I read 136 books in 2025. Here are the highlights:

#GOTOpodcast: @brikis98.bsky.social and @kief.com cover:
 * What DevOps actually means (beyond the buzzword) * Where infrastructure as code helps and where it does not * Why frameworks usually age better than clever custom scripts
 🎧 Listen to the episode → gotopia.tech/podcast

I’ve read many business books. Some profoundly shaped how I think; others were a waste of time. Many people ask me for recommendations, so I created a tier list for business books, arranging the books from most to least useful in building my own business. www.ybrikman.com/blog/2025/12...

I just read "Tactical Barbell." It's a way to develop strength that works even if you: 🏃 Focus other aspects of fitness (endurance) 😴 Can't always get great recovery (sleep & diet) 🤕 Can’t be sore for days after a workout 💪 Want to avoid increasing bodyweight Key takeaways:

Wow, Terraform Cloud is ending its free tier. You have 4 months to switch to a paid plan, and with per-resource pricing, I'm hearing stories of bills going from $0 to $15K/month. Looking for an alternative? Introducing Terragrunt Scale Free Tier. More info in this thread:

🎁 Just in time for the holidays, we're doing a DevOps giveaway! 🎁 Share your DevOps wishlist with us for a chance to win: 👕 DevOps swag (hoodie, t-shirt) 🧱 Lego set 📕 Signed copy of "Fundamentals of DevOps & Software Delivery" Enter the giveaway here: www.gruntwork.io/lp/devops-wi...

Going to AWS re:Invent? Want to do some high-speed driving in a supercar? Join the Gruntwork team at this invite-only event. Choose from Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, Porsches, and more. Spots are limited! www.gruntwork.io/lp/gruntwork...

I just finished "The Anthropocene Reviewed" by John Green. It's a collection of essays on a variety of topics from the modern era, including the QWERTY keyboard, Canadian geese, Super Mario Kart, teddy bears, and Haley’s Comet. A few thoughts:

In 2022, I got a desk treadmill, and it turned out to be one of the best investments I’ve made in my health in years. It improved my fitness, productivity, and likely added years to my life. I’ve gotten so many questions about it that I decided to write a blog post:

🚨 Sale alert 🚨 "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery" is 10% off now with this coupon! If you're looking to level up how your team ships software, or just looking for a good gift for the holidays, grab the discount now, before it expires! www.amazon.com/gp/coupon/Fu...

A reminder: share your DevOps horror stories with the tag #AdrenalineOps, and you can win a 1-year GoLand license and a copy of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery!"

In this GOTO Book Club interview, I chat with @kief.com about my book "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery," the definition of DevOps, tools for managing infrastructure and applications, why you can't not have a framework, and the future of DevOps. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyz_...

"You can't not have a framework. Either you use one or you create your own - and yours probably won't be well documented or maintained." @brikis98.bsky.social and @kief.com discuss why infrastructure automation needs standardization, not more custom wrapper scripts.

With Halloween approaching, it's time to share your DevOops horror stories! 👻 🎃 The best 5 stories win a GoLand license and a copy of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." Here's one of my stories: I took down TripAdvisor. In my 1st week on the job. 😅

I made some changes to the "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery" website: - Updated the text in the intro section - Added a "how this book is different" section - Minor tweaks to other sections Thoughts? Is the site clear? What could I improve? www.fundamentals-of-devops.com

I've come across many companies where: 🔥 They're constantly putting out fires 🚨 Nothing is reproducible or documented ⚠️ Even minor changes feel risky 😰 The predominant emotions are fear & stress This is "DevOps Bankruptcy." We wrote a guide on how to get yourself out of it:

Here's a list of the best resources related to Chapter 9, "How to Store Data" of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." Learn about relational DBs, NoSQL, NewSQL, queues, streams, object stores, CDNs, backup, recovery, and more:

I just completed a fun project: I put all my reviews & notes from the books I've read on my blog! I read ~100 books / year, and I've been tracking my reading for more than a decade, so this represents my ratings and notes for over 1,000 books. Links are in the following tweets:

Book review: The Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery by Yevgeniy Brikman (2025). "FDSD is an excellent book. It is a book that is suitable to a broad audience for sysadmins, DevOps and developers, of all ranges of experience." 😊 camilomatajira.wordpress.com/2025/09/01/b...

Here's a list of the best resources related to Chapter 8, "How to Secure Communication and Storage" of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." Learn about cryptography, encryption in transit and at rest, hashing, secrets management, TLS certificates, AES, and more:

CI/CD servers can be a huge security risk: 1. They have powerful credentials 2. Every dev in your company has access 3. They are used to run arbitrary code That's a terrifying combination from a security perspective 😳😱 Here are 8 steps for secure CI/CD:

Here's a list of the best resources related to Chapter 7, "How to set up Networking" of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." Learn about DNS, VPCs, VPN, SSH, service discovery, and service meshes:

Many tutorials focus on how to deploy an app the first time. But how you deploy changes is even more important, as you'll likely update your app hundreds or thousands of times over its lifetime. Let's talk about 4 core strategies you can use for rolling out updates:

We’re exploring a new add-on for Terragrunt that adds enterprise features, but before building it, we'd love your feedback. See the features: postimg.cc/5jL74Nqt Share your feedback: forms.gle/Vy8vi16WPtTC... 10 randomly selected participants will get a $20 gift card.

