can contribute to your codebase directly? Or do you have the outsourced team work in a separate git repository and then have an employee merge to the main repo? Or some other model?

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