Month: November 2024
MMS • Anthony Alford
Article originally posted on InfoQ. Visit InfoQ
Anthropic released two new models: Claude 3.5 Haiku and an improved version of Claude 3.5 Sonnet. They also released a new feature for Claude 3.5 Sonnet that allows the model to interact with a computer’s GUI the same way a human user does.
Claude 3.5 Haiku is the company’s fastest model; the new version outperforms larger models such as GPT-4o and the previous generation of Claude 3.5 Sonnet on the SWE-bench Verified coding benchmark. The upgraded Claude 3.5 Sonnet performs even better on that benchmark, “higher than all publicly available models” according to Anthropic. The model also supports a new feature, computer use, which allows it to interact with a computer by interpreting the images on the screen, moving the mouse pointer, clicking buttons, and entering text via a virtual keyboard. This allows the model to interact with virtually any program, not just ones that support an API. According to Anthropic,
Computer use is a completely different approach to AI development. Up until now, LLM developers have made tools fit the model, producing custom environments where AIs use specially-designed tools to complete various tasks. Now, we can make the model fit the tools—Claude can fit into the computer environments we all use every day. Our goal is for Claude to take pre-existing pieces of computer software and simply use them as a person would.
The computer use feature relies on Claude’s ability to interpret images. Anthropic describes it as “taking screenshots and piecing them together.” One key advancement was training the model to accurately count pixels; many LLMs struggle with similar tasks such as counting the number of letters in a word. Without this skill, the model would be unable to move the computer mouse to the proper place.
Claude currently has the top spot on the OSWorld benchmark leaderboard, which tracks the ability of AI agents to interact with computers. While humans typically score higher than 70% on this benchmark, Claude’s best score is 14.9%. However, GPT-4, “the next-best AI model in the same category” according to Anthropic, scores only 7.7%.
Users on Hacker News discussed the computer use feature, pointing out its potential for automating a wide range of common business processes
This is actually a huge deal. As someone building AI SaaS products, I used to have the position that directly integrating with APIs is going to get us most of the way there in terms of complete AI automation…I started to realize that pretty much most of the real world runs on software that directly interfaces with people, without clearly defined public APIs you can integrate into…I am glad they did this, since it is a powerful connector to these types of real-world business use cases that are super-hairy, and hence very worthwhile in automating.
Anthropic notes that the feature still “remains slow and often error-prone.” Alex Albert, the company’s Head of Claude Relations, posted on X that:
It’s not perfect yet. The model struggles at times with basic computer actions which can lead to some amusing moments. While filming demos, Claude accidentally stopped a long-running screen recording, causing all footage to be lost. Later, Claude took a break from the coding demo and began to browse photos of Yellowstone National Park.
The computer use feature is currently in public beta. Anthropic also released example code on GitHub demonstrating how to use the feature.
Java News Roundup: Spring Cloud, Project Loom, Open Liberty, Groovy, Jakarta EE 11 Update
MMS • Michael Redlich
Article originally posted on InfoQ. Visit InfoQ
This week’s Java roundup for November 4th, 2024 features news highlighting: the first candidate release of Spring Cloud 2024; an update on Project Loom; the release of Open Liberty 24.0.0.11; point and milestone releases for Apache Groovy; and an update on Jakarta EE 11.
OpenJDK
For the third week in a row, it was a busy week in the OpenJDK ecosystem during the week of November 4th, 2024, highlighting: five JEPs, having successfully completed their respective reviews, are now Targeted for JDK 24; five new JEPs have been Proposed to Target for JDK 24 and will be under review during the week of November 11th, 2024; and two JEP drafts that have been promoted to Candidate status. More details may be found in this InfoQ news story.
JDK 24
Build 23 of the JDK 24 early-access builds was made available this past week featuring updates from Build 22 that include fixes for various issues. Further details on this release may be found in the release notes.
For JDK 24, developers are encouraged to report bugs via the Java Bug Database.
Jakarta EE
In his weekly Hashtag Jakarta EE blog, Ivar Grimstad, Jakarta EE Developer Advocate at the Eclipse Foundation, provided an update on Jakarta EE 11, writing:
Jakarta EE 11 Core Profile is just about ready for release review. Everything is ready and all artefacts are staged or published according to the Jakarta EE Specification Process (JESP).
The Jakarta EE TCK Project is working heroically to finalize the TCK so we will be able to have the release reviews for Jakarta EE 11 Platform and Jakarta EE 11 Web Profile underway in the beginning of December. The goal is to have them completed, or at least ongoing when JakartaOne Livestream is happening on December 3rd, 2024.
The road to Jakarta EE 11 included four milestone releases with the potential for release candidates as necessary before the GA release in 4Q2024.
Project Loom
Build 24-loom+10-110 of the Project Loom early-access builds was made available to the Java community this past week and is based on Build 22 of the JDK 24 early-access builds. This build improves the implementation of Java monitors (synchronized methods) for enhanced interoperability with virtual threads.
Spring Framework
The first release candidate of Spring Cloud 2024.0.0, codenamed Moorgate, features bug fixes and notable updates to sub-projects such as: Spring Cloud Kubernetes 3.2.0-RC1; Spring Cloud Function 4.2.0-RC1; Spring Cloud OpenFeign 4.2.0-RC1; Spring Cloud Stream 4.2.0-RC1; and Spring Cloud Gateway 4.2.0-RC1. This release is based on Spring Boot 3.4.0-RC1. More details on this release may be found in the release notes.
Open Liberty
IBM has released version 24.0.0.11 of Open Liberty featuring: new messaging and authorization support for InstantOn, the Open Liberty implementation of Checkpoint/Restore in Userspace (CRIU), for improved application startup; and a new webModuleClassPathLoader configuration attribute for improved enterprise application class loader control that is referenced by a web module Class-Path attribute.
IBM has recently submitted a Compatibility Certification Request (CCR) for the Jakarta EE 11 Core Profile using Open Liberty 24.0.0.11-beta as certification.
Quarkus
Quarkus 3.16.2, the first maintenance release (version 3.16.0 was skipped), featuring notable changes such as: open the OidcRequestContextProperties class for modification so that request filters may pass in their own properties; and a removal of throwing a NullPointerException from the interceptAfterAllMethod() method, defined in the QuarkusTestExtension class, to resolve an intermittent issue in the CI. More details on this release may be found in the changelog.
Apache Software Foundation
The release of Apache Kafka 3.9.0 delivers bug fixes and new features/improvements such as: the ability to re-enable Tiered Storage if it has previously been disabled; and the addition of a --remote-log-metadata-decoder flag to the kafka-dump-log.sh tool that may be used to decode the payload of the __remote_log_metadata records produced by the default instance of the RemoteLogMetadataManager interface. More details on this release may be found in the release notes.
Versions 5.0.0-alpha-11, 4.0.24 and 3.0.23 of Apache Groovy provide bug fixes, dependency upgrades and new features such as: improved static type checking error handling when a method reference is being provided for a type that is not a functional interface; and declare the GroovyClassLoader class to be parallel capable to eliminate the use of reflection. More details on these releases may be found in the release notes for version 5.0.0-alpha-11, version 4.0.24 and version 3.0.23.
Gradle
The third release candidate of Gradle 8.11.0 delivers continuous updates on new features such as: improved performance in the configuration cache with an opt-in parallel loading and storing of cache entries; the C++ and Swift plugins now compatible with the configuration cache; and improved error and warning reporting in which Java compilation errors are now displayed at the end of the build output. More details on this release may be found in the release notes.
MMS • RSS
Posted on mongodb google news. Visit mongodb google news
Assetmark Inc. cut its holdings in shares of MongoDB, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDB – Free Report) by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,559 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,214 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in MongoDB were worth $6,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MDB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in MongoDB by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,910,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,478,475,000 after purchasing an additional 68,348 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in MongoDB by 156.3% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 656,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,222,000 after buying an additional 400,705 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in MongoDB by 22.4% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 550,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,497,000 after buying an additional 100,725 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in MongoDB by 109.0% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 445,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,625,000 after acquiring an additional 232,101 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in MongoDB by 1,098.1% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 424,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,084,000 after acquiring an additional 388,979 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.29% of the company’s stock.
MongoDB Trading Up 0.5 %
Shares of MDB opened at $291.57 on Tuesday. MongoDB, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.74 and a fifty-two week high of $509.62. The firm has a market cap of $21.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -96.55 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $277.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $276.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 5.03 and a current ratio of 5.03.
MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $478.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $465.03 million. MongoDB had a negative net margin of 12.08% and a negative return on equity of 15.06%. The company’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.63) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MongoDB, Inc. will post -2.39 earnings per share for the current year.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MDB shares. Wedbush upgraded shares of MongoDB to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on MongoDB from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MongoDB from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on MongoDB from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of MongoDB from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MongoDB has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $334.25.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MDB
Insider Activity
In related news, CFO Michael Lawrence Gordon sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.31, for a total transaction of $1,451,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,307 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,925.17. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Michael Lawrence Gordon sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.31, for a total transaction of $1,451,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 80,307 shares in the company, valued at $23,313,925.17. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dev Ittycheria sold 3,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.25, for a total value of $911,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 219,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,342,968.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,281 shares of company stock valued at $6,657,121. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
About MongoDB
MongoDB, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides general purpose database platform worldwide. The company provides MongoDB Atlas, a hosted multi-cloud database-as-a-service solution; MongoDB Enterprise Advanced, a commercial database server for enterprise customers to run in the cloud, on-premises, or in a hybrid environment; and Community Server, a free-to-download version of its database, which includes the functionality that developers need to get started with MongoDB.
Read More
Before you consider MongoDB, you’ll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street’s top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on… and MongoDB wasn’t on the list.
While MongoDB currently has a “Moderate Buy” rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
Growth stocks offer a lot of bang for your buck, and we’ve got the next upcoming superstars to strongly consider for your portfolio.
Article originally posted on mongodb google news. Visit mongodb google news
Apache Cassandra survey highlights growing adoption for AI workloads – Blocks and Files
MMS • RSS
Posted on nosqlgooglealerts. Visit nosqlgooglealerts
Apache Cassandra is an established open source, NoSQL database designed for handling workloads across commodity servers. So what applications is it now supporting?
The annual Cassandra Community survey has landed, revealing Cassandra’s evolving usage. Among respondents, 41 percent said Cassandra was their organization’s primary database, with more than 50 percent of enterprise data going through it. Over a third (34 percent) said 10 to 50 percent of their enterprise data was handled by Cassandra.
“Scalability” was cited by 78 percent of respondents as a reason for using the database, while 73 percent claimed it was down to “performance.”
Among multiple use cases at organizations, 47 percent use the database for time series data, and 34 percent use it for event logging. In addition, 31 percent use the platform for data aggregation.
Other significant uses include online retail/e-commerce, user activity tracking, user profile management, fraud detection, and backup and archiving.
In the future, 43 percent vowed to use Cassandra for AI workloads, and 38.5 percent planned to use it for machine learning workloads. Currently, 36 percent of users said they were already “experimenting” with the database to run at least one generative AI app.
In terms of data volumes, 30 percent currently run over 100 TB on Cassandra, and 27 percent handle 10 to 100 TB on it. Just under a quarter (23 percent) put 1 to 10 TB through it.
The survey found that 35 percent of Cassandra workloads were already in the cloud, and 25 percent of organizations pledged to put 10 to 50 percent of their workloads into the cloud over the next 12 months. Eight percent said they would be moving at least half of their workloads into the cloud in the next year.
Some 37 percent of Cassandra users had been using the platform for five to ten years, and nearly a fifth (18 percent) had used the database for upwards of ten years.
MMS • RSS
Posted on mongodb google news. Visit mongodb google news
Presented by MongoDB
In 2020, the pandemic was in full swing, and many office workers were working remotely for the first time. Paylocity, a provider of cloud-based payroll and human capital management (HCM) software, found their proprietary Community application embraced by customers who were looking to nurture stronger connections and engagement within remote teams. However, the resulting upswing in traffic showed Paylocity that the platform’s SQL-based architecture was no longer meeting their required performance metrics.
For a database solution that could meet all their needs, Paylocity tech leaders turned to MongoDB — and found a solution that cost five times less than their previous vendor’s solution. Today, Paylocity runs over twenty applications on MongoDB, and its developers can create an application within minutes — something that used to take weeks.
VentureBeat sat down with Stephen Dick, VP of engineering at Paylocity, and Sahir Azam, chief product officer at MongoDB, to talk about that relationship — from the opportunities and challenges that Paylocity and MongoDB have experienced as they’ve grown, to the ways Paylocity’s partnership with MongoDB has helped drive their success along the way.
VB: What technical challenges kicked off Paylocity’s quest for a new database solution, and what made you ultimately choose MongoDB?
SD: In order to build Community, we needed a new approach to how we stored data. Community acts as an internal social network for businesses, fostering engagement and culture-building through a dynamic newsfeed. This presents unique technical challenges due to the complex, dynamic data structures required to manage large volumes of user-generated content, flexible querying for personalization and a constantly changing data model. Our existing SQL-based architecture was good, but was not optimized for the dynamic, schema-less data needs of Community. We needed a complete rethink.
Along the way, we evaluated many options but ultimately chose MongoDB as our database partner. There were technical determinants to the decision for sure, like the flexibility of MongoDB’s schema-less architecture, performance benchmarks and the scalability of the architecture. But important drivers were also how proactive the support and services team were.
And of note, the MongoDB development community is very rich and the company places a premium on making developers’ lives easier. It’s a commitment we share. I have an entire team dedicated to improving the developer experience within Paylocity, so there was a shared sense of purpose.
VB: How have these developer tools and support from MongoDB impacted your development team and your bottom line?
SD: It used to take a lot of time to create the infrastructure, integrate our standard frameworks and tools, adopt our commonly held libraries and so on. To move faster, we adopted modern developer experience (DevEx) frameworks, including SPACE, which emphasizes productivity, satisfaction, collaboration and flow to achieve a faster time-to-market. This led to investments in cloud infrastructure, starter packages, common platforms and innovative documentation. We’re rolling out new AI code assist tools, including Tabnine, which will further enhance the developer experience.
Building strategic relationships with key vendors is a critical part of our productivity strategy. For example, MongoDB’s support has been proactive, engaging with us early in the process to avoid common pitfalls and offering solutions before challenges arise, rather than reacting to issues after the fact. This level of partnership is incredibly invaluable. It helps us maximize the effectiveness of our tools.
Overall, we’ve freed up so much developer time to focus on higher-value work. This has led to faster iteration cycles and fewer code errors, contributing to both cost savings and a smoother development process.
VB: MongoDB prides itself on serving developers. Sahir, can you tell me a bit about what that means, and how you work with customers like Paylocity to make their developers’ lives easier?
SA: Sure, from the very beginning, MongoDB was created to empower innovators to create, transform and disrupt industries by helping them unleash the power of software and data.
And, as we like to say, MongoDB was built by developers, for developers. Our developer data platform is a powerful database with an integrated set of related services that allow development teams to address the challenging requirements for today’s wide variety of modern applications — all within a unified and consistent user experience.
Always looking ahead, we address developers’ ever-growing needs through cutting-edge products to help them make the most of their data. Examples include MongoDB Atlas Search enabling developers to build full-text search at scale, Atlas Stream Processing for working with data in motion and at rest, and Atlas Vector Search to implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) in AI applications.
And we hear from customers all the time just how much MongoDB has helped them operate more efficiently. Like Rent the Runway, who was able to achieve a 67% decrease in inventory processing time using MongoDB Atlas. Or, GE HealthCare, which used MongoDB to manage the lifecycle of its medical IoT devices and saw an 83% decrease in retrieval time, resulting in better care for GE HealthCare customers.
We love tech-forward innovator brands like Paylocity. We strive to help them remove blockers so that they can focus on what they do best to better serve their customers.
VB: Paylocity has evolved a lot since its inception. Stephen, what are you doing right now that’s got you and your customers excited?
SD: One of our core values is “think next generation.” It keeps innovation at the forefront of everything we do. For example, with our recent acquisition of Airbase, we’re expanding our product capabilities into the office of the CFO. It will allow our customers to use management and financial solutions alongside our HR and payroll tools, providing a complete suite of services to manage both people and finances, under a single unified platform.
We heard from our customers that they were looking for greater control over the balance sheet. So, we’re excited to take these new capabilities to market. Airbase’s technology will empower our customers with tools for expense management, bill payments and corporate card management and will enable customers to streamline their operations, reduce financial complexity and drive more accurate financial forecasting.
VB: What else can we expect to see from Paylocity moving forward?
SD: We hear frequently from smaller clients that they need to move away from spreadsheets and siloed workbooks. From our Enterprise clients, we hear about the need to provide deeper connectivity between departments and richer insights. As we move beyond the borders of traditional HCM, our customers benefit from deeper connectivity and advanced capabilities that scale with their business.
That’s why we’re continuing to innovate. That’s why Paylocity is on a trajectory of growth. We’re driving further integration of HR, IT and financial functionalities into a single platform. Our customers will see simplified processes, fewer redundant systems and lower overhead.
That doesn’t mean we will lose our focus on HCM. Our commitment to HCM is rock solid and we’re proud of the impact our products have had. Our Community product, powered by MongoDB has helped create connected workplaces. And we’re looking forward to future partnerships that allow us to have an amplified impact on the workplaces around us.
