GR-OSS OUT Podcast

In this episode of the GROSS Out Podcast, host Tabitha DiDomenico talks with CID, a software engineer and maintainer on the OpenStack Ironic project at G-Research. CID explains what OpenStack Ironic does — provisioning and managing bare metal (physical) servers the same way you'd manage a cloud instance — covering the full server lifecycle from enrollment and cleaning to firmware updates and deployment. CID also share his journey from ALX (African Leadership X), the MLH Fellowship to full-time open source maintainer of OpenStack Ironic and how it changed his life. The conversation covers: What OpenStack Ironic is and the problem it solves for bare metal provisioning Runbooks, a feature for predefining and scoping automation steps across servers, and the upcoming Version 2 (V2) improvements Why this release cycle has focused heavily on security advisories and vulnerability backports across four stable release branches CID's path from the Major League Hacking (MLH) Fellowship and the African Leadership Experience (ALX) software engineering program to becoming a full-time open source maintainer The realities of open source code review, the anxiety of working in public, and why backward compatibility is one of the most overlooked but critical skills in maintaining large infrastructure projects CID's advice for anyone facing rejection from a fellowship or open source community Links CID's Blog - https://auditorical.com/ OpenStack Ironic - https://opendev.org/openstack/ironic MLH Fellowship - https://fellowship.mlh.com/ ALX - https://www.alxafrica.com/ Eventlet - https://evenlet.net/ Runbooks - https://docs.openstack.org/ironic/latest/admin/runbooks.html G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/fbsI8l-MaFA. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: CID.

Major Hayden — longtime Fedora packager and Red Hat engineer, formerly of Rackspace — joins host Jay Faulkner to talk about imposter syndrome in tech, and the framework he's used for over a decade to work through it: the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act), originally developed for fighter pilot decision-making. Major explains why imposter syndrome tends to resurface with every new team or stretch role, why that's often a sign of growth rather than a warning sign, and how he mentors engineers moving into core maintainer roles. He also shares his personal rule for using AI responsibly in open source work — if he can't independently explain a piece of code, he won't submit it — and tells the story of a kernel patch that drew a detailed, frustrated response from Linux kernel maintainer Alan Cox. Also discussed: reading audience reaction after a talk that didn't land, the culture of the Fedora Linux community, and why documenting tribal knowledge is easier to justify now that AI coding agents rely on it too. Important Links Major Hayden's Blog https://major.io/ Zellij - https://zellij.dev Pytorch - https://pytorch.org G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/MFU-0hZ47zU. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Major Hayden.

Lori Lorusso, Director of Outreach at the Rust Foundation, and David Wood, a Rust Project Director and engineer at ARM, join host Jay Faulkner to talk about what the Rust Foundation actually does behind the scenes — funding infrastructure, employing security engineers, and running a maintainer funding program for contributors who aren't backed by a sponsoring company. The conversation covers Rust's path from a Mozilla research project to safety-critical infrastructure in operating systems, browsers, and even vehicles, plus a deep dive into why a single compiler feature (the standard library rebuild, or "build-std") took 11 years and a major communication breakdown within the project to finally ship. Lori and David also share two candid "gross moments": a non-technical presenter's conference talk gone sideways, and the long, frustrating road to getting a stalled feature back on track. This episode is for developers, maintainers, and engineers who work with Rust (or are deciding whether to) and want to understand the people and politics behind the language, not just the syntax. The Rust Foundation - https://rustfoundation.org/ Rust Project Goals - https://rust-lang.github.io/rust-project-goals/2026/build-std.html ARM - https://www.arm.com/ G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/GCSn4kjSRRo. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.

You can't fire a volunteer. So how do you lead one? Vicky Brasseur — author, OSS strategist, and "open source minister without portfolio" — joins Jay Faulkner on the GROSS Out Podcast to discuss wielding influence without authority: ethical manipulation, director-ready business cases, and the succession planning most projects ignore until it's too late. Plus, Vicky's unflinching take on how the LLM boom is damaging open source — flooding maintainers with low-quality PRs, gutting mentorship, and burning resources without accountability. No fluff. Just the long game. G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/CEp-I7st02A. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.

