vBrownBag

Join us as Amelia shares the debugging story nobody tells you about - how her vector store DB couldn't surface specific data until she tested it with simplified data from ChatGPT. Amelia walks through her journey from throwing JIRA tickets into a large language model without understanding pipelines or data cleaning, to discovering why her production vector store was failing. You'll learn about the gap between chatting with data and getting accurate connections, how to validate vector similarity search results, the difference between production and synthetic test data, and practical troubleshooting workflows for AWS vector stores. This episode reveals the messy reality of RAG systems - when everything seems fine but the outputs are subtly wrong, and how testing with simplified data can expose what production complexity hides. Timestamps 0:00 Cold Open 1:03 Welcome & Introduction 2:06 Amelia's Background & DeepRacer Trophy 4:49 The JIRA Ticket Use Case Origin Story 5:53 Getting Into the Presentation 6:03 Accessing & Cleaning Data Sets 8:12 Losing Production Data & Recreating with ChatGPT 12:45 Understanding Vector Databases 18:22 How Embeddings Work 24:16 The Hallucination Discovery 30:41 Testing Strategies for Vector Stores 36:52 Debugging Vector Similarity Search 42:18 Real-World Troubleshooting Workflows 44:26 Where to Find Amelia & Wrap-up How to find Amelia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliahoughross/

Join us as Du'An breaks down AI agents in a way that actually makes sense - what they are, how to use them, and how to get started today. Du'An walks through the fundamentals of AI agents with live demos and practical code examples you can use immediately. You'll learn about agent frameworks, when to use agents versus simple LLM calls, building your first agent, and real-world applications from bookmark management to automated workflows. This episode cuts through the hype with realistic expectations about what agents can and can't do, while showing you concrete examples including MCP servers, Strands Pack, and Du'An's personal second brain system. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 1:39 Du'An's Background & Previous Episode Success 3:06 Segueing from Last Week's Episode 4:03 CEOs Vibe Coding Discussion 6:49 Real Estate Developer Building Apps Story 8:23 Getting Started with the Presentation 12:45 What Are AI Agents? 18:22 Agent Frameworks Overview 24:16 When to Use Agents vs Simple LLM Calls 30:41 Building Your First Agent 36:52 Live Demo: Strands Pack 42:18 MCP Servers Explained 47:35 WriteStats MCP Demo 52:14 Real-World Applications 58:33 Du'An's Second Brain System 1:04:01 Bookmark Manager Walkthrough 1:07:17 Organizing Cloud Storage & Email 1:09:06 Wrap-up & Next Episode Teaser How to find Du'An: https://www.duanlightfoot.com/ https://github.com/labeveryday/ Links from the show: https://github.com/labeveryday/strands-pack https://github.com/labeveryday/writestat-mcp https://github.com/labeveryday/bookmark-manager-site https://bookmarks.duanlightfoot.com/ https://github.com/openai/whisper https://openai.com/index/whisper/

Join us as Chris gets brutally honest about tech employment in the AI era: what's dying, what's thriving, and how to position yourself to survive the chaos. Chris walks through the current state of tech layoffs hitting record numbers while companies post record profits, the disappearance of entry-level roles, and practical strategies for navigating this unprecedented moment. You'll learn about skill development in the AI era, why fundamentals still matter more than hype, how to build resilience through community, and what hiring managers are actually looking for right now. This episode doesn't sugarcoat the challenges from hollowed-out expertise at major companies to early-career professionals wondering if their degree still matters, but it also provides actionable guidance on positioning yourself and why humor and human connection remain irreplaceable in an AI-driven world. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Setting the Tone 3:09 Chris Miller's Background & Journey 7:30 The Current State of Tech Employment 12:45 Layoffs vs Record Profits Discussion 18:22 Entry-Level Roles Disappearing 24:16 What Skills Actually Matter Now 30:41 Building Career Resilience 36:52 The Fundamentals Still Win 42:18 Community & Support Networks 47:35 Practical Job Search Strategies 52:14 What AI Can't Replace (Yet) 55:06 Things We're Thankful For 59:00 Wrap-up & Resources How to find Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-t-miller/ https://www.chrismiller.com/ Links from the show: https://roadmap.sh