VB: And Sahir, what’s in the pipeline for MongoDB, and what upcoming innovations are you excited to share with developers?
SA: I’d say that we’re particularly excited about the chance to help developers make the most of AI.
Specifically, we recently announced the general availability of the MongoDB AI Applications Program (MAAP). It’s a first-of-its-kind program that’s designed to help organizations take advantage of AI. MAAP offers customers a variety of resources to put AI applications into production: reference architectures, integrations with leading technology providers, professional services and a unified support system to help customers quickly build and deploy AI applications.
For more — including details of the MAAP ecosystem of companies — check out the MongoDB AI Applications website.
Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.
Article originally posted on mongodb google news. Visit mongodb google news
MMS • RSS
Posted on nosqlgooglealerts. Visit nosqlgooglealerts
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries, making AI skills some of the most sought-after competencies in today’s job market. But what exactly are these skills, and how can they empower individuals and businesses to stay ahead?
At the core of AI are foundational skills in computer science and mathematics. Proficiency in programming languages like Python, R, and Java is crucial, as they are commonly used for developing AI models. Understanding algorithms and data structures is equally important because AI fundamentally revolves around building efficient algorithms to process and analyze data.
A significant aspect of AI involves machine learning, where the ability to design, train, and evaluate models is pivotal. Machine Learning (ML) skills allow individuals to create systems that can learn from data and improve over time. Having a firm grasp on ML libraries and frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and scikit-learn is essential for anyone looking to build or manage AI systems.
Furthermore, data analysis and data engineering skills play a critical role in AI. Since AI models rely on large volumes of data, skills in data preprocessing, visualization, and storage are necessary to ensure data is clean and accessible. Familiarity with SQL and NoSQL databases, as well as cloud services like AWS and Azure, enhances one’s capacity to handle and process data effectively.
Finally, possessing strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills can distinguish an AI professional. AI often involves tackling complex challenges that require innovative solutions and the ability to think analytically.
By developing these AI skills, individuals and organizations can leverage the potential of AI technologies, driving efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage in an increasingly digital world.
Mind-Blowing AI Skills That Will Transform Your Career!
The rise of artificial intelligence is not only reshaping industries but also creating new lifestyles and opportunities worldwide. Beyond the technical competencies needed for developing AI systems, there’s a burgeoning demand for AI ethics and AI governance skills. But why are these emerging skills essential, and how do they affect us?
New AI applications are continuously raising ethical questions about privacy, bias, and transparency. Understanding AI ethics helps individuals and organizations navigate controversial scenarios, ensuring AI implementations align with societal values and established laws. Consequently, skills in ethical decision-making and legal compliance are fundamental for businesses leveraging AI in sensitive contexts.
As AI continues to evolve, it’s also crucial to focus on AI governance. This includes the development and enforcement of policies and frameworks to manage AI systems responsibly. Skills in governance ensure that AI solutions are reliable and safe, preventing unintended consequences and misuse.
Question: What are artificial intelligence skills beyond technical expertise? AI skills also encompass ethical considerations and governance, ensuring systems are developed and deployed responsibly.
The influence of AI on communities is profound, creating new job prospects in tech and other sectors. However, it also poses challenges like worker displacement and societal inequities. Balancing these dynamics is key, prompting countries to invest in education and reskilling programs to prepare their workforce for AI’s impact.
For further insights on how AI is shaping our world, explore IBM, Microsoft, and Google, leaders in AI innovation. Embrace the AI era by expanding your skills, ensuring a positive and transformative impact on your career and community.
[embedded content]
MMS • Ken Finnigan
Article originally posted on InfoQ. Visit InfoQ
Transcript
Michael Stiefel: Welcome to the Architects Podcast where we discuss what it means to be an architect and how architects actually do their job. Today’s guest is Ken Finnigan. He’s been a consultant and software engineer for over 25 years with enterprises throughout the world. He’s presented on distributed tracing, microservices and other related topics,at conferences like CodeOne, JavaOne, Red Hat Summit, and DevOps UK among many others. He’s a founder and member of the Common House Foundation, which helps open source to be sustainable.
And in addition to all that, Ken has found the time to be an author of several books including Reactive Systems in Java, Kubernetes Native Microservices with Quarkus and MicroProfile and Enterprise Java Microservices. I’ve written several books, I’ve written two, and those are hard enough, so I can imagine what it was like to do all of those.
How Did You Become an Architect? [01:42]
It’s great to have you here in the podcast, and I’d like to start out by asking you, were you trained as an architect? How did you become an architect? Because it’s not like you woke up one morning and said, today I want to be an architect, and were one.
Ken Finnigan: Well, first off, thank you very much for having me on, Michael. It’s great to chat. Well, it’s funny you say that in terms of you weren’t trained to be one. I almost did for a while, but the different kind of architect. When I was in high school I did work experience at an architecture firm. It was only for a week, but the whole time I was there, I basically spent it copying architectural drawings onto tracings and stuff, and it was like, “This is boring. I don’t want to do this”.
Michael Stiefel: Well, it was like when I was an undergraduate, I took a computer operating system course and I decided, this is boring. I never want to have anything to do with computers ever again.
Ken Finnigan: Yes. But to get back to your question, I guess I never really thought of being an architect, and I certainly started as just an engineer at the time working on mainframes for IBM many, many moons ago, and I think it was somewhat of a natural progression over the years of working on projects, then moving into leading those projects and leading teams, and then that kind of naturally led to the next step up of being an architect.
Different Types of Architects [03:11]
But it’s also interesting because I’ve been different kinds of architects as well. I’ve been architects over a single or a couple of products that were very implementation heavy, and then I’ve also been enterprise architects for banks in the UK and it was very much a centralized architecture group where you reviewed plans of all the teams, made sure that they were aligning, and you didn’t write any code. You just kind of helped people fit the jigsaw pieces together.
Michael Stiefel: And I hope you were, shall we say not resented too much for that role?
Ken Finnigan: No, they’d had a very large enterprise architecture group at Lloyd’s and it was probably at least 50, 60 enterprise architects. So it was not resented and it was understood. Sometimes there was certainly some pushback of like, “Oh, why do we have to do it this way?” Particularly as we had a lot of governance and data standards that need to be adhered to some that were kind of financial regulation based, but others that were a lot of this is the way the bank does things, this is the way they always do them. You need to follow those rules.
Enterprise Architecture in Highly Regulated Companies [04:19]
Michael Stiefel: Yes. I’ve done some work for financial services firms and they can be quite frustrating sometimes.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, definitely.
Michael Stiefel: Especially when the people who work at the bank, even in the software, are used to doing certain things and the world changes on them and it’s not always the most fun thing in the world to do.
Ken Finnigan: No, not really. And I’ve worked at banks for many years, 20 odd years ago, and it was very much a case of, for the most part, it’s even still true today that they are usually five to 10 years behind anything else in the industry. So it doesn’t make for a very always fun and enjoyable thing because working on fairly outdated tech most of the time, but it’s certainly a good place to learn the ropes, get some experience, have an understanding of more of the fundamentals and less about what’s cool in tech.
Michael Stiefel: Yes. Although I do remember one time when the company I was working for, shall remain nameless, had to go to 24 hour a day trading because their trading platform was a batch system that counted on the fact that you could shut down at night to run all the trades.
Ken Finnigan: Oh wow.
Michael Stiefel: So sometimes even in the financial services industry, they get kicked in the pants and have to move on.
Ken Finnigan: Yes. No, I’ve definitely been involved in some of those projects too over the years, but usually it’s in a very almost kicking and screaming kind of way that they’re brought into the modern world. Sometimes you’re lucky and you have some leadership folks that are more forward-thinking and into bringing that more modern tech into a banking environment, but it’s also done very carefully to ensure that any risk is extremely minimal, which is understandable. They can’t afford to go down for extended periods. So yes, it’s one of the reasons in many respects, I’m kind of like, “I’m not sure I want to be in the medical field in software” because to me that kind of feels like you got people’s lives in your hand kind of situation.
Michael Stiefel: I will tell you a story along those lines. Many, many years ago I did a project where I was writing tests for some medical equipment, and several years later I was in my doctor’s office and had a procedure done and he brought out the equipment that I had been working on and I said to myself, “This is what mission-critical software is, iIt’s when my health is on the line.
Ken Finnigan: No, exactly. I think that’s something that’s always give credit to those who do that kind of work because I can’t imagine that it’s unstressful on a regular basis knowing that if you get this testing wrong, someone could have serious consequences.
Michael Stiefel: And also they have the same problem with rigidity because I remember another project I worked for in the medical field, I had to get some fax software to work because the regulatory process was certified with faxes-
Ken Finnigan: Oh Jesus. Wow.
Michael Stiefel: … even though society had gone way beyond faxes.
