Blockchain Technology Interview, with a Full Stack Developer

What excites you the most about the future of blockchain technology?

The use of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is still in its infancy. I am most excited to see how this space progresses and where it ends up long-term. I imagine everyone will be interacting with it on a daily basis, from ordering Just-In-Time manufactured goods, to accepting ‘gig economy’ jobs, to sending and spending money. Joe Lubin’s keynote speech at the 2019 Ethereal conference offers a glimpse of all the future possibilities.

Joe Lubin’s Ethereal Keynote 2047: A Retrospective from the Other Side of the Trust Revolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyPnJp2qn9k

What are the obstacle(s) you see inhibiting widespread adoption of blockchain technology — on a global scale?

The user experience is a big problem at the moment. For example: Logging in and using a decentralized/blockchain application takes multiple (technical) steps. Holding crypto-currencies requires knowledge of technology security best practices, to keep your private key safe. Blockchain IS experiencing great success, and adoption in specific areas; like our food supply chain, where blockchain helps improve transparency, traceability of ingredients, and products. However, blockchain should not be used for every new project/organization. When there is a better overall understanding of where blockchain excels, more and more innovative organizations will be formed in using blockchain; creating valuable experiences for more users.

As a full stack developer familiar with JavaScript/Solidity, what qualities do you look for in a blockchain technology organization?

Flexibility – For employees to work remotely and live life on their terms. Flexibility for clients as well; to adapt to their clients needs, creating the best products possible.
Passion – Passion in the staff and senior leadership, expressed in their work and their personal lives. Passion for blockchain technology that has enormous potential to positively change the world!
Big Picture Thinking – Big picture thinking is a must for senior leadership, to help guide and direct daily work in this space. Blockchain is new and it’s easy to get caught up in the short-term and ignore setting long-term goals.

As a full stack developer, how do you see yourself contributing to the growth of blockchain technology?

I plan to continue building decentralized/blockchain applications that provide value and an excellent user experience. When these applications perform at their best, the sooner we are likely to experience mass adoption of blockchain technology.

Do you see a problem that blockchain technology can solve; that is not currently being used?

It’s difficult to discern which issues are not being addressed, yet. There are a lot of really smart teams working on many radical projects. I don’t have a complete view of everything (currently) happening in the blockchain space.

Where do you recommend a non-technical individual begin learning about blockchain technology?

Many great blockchain articles, links, and resources can be found at the ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ website: https://a16z.com/2018/02/10/crypto-readings-resources/

Rancher Software Review

Are you looking for a better way to maintain cloud agnostic environments? Will managing multiple Kubernetes clusters be a headache? Rancher has the remedy! Rancher wrangles together multiple Kubernetes deployments under centralized authentication, with secure access control. Let’s take a look at how Rancher is making the wild world-wide-web a little more manageable.

Universal Unity & Efficiency

Rancher supports single and multi-cluster Kubernetes environments, hosted on-prem, public, or in a private cloud. Rancher offers Kubernetes-as-a-service, with an open-source model and cloud agnostic compatibility. Rancher will not only deploy new/existing clusters to any environment; it will unite these clusters centrally. GKE, RKE, EKS, on-prem VM’s – all securely managed as a single Kubernetes cloud! Built on Helm, leveraging Docker containers, Rancher deploys clusters with flexibility to multiple providers.

Simplify Kubernetes Clusters

Are you thinking, we don’t have time to keep up with AWS, Google, Azure, DigitalOcean, and Rackspace details! Will my team(s) need to learn these complex tools, or can we focus on our business initiatives? Rancher will accelerate growth, allow developers to innovate, and let you focus on what you do best. No need to write/edit complex YAML files. Rancher provides a well organized UI with easy-to-use features; to deploy, activate, import, and maintain clusters. Rancher also provides a tool (download) for those who prefer to use the command-line interface. Rancher will also accept existing Helm charts, to simplify the process and get you to production quickly.

Integration Increases Productivity

Rancher provides an out-of-the-box interface with centralized logging, to deploy workloads, and analyze metrics. Prometheus and Grafana provide detailed analytics on cluster(s) and workload metric(s). Rancher accepts a traditional syslog, kafka publishing, Elasticsearch, and fluentd with ease. Are you familiar with an existing interface, like DataDog? Wrangle it into Rancher! DataDog communicates with Rancher, without barking or bugs. Rancher knows your productivity is hinged on how quickly you can scale and adapt. The days of drudging through UAT with unorganized VM’s and missed release dates are over! Other platforms and products may want to lock you down with their services. Rancher is here to integrate and unlock the gates to future growth.

Benefits & Bridges

Rancher places the user on the bridge of a virtual starship; equipped with the tools, resources, metrics, and visibility to orchestrate Kubernetes clusters with efficiency. The web based UI is intuitive, quick-to-load, easy to navigate, and simple to add/deploy new clusters. Rancher invites you to join their community, build virtual bridges, and keep growing!