Speaker 1: Hey everyone, and welcome back. We're doing a deep dive
Speaker 1: today into modern system administration, building and maintaining reliable systems,
Speaker 1: and it's a really fascinating look at how, you know,
Speaker 1: system administration is changing. It's not just keeping the lights
Speaker 1: on anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not just you know. I mean sometimes it
Speaker 2: feels like you're just like keeping the servers running, keeping
Speaker 2: the lights on, like you said, But it's much more
Speaker 2: than that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. This book really drives home the point that modern
Speaker 1: sissemens they need a whole new set of skills.
Speaker 2: It's a whole different way of thinking about the job. Really. Absolutely,
Speaker 2: It's like you're not just reacting to problems anymore. You're
Speaker 2: building systems that are like fundamentally more resilient, more reliable.
Speaker 1: And that's where this whole idea of version control comes in,
Speaker 1: which is like a huge theme in this book.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're big on version control, and you know what,
Speaker 2: they should be, right because, I mean, honestly, it's not
Speaker 2: just for software developers anymore.
Speaker 1: Exactly. This book makes the case that version control is
Speaker 1: just as crucial for sissigmind's, if not more so in
Speaker 1: some cases.
Speaker 2: And there's like actual data to back this up the
Speaker 2: door State of DevOps report. They found a super strong
Speaker 2: link between using version control and having you know, a
Speaker 2: really high performing IT team.
Speaker 1: It makes you wonder why we weren't all using it
Speaker 1: like yesterday. Remember those times early in your career maybe
Speaker 1: where you messed up like just one configuration file.
Speaker 2: Oh, tell me about it, and.
Speaker 1: You're like scrambling to find a backup.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and you.
Speaker 1: Don't even know how old it is. Well, it's the
Speaker 1: right one, and then you realize it's from like a
Speaker 1: year ago, and everything's different exactly. Version control is like
Speaker 1: having that like that magic undo button for your entire systems.
Speaker 2: It's a lifesaver, it really is. It is, and it's
Speaker 2: not just about you know, recovering from disasters either. Like
Speaker 2: think about when you're onboarding a new team member. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: instead of them having to like wade through a bunch
Speaker 2: of old scripts and trying to figure out what does what,
Speaker 2: version control gives them that history.
Speaker 1: It's like instant documentation almost exactly. Yeah, like a clear
Speaker 1: picture of how the system evolved.
Speaker 2: It just makes everything so much smoother, And you.
Speaker 1: Know, it's really cool this book. It takes version control
Speaker 1: way beyond just code. Oh yeah, you're like, why stop
Speaker 1: there exactly? Configuration files, scripts, build images.
Speaker 2: If it's part of your system, it should be under
Speaker 2: version control.
Speaker 1: They're like version control everything pretty much.
Speaker 2: And it makes sense, right, I mean, you want that
Speaker 2: single source.
Speaker 1: Of truth, right, so everyone knows exactly what's going on.
Speaker 2: No more like oh, which version of this script is
Speaker 2: the right one?
Speaker 1: Exactly? And then the book it dives into this whole
Speaker 1: debate about you know, mona repo versus multi repo.
Speaker 2: Ah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought was really interesting because at first I
Speaker 1: was like, mono repo, that's got to be the way
Speaker 1: to go, right. It seems so simpfl like one giant repository.
Speaker 1: Everything's in there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one source of truth, super.
Speaker 1: Easy, super simple. But then they start talking about you know,
Speaker 1: when you've got a huge team, and.
Speaker 2: Like it gets complicated. Yeah, imagine like fifty engineers all
Speaker 2: working on the same massive repository. Oh yeah, the merged
Speaker 2: conflicts alone would be a nightmare.
Speaker 1: It'd be crazy.
Speaker 2: Suddenly that single source of truth doesn't seem so simple anymore, right,
Speaker 2: and even just managing dependencies, oh yeah, like one team
Speaker 2: needs this version of a library, another team needs a
Speaker 2: different version. It can get messy exactly, And the book
Speaker 2: does a good job of like not picking a side.
Speaker 2: It's not saying mono repos all these good or multi
Speaker 2: repos always bad.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: It really depends on your team, your workflow, your specific needs,
Speaker 2: your context exactly. So, like the takeaway for me was,
Speaker 2: you know, be intentional about your choice document it, make
Speaker 2: sure everyone understands why you're doing what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Make sure everyone's on the same page exactly. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: beyond just you know, preventing those like disasters, right, lost
Speaker 1: work those oh no moments. The book it gets into
Speaker 1: these other like amazing benefits of version control.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, but I hadn't really thought about before, like reproducibility.