Ken Finnigan: Wow, that’s funny.
Michael Stiefel: And it was interesting because I think I had to get a SOAP protocol working over a fax.
Ken Finnigan: That doesn’t sound like fun.
What is the Feedback Chasm? [07:41]
Michael Stiefel: No, it wasn’t. Anyway, you have written about something that I find interesting and something that we don’t talk about enough in software. It is a little different from what we usually talk about here because it’s not directly related to actually building systems, but on the other hand, I don’t think you can truly build a system without acknowledging the fact that we have something that you can call the feedback chasm.
Ken Finnigan: Yes.
Michael Stiefel: And I think if we don’t at least try to bridge that chasm, it’s going to interfere with the effectiveness of being a developer, and the effectiveness of being an architect, and the effectiveness of actually just building the system. So why don’t you try to explain exactly what the feedback chasm is and why it can be so devastating?
Ken Finnigan: Sure. So currently kind of in the process of a job search myself right now, it’s something I’ve certainly experienced, so it definitely came to mind, but I’m pretty sure I’ve had the similar problem in the past as well. It’s not a new thing. So the feedback chasm is essentially highlighting a gap between the feedback you receive from your current role or organization, whether it’s from your manager, skip level managers, your peers, mentors, whoever it might be, they are very much going to be providing feedback that is focused to the role you have now, the org you have now, and to help you improve and take steps up on that ladder, whatever that might be in that organization.
So it’s very good to help you grow in that organization and the roles that they have in that organization. The gap and the chasm comes into play when you start then looking for future opportunities at different employers and needing to understand what they’re looking for in the characteristics and traits. I’m not really focused on the skills side of thing, it’s more characteristics and traits, but skills can play a part, that they’re looking for when they’re going through the hiring process, whether it be chatting with the hiring manager, the technical interviews. I know a lot of organizations have what they call behavioral style interviews where they really get into your history and how you explain things and whether you do it well and really analyzing you as a person and how you communicate.
Now in those interviewing situations, most of the time I found that you don’t really get any feedback from that process. You may get small comments here or there, but usually it’s more to do with technical interviews of you didn’t know these algorithms or you weren’t quite fast enough in getting to that conclusion or you didn’t explain yourself what you were thinking because that’s always the challenge with technical interviews is, having to think aloud and explain what you’re thinking. So that kind of feedback can often happen, but it’s very small and not very forthcoming in terms of you being able to grow and expand your skills and traits and characteristics into something that could in the future land that role.
So that’s the chasm between the feedback you get in your current role versus what you need when you’re interviewing at places to say, okay, what am I missing as a person that meant I didn’t get that role. And I feel like we’re doing engineers in the industry a disservice by not providing that feedback simply because it really narrows down our growth opportunities as an engineer or architect or whatever it might be to the company you’re in and hopefully finding a company that is looking for similar things. Because if you come across a company that’s looking for something different, you are more likely to hit that chasm of you don’t have that knowledge or experience or characteristics they’re looking for that they’ll be interested in you.
Michael Stiefel: I want to ask this sort of a clarifying question.
Ken Finnigan: Sure.
Different Types of Feedback Chasms [11:54]
Michael Stiefel: You mentioned that in terms of looking for a new position at a different company, but couldn’t that also happen if you’re trying to make a lateral transfer in the same company or explore a different opportunity in the same company?
Ken Finnigan: I think it could because if all the feedback you’ve been receiving in your current role is focused on a particular path at that organization, so for example, if you’re going from an IC kind of position to a manager position or a technical position to more of a product manager kind of role, then yes, I think the same thing would apply in terms of the feedback you’ve gotten for that IC role isn’t necessarily applicable to either a manager or a product manager role. So you need to start from scratch again in terms of what am I missing to be able to make this a success?
Michael Stiefel: I sometimes think even within trying to allow transfer, the company sometimes often doesn’t want to give you that feedback because it also wants to keep you in a certain role.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, there is that challenge certainly found over the years, and I’ve read many stories online about this as well, is that there are some really great managers out there who whether you stay with them or you go somewhere else they just want to see you grow and succeed and they are the ones that will help you with this kind of problem irrespective of if it means you leaving them at some point in the future. But then to add to your point, there are also lots of managers out there who are really focused on their own org and certainly want to help you grow, but maybe not so much that you end up leaving.
Michael Stiefel: Yes, I mean sometimes it may be the manager above the manager that has put such pressure on that manager, so maybe they would like you to grow but it’s not in their narrow self-interest to get you to grow.
Ken Finnigan: That is very true as well. In particularly a lateral move kind of situation your direct manager doesn’t usually have a lot of say over whether that can happen. It’s usually several layers up that something like that would have to be agreed.
A Thought Experiment on Delivering Effective Feedback [14:07]
Michael Stiefel: So let’s run a little thought experiment. You sort of hinted on what is effective feedback. So pretend you’re interviewing me for a job and you want to give me effective feedback or you’re interviewing for a job and I have to give you effective feedback. What would you expect to hear? I mean we can answer that question on several dimensions. One is purely content. The other is in terms of how the information is delivered. Because very often how it gets delivered can be just as important as, for example, if somebody says to you, you lack A, B, C, D skills, but we can help you remedy that as opposed to you don’t have A, B, C, D skills and goodbye. How would you in your ideal scenario,I know it’s a little vague so you can play with it as you think would be more helpful, how would you deliver that effective feedback?
Ken Finnigan: You make a good point there in terms of it’s not just the feedback you’re providing, but it’s how you’re providing it will have an impact. In terms of what feedback to provide. It could be any number of things. It could be as simple as you need to work on this technical skill because we found you didn’t understand or maybe putting it this way is, you weren’t able to effectively communicate your understanding of this particular facet of an algorithm or whatever it might be in some kind of fundamental piece. So that could lead to either actually you don’t have that skill and need to improve or it’s just you didn’t do a very good job of explaining you do know and getting that across to the interviewers.
Michael Stiefel: And that’s certainly under the pressure of an interview I’m sure
Ken Finnigan: The time crunch on interviews is usually insane. And trying to answer the questions and do it in a thoughtful way and trying to understand what might be coming next so you can prepare yourself it’s definitely a very stressful situation. And then in terms of how you give that feedback, I think definitely doing it in a way that says these are things we think you need to work on and for internal it would be a will I be able to help you work on these to fill that gap so that you can get to that role at some point in the future. For an external company I would see it as a if you work on these things, we’d love to hear from you again and have another shot at seeing whether you’re a fit in the future and see how you’ve grown in that time
Michael Stiefel: Listening to you there are two thoughts that come to mind and they’re somewhat divergent. One of them is that sometimes I’m surprised, I haven’t interviewed in a long time, but sometimes I’m surprised how ill-prepared the interviewer is. It’s never very often clearly communicated to you what they’re looking for.
Ken Finnigan: No, that is very true as well. And that can certainly put the candidate on the back foot in terms of what they’re expecting. I actually had that kind of situation a couple of weeks back where I was going through a process with a company and was going to meet with the hiring manager so I naturally assumed that was going to be more a general discussion of what the role is, what my experience is, what they’re looking for, all that kind of stuff. And it turned into a very technical interview dealing with networking protocols and all sorts of stuff like that, and I was completely unprepared for that level of a technical discussion. So that is true. Companies need to be very clear about the kind of interview it is, and what the candidate can expect. If there’s a mismatch there, then that can increase people’s anxiety and stress levels before they’ve even answered anything.
Michael Stiefel: And you’re not going to get useful feedback from that because you weren’t prepared. So to tell you, for example, you didn’t know network protocol A, B, C, well, you might’ve known it if you had prepped for it.
Ken Finnigan: Right.
The Art of Asking the Right Questions [18:31]
Michael Stiefel: Yes, that’s the other thing. Sometimes I think companies do ask the wrong questions, which leads me to the other part of the feedback chasm is I often wonder if people who either present themselves in an interview or what companies are looking for is they confuse general ability, malleability, the ability to grow, the ability to learn on your own with someone who knows X, Y, Z fact. And you may get someone who knows X, Y, Z fact, and that may help in the first six months of the job, but then that person is going to be not very helpful to you as you grow. And how do you communicate that to a company? If you do get feedback, and sometimes you do get the interview because you can look at the interviewer. In other words, how do you from your end narrow the chasm by helping the person who’s interviewing see that you’re a stronger candidate than you actually might be.
Ken Finnigan: Well I think that gets to your point in terms of you need to get across to the interviewer that you are malleable, you are willing to learn and grow, you’re not of a fixed mindset in terms of what you know. And you can do that by providing examples to them of times where you started on a project and you didn’t know a particular technology or tool or whatever it might be, and within whatever the time frame might be, three, six months, you became knowledgeable enough in that tool or language or whatever it might be to be extremely effective on the project and timelines weren’t missed and things like that even though at the beginning you didn’t know the tool, but you are able to transfer the knowledge you have from previous tools, languages, whatever it might be, and apply that to something new.