Join us as Marian explains what AI governance means for vSphere administrators and why it matters now. Marian walks through practical governance frameworks that vSphere admins need to understand, from IEEE 7000 series standards to mapping governance controls onto infrastructure you already manage. You'll learn what your CISO will ask for, how to respond using your existing VMware stack, and why governance isn't about slowing innovation - it's about enabling it safely. This episode covers real-world scenarios from data lineage and model transparency to integrating governance tools with existing infrastructure, and addresses the gap between compliance requirements and practical implementation for virtualized environments. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 5:16 Marian's Background in Tech & Governance 6:37 What is Governance? 12:45 IEEE 7000 Series Standards Overview 18:22 AI Governance for vSphere Admins 24:16 Data Lineage & Model Transparency 30:41 Risk Assessment Frameworks 36:52 Practical Implementation Strategies 42:18 Integration with Existing Tools 47:35 Common Governance Challenges 51:12 Vendor Landscape Discussion 54:27 Missing Innovation in the Space 58:09 Wrap-up & Resources How to find Marian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariannewsome/ Links from the show: https://ethicaltechmatters.com/

Join us as Peter explores the core principles and practices of FinOps that help organizations optimize cloud spend without slowing innovation. Peter walks through what FinOps really is, why it matters beyond just cost cutting, and how engineers can collaborate effectively with finance teams to design cost-aware architectures. You'll learn about the three phases of FinOps (Inform, Optimize, Operate), how to get leadership buy-in for cloud initiatives, and practical strategies for managing cloud costs from the architecture phase through operations. This episode covers real-world scenarios from hybrid cloud cost tracking to building cost models before migrations, and explains how FinOps fits into your existing team structure regardless of organization size. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 6:10 Peter's Background & Journey to FinOps 10:45 What is FinOps? 16:32 The Three Phases: Inform, Optimize, Operate 22:18 Getting Leadership Buy-In 28:45 Cost-Aware Architecture Design 34:20 Hybrid Cloud & On-Prem Cost Tracking 40:15 FinOps Team Structure & Roles 46:30 Tools & Platforms Discussion 52:14 Accounting & Finance Collaboration 54:13 Starting FinOps Before Cloud Migration 57:17 FinOps for Small Teams & DBAs 1:00:13 Wrap-up & Resources How to find Peter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercrenshaw/ Links from the show: https://finops.org https://finopsweekly.com https://thefrugalarchitect.com

Join us as Neel explores how observability is evolving beyond traditional logs, metrics, and traces into a predictive, AI-powered discipline. Neel walks through the evolution of Observability, demonstrating how OpenTelemetry, machine learning, and LLMs are transforming how we monitor and maintain modern applications. You'll learn about dynamic sampling techniques that reduce costs while maintaining visibility, how ML algorithms detect anomalies before they cause outages, and practical implementations using tools like the OpenTelemetry Collector. This episode covers real-world scenarios from reducing massive log volumes to predicting system failures before they impact customers. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 4:29 Neel's Background & Community Work 5:03 The Evolution of Observability 6:29 The 2 AM Production Incident Scenario 8:13 OpenTelemetry's Role in Modern Observability 12:45 Dynamic Sampling Techniques 18:22 ML & AI in Anomaly Detection 24:16 LLM Observability Explained 28:32 Cost Optimization Strategies 30:04 Context Windows & Token Management 32:00 Self-Healing Systems Discussion 34:15 Edge Cases: When Dynamic Sampling Doesn't Work 36:27 Wrap-up & Resources How to find Neel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neelcshah/ https://bento.me/neelshah Links from the show: https://neelshah.dev/blogs/observability-2 https://opentelemetry.io/ https://middleware.io/blog/observability-2-0/

