Best Allen Helton Podcasts (2025)

1
July Cancer Update 16:57

Play Pause

1y ago16:57

16:57

In May, I published a short episode of the podcast about my daughter Olivia being diagnosed with leukemia. It's been a rough couple of months, but I wanted to share how things are going, what the plan is, and give a tremendous thank you to the community.

1
Becoming a full-time serverless content creator with Yan Cui 28:27

1y ago28:27

28:27

Have you ever wished you could quit your job and go create content all day long while working for yourself? You can! In this episode, Yan Cui joins Allen Helton to talk about full-time content creation and consultancy within the serverless world. The two discuss Yan's journey to greatness, weigh in on the use of generative AI when it comes to conte…

1
A personal update 8:04

1+ y ago8:04

8:04

I recently had a significant life event that has turned my world upside down. In this bonus episode, I share the story and let you know what you can do to help. Blog post: https://readysetcloud.io/blog/allen.helton/a-personal-update GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-olivias-fight-against-leukemia…

1
All about the Believe in Serverless community 34:04

1+ y ago34:04

34:04

You've probably seen some posts lately about the Believe in Serverless community. If you've been wondering what it is and why there's so much noise around it - great news! This episode is all about the community including what it is, where it's been, what it has to offer, and where it's going. Join Allen and four of the community champions, Ben Pyl…

1
The life-changing tech boom in Nigeria with Tobenna Nwokike 25:01

1+ y ago25:01

25:01

There's no question that tech is booming all over the world. But how has it been received in places that have harder access to the internet, like Africa? Join Allen as he talks with Tobenna Nwokike about how technology is transforming Nigeria into something completely new. They discuss the cultural and economic changes brought on by tech, how easy …

1
Let's get together. In person. Today. With Raphael Manke 26:51

1+ y ago26:51

26:51

When was the last time you attended an event? It was probably virtual, right? Why is that? The tech industry has moved more and more virtual the past few years and we're starting to slowly but surely crawl our way back to in-person. In this episode, Raphael Manke and Allen Helton talk about their experiences with getting together in person and how …

1
Everything you didn't know about EDA with James Eastham 32:30

1+ y ago32:30

32:30

Event-driven architectures (EDA) is an intimidating subject for many, but don't confuse complexity with unfamiliarity. While EDA might seem unnecessarily complex, it's a necessary architectural pattern as the world goes more and more distributed. Join James Eastham and Allen Helton as they discuss all things EDA, ranging from what to put in your ev…

1
You need CI/CD in your life with Johannes Koch 28:58

1+ y ago28:58

28:58

Join Johannes and Allen as they talk about the world of modern CI/CD. The duo describes exactly what CI/CD is and is not and how your pipeline might be a bit more involved than you think. Johannes shares what he considers "the best" pipeline in the industry today, describes his experience with Amazon Code Catalyst, and goes into detail about a proj…

1
Learning by fire: taking your side project to production with Luc van Donkersgoed 25:23

1+ y ago25:23

25:23

They say the best way to learn is by doing, but is that always true? Does the way people effectively learn change the further they get into their career? Join Luc and Allen as they discuss continuing education as a developer and what they've experienced over the last decade. The two cover the benefits of side projects and the impact taking them to …

1
How math can change the way we write software forever with Jeremiah Dunham 27:24

1+ y ago27:24

27:24

Join Allen Helton and Jeremiah Dunham as they explore math in the world of computer science. Do developers use it as much as they thought they would or is it abstracted away to a point where we have no idea? What if there was a way to use math to prove the correctness of your code instead of writing unit tests? Guess what? It's possible. Tune into …

1
Moving into a post serverless era with Jeremy Daly 37:13

1+ y ago37:13

37:13

The serverless community loves talking about serverless. Despite the amazing innovations happening all around us, we still talk about cold starts and scalability like they are new. But what if we didn't? What would it take to get to a post-serverless era? What does post-serverless even mean? Join Jeremy Daly and Allen Helton as they discuss what th…

1
How IoT Is Perfectly Serverless With Rohan Desai 25:43

2y ago25:43

25:43

Have you ever wondered how it works when you tell Alexa to turn off your lights and you're suddenly sitting in darkness? The Internet of Things (IoT) is all around us - from automating smart homes to alerting us when an industrial piece of equipment is malfunctioning. Join Allen and Rohan Desai as they discuss how SmartThings integrates hundreds of…