Feedback is a Two Way Street [20:33]
Michael Stiefel: Because I think perhaps sometimes you don’t get the feedback because you don’t communicate that you’re open to feedback. In other words, if you have this chasm, there are two ways to bridge the chasm and maybe both so you could meet in the middle. I don’t know if that’s viable or not.
Ken Finnigan: That’s an interesting question that I know from my experience, I’m often asking for feedback of the HR person after the fact saying, “Yes, I’d love to have any feedback”, blah, blah, blah. But maybe it’s something you actually need to be asking at the end of an interview process with the person being saying, “I don’t know what your policies are on this, but I would love to hear any feedback about how I can improve for the future”.
Michael Stiefel: Sometimes I think, and this goes if bridging the gap, the person who’s being interviewed doesn’t realize that they can be interviewing the company at the same time the company’s interviewing you and that also perhaps is another way of bridging the chasm because you’re being a little proactive and asking them questions.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, I know they usually allow five to 10 minutes at the end for you to ask questions of them, but often that ends up being a kind of pro forma how do you like working here kind of thing.
Michael Stiefel: Right, but for example, I’m just thinking off the top, suppose someone asks you to design something on the fly, you can ask them questions converted into a sort of design session where it’s not just you presenting, but you ask them questions, you see how they respond, maybe to give you feedback on your ideas. You can make it into a two-way street.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, and you can certainly utilize that kind of opportunity to, as you say, in a system design kind of interview if they’re asking you to design some kind of system that maybe they’ve actually already built themselves. You can frame your answer in a way where you’re saying, knowing these X assumptions, this is what I think I’d do, but I’d be curious to hear whether those assumptions fit what you’ve experienced or how they differ and go from there.
Michael Stiefel: Yes. I remember one time a client asked me to interview for an architect position and basically what I did is I created a problem, it was an open-ended problem, and I expected interaction between myself and the potential architect. And what was interesting, of course, was the manager was also in the room observing the interview.
Ken Finnigan: Oh boy.
Michael Stiefel: And he found it interesting because he didn’t participate, but ultimately he would’ve been the manager for the architect that got chosen. So he had the ability to observe, but there was an interaction there where it was not just a one way street and we could get a feel and we could give feedback.
Ken Finnigan: No, I think that’s definitely important is that interviews aren’t a one way street. And I know for candidates it can be difficult to make that happen because you’re in an environment and situation where it’s like you are wanting to progress and wanting to say the right things, so you kind of don’t want to ruffle feathers or anything like that. So it can be challenging to try and make it a two-way street, but I think you’re right that if you can, even in some small way, that is probably more meaningful than just answering things back to them the whole time.
Michael Stiefel: And you may find out that if they don’t want to give you feedback, maybe you really don’t want to work for this company or this person.
Ken Finnigan: That is true, yes. And I think that’s definitely a key piece with interviews for people is trying to get an understanding of whether the company they’re interviewing at and somewhere they actually want to work. Granted, it’s very difficult to do that in an interview scenario because-
Michael Stiefel: Especially at the lower levels.
Ken Finnigan: Yes.
Michael Stiefel: At the higher levels it’s a little easier.
Asking Interesting Questions [24:32]
Ken Finnigan: But yes, certainly at the low levels you’re dealing with someone that it’s terrible to say but on their best behavior as they’re interviewing you so it’s like I’ve taken to asking interesting questions or trying to ask interesting questions, and one of the ones I use is what didn’t you know before joining this company that you would’ve liked to have known?
Michael Stiefel: Yes.
Ken Finnigan: And I always say it doesn’t have to be bad, it can be good as well it’s like, but I’m just curious, what did you find out after the fact?
Michael Stiefel: Yes, I think that’s an excellent question. I remember using that one back in the day, but I think that’s a really, really good arrow to have in your quiver in order to at least get some sort of feedback out of somebody.
Ken Finnigan: Right. And I think it’s a good one because it’s not one people typically expect to get from a candidate so they’re less likely to have some kind of canned answer already prepared, so you get a better sense of how they feel about things.
Seeking Feedback [25:30]
Michael Stiefel: Yes. So I’d like to switch gears a little bit because we’ve been focusing on the difficulty of getting feedback in a particular situation, but maybe you can look for feedback elsewhere. In other words, we’ve talked about situational feedback chasms, but suppose you truly are facing a feedback chasm either in your current job or in your job search. I mean feedback is almost a gift and maybe you can get this gift from a mentor someplace else or some other place where you seek out maybe someone else in a similar situation that can help you bridge this chasm.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, I think it’s definitely important to have mentors outside the organization you’re currently working in, whether that’s people that were former colleagues at previous companies or whether they’re people you’ve met through user groups or conferences or met online or whatever it might be. Or to your point, people who are also going through a solo interview process either with the same company or different companies to be able to share experiences, how they’ve handled particular situations. I think that’s very important. You can often get yourself into an echo chamber of feedback from one particular group, and if you don’t go outside that you never get someone saying, “Oh, hey, I think you need to work on this because that’s what a lot of companies are looking for these days”.
Michael Stiefel: I think your statement about not getting trapped in one group is a good one because there is an old saying of Mark Twain, a cat that learns not to sit on a hot stove also learns not to sit on a cold stove. Because someone can be burned, someone have bad experiences and they see the world just through those experiences. For example, if someone said to you, “Well, I’ve tried to bridge the feedback chasm and I’ve felt, and you’ll never do it”. You don’t want to get trapped by that kind of situation.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, everyone’s experience is different and just because one person had issues and was unable to bridge that chasm, or even were unable to get feedback from an organization doesn’t mean you won’t.
Michael Stiefel: Well, it also sounds like what you’re also suggesting, which is just general good advice, go to groups, talk to people, network not only for jobs, but also experiences.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, it’s definitely a case of, and this is something I was terrible at early on in my career was, I missed the importance of networking, and to your point, not just to find jobs, but to meet people who are doing similar things to you, doing different things to you. Just learning what’s out there because sometimes the deluge of new tech through media and whatever else we consume it with can be challenging in terms of, well, what should I learn next? So sometimes it can be very helpful to go to conferences and meet people and hear what they’re doing and be like, “Okay, that sounds interesting. I might want to look into that”.
Michael Stiefel: Yes.
Ken Finnigan: And then you’ve also got to contact potentially to say, “O, I’m having a problem with this. Can you help me understand it?”
Michael Stiefel: I’ll give you an example. Then of course I was an independent consultant for a long period of time, and I remember one time chatting with somebody on the bus that we were taking from the airport to the hotel and we were talking, and we exchanged information, and two years later, ironically I was in the meeting with another client, he calls up and says, “You can help me”. So why don’t we talk about it? So you never know what’s going to pay off.
Ken Finnigan: No.
Offering Help or Feedback Without Expecting a Quid Pro Quo [29:33]
Michael Stiefel: And I think when you network not with the immediate idea of getting a job, it’s likely to increase your odds of getting a job because people don’t feel used.
Ken Finnigan: Yes. And in the job search I’m going through right now, it’s always been a challenge is I don’t want to be really hitting people on LinkedIn that I’m connected with, be like, “Hey, do you have a job?” Blah, blah, blah. It’s just like I’m not that kind of person that’s like… And you want people to not feel like you’re just using them for a job and you’re actually interested in what they’re doing and what they’re experiencing and all that kind of stuff.
Michael Stiefel: I mean, especially if I think you also help someone else and therefore you’ve shown them in the past that you’ve not been looking for an immediate payoff, they’re more likely to help.
Ken Finnigan: Definitely. I think, and I’m maybe a little corny to say, but it kind of ties back into getting back to being more of a giving culture rather than taking one and whatever comes your way, comes your way, and if you’re always trying to take you’re never going to get anywhere.
Michael Stiefel: Well, just because it sounds a little corny doesn’t mean it’s not true. And sometimes it sounds corny because it’s obvious and we take it for granted, but I think being out there being helpful is definitely something that will pay dividends.
Ken Finnigan: And I think to a large extent that’s why I love open source so much is that it’s very much, I wouldn’t say completely, but for the most part, those in open source are definitely there for the giving and sharing and they’re not there to take anything. Maybe the company’s taking advantage of the open source stuff without paying, but that’s what companies do.
Michael Stiefel: But that’s another dimension. I mean, the discussion about open source is an entirely different one, but to the point that you’re making, it’s an environment where people want to help people and people want to donate. Again, you could argue about the efficacy of that and the profitability of that and all that, but that’s not the discussion we’re having. In the discussion we’re having it’s a very giving place.