Join us as Sam demonstrates how to teach AI to write Terraform configurations using Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Sam introduces the Terraform MCP server and walks through practical demos showing how AI can understand and safely interact with your infrastructure. You'll see live examples of AI planning, generating, and evolving Terraform configurations - from creating landing zones to setting up workspace variables automatically. Whether you're managing complex multi-cloud environments or just getting started with infrastructure as code, this episode demonstrates how MCP servers bridge the gap between AI capabilities and real-world Terraform workflows. Learn how to get started, which Claude models work best for different tasks, and best practices for integrating AI into your IaC pipelines. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 4:37 Sam McGeown's Background 6:02 Introduction to Terraform MCP Server 12:35 What is Model Context Protocol? 18:22 Setting Up the Terraform MCP Server 24:16 Demo: Claude Desktop Integration 30:41 Creating Infrastructure with AI Prompts 36:52 Reading & Analyzing Existing Terraform Code 42:18 Generating Landing Zone Configurations 47:35 Working with Terraform Workspaces 50:37 Creating Variables Automatically 52:14 Model Selection: Sonnet vs Opus 55:11 Live Demo: Workspace Variable Creation 58:33 Getting Started & Resources How to find Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammcgeown/ Links from the show: https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/mcp-server

Join us as Gautam breaks down the evolution of tool use in generative AI and dives deep into MCP. Gautam walks through the progression from simple prompt engineering to function calling, structured outputs, and now MCP—explaining why MCP matters and how it's changing the way AI systems interact with external tools and data. You'll learn about the differences between MCP and traditional API integrations, how to build your first MCP server, best practices for implementation, and where the ecosystem is heading. Whether you're building AI-powered applications, integrating AI into your infrastructure workflows, or just trying to keep up with the latest developments, this episode provides the practical knowledge you need. Gautam also shares real-world examples and discusses the competitive landscape between various AI workflow approaches. Subscribe to vBrownBag for weekly tech education covering AI, cloud, DevOps, and more! ⸻ Timestamps 0:00 Introduction & Welcome 7:28 Gautam's Background & Journey to AI Product Management 12:45 The Evolution of Tool Use in AI 18:32 What is Model Context Protocol (MCP)? 24:16 MCP vs Traditional API Integrations 30:41 Building Your First MCP Server 36:52 MCP Server Discovery & Architecture 42:18 Real-World Use Cases & Examples 47:35 Best Practices & Implementation Tips 51:12 The Competitive Landscape: Skills, Extensions, & More 52:14 Q&A: AI Agents & Infrastructure Predictions 55:09 Closing & Giveaway How to find Gautam: https://gautambaghel.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/gautambaghel/ Links from the show: https://www.hashicorp.com/en/blog/build-secure-ai-driven-workflows-with-new-terraform-and-vault-mcp-servers Presentation from HashiConf: https://youtu.be/eamE18_WrW0?si=9AJ9HUBOy7-HlQOK Kiro Powers: https://www.hashicorp.com/en/blog/hashicorp-is-a-kiro-powers-launch-partner Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11dZZUO2w7ObjwYtf1At4WnL-ZPW1QyaWnNjzSQKQEe0/edit?usp=sharing

Join the vBrownBag crew and AWS Hero Peter Sankauskas for the 2026 AWS Community Survey 🎯 – your chance to shape the conversation around AWS careers, cloud adoption trends, and emerging technologies. Peter breaks down this year's survey methodology, shares surprising insights from previous years, and explains how your responses help the entire AWS community understand compensation trends, service adoption patterns, and career development paths. Whether you're a cloud architect, DevOps engineer, or just starting your AWS journey, your voice matters ☁️ Take the survey from January 6 to February 6, 2026, and help build the most comprehensive snapshot of the AWS ecosystem! Chapters: 00:00:03 - Welcome and 2026 AWS Survey Introduction 00:04:14 - Survey Design and Methodology Explained 00:12:45 - Key Insights from Previous AWS Surveys 00:21:30 - New Questions for 2026: AI, FinOps, and Career Trends 00:28:15 - How to Complete the Survey Effectively 00:35:03 - Closing Thoughts and Survey Timeline Resources: Take the survey! https://answersforaws.com/survey/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/petersankauskas/ Boardgames mentioned: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/201808/clank-a-deck-building-adventure https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148228/splendor https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/264806/were-doomed #AWS #CloudComputing #DevOps #CloudCareers #AWSCommunity #vBrownBag #AWSSurvey

