Corey is joined by cloud economist Eric Pullen to discuss Eric’s journey at AWS that led to his current role as a cloud economist at Duckbill Group. They explore Eric’s early career building data centers and learning IT finance, highlighting how today’s cloud-first world has transformed career paths. The conversation also addresses the hype around cloud repatriation, with Eric arguing that enterprises are unlikely to return to on-prem due to the efficiency of cloud solutions. Additionally, they touch on cloud cost optimization, AWS service deprecation, and the importance of aligning cloud spending with business value rather than cutting costs blindly.

Show Highlights:

(1:35 ) Eric Pullen’s background before joining The Duckbill Group

(3:22 ) What’s going on with cloud repatriation

(6:39 ) Eric’s advice for getting into the IT industry

(7:08 ) How Eric got involved with AWS

(10:51 ) Different aspects of Eric’s time at AWS, including Well-Architected

(15:02 ) The rise of service deprecation in AWS

(17:47 ) Why Eric joined The Duckbill Group

(22:42 ) Eric’s concept of consulting at scale

(26:23 ) How cost can affect performance

(32:32 ) Problems with standardization in enterprises

(39:10 ) Where to learn more about Eric and his work

About Eric Pullen
I'm Eric Pullen, and I live just outside of Louisville, Kentucky. I've been following Duckbill Group for a while now, and when I saw an opportunity to join as a Cloud Economist, I couldn't pass it up. Before AWS, I worked at Appriss, Inc. for over 14 years, where I was the Director of IT and helped grow several SaaS products, including VINE, JusticeXchange, and MethCheck. In 2015 I joined AWS, where I worked as a Senior Cloud Infrastructure Architect, the Global Performance Efficiency Pillar Lead for the AWS Well-Architected Framework, and most recently as a Global Solutions Architect in their Healthcare and Life Sciences (HCLS) division. During my time at AWS, I had the chance to work with some of their biggest customers, including GE, Siemens, and AstraZeneca.

Outside of work, I've been married to Kelly for almost 19 years, and we have two daughters: Jordan, who is 26 and fully embracing adulthood, and Myia, who is 15. We also have two pets: Rocky, my charcoal Lab, and Turbo, our Lionhead bunny.

Links

• Personal site: https://www.ericpullen.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericpullen/
• Twitter: https://x.com/ericpullen

Sponsors
Backblaze: https://www.backblaze.com/