Mark C Allen
For DevOps engineers. Ideas, concepts, tips & tricks based on my day-to-day experience.
Everyday DevOps - New Substack: Engineering Managers Toolbox
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com Engineering Managers Toolbox Over the years, I’ve built products, led teams, and worn the many hats that come with being an engineering manager. Along the way, I developed a set of practical tools, frameworks, strategies, and hard-earned lessons that help managers lead with clarity, confidence, and impact. From this, I've created a new substack: Engineering Managers Tookbox. If you are an engineering manager as well as a DevOps practitioner, join me there as...
Everyday DevOps - Securing Tools for Internal Use
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com Securing Internal Tools Tired of leaving internal Kubernetes apps exposed or juggling clunky login systems? I wrote about how to add Google login to any internal service using oauth2-proxy, no user database, no password headaches, just seamless auth backed by OAuth and Kubernetes ingress. With TLS, DNS, and secure cookies handled, you’ll have a reusable blueprint to lock down your apps with minimal effort. Ready to turn your cluster into a fortress? Read...
Everyday DevOps - 10 Reasons for Static Analysis
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com 10 Reasons for Static Analysis In this post, I break down how and why I use static analysis tools like ESLint and Ruff to catch bugs early, keep code clean, and automate checks before code ever hits CI. I show how to wire them into a JavaScript and Python project with examples you can copy and adapt. Want fewer bugs and cleaner code with less manual effort? Give it a quick read and start levelling up your workflow. Read Devcontainers for an easy-to-use...
Everyday DevOps - Did I Break the Internet
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com Did I Break the Internet 🚨 Thursday, I deployed core-api 😅 Two minutes later, Google declared a global incident. Did I break the internet? Highly unlikely. Was the timing suspicious? Absolutely. But let this be your friendly reminder: Correlation does not equal causation. If you have ever hit deploy and immediately wondered if you broke something. This one’s for you. Read Devpod on DigitalOcean Sometimes, your local development environment is doing too much...
Everyday DevOps - How I Actually Use LLMs to Program
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com Please forward this to at least one other person you'd think would benefit from Everyday DevOps. New? Signup How I Actually Use LLMs to Program Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are shaking up how we write software, but let’s be clear: they aren’t magic wands.For me, the problems I try and solve fall into three categories:1. I know what I know2. I know when I don't know3. I don't know what I don't know.I've detailed these in my...
Everyday DevOps - My Viral LinkedIn Post on Easy Dev Environments
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com My Viral LinkedIn Post on Easy Dev Environments Last week, I shared a LinkedIn post about the all-too-familiar pain of setting up local development environments. To my surprise, it struck a nerve. Thousands of reactions and hundreds of comments poured in from developers and DevOps pros worldwide. Why did it resonate? Because it highlighted a universal frustration: messy configurations, broken READMEs, and undocumented “tribal knowledge” that slows everyone...
Everyday DevOps - The Myth of the Dying Junior Programmer
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com The Myth of the Dying Junior Programmer In my latest article, I challenge the fear that AI will wipe out early-career developers. Instead, I argue that AI tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, and others are actually supercharging junior devs, helping them write better code, learn faster, and contribute meaningfully to real-world projects sooner than ever. Rather than eliminating junior roles, AI is reshaping what it means to grow in this field, turning raw...
Everyday Devops - The Value of an easy-to-use Dev Environment
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com The Value of an Easy-to-Use Dev Environment Spinning up a local dev environment shouldn’t feel like trying to launch a rocket with duct tape and hope. If it takes more than five minutes or, worse, requires tracking down Dave from QA, who “just knows how it works,” you’ve already lost. All I want is to clone the repo, run a command or two, and feel like a productivity god. One setup script rules them all: it wires up your config, fires up the stack, and makes...
Everyday DevOps - How to Write a Great README
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com How to Write a Great README In this post, I break down how to write a great README.md for your public GitHub projects. Using my own CLI tool, env-secrets, as an example, I walk through the structure every good README should follow: a clear project description, simple install instructions, usage examples, and setup steps for local development. I also cover how to document the release process, encourage contributions, and polish your README with markdown...
Everyday DevOps - Explaining technical things to non-technical people: the interview question
Everyday DevOps www.markcallen.com Explaining technical things to non-technical people: the interview question When explaining complex technical concepts to non-technical people—especially in interviews—I focus on empathy, simplicity, and storytelling to make ideas accessible without losing their depth. I draw from personal experience to show how aligning with the audience’s perspective improves understanding and highlights the ability to communicate technical expertise in a clear and...
For DevOps engineers. Ideas, concepts, tips & tricks based on my day-to-day experience.