Finding a Fix for the Cloud with Stephen Barr

Corey Quinn sits down with Stephen Barr, Chief Evangelist of CloudFix. With his extensive history in the cloud, the pair delve into Stephen's journey with AWS, relatable anecdotes on optimizing cloud costs, and the complex role of tech evangelists in fostering better communication between engineering and finance teams. Corey and Stephen also weigh the pitfalls of early AI adoption, how to come up with effective content creation strategies, and even postulate a hopeful vision of a tech-driven future (from a Trekkie’s point of view at least). Show Highlights (0:00) Intro (0:40) Gitpod sponsor read (1:52) How Stephen defines his role (4:26) Breaking down recent shakeups at AWS and the ever-growing promotion of AI (9:36) How will AI impact how we teach younger people about coding? (13:45) AI marketing, crypto, and other professional grifts (16:56) Stephen's history with AWS and the cloud ecosystem (20:42) Wiz sponsor read (21:30)Oversights that can easily inflate a cloud bill (25:32) Acting as a marriage counselor between engineering and finance (30:09 Stephen's creative process as a Chief Evangelist (33:54) Stephen's thoughts on the future of technology (35:28) Where you can find more from Stephen About Stephen Barr Stephen Barr, Principal Architect and Technical Evangelist at CloudFix, is known throughout the technology industry for his joyful frame of mind and deep expertise in data engineering, machine learning, LLMs, systems architecture, and all things AWS. Even as a teenager, Stephen’s digital curiosity and drive landed him at an email hosting startup working on network administration. He also worked at Microsoft while still a high school student. After graduating from the University of Washington, he continued graduate studies at the University of Rochester and Washington. Stephen has also worked as a data scientist, software developer, technical consultant and more. When he’s not researching or communicating about the power of AWS, Stephen enjoys spending time with his family at home in Seattle. His interests outside of work include science fiction, 3D printing, and the outdoors., Stephen Barr, Principal Architect and Technical Evangelist at CloudFix, is known throughout the technology industry for his joyful frame of mind and deep expertise in data engineering, machine learning, LLMs, systems architecture, and all things AWS. Even as a teenager, Stephen’s digital curiosity and drive landed him at an email hosting startup working on network administration. He also worked at Microsoft while still a high school student. After graduating from the University of Washington, he continued graduate studies at the University of Rochester and Washington. Stephen has also worked as a data scientist, software developer, technical consultant and more. When he’s not researching or communicating about the power of AWS, Stephen enjoys spending time with his family at home in Seattle. His interests outside of work include science fiction, 3D printing, and the outdoors., Stephen Barr, Principal Architect and Technical Evangelist at CloudFix, is known throughout the technology industry for his joyful frame of mind and deep expertise in data engineering, machine learning, LLMs, systems architecture, and all things AWS. Even as a teenager, Stephen’s digital curiosity and drive landed him at an email hosting startup working on network administration. He also worked at Microsoft while still a high school student. After graduating from the University of Washington, he continued graduate studies at the University of Rochester and Washington. Stephen has also worked as a data scientist, software developer, technical consultant and more. When he’s not researching or communicating about the power of AWS, Stephen enjoys spending time with his family at home in Seattle. His interests outside of work include science fiction, 3D printing, and the outdoors. Links Referenced LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenjbarr/ AWS Made Easy: https://awsmadeeasy.com/ Sponsors Gitpod: gitpod.io Wiz: https://www.wiz.io/scream