Full Stack Journey 002: Matt Oswalt

In Episode #2 of the Full Stack Journey podcast, my guest is none other than Matt Oswalt. You may know Matt as the primary author at Keeping It Classless, or as @mierdin on Twitter or GitHub (he also has a YouTube channel and a podcast of his own). Matt is primarily focused on network infrastructure, but is really interested in the intersection of network infrastructure and software development. Matt, along with Jason Edelman and yours truly, is one of the co-authors of a new book on network automation and programmability, and as such is a perfect guest for the Full Stack Journey. Show Notes * Matt’s career started out in software development, but he spent a fair amount of time in networking and doing network consulting before moving back to his current role, where he does software development solely within the context of networking and network infrastructure. * Aside from a minor quibble with the word “full” implying that the stack is finite (which is isn’t), Matt’s view on a full stack engineer is someone who’s always on a journey to the “next big thing,” or peering over the wall at what’s coming down the line and constantly challenging herself or himself. * Matt started getting pulled back into software development in 2014, with the rise in popularity of containers, orchestration systems, and tools like Ansible. * Key topics that Matt sees as important today (within the framework of his current shift from doing predominantly networking to software development in a networking context): * Docker * Python * Automation frameworks like Ansible, Salt, Puppet, or Chef * You don’t need to be a full-time programmer to achieve some benefit and “quick wins” from using a tool or programming language like Python within your environment. * Matt likes Docker because it really simplifies things for development and deployment, and is really interested in how network vendors are starting to use Docker for various purposes. * With respect to Docker (though this applies to other technologies as well)—you don’t necessarily need to know how to use Docker from a development standpoint, but you do need to know how and why it helps solve developers’ problems, and how you will interface or interact with such tools as a result. * One challenge for Matt has been making network automation topics relatable and practical, even though a lot of what’s happening is new and the industry as a whole is still learning. How does one take completely new topics and make them relatable? * Have an objective when setting out to learn a new technology—what is the outcome going to be? What are you going to do with the new skill? At least have some sort of idea on how you’ll use it in your career. * Some tools/techniques that Matt found useful: * CodeAcademy (not necessarily for Matt but for others he’s helped) * Lots of hands-on time * My own web site * Writing about his own personal learnings (he finds writing helps with the learning process) * Ultimately,