Cloud Native London July 2024: Armakuni, MariaDB PLC, and more
Three speakers from Armakuni, MariaDB PLC, and more joined us at the July Cloud Native London meetup at the Just Eat offices, as well as via the YouTube/Twitch livestreams.
We are immensely grateful to Cloudified for their generous support and sponsorship.
Overview
Kicking off our evening was Emmanuel Chukwuma with his talk on the The Connection Code: Mastering Communication in the Tech Age(starting at 9:40). His takeaways mentioned that:
- Listen to Understand, Not Just to Respond: Effective communication starts with active listening. Many of us listen to respond, formulating our rebuttal before the other person finishes speaking. Active listening involves genuine interest in understanding the speaker’s message, both verbal and nonverbal. Pay attention to body language, ask clarifying questions, and paraphrase their points to ensure comprehension. This demonstrates respect and builds trust, paving the way for a more connected communication experience.
- Speak with Empathy, Not Just Facts: Tech professionals often prioritize data and logic. While facts are crucial, neglecting the emotional aspect of communication can lead to misunderstandings. Develop empathy by considering the other person’s perspective and acknowledging their feelings. Frame your message in a way that resonates with their needs and concerns. Empathy fosters trust and strengthens communication by creating a sense of shared understanding.
- Craft Compelling Stories, Not Just Bullet Points: Humans are wired to connect with stories. Ditch the dry technical jargon and translate complex ideas into compelling narratives. Use stories to illustrate technical concepts, showcase the impact of your work, and inspire action. Stories resonate on an emotional level, making your communication more engaging, memorable, and ultimately, more effective.
Next up we had Shane Harger from Armakuni discussing Building Sustainable Depth in Teams(starting at 43:07). She talked about:
- Fostering a learning culture is crucial for team depth. This encourages continuous improvement and skill diversification, making team members versatile and up-to-date with the latest trends. Regular knowledge-sharing and mentorship programs distribute expertise, creating a more resilient team.
- Promoting psychological safety is essential. It allows open communication and risk-taking, where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities. Building trust and collaboration ensures that all team members feel valued and supported.
- Shifting from a rockstar-centric approach to a team-first mentality is critical. This reduces dependency and burnout by distributing responsibilities and encouraging collaboration. It ensures balanced workloads and recognition, fostering a cohesive, motivated, and high-performing team.
And wrapping up our evening was Kester Riley from MariaDB PLC telling us about Zero Downtime… of the Data Layer(starting at 1:31:02). Check out his takeaways:
- MariaDB is an enterprise-grade database that powers some of the most critical data infrastructures around the world.
- It is possible to patch, upgrade, and perform maintenance on a database server without affecting your application layer.
- MariaDB Enterprise offers seamless automated failover in the event of a Primary Database node loss.
And of course, our usual group photo!
Cloud Native London August
Our next meetup will be on Wednesday 7th August, when we’ll be joined by speakers from TrueLayer, Chronosphere, and Searce Inc! RSVP and save the date now!.
Stay safe, stay healthy, and see you in a month!
Cheryl (@oicheryl)
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