Automate the pain

Build Back Better: Cybersecurity Edition

The COVID-19 crisis in the United States has given insight into weaknesses in emergency response and preparedness plans concerning government information systems and the services they provide. While most federal agencies already had a telework force in place, other agencies hurried to meet the requirements. We discovered the failures to plan for the capacity of a full telework force, insufficient licensing of applications available to remote users, and the loss of talent through reducing forces.

DM For Hints

The year is 2020. We have all become avatars on virtual display. Conferences that required budget for travel, housing, and coordination have since become available online for all to participate. A great deal of those conferences have canceled with more created in their place. I refer to this as the Year of the Virtual Conference.

Vendor Vanity & Value

Thursday, August 29 2019

After thinking about a thread I posted to Twitter I had decided to write more about this subject of product selection in the U.S. Government. It’s difficult for organizations to meet their modernization needs when the industry provides a lack of trust in suitable solutions. There’s a lot of competitors to choose from, and Federal acquisitions enforces fair awarding, yet most vendors today have difficulty keeping up to the new solutions that they’re offering. I’ve had to participate in very many vendor demonstrations where the sales person, sometimes without the engineer, has been able to successfully sell a solution that ultimately doesn’t work as advertised.

Wrap Up: DevOpsDays DC 2019 Edition

Saturday, July 13 2019

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the DevOpsDays DC chapter. This conference is held at over 187 locations all around the world. From here to Cape Town to Tel Aviv. Each location has a particular theme, and ours in DC continues the theme of supporting those around us in a politically chaotic city. In our city, we use the quote “a house divided against itself cannot stand” used by Abraham Lincoln, originating from a verse in the Bible.

Rookie of the Year

In my near-decade of being a technology professional in the DC area, I’ve learned and observed various ways of supporting the Federal Government. There’s support by handling administration, engineering, or implementation tasks. There’s more, such as Operations & Maintenance (O&M), though each are specialists in their own domains, and they’ll execute the orders carried out and set by the management above them.

Wrap Up: BSides Charm 2019 Edition

This weekend marks another BSides complete and the post-con recharging takes place. It’s always a huge effort leading up to these types of conferences and isn’t possible without its organizing committee. I’ll recap my weekend as both an attendee and volunteer. We got up at 4:30 Saturday morning and made it to the conference hotel by 6:30 to start the day. We left the party around 11:30 to get to our room and oh MY GODS DID I SLEEP SOOOO WELL.