Join us for the final episode of 2025 as Mark Tinderholt (Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft Azure, HashiCorp Ambassador, and author of "Mastering Terraform") teaches us Infrastructure as Code through Minecraft! If you've ever wanted to learn Terraform in a fun, visual way, this is the episode for you. Mark demonstrates how to use the Minecraft Terraform provider to build infrastructure in-game, making complex IaC concepts tangible and engaging. You'll see live demos of provisioning Minecraft resources, managing dependencies, handling state, and even importing existing structures into Terraform. This unique approach transforms abstract infrastructure concepts into something you can literally see and interact with—perfect for visual learners, educators, or anyone looking to make IaC training more engaging. Whether you're teaching your team Terraform or just want a creative way to understand infrastructure patterns, this episode shows you how gaming and cloud engineering can come together. Subscribe to vBrownBag for weekly tech education! ⸻ Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Technical Difficulties 1:27 Last Episode of 2025! 4:41 Planning for 2026 5:37 Mark Tinderholt Joins 6:14 Introduction to Minecraft + Terraform 8:52 Why Use Minecraft for Teaching IaC? 12:35 Getting Started: Requirements & Setup 16:47 The Minecraft Terraform Provider 20:18 First Demo: Provisioning Basic Blocks 28:32 Managing State in Minecraft 35:41 Working with Dependencies 42:16 Advanced Patterns: For_each & Count 48:55 Importing Existing Structures 55:23 Real-World Applications & Teaching 1:00:17 Q&A: Provider Limitations & Features 1:05:24 Minecraft Level Building Tools Discussion 1:09:05 Final Giveaway & Wrap-Up How to find Mark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktinderholt/ Links from the show: Marks repos: https://github.com/markti?tab=repositories Marks book: https://amzn.to/3N1rnuJ Mark's Ignite talk: https://ignite.microsoft.com/en-US/sessions/7fa5095f-9f65-46e3-9f82-9af6603ea903

Join Du'An Lightfoot, AI Developer at AWS, as he dives deep into building AI agents with the strands framework. In this technical walkthrough, Du'An demonstrates how to create custom AI coding assistants and multi-agent systems in just a few lines of code. Learn how agentic AI frameworks have evolved from basic function calling to sophisticated systems that can rival tools like Cursor and Cloud Code. Du'An shares practical examples, including building content pipelines, preprocessing systems, and even generating a book outline from his own YouTube content. Whether you're looking to automate workflows or build your own AI-powered tools, this session covers the frameworks and techniques you need to get started with AI agents. Perfect for developers, DevOps engineers, and anyone interested in leveraging AI to enhance their development workflow. Subscribe to vBrownBag for more community-driven tech education! ⸻ Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction & Welcome 6:43 - AI Tools Discussion & Current Usage 9:33 - Technical Background & Getting Started with Agents 15:00 - Introduction to Strands Framework 25:00 - Building Custom AI Agents Demo 40:00 - Multi-Agent Systems & Workflows 55:00 - Content Pipeline & Preprocessing Examples 1:05:00 - Book Generation Demo 1:10:00 - Q&A & Wrap Up How to find Du'An: https://www.linkedin.com/in/duanlightfoot/ Links from the show: https://s12d.com/vbrownbag-2025 https://github.com/strands-agents/samples https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/building-effective-agents https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-bedrock-agentcore-samples https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk https://modelcontextprotocol.io/llms-full.txt https://openai.com/index/whisper/ https://github.com/openai/whisper