Speaker 1: Reproducibility huge, huge. I mean, if you have good version control,
Speaker 1: you can spin up any previous version of your system
Speaker 1: like that, like instantly, exactly. So think about testing a
Speaker 1: new feature, right, or like debugging a really tricky issue, right,
Speaker 1: You can recreate the exact environment from any point in time.
Speaker 2: Makes troubleshooting so much easier, so much easier.
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
Speaker 2: It's like having that rewind button for your infrastructure.
Speaker 1: It really is. And I love how the book uses
Speaker 1: that analogy of a shared bank account to describe version control.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's such a good analogy, right, Like.
Speaker 1: Imagine you and I are trying to run a business, right,
Speaker 1: We're making deposits, we're taking out money, but there's no
Speaker 1: record of any of it.
Speaker 2: Chaos, total chaos. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But with version control, it's like having that perfect transaction history.
Speaker 1: Every change is logged, Who may it, why they made it,
Speaker 1: accountability exactly, transparency.
Speaker 2: It just makes everything so much more organized and manageable.
Speaker 1: So we've like really hammered home how powerful version control is.
Speaker 1: But what about actually, you know, putting it into practice. Right,
Speaker 1: This book doesn't just tell you to do it.
Speaker 2: That shows you how.
Speaker 1: They actually give you the like the steps, the tools.
Speaker 2: Exactly, and it's written for Sissigmins bi semence.
Speaker 1: So it's super practical. And they even get into code reviews,
Speaker 1: which can be you know, a bit of a touchy subject. Sometimes.
Speaker 1: I've been in those code reviews that are like brutal.
Speaker 1: We've all been there where it feels like, you know,
Speaker 1: everyone's just picking apart your code and it's not very constructive,
Speaker 1: not helpful at all. This book takes a totally different approach,
Speaker 1: though They.
Speaker 2: Really emphasized that like code reviews should be a learning opportunity. Oh,
Speaker 2: it's a chance to share knowledge, to catch potential issues
Speaker 2: early on, but in a constructive way. Yeah, it's a
Speaker 2: team effort, not a competition.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it shouldn't be about, you know, tearing each other down,
Speaker 1: exactly right.
Speaker 2: And it all comes back to that idea of collaboration.
Speaker 2: We're all in this together, and speaking of collaboration and
Speaker 2: like just working smarter in general. I love the part
Speaker 2: where they talk about setting up a really awesome local
Speaker 2: development environment because that can make such a huge difference.
Speaker 1: It really can. Having the right tools, the right setup,
Speaker 1: it just makes you so much more productive.
Speaker 2: And the book goes into detail about like choosing the
Speaker 2: right editor, setting up testing frameworks.
Speaker 1: It's all about efficiency, righty, making your life easier.
Speaker 2: And honestly, I think that kind of sums up what
Speaker 2: I love about this book. What's that It's all about
Speaker 2: giving cissidminds the tools, the knowledge, the mindset to not
Speaker 2: just like survive, but to actually thrive to access in
Speaker 2: this like crazy world of ever changing technology.
Speaker 3: Because it is constantly changing, you always feel like you're
Speaker 3: like playing exactly, but this book it gives you a framework,
Speaker 3: a way of thinking about the work that can really
Speaker 3: help you stay ahead of the curve. Absolutely, and it
Speaker 3: gets you thinking about not just the technical stuff, but
Speaker 3: the human element too.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's so important, which you know they don't
Speaker 1: always teach you about.
Speaker 2: In school, No they don't. But as systems become more complex,
Speaker 2: as teams get bigger, those soft skills, those human skills,
Speaker 2: they become even more important.
Speaker 1: Communication, collaboration, all that stuff.
Speaker 2: It's not just about the technology anymore. It's about the people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And with that, I think we've done our deep
Speaker 1: dive for today.
Speaker 2: That was a good one.
Speaker 1: We explored this whole world of modern system administration.
Speaker 2: Version control. Everything we talked about, version control, local development.
Speaker 1: The human side of it all, so much good stuff.
Speaker 1: So we hope this episode gave you some things.
Speaker 2: To think about, inspired you to maybe try some new things.
Speaker 1: Maybe even level up your own Sissenmin game a little bit.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 1: Until next time, happy coding, and mayor systems always be
Speaker 1: up and running.