Breaking distributed systems for fun and profit | Kyle Kingsbury (Jepsen)

August 2, 2024

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:
(00:00:00) Intro Highlight
(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

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

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by Software Misadventures Podcast

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