From building a data platform and Parquet at Twitter to using AI to make biology easier to engineer at Ginkgo Bioworks, Dmitriy joins the show to chat about the early days of big data, the conversation that made him jump into SynBio, LLMs for proteins and more.

Segments:
(00:03:18) Data engineering roots
(00:05:40) Early influences at Lawrence Berkeley Lab
(00:09:46) Value of a "gentleman's education in computer science"
(00:14:34) The end of junior software engineers
(00:20:10) Deciding to go back to school
(00:21:36) Early experiments with distributed systems
(00:23:33) The early days of big data
(00:29:16) "The thing we used to call big data is now ai"
(00:31:02) The maturation of data engineering
(00:35:05) From consumer tech to biotech
(00:37:42) "The 21st century is the century of biology"
(00:40:54) The science of lab automation
(00:47:22) Software development in biotech vs. consumer tech
(00:50:34) Swes make more $$ than scientists?
(00:54:27) Llms for language is boring. Llms for proteins? that's cool
(01:02:52) Protein engineering 101
(01:06:01) Model explainability in biology

Show Notes:

• The Death of the Junior Developer: https://sourcegraph.com/blog/the-death-of-the-junior-developer
• Dmitriy on twitter: https://x.com/squarecog?lang=en
• Tech and Bio slack community: https://www.bitsinbio.org/

Stay in touch:
- Make Ronak’s day by signing up for our newsletter to get our favorites parts of the convo straight to your inbox every week :D https://softwaremisadventures.com/

Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Forest License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Having quit Google in 2018 to bootstrap indie software businesses, Michael is known for writing very transparently about the ups and downs of his journey. After recently selling his hardware business TinyPilot for $600K, Michael returns to the show to chat about the misconceptions about running an indie business, the hardest part of selling a company, and why “hardware is definitely out” for his next move 😂

Segments:
(00:04:22) The complexity of selling a hardware business
(00:08:49) Why "hardware is definitely out" for Michael's next venture
(00:11:57) The evolution of TinyPilot
(00:16:29) Inherent risks of a hardware business
(00:20:53) The most terrifying 10 minutes of 2023
(00:24:52) The pricing strategy
(00:31:48) Building the team
(00:35:32) Recognizing the limits of solo founders
(00:37:22) What and how to outsource?
(00:42:45) Tracking hours and managing expectations
(00:46:50) High-level math and profit projections
(00:52:17) Working with contract manufacturers
(00:54:12) How to know when to delegate?
(00:58:16) Misconceptions about running an indie business
(01:03:56) The importance of value capture
(01:09:26) Identity and purpose after selling a business
(01:13:40) How Michael arrived at the decision to sell the business
(01:17:53) The process of figuring out the price
(01:20:36) Negotiation and the final sale
(01:25:09) Why due diligence was so stressful
(01:30:09) The importance of buyer fit
(01:34:16) Michael's new course "Hit the Front Page of Hacker News"
(01:35:17) The power of "Show, don't tell"
(01:38:14) Sneak peek of the course

Show Notes:
- Michael’s blog post on the process of selling TinyPilot: https://mtlynch.io/i-sold-tinypilot/
- Michael’s excellent monthly retrospectives on building TinyPilot and beyond: https://mtlynch.io/retrospectives/
- Hit the front page of hacker news: https://mtlynch.io/notes/htfp-live/

Stay in Touch:

👋 Make Ronak’s day by leaving us a review and let us know who we should talk to next! hello@softwaremisadventures.com

Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Forest License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Well-known for his insightful and meticulous write-ups on testing distributed systems, Kyle (aka Aphyr) joins the show to chat about the origins of Jepsen, how he built a business around testing distributed systems, his writing process, favorite databases, and more.

Segments:

(00:03:29) From Physics to Software Engineering

(00:07:47) The origins of Jepsen

(00:09:41) Turning Jepsen into a full-time venture

(00:13:14) Jepsen's testing philosophy

(00:16:30) The consulting journey

(00:19:16) Structuring a consultancy

(00:22:32) Setting boundaries

(00:24:32) Pricing misadventures

(00:29:17) Pros and cons of being an independent consultant

(00:32:08) Managing your time when working for yourself

(00:38:23) Best part of the job

(00:41:13) Early writing influences

(00:45:25) LLMs and AI-generated content

(00:48:17) “The period where you can trust what you read is actually very recent”

(00:51:33) How to become a better writer

(00:54:25) Developing a formal understanding of distributed systems

(00:59:30) Common faults in distributed systems

(01:01:17) The complexity of testing distributed systems

(01:07:32) Communicating criticism effectively

(01:10:26) Advice for distributed systems engineers

(01:13:46) “Anybody trying to sell you a distributed lock is selling you sawdust and lies”

(01:16:31) Failure mode documentation

(01:18:52) The pitfalls of containerization

(01:20:17) Lightning round - favorite databases

Show Notes:

“Anybody who is trying to sell you a distributed lock is trying to sell you sawdust and Lies”: https://martin.kleppmann.com/2016/02/08/how-to-do-distributed-locking.html

Kyle’s excellent write-ups on testing distributed systems: https://jepsen.io/analyses

Kyle’s blog: https://aphyr.com/posts

Training courses that Kyle runs: https://jepsen.io/services/training

Stay in touch:

👋 Make Ronak’s day by leaving us a review and let us know who we should talk to next! hello@softwaremisadventures.com

Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Forest License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en