1
Serverless, Generative AI, and More Serverless With Sam Lock 21:14

2y ago21:14

21:14

If you've been around the serverless community for any length of time, you've undoubtedly heard of Serverless Guru. But do you know what they do? Listen to Sam Lock and Allen discuss the day-in and day-out of being a serverless developer, cover the emerging importance of automating boilerplate code, and of course, dive into generative AI. About Sam…

1
The Dirty Truth About Developer Advocacy with Michael Liendo 28:48

2y ago28:48

28:48

What's the difference between developer advocacy, tech evangelism, and solutions architecture? A few years ago, all these job titles would have sounded made up. But in the mad rush we know as "cloud development", each of them have distinct roles and importance. Join Michael "Focus Otter" Liendo and Allen Helton as they dive into what makes develope…

1
How Scanner Built an Ultra-Fast Serverless Data Lake with Cliff Crosland 27:42

2y ago27:42

27:42

Have you ever wondered why querying your data lakes were so slow? Or, if you're like Allen, did you ever wonder what a data lake actually is? Join Cliff Crosland as he explains how the Scanner team has changed data lakes forever by going serverless. This episode is a showcase of some brilliant engineering to solve a problem in a serverless manner. …

1
The Secret Power of Feature Flags With Steve Rice 26:54

2y ago26:54

26:54

Feature flags are much more than on/off switches to hide in-progress features. They separate releases from your deployments. They allow you to slowly roll out features to your user base. They give you access to easy A/B testing. Join Steve and Allen as they talk about the impressive capabilities of AWS AppConfig, a managed service that controls you…

1
Stop Getting Cloud Certifications With Ro Ndimofor 23:52

2y ago23:52

23:52

Are you cloud certified? In this episode of the Ready, Set, Cloud podcast Ro Ndimofor stands his ground on a hard-hitting stance against certifications. Enjoy the classic debate of "practice vs theory" as Ro and Allen discuss alternatives to certifications and if there really is a place for them in your career. About Ro Ro is a software developer a…

1
Snap Start, Java, and Cold Starts With Vadym Kazulkin 23:15

2y ago23:15

23:15

Java is notorious for slow cold starts in Lambda. But why? What can you do to make them faster? Is it time to ditch Python and make your way to the JVM? Join Vadym and Allen as they talk about Java's journey in serverless and explore some of the optimization techniques developers use to mitigate cold starts like Snap Start, priming, and using Graal…

1
Unpacking the Magic of Generative AI With Matt Carey 28:31

2y ago28:31

28:31

Have you ever wondered how MidJourney or ChatGPT work? Generative AI has taken the world by storm with millions of adopters using it daily. But how does it work? How does it go from a question you type in a dialog box to a meaningful answer or perfectly drawn image on screen? Join Matt and Allen as they discuss how completion models work, explain t…

1
DevOps, Generative AI, and Serverless with Omkar Kadam 21:32

2y ago21:32

21:32

Many people say DevOps is dead with the introduction of serverless. Responsibilities change from infrastructure management to platform engineering. But what happens when you throw generative AI into the mix? How does this shake up what we now know as DevOps and what does it hold for the future? Is DevOps going to die? Omkar and Allen talk about the…

1
The Business Side of Serverless With Benjamen Pyle 29:46

2y ago29:46

29:46

Serverless services make it incredibly easy to start building. They reduce time to market, improve uptime (generally), and lower overall costs when starting up. But there's an entire world to consider before going serverless that most of us forget about - business operations. Aside from shifting ownership from hardware to software, you also have ro…

1
BONUS - Are Cold Starts Gone Forever with AJ Stuyvenberg 14:28

2y ago14:28

14:28

Anyone who's heard of serverless has heard of cold starts. But have you heard about proactive initialization? This is a newly published service enhancement from the AWS Lambda team that pre-warms execution environments of on-demand functions. This enhancement results in reduced cold start times and costs consumers no extra money to take advantage o…

1
Stop Forgetting About Cloud Security With Jason Kao 26:53

2y ago26:53

26:53

In the serverless world, we sometimes take the word "managed" a little too seriously. We often forget that not ALL software responsibilities are taken over by cloud vendors. Oftentimes responsibilities are shared between builders and cloud vendors, like security. In this episode, Allen and Jason talk about ways to improve your security posture star…

1
What On Earth Is App Modernization With Alex Kearns 29:49

2y ago29:49

29:49

People throw around the phrase "app modernization" and "cloud migration" far too often. What do they mean? Are they the same thing? In this episode, Allen sits down with Alex Kearns to navigate the twists and turns of the cloud to find out the answer. The two talk about different strategies of modernization like the strangler pattern and learn how …