Ken Finnigan: And I think also just thinking of it now that’s potentially one way to bridge the chasm. If an organization you’re interested in has open source projects that they run and manage is to get involved with those projects, contribute to those projects, then that’s a way of getting known by those who work on the projects at the company. And that’s how I ended up with one of my first jobs at Red Hat was through working in open source before I even worked for Red Hat. And that was how they got to know me through that.
Michael Stiefel: And they could see the quality of your work.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, exactly.
Feedback Must Be Timely [32:23]
Michael Stiefel: So actually that raises a very, very interesting question because they talk about the quality of the work. I think there’s another feedback chasm and that exists with the work that you’re doing now. And I saw this very much so as an independent consultant because I used to tell people, if there’s a problem with what I’m doing, tell me now, don’t wait two months when it’s too late or too expensive to fix the problem. I think there are two parts of the chasm. Because when we think of this feedback chasm we think in spatial terms, there’s this two sides of a mountain and there’s this gap in between, but there’s also a temporal feedback chasm where you do get the feedback, but you don’t get it at the right time.
Ken Finnigan: That’s very true. It can often be the case with performance reviews. If they’re only performed annually at the current company it’s like A, first of all, you’re often trying to remember things that happened 10 to 12 months ago. And then B, you get feedback on those and then you’re like, “Okay, I’m not really sure how to apply that now because I can’t go back and change anything that’s already happened”. It’s like maybe I can use that going forward, but the timeliness of that feedback is another key aspect. Feedback today is 10 times more valuable than feedback in the future?
Michael Stiefel: Yes, there’s a time value to feedback. Well, feedback in some sense is money. And maybe if companies started it that way they would maybe have a little different attitude towards it.
Ken Finnigan: Maybe. It’s funny you say it’s like money because I just said the thought of it’s like investing.
Michael Stiefel: Yes.
Ken Finnigan: You get better returns by putting things in earlier.
Michael Stiefel: Yes. I mean, I get it that there’s sometimes for legal reasons people have been burnt and they don’t want to receive feedback, but certainly inside a company, the feedback chasm exists both in space and time. And I think if people would think of it in terms of ROI, maybe they would have a little different attitude towards it.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, and certainly for the feedback chasm that’s internal to it all there’s really no need to have it.
Michael Stiefel: Yes.
Ken Finnigan: It’s like it shouldn’t be there at all. You should be able to get feedback from your managers or peers whenever you need it or whenever they see something that requires feedback.
Michael Stiefel: Yes. I mean, theoretically Agile is trying to solve that problem, but I don’t think it’s been completely successful in solving that well.
Ken Finnigan: No, I think it tries to solve one set of problems and maybe creates a whole other set.
Michael Stiefel: Yes, well that’s the engineering life where is the old joke about pick two out of three.
Ken Finnigan: Yes. Yes.
Michael Stiefel: Is there anything else that comes to mind about the feedback chasm that we haven’t touched on?
Managers Must Understand that Good Feedback Improves ROI [35:20]
Ken Finnigan: I think we’ve touched on pretty much most of it, but I just want to hammer again that this feedback chasm, whether internal or external does really impact people’s opportunity for growth and learning.
Michael Stiefel: And which means it impacts company’s ability to be better.
Ken Finnigan: Yes.
Michael Stiefel: I want to come back to this ROI thing because very often managers, this is touchy-feely, this feedback thing. This is human, this doesn’t make any sense, but when you point out to them that it actually makes dollars and cents different somehow that changes their attitude.
Ken Finnigan: Yes. It also highlights the growing importance of soft skills in the engineering world today. It’s not just about what you can do technically, and it’s like if you are unable or unwilling or uninterested to also provide feedback to others and receive feedback and certainly don’t have to act on it if you feel like it doesn’t apply for some reason-
Michael Stiefel: Well, that’s a good point too.
Ken Finnigan: … that’s your choice.
Accepting Feedback is Optional [36:22]
Michael Stiefel: Yes. I mean that is a good point. That just because you get feedback, there’s no obligation to act on it because you could think the feedback is wrong.
Ken Finnigan: And maybe it is, and maybe they have a biased opinion, you just don’t know, but you certainly want to be open to it. What you do with it is then entirely up to you.
Michael Stiefel: Yes. All right. So I found this interesting, and I hope the listeners find it interesting too and think of ways that they can explain the importance of this to their team and the people who do the interviews because I think you’ll wind up with a better class of people if you’re capable of doing this.
Ken Finnigan: Definitely.
The Architect’s Questionnaire [37:02]
Michael Stiefel: And people will be capable of growing. So now I get to the part of the podcast, it’s always fun for me. I have my architect’s questionnaire, which I like to ask because to me it also sort of personalizes it and gets different people’s perspectives on architecture. And what’s your favorite part of being an architect?
Ken Finnigan: I think it’s really being involved at the early stages of something and being able to set the direction of a product or a change in technical strategy and really having a say in the direction of things. A lot of times as an individual contributor you’re just handed down, we’re doing this, and it’s like, “Oh, okay”. But when you’re an architect most of the time, not always, most of the time you’re actually involved in those discussions around planning what’s next, what the strategy is, the direction of things. So it’s kind of nice to be able to have some level of autonomy over where you’re going with things as opposed to just being told this is what’s happening.
Michael Stiefel: Conversely, what’s your least favorite part of being an architect?
Ken Finnigan: I guess it’s kind of a twin to my favorite bit in that it’s the actual effort to get some new initiative going is often so time-consuming to be able to get everyone on board with A, what it is that is going to be done, how it’s going to be done, and then to get the necessary buy-in from leadership. That can take a very long time. There can be a lot of inertia to overcome to make something happen and particularly if it’s very different from the current status quo in an organization.
Michael Stiefel: Especially if you’ve said you’ve had a lot of experience with financial institutions.
Ken Finnigan: Yes. That is always a very slow process. 20 years ago I was involved in planning the migration from when Lloyds TSB bought HBOS in the UK. We planned that migration for like 18 months to two years before it actually happened. It was a huge lead up to ensure everything went smoothly on the day. I think we had six or seven dry runs of the data on different weekends mimicking what we were going to do on the day and measuring what didn’t work, what did work, and what needs to be fixed. It can be a lot of fun, but it can also be very time-consuming.
Michael Stiefel: Yes. Yes. Especially if you did it 40 times and then on the 41st time something goes haywire.
Ken Finnigan: Then you have people just say, “Oh, if we’d only done it two more times we would’ve found out that problem”.
Michael Stiefel: Yes. Or if we hadn’t done it.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, if we’d only done it 20, we would’ve never hit that problem.
Michael Stiefel: Is there anything creatively, spiritually or emotionally, about architecture or being an architect?
Ken Finnigan: I think there is to a certain extent because you can almost equate it to bringing life to something, whether it’s a new system or a new way of doing something. Even if it’s just a process change it’s essentially bringing new life into the world from nothing, and you’re trying to use your brain, everyone else’s brain to come up with what’s the best piece of life we can create at this point in time.
Michael Stiefel: I know that that can be quite rough when you do that. What turns you off about architecture or being an architect?
Ken Finnigan: Oh, I think probably the biggest thing is the number of meetings that you’re usually expected to be in. I know that’s kind of the double-edged sword of being an architect is that you need to be working cross-functionally so that often means more meetings with different groups, as well as the groups that you are kind of overseeing things for as well. But I try and make sure that those meetings are only as long as they need to be, have clear agendas and when that agenda is complete or the main goal of the meeting is complete, it’s done. We don’t dilly-dally around for another 20 minutes for no reason, taking up people’s time.
Michael Stiefel: Do you have any favorite technologies?
Ken Finnigan: I have a few. Having worked with it for 25, 26 years now, I really love Java. It wasn’t my first modern programming language, but it was certainly one of them and it’s one I’ve used the most over the years, so I certainly favor that. But I’ve also been having fun recently with React, doing some mobile development, so that’s been interesting to get more into that world. Kind of dabbled in the front end side over the years to actually build something that people can use is a lot of fun.
Michael Stiefel: What about architecture do you love?
Ken Finnigan: Solving the challenges of optimizing an architecture for business use cases and doing it in a way that hopefully makes the customers happy as well, because always that difference between what the business wants and what actually makes the customers happy. So you hopefully achieve both, but not always.
Michael Stiefel: Yes, and especially if you’ve been a technologist and you have to say this tech launch would be fine if it wasn’t for these nasty customers.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, indeed.
Michael Stiefel: What about architecture do you hate?
Ken Finnigan: I think the one thing I hate is when it takes you away from being able to code. I’ve been that architect before and it’s not a fun place because you feel like you’re out of touch with the teams working on the products or projects that are being built. And I feel like to really understand where the architecture is for something and where it needs to go, you can’t be looking at diagrams of boxes, you need to be hands in the code, otherwise you may easily miss huge opportunities for simplification because you’ve seen how the code works and what it’s doing and you don’t always see that from boxes connecting to each other.