Dive into KubeVirt with the vBrownBag crew and guest Eric Shanks! 🎤 Discover how vSphere admins can bridge their virtualization skills into Kubernetes, exploring practical architecture, live migration, and what it really takes to blend VMs and containers. Perfect for anyone facing VMware changes or curious about next-gen infrastructure. 💡🐧 Chapters: 00:00:00 Welcome & Guest Intros 00:06:30 Why KubeVirt? Market Shifts & Motivation 00:15:00 KubeVirt Fundamentals for vSphere Admins 00:38:30 Storage and High Availability in Kubernetes 00:48:50 Live Migration Demo & Q&A Resources: https://kubevirt.io/ https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/cloud-computing/openshift https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericshanks/ #KubeVirt #Kubernetes #vSphere #virtualization #cloudnative #DevOps #vBrownBag

In this week’s vBrownBag, Principal Software Engineer Dominik Wosiński takes us on a deep dive into Amazon Nova Sonic — AWS’s latest speech-to-speech AI model. Dominik explores how unified voice models like Nova Sonic are reshaping customer experience, DevOps workflows, and real-time AI interaction, with live demos showing just how natural machine-generated speech can sound. We cover what makes speech-to-speech difficult, how latency and turn-detection affect conversational design, and why this technology marks the next frontier for AI-driven customer support. Stick around for audience Q&A, live experiments, and insights on where AWS Bedrock and generative AI are headed next. 👉 Subscribe to vBrownBag for more weekly deep-dives with community experts and learn something new in cloud, DevOps, and AI every episode! ⸻ Timestamps 00:00 – Intro & catching up with Eric Wright 05:00 – Meet Dominik Wosiński & Halo Radius 06:15 – Why speech-to-speech matters 10:00 – Challenges with chatbots and customer experience 15:00 – Latency, realism, and the human connection 20:00 – Evolution of synthetic voices (“Jennifer” demo) 25:00 – Why speech is hard for computers 30:00 – Architecture of speech-to-speech systems 40:00 – Inside Amazon Nova Sonic 48:00 – AWS Bedrock integration & limitations 52:00 – Pricing, tokens, and performance 55:00 – Lessons learned from real customer projects 57:00 – Live demo of Nova Sonic in action 01:04:00 – Q&A and closing thoughts How to find Dom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominik-wosi%C5%84ski-b27535b7/

Join the vBrownBag crew for an insightful session with guest (and host!) Damian Karlson as he breaks down OpenStack for VMware administrators. From Broadcom’s shake-up to cultural, operational, and technical migration differences, Damian offers a practical, grounded walk-through of what it means to move from VMware to OpenStack. ☕️ Chapters 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:07:10 – Why organizations are leaving VMware 00:20:45 – Technical differences 00:33:00 – Operational differences 00:43:30 – Culture shift and community resources Resources: https://www.openstack.org/vmware-migration-to-openstack/vmware-to-openstack-migration-guide https://www.openstack.org/coa/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/damiankarlson/ #OpenStack #VMware #OpenInfra #CloudMigration #vBrownBag

Luis is an AWS Community Builder, CTO, and game developer! In this session, you'll learn how to build a live FAST (Free Ad-Supported TV) channel using AWS Elemental MediaLive. We'll walk through the end-to-end process: from ingest and transcoding, to dynamic ad insertion with MediaTailor and VOD integration via MediaConvert. This talk is perfect for engineers, architects, or media professionals looking to deliver scalable, serverless streaming solutions on AWS. 00:00 - Intro 04:50 - Building FAST Channels 06:20 - Key Concepts 18:10 - Architecture of the demo 21:00 - QRs for repo and player demo 22:25 - Building the demo live! 46:51 - Alternate Architectures 2 & 3 How to find Luis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-valdivia-humareda/ Luis' links: https://github.com/lvaldivia/vbrownbag2025