Here's a list of the best resources related to Chapter 6, "How to Work with Multiple Teams and Environments" of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." Learn about setting up environments, splitting your codebase into libraries, and monoliths vs microservices.

The eulogy I gave for my mom today. www.ybrikman.com/blog/2025/07...

Here's a list of the best resources related to Chapter 5, "How to set up CI and CD" of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." Learn about GitOps, trunk-based development, feature flags, zero-downtime deployments, and more:

Every drug becomes toxic at a high enough dose, so you always use the "minimum effective dose": just enough to get the benefits, and no more. The same is true with DevOps: every tool & technique has a cost, so you should use the "minimum effective dose of DevOps," too.

Here's a list of the best resources related to Chapter 4, "How to Version, Build, and Test Your Code" of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." Learn version control (Git, GitHub), build systems (Gradle, Bazel), & automated tests (unit & integration tests):

There's been recent pushback against the cloud, with some companies opting to run their infrastructure on prem (e.g., Basecamp). Unfortunately, amidst the controversy of these stories, nuance is lost. The reality: it's a trade-off. Let's look at 8 reasons to use the cloud:

Respond with a caption for this image. I’ll start: I’m excited to introduce my new book, “Fundamentals of CatOps and SoftFur Delivery.”

Here's a list of the best resources for learning about application orchestration (VMs, containers, K8S, serverless, etc.) that I came across while working on Chapter 3 of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery":

Here's a list of the best resources for learning Infrastructure as Code (IaC) that I came across while working on Chapter 2 of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery":

When writing "Hello, Startup," I interviewed early employees from Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, Stripe, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. It turns out the architecture & software delivery processes at most companies evolve along similar lines. Here's how it works, broken down into 9 steps:

DevOps is weird. We use this one word to describe dozens of unrelated concepts. What do TLS certs, K8S clusters, deployment pipelines, and database backups have in common? Not much. And yet, your typical DevOps Engineer / SRE has to deal with all of these, and much else.

"Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery" has been published! I think this is the best thing I've written—and perhaps the most important—and it would mean the world to me if you would share it with your network. Here's why:

It's here! Just got my copies of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." It's the 3rd book I've published with @oreilly.bsky.social, and I think it's the best one so far—the ultimate hands-on guide to running and maintaining software in production. www.fundamentals-of-devops.com

Today is exactly 1 year since I got shoulder surgery to repair a rotator cuff tear. I'm more or less back to normal now, but it took 6 months of rehab, 2.5 months of sleeping in a recliner, and dealing with a lot of pain to get there. Take care of your tendons!

Wow, the print edition of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery" isn't even available yet, but the Kindle version is already the #1 new release in Cloud Computing! amzn.to/4dIXFE8

Well this is an unexpected surprise: "Terraform: Up & Running" is now available as an audiobook on Audible, Apple Books, Storytel, etc! Links in the next post. Happy listening! CC @oreilly.bsky.social

How are you using infrastructure as code? What tools and technologies do you rely on? Which ones do you love and which do you hate? I'd love to hear your thoughts: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Takes < 5 min. 10 randomly selected respondents will get $20 gift cards.

Just heard from my editor that "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery" has completed production! The ebook is already available and the print books will be available in several weeks. Let's go! 🚀 🎉 www.fundamentals-of-devops.com

I got a sample pre-print of "Fundamentals of DevOps and Software Delivery." It's looking pretty good! The book should go to the printers this month. www.fundamentals-of-devops.com

Terragrunt Stacks is now feature complete. This gives you a clean, maintainable way to work with multiple Terragrunt units (terragrunt.hcl files)—e.g., to spin up a new environment, service, or customer. Try it out and let us know how it works for you! www.gruntwork.io/blog/the-roa...

Friends, I need help. My mom has been battling colon cancer. The diagnosis is uncertain, and the treatment doesn't seem to be working. How can I find experts on her condition? Or clinical trials that would fit? How do I navigate this space given my lack of expertise?

Superb video from Andrej Karpathy that completely changed how I use LLMs (e.g., ChatGPT). No marketing BS, just concrete examples of how to use LLMs for questions, recommendations, research, coding, entertainment, and much more. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWvN...

To launch an EC2 instance programmatically, you have to specify the ID of the AMI to run, which is weirdly hard to find. I often just want the latest version of Amazon-managed AMIs, such as Amazon Linux or Ubuntu, and I can never remember the magical incantations to find these.

I solved this with a hacky script, using various APIs (e.g. OpenLibrary) and scraping to find images & descriptions for ~800 resources (books, blog posts, tools) across 11 chapters. Worked 80% of the time; the rest I did by hand. Example chapter: www.fundamentals-of-devops.com/chapters/cha... WDYT?

For each chapter of my upcoming book, I have a page that lists related books & tools. What's the easiest way to get an image (logo or cover image) and brief blurb for each book/tool? There are hundreds, so doing it manually is too slow. Example page: www.fundamentals-of-devops.com/chapters/cha...

Back in 2016, I published an article on Y Combinator's blog called "A Minimum Viable Product Is Not a Product, It's a Process." Looks like they took it down, so I've reposted it on my personal blog: www.ybrikman.com/blog/2025/02.... Still a good read on how to build MVPs!