Michael Stiefel: And also I think you lose your intuition.
Ken Finnigan: Yes.
Michael Stiefel: That’s important even when you’re looking at boxes to have an idea: could this work?
Ken Finnigan: Right. And even when you’re looking at boxes to ask the questions of is this the best way to do this? Is there other ways to make this simpler? Instead of five boxes, can we have two? Or whatever it might be.
Michael Stiefel: Right. What other profession, other than being an architect would you like to attempt?
Ken Finnigan: Since I was a kid I’ve always loved the idea of writing fiction, but-
Michael Stiefel: Well, you write software sometimes that’s fiction too.
Ken Finnigan: And I’ve certainly written nonfiction with the technical books, not exactly huge bestsellers. So I have written stuff in that. I guess the other thing would be being a genealogist. I do family genealogy as a hobby so it would be cool to do that as a job.
Michael Stiefel: Do you ever see yourself as not being an architect anymore?
Ken Finnigan: Yes. I think there’ll come a point where I’d want to start slowing things down and not have as much responsibility and you can’t really be an architect and get those things. You need to be on top of your game all the time as an architect as to where things are now, what’s coming down the pipe. And certainly with the ever changing landscape of tech over the last five years in particular and 10 to 20 even more so, there will come a point where I’m like, “Okay, yes, I’m happy with what I know. I don’t need to keep learning new things. I think I’m done being an architect”.
Michael Stiefel: I think that’s something that people don’t appreciate because people talk about slowing down being semi-retired. I found with technology you’re either in the game or you’re not in the game.
Ken Finnigan: Yes, it’s very hard to dabble and be up-to-date with everything.
Michael Stiefel: Yes.
Ken Finnigan: You can still keep doing stuff with things you’ve used for 5, 10, 15 years, that’s not a problem at all, but yes, you can’t step out and then expect to step back in three years later, for example, and be up-to-date with everything.
Michael Stiefel: Yes. And finally, when a project is done, what do you like to hear from the clients or your team?
Ken Finnigan: From the clients I like to hear that it met all their goals of what they were looking to see in terms of what they asked for and maybe to a certain extent what they weren’t directly asking for, but were really asking for and you had to get out of them, but that met their goals and they’re happy with the end system. From the team I think it’s more around did they learn? Did they have fun? And was it something, given the choice, they would do again?
Michael Stiefel: That’s very interesting. Well, thank you very much. I enjoyed this interview or this discussion very much. I think it’s something that we don’t think about enough, but it is just as important, at least for the long-term success of the software organization to understand how to bridge this feedback chasm.
Ken Finnigan: Definitely. Well, thank you very much for having me on, Michael. I really enjoyed it as well, and hopefully the listeners enjoy it.
Michael Stiefel: Okay, well thank you very much.
Ken Finnigan: Thank you.
Mentioned:
.
From this page you also have access to our recorded show notes. They all have clickable links that will take you directly to that part of the audio.
InfoQ Dev Summit Munich: In-Memory Java Database EclipseStore Delivers Faster Data Processing
MMS • Karsten Silz
Article originally posted on InfoQ. Visit InfoQ
At the InfoQ Dev Summit Munich, Markus Kett presented a database alternative for Java: The in-memory EclipseStore promises faster data processing with lower cloud costs and fewer CO2 emissions. It stores Java object graphs as binary files in local or cloud file systems and uses Java Streams for queries. But applications need to manage concurrent writes and use the commercial MicroStream Cluster for shared storage between multiple JVM instances.
The object graphs of Java applications have an impedance mismatch with databases: Relational databases store data in rows and columns, whereas NoSQL databases store key-value pairs, JSON documents, and other formats. Applications can do the necessary conversions themselves or rely on Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) frameworks, like Hibernate or Spring Data, to do so. Either way, memory and CPU usage increase, as does latency. Local caches or remote caching layers, such as Redis, reduce latency at the cost of higher complexity and more cost.
EclipseStore is an Eclipse open-source project. Like other in-memory databases, it can store the data in RAM only or persist it to the local file system. But in cloud containers, an application loses local files, at least with new versions of the container image. That’s why file services like Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, or Google Cloud Firestore are a better fit for EclipseStore in the cloud.
EclipseStore loads the IDs of all stored objects into memory at startup. This increases the application’s memory needs linearly with the number of stored objects. By default, the full objects are lazily loaded on demand, but objects can be eagerly loaded during initialization.
EclipseStore does not use a query language like SQL. Instead, it uses the Java Stream API:
List unavailableArticles =
shop.getArticles().stream()
.filter(article -> article.available() == false)
.collect(groupingBy(article -> article.vendor()));
EclipseStore queries against objects in memory take microseconds to complete, compared to dozens or hundreds of milliseconds for queries against traditional databases. However, queries against objects in storage are much slower in EclipseStore: It must potentially load millions of objects from the cloud file storage and evaluate them inside the application. A traditional database server, on the other hand, runs queries locally and only sends the results to the Java application over the network.
With EclipseStore, loading and storing individual objects is very fast, as there is only a single layer with straightforward conversion to the proprietary EclipseStore data format. With traditional databases, the overhead is much bigger: The popular Spring Data JPA ORM has two more layers underneath, Hibernate and the database driver, and all three layers process and convert data.
EclipseStore stores objects in a proprietary binary format. Saving object changes adds a new binary file and is a blocking, transaction-safe operation. Every object is only stored once. In addition to cloud file systems, EclipseStore can also use databases for storage. EclipseStore does not manage concurrent writes, so applications must prevent threads from overwriting each other.
A garbage collector deletes old object versions and corrupt files. A web application displays the data of an EclipseStore instance, which also has REST and GraphQL APIs. Popular tools for querying databases do not yet support EclipseStore.
MicroStream is the company behind EclipseStore. They started development in 2013 and open-sourced it in 2021. It became an Eclipse project in 2023. Helidon and Micronaut offer first-class support for EclipseStore.
MicroStream offers a beta version of MicroStream Enterprise as a commercial, supported version of EclipseStore. It also only serves a single JVM instance but adds indexing, automated lazy loading, and asynchronous writes. Serving multiple JVM instances, whether from one application or several, requires the commercial MicroStream Cluster, which is available on-premise and as SaaS. That product does not contain database features such as user management, logging, locking, or backups.
Kett used the annual cost and CO2 emissions of storing 1 TB of data with six copies at Amazon as an example when comparing costs. A six-node RDS PostgreSQL cluster costs $27,048 and emits 3,608 kg CO2. Six copies of S3 at the standard tier cost $1,827, 93% less, and emit 5.88 kg CO2, 99.84% less. However, the calculation did not consider a potentially higher memory usage of the Java applications. The license cost of MicroStream Cluster for shared storage across multiple JVM instances also did not factor into the calculation.
OpenJDK News Roundup: Instance Main Methods, Flexible Constructor Bodies, Module Import Declarations
MMS • Michael Redlich
Article originally posted on InfoQ. Visit InfoQ
There was a flurry of activity in the OpenJDK ecosystem during the week of November 4th, 2024, highlighting: five JEPs, having successfully completed their respective reviews, are now Targeted for JDK 24; five new JEPs have been Proposed to Target for JDK 24 and will be under review during the week of November 11th, 2024; and two JEP drafts that have been promoted to Candidate status.
Targeted
JEP 493, Linking Run-Time Images without JMODs, has been promoted from Proposed to Target to Targeted for JDK 24. This JEP proposes to “reduce the size of the JDK by approximately 25% by enabling the jlink tool to create custom run-time images without using the JDK’s JMOD files.” This feature must explicitly be enabled upon building the JDK. Developers are now allowed to link a run-time image from their local modules regardless where those modules exist.
JEP 491, Synchronize Virtual Threads without Pinning, has been promoted from Proposed to Target to Targeted for JDK 24. This JEP proposes to “improve the scalability of Java code that uses synchronized methods and statements by arranging for virtual threads that block in such constructs to release their underlying platform threads for use by other virtual threads.” The intent is to eliminate “nearly all cases of virtual threads being pinned to platform threads, which severely restricts the number of virtual threads available to handle an application’s workload.“
JEP 488, Primitive Types in Patterns, instanceof, and switch (Second Preview), has been promoted from Proposed to Target to Targeted for JDK 24. This JEP, under the auspices of Project Amber, proposes a second round of preview, without change, to gain additional experience and feedback from the previous round or preview, namely: JEP 455, Primitive Types in Patterns, instanceof, and switch (Preview), delivered in JDK 23. This feature enhances pattern matching by allowing primitive type patterns in all pattern contexts, and extending instanceof and switch to work with all primitive types. More details may be found in this draft specification by Aggelos Biboudis, Principal Member of Technical Staff at Oracle.