Join an epic panel of AWS Heroes as they dive into their experiences with Kiro, the AI-powered IDE shaking up development workflows. From spec-driven coding to pricing discussions and game demos, this conversation mixes deep tech insights with fun moments. Whether curious about AI's impact on coding or just looking for some cloud community vibes, this session offers laughs, honest feedback, and expert viewpoints. 🎮💻🤖☁️ #AWSHeroes #Kiro #SpecDrivenDevelopment #CloudDev #TechTalk #vBrownBag Chapters 00:00 Welcome & AWS Heroes Introductions 08:00 Getting to Know Kiro 23:00 Spec-Driven Development Explained 35:00 Pricing Debate & Challenges 44:00 Multiplayer Voice-Controlled Game Demo 50:00 AI Coding Workflow & Feedback Loops 1:00:00 Wrap-Up & Future Thoughts on AI Coding Resources: https://kiro.dev/

Ready to conquer DevOps fearlessly? Watch as Shala Werner walks through “DevOps Without the Oh, ****!” moments—sharing real-world stories, and her creative Terraproof sandbox for breaking things safely (without blowing up production)! Whether you're a seasoned engineer or just getting your feet wet, you’ll pick up new strategies and learn how to turn nerves into a superpower. Stick around for laughs, relatable tech tales, and some solid advice on experimenting and failing smart. 🦸‍♀️🛠️✨ #DevOps #Terraform #TechTalk #FailSafely #vBrownBag #Sandboxing Chapters 00:00 Meet Shala, Chris & Damian 08:00 Turning Fear into a Superpower 🚀 17:00 Break Stuff Safe: The Terraproof Way 🛡️ 28:00 Demo Time: Sandboxes & Real Stories 🏗️ 36:00 Q&A, Life Advice & Wrap-up 💬 Resources: https://events.giftedlane.com/links

Unlock essential cloud security lessons with Rajeev Joshi and the vBrownBag team as they explore the most common AWS mistakes: misconfigured S3 buckets, over-permissive IAM, open ports, hard-coded secrets, and blind spots in logging. Hear real-world breach stories and learn practical best practices for safer cloud deployments, whether starting out or leveling up as a security engineer. #CloudSecurity #AWS #CyberSecurity #DevSecOps #CloudCareers #vBrownBag #Infosec Chapters 00:00:03 Cloud Security Introduction & Welcome 00:05:31 Why Cloud Security Matters: Data Breaches, Shared Responsibility 00:18:31 Top Mistakes: S3 Bucket and IAM Misconfigurations 00:31:12 Open Ports, Bad Security Groups, and Real-World Case Studies 00:40:29 Hard-Coded Secrets, Logging, and Monitoring 00:54:54 Best Practices, Careers, and Closing Advice Resources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajeev-joshi-7964b4221/

Snigdha Joshi is a UI/UX Designer: In this session, we unravel how artificial intelligence is redefining the future of creative technology from intuitive UI/UX design to dynamic content creation, generative art, immersive storytelling, and beyond. Gain insight into how AI is unlocking new dimensions of expression, streamlining design processes, and giving rise to transformative career roles at the intersection of imagination and intelligence. 00:00 - Intro 03:50 - Designing Tomorrow 05:00 - Fear of AI 10:29 - User Research 24:18 - Beyond Chat 36:37 - Tools that Do More 41:45 - Final Takeaway 51:22 - Q&A How to find Snigdha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snigdha-joshi-20a476253/ Snigdha's links: https://snigdhajoshi.framer.website

Janvi Bhagchandani is an AWS Community Builder and an AWS Cloud Captian! In this episode she talks about personal branding and self-marketing within the AWS ecosystem while covering aspects like credentials as social proof, visible expertise, community recognition, and other psychological marketing angles that tie these elements together in the AWS context. 00:00 - Intro 05:43 - Cloud Credibility 07:46 - Authority Bias 16:01 - The 7-38-55 Rule 23:09 - The Primacy Effect 34:45 - The Reciprocity Principle 40:57 - Liking Principle 53:00 - Q&A How to find Janvi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janvi-bhagchandani-b58853256/