1
Finding Your Niche In The Tech Community With Jonah Andersson 26:47

2+ y ago26:47

26:47

The tech community is not just about networking or acquiring new skills - it's about discovery and mutual growth brought on by impactful interactions. Often seen as an mysterious black box, Allen and Jonah dive in to clarify some of the confusion around the tech community. First of all, what is it? How do you start on your own journey? And most imp…

1
Building Serverless the Right Way With Dax Raad 32:35

2+ y ago32:35

32:35

Dive into the heart of serverless architecture with the brilliantly unorthodox Dax Raad in this episode of the "Ready, Set, Cloud" podcast. Renowned for his sharp insights and unconventional approach to... everything, Dax brings his perspective to the world of serverless application development. In this conversation, he shares insights on structuri…

1
Inside the AWS Hero Program with Taylor Jacobsen 26:21

2+ y ago26:21

26:21

Join Taylor Jacobsen and Allen Helton as they dive into the AWS Heroes Program. Taylor sheds light on what it means to manage this esteemed group of experts and enthusiasts, sharing how she helps them stay connected and motivated. The conversation uncovers the real essence of being an AWS Hero, revealing that there's no set formula or checklist—it'…

1
Writing the DynamoDB Book with Alex Debrie 26:28

2+ y ago26:28

26:28

Join Alex DeBrie and Allen Helton as they talk about the work that went into writing the famous DynamoDB book. Alex tells us how it all got started, how long it took to write the book, and what was easier and harder than expected about the entire process. The two also talk about imposter syndrome and how to fight back when you feel like your conten…

1
Which Is Better, SAM or CDK with Matt Martz 29:57

2+ y ago29:57

29:57

We have plenty of tools that build Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in the cloud. But today, we're zeroing in on two powerhouses: SAM and CDK. Allen, a passionate SAM supporter, goes head-to-head with Matt Martz, a CDK enthusiast, as they share their preferred IaC methods. Dive into the world of CDK constructs versus SAM macros, explore the portability…

1
Build Fast, Not Reckless with Boris and Thomas 29:17

2+ y ago29:17

29:17

Episode Summary Everybody wants to go fast. But should you? In this episode, Allen talks with Boris Tane and Thomas Ankcorn from Baselime about how they build software at breakneck speed while maintaining a sense of responsibility. They discuss some of the best and worst moments of deploying code on a Friday, how they've structured their CI/CD pipe…

1
Why Is Serverless Observability So Hard with AJ Stuyvenberg 30:47

2+ y ago30:47

30:47

Serverless is taking the world by storm. Despite there being countless blogs, tutorials, and recommended best practices around serverless, there's shockingly little material on observability. Why? It's hard! Join AJ and Allen as they talk about the difficulties of observing a serverless application, dive into the differences between KPIs and infras…

1
Improving DE&I In Tech With Kristi Perreault 24:07

2+ y ago24:07

24:07

Right on the heels of international women's day, we're diving into the current state of diversity in tech and how we're making progress every day. Sure, there's still a long way to go to achieve true equity, equality, and inclusive cultures, but we're celebrating the amazing allies and support systems that are helping us get there. Kristi and Allen…

1
Can You Be API-First and Serverless-First with Andres Moreno 25:22

2+ y ago25:22

25:22

There are about as many "first" approaches to software as there are colors in the rainbow. Front-end first, serverless-first, API-first, test-first, the list goes on and on. Andres Moreno and I cover what it means to be API-first, clarify the definition of serverless-first, and discuss how he managed to build a development process that follows both…

1
Building a Better Developer Experience with Lars Jacobsson 27:05

2+ y ago27:05

27:05

Episode Summary Developer experience is often an afterthought when building APIs. But when you build for developers, DevEx is critical to your success. How fast can you make that time to first call? If you have a high barrier of entry, nobody is going to use it. The easier it is to move quickly, the easier it is to spread the word and drive usage. …

1
A Deep Dive Into Platform Engineering with Ran Isenberg 42:42

2+ y ago42:42

42:42

Episode Summary Platform engineering is a trending topic in cloud communities these days. Does it replace DevOps? Is it really "the next new thing?" Before we can answer that, we need to understand what platform engineering is and how it is different from DevOps. Allen talks with Ran Isenberg about the responsibilities his team undertakes at CyberA…

1
What Is Serverless with Khawaja Shams 23:35

2+ y ago23:35

23:35

Episode Summary The serverless community is in a heated debate over what constitutes a serverless service. Is it simply abstracting servers away from consumers? Does it include scale to 0? What about cost considerations? All these questions are answered in this talk with Khawaja Shams, co-founder and CEO of Momento. Allen and Khawaja talk shop abou…