JEP 486, Permanently Disable the Security Manager, has been promoted from Proposed to Target to Targeted for JDK 24. This JEP proposes to permanently disable the SecurityManager class since it was deprecated with JEP 411, Deprecate the Security Manager for Removal, delivered in JDK 17. While it was possible for developers to still enable the SecurityManager class while it has been deprecated, this functionality will be removed as the next step for ultimate removal.
JEP 450, Compact Object Headers (Experimental), has been promoted from Proposed to Target to Targeted for JDK 24. This JEP, inspired by Project Lilliput, proposes to “reduce the size of object headers in the HotSpot JVM from between 96 and 128 bits down to 64 bits on 64-bit architectures.” This feature is disabled by default as it is considered experimental and may cause unintended consequences if enabled by a developer.
Proposed to Target
JEP 495, Simple Source Files and Instance Main Methods (Fourth Preview), has been promoted from Candidate to Proposed to Target for JDK 24. This JEP proposes a fourth preview without change (except for a second name change), after three previous rounds of preview, namely: JEP 477, Implicitly Declared Classes and Instance Main Methods (Third Preview), delivered in JDK 23; JEP 463, Implicitly Declared Classes and Instance Main Methods (Second Preview), delivered in JDK 22; and JEP 445, Unnamed Classes and Instance Main Methods (Preview), delivered in JDK 21. This feature aims to “evolve the Java language so that students can write their first programs without needing to understand language features designed for large programs.” This JEP moves forward the September 2022 blog post, Paving the on-ramp, by Brian Goetz, Java language architect at Oracle. Gavin Bierman, consulting member of technical staff at Oracle, has published the first draft of the specification document for review by the Java community. More details on JEP 445 may be found in this InfoQ news story. The review is expected to conclude on November 13, 2024.
JEP 494, Module Import Declarations (Second Preview), has been promoted from Candidate to Proposed to Target for JDK 24. This JEP proposes a second preview after the first round of preview, namely: JEP 476, Module Import Declarations (Preview), delivered in JDK 23. This feature will enhance the Java programming language with the ability to succinctly import all of the packages exported by a module with a goal to simplify the reuse of modular libraries without requiring to import code to be in a module itself. Changes from the first preview include: remove the restriction that a module is not allowed to declare transitive dependencies on the java.base module; revise the declaration of the java.se module to transitively require the java.base module; and allow type-import-on-demand declarations to shadow module import declarations. These changes mean that importing the java.se module will import the entire Java SE API on demand. The review is expected to conclude on November 13, 2024.
JEP 492, Flexible Constructor Bodies (Third Preview), has been promoted from Candidate to Proposed to Target for JDK 24. This JEP proposes a third round of preview, with minimal change to gain additional experience and feedback from the previous two round, namely: 482, Flexible Constructor Bodies (Second Preview), delivered in JDK 23; and JEP 447, Statements before super(…) (Preview), delivered in JDK 22. This feature allows statements that do not reference an instance being created to appear before the this() or super() calls in a constructor; and preserve existing safety and initialization guarantees for constructors. Changes in this JEP include: a treatment of local classes; and a relaxation of the restriction that fields can not be accessed before an explicit constructor invocation to a requirement that fields can not be read before an explicit constructor invocation. Gavin Bierman, Consulting Member of Technical Staff at Oracle, has provided an initial specification of this JEP for the Java community to review and provide feedback. The review is expected to conclude on November 14, 2024.
JEP 483, Ahead-of-Time Class Loading & Linking, has been promoted from Candidate to Proposed to Target for JDK 24. This JEP proposes to “improve startup time by making the classes of an application instantly available, in a loaded and linked state, when the HotSpot Java Virtual Machine starts.” This may be achieved by monitoring the application during one run and storing the loaded and linked forms of all classes in a cache for use in subsequent runs. This feature will lay a foundation for future improvements to both startup and warmup time. The review is expected to conclude on November 14, 2024.
JEP 479, Remove the Windows 32-bit x86 Port, has been promoted from Candidate to Proposed to Target for JDK 24. This JEP proposes to fully remove the Windows 32-bit x86 port following its deprecation as described in JEP 449, Deprecate the Windows 32-bit x86 Port for Removal, delivered in JDK 21. The goals are to: remove all code paths in the code base that apply only to Windows 32-bit; cease all testing and development efforts targeting the Windows 32-bit platform; and simplify OpenJDK’s build and test infrastructure, aligning with current computing standards. The review is expected to conclude on November 12, 2024.
New JEP Candidates
JEP 497, Quantum-Resistant Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm, has been promoted from its JEP Draft 8339010 to Candidate status. This JEP proposes to “enhance the security of Java applications by providing an implementation of the quantum-resistant Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA)” as standardized by FIPS 204. This will be accomplished by implementing the Java KeyPairGenerator, Signature and KeyFactory classes.
JEP 496, Quantum-Resistant Module-Lattice-Based Key Encapsulation Mechanism, has been promoted from its JEP Draft 8339009 to Candidate status. This JEP proposes to “enhance the security of Java applications by providing an implementation of the quantum-resistant Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM)” as standardized by FIPS 203. This will be accomplished by implementing the Java KeyPairGenerator, KEM and KeyFactory classes.
JDK 24 Feature Set (So Far) and Release Schedule
The JDK 24 release schedule, as approved by Mark Reinhold, Chief Architect, Java Platform Group at Oracle, is as follows:
- Rampdown Phase One (fork from main line): December 5, 2024
- Rampdown Phase Two: January 16, 2025
- Initial Release Candidate: February 6, 2025
- Final Release Candidate: February 20, 2025
- General Availability: March 18, 2025
With just over a month before the scheduled Rampdown Phase One, where the feature set for JDK 24 will be frozen, these are the 19 JEPs (including the ones that are Proposed to Target) included in the feature set so far:
It is interesting to note that the number of features for JDK 24 has already surpassed the high of 17 features delivered in JDK 16 and JDK 11. For JDK 24, developers are encouraged to report bugs via the Java Bug Database.
Multiverse expands leadership with appointments of Baroness Martha Lane Fox and Jillian Gillespie
MMS • RSS
Posted on mongodb google news. Visit mongodb google news
Multiverse has announced the appointment of Baroness Martha Lane Fox to its board of directors, along with Jillian Gillespie as Chief Financial Officer.
The additions come as the edtech company expands its focus on addressing global skills gaps, particularly in AI and technology.
Baroness Lane Fox, a prominent figure in the UK technology sector, brings nearly 30 years of industry experience. Currently, she serves as President of the British Chambers of Commerce and Chancellor of The Open University, along with her recent role as co-chair of a government panel promoting technology adoption in the public sector. Lane Fox also holds a board position at Chanel and previously served on Twitter’s board until 2022.
Jillian Gillespie joins Multiverse from MongoDB, where she was Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations. With over a decade of experience at MongoDB, Gillespie oversaw key growth milestones, including the company’s IPO in 2017. She will focus on supporting Multiverse’s financial strategy as the company continues to expand in the United States and increase its AI-driven programs, which now account for 22% of the company’s revenue.
Gillespie stated, “I am thrilled to join Multiverse at such a pivotal moment in its journey. What really attracted me is the opportunity to collaborate with such a talented, genuine, and ambitious team in a fast-growing, dynamic, and rewarding business. I firmly believe that applied, on-the-job learning represents the future of workforce development, and I look forward to applying my experience to an exciting new challenge.”
The leadership changes come during a period of rapid growth for Multiverse. In October, the company launched the United Kingdom’s first apprenticeship focused on AI-powered productivity, embedding Microsoft 365 Copilot training into its curriculum. Multiverse has seen two consecutive record-breaking quarters, driven by increasing demand for skills in tech and AI, particularly as research shows that 64% of businesses feel underprepared for AI implementation.
Euan Blair, founder and CEO of Multiverse, stated, “Multiverse has the capacity to be a generational British tech success story – ensuring people globally can embrace tech with confidence by embedding learning in tech, data, and AI into their daily work. In Martha and Jillian, we’re adding two exceptional leaders who understand both the scale of the global skills crisis and how to build and scale transformative solutions.
“As we expand our footprint with new products and partnerships, their experience in scaling high-growth tech companies will help us seize this moment and reshape how organizations develop talent in the AI era.”
Baroness Martha Lane Fox added, “The promised gains from technology will never be delivered unless people have the skills to take advantage of them. This is becoming urgent in the boardrooms of every organization, and Multiverse is perfectly positioned with its model of continuous, applied learning.
“Across the UK we won’t unlock growth without giving employers access to the skills they need to thrive. The debate about skills reform sorely needs the voice of employers, and I’ll be working to deliver it, alongside companies themselves and learners.”
Article originally posted on mongodb google news. Visit mongodb google news