For our two-year anniversary, Tabatha DiDomenico turns the mic around and puts GROSS Out Podcast founder Jay Faulkner in the hot seat. Jay is a self-taught technologist who never wanted computers as a career — and ended up shaping infrastructure that runs the world as Ironic's project lead and a decade-long OpenStack contributor. In this conversation, he's honest about how that happened, what it actually looks like from the inside, and what he'd tell anyone trying to find their footing in open source. In this episode: Why people skills matter more than code in open source communities How to give feedback people can actually trust — and why toxic positivity damages projects What maintainership really looks like versus open source leadership The moment he walked away from a job over an ethical line he wasn't willing to cross Why Gentoo might be the best learning environment for a young Linux developer right now The one piece of career advice almost nobody in tech actually follows Links and references: Ironic Project: https://ironicbaremetal.org OpenStack: https://www.openstack.org Gentoo Linux: https://www.gentoo.org G-Research Open Source: https://www.gresearch.com/open-source G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/H6OXeKyHJ-g. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Jay Faulkner.

Nick Vidal, Community Manager at the Open Source Initiative (OSI), joins host Tabitha to discuss one of the hardest questions in open source right now: what does Open Source AI actually mean, and who gets to decide? At the center of it all is the OSI's effort to build community consensus around a definition that satisfies both developers and data scientists — two groups who don't always see eye to eye. Nick also shares what more than 50 maintainer stories revealed about the state of open source health, including the rise of AI-generated noise flooding maintainer workflows, the pressure of legislation like the EU Cyber Resilience Act, and why one prominent maintainer published a piece titled "We Don't Owe You Anything." Nick reflects on his journey from organizing Drupal communities across Latin America to working at the heart of open source policy, and why bringing diverse cultural perspectives into open source development is how the best ideas actually get discovered. Topics include the Open Source AI Definition, maintainer burnout, the Maintainers book at maintainers.rs, the EU Cyber Resilience Act, software freedom, and the human side of open source sustainability. G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/7irm9Wt7aEM. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Nick Vidal.

Tabitha sits down with Andrew Block, Distinguished Architect at Red Hat and maintainer of Helm — the package manager powering Kubernetes deployments worldwide — to talk about what it really took to ship Helm 4. They cover the 12-month journey to a major release, what got left on the cutting room floor, how the team nearly broke a huge chunk of the community with one dependency change, and why Andy thinks open source is one of the most powerful forces for bringing people together — regardless of what's happening in the world. They also get into the bigger questions: maintainer burnout, the role AI is starting to play in open source workflows, and what it means to build software that outlasts the hype cycle. If you use Helm — or you care about the humans behind the tools you depend on — this one's worth your time. Find Helm on GitHub, or join the community on Kubernetes Slack in helm-users or #helm-dev. Developer meetings run every Thursday at 12:30 ET. G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/mVKrrWOpMYM. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Andrew Block.

Jay Faulkner sits down with Kevin Hannon (GitHub: kannon92), Kubernetes Contributor Award winner and maintainer of the JobSet project, to discuss the growing challenge of running AI and batch workloads on Kubernetes — a platform originally designed for web services and long-running applications. Kevin shares his journey from G Research and the Armada project through to his current work improving Kubernetes upstream, including the multi-year effort to bring swap memory support to GA, the push to deprecate CGroups v1, and the emerging Workload Aware Scheduling initiative aimed at bringing gang scheduling into Kubernetes core. The conversation covers the technical realities of running GPU workloads at scale, the human side of open source maintenance, and the often overlooked work of keeping CI infrastructure healthy across a massive distributed project. Topics discussed include JobSets, CGroups v2, pressure stall information, topology aware scheduling, and the open source politics of shipping features in a large community-driven project. G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/7EQW57BlroA. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Kevin Hannon.

We sit down with Æva Black as she shares her journey from creating OpenStack Ironic to leading security policy at Microsoft and CISA. Discussion covers the economics of competing with hyperscalers, Europe's Cyber Resilience Act, managing software dependency complexity, AI's impact on security (including the rise of "vibe hackers"), and a powerful story about how a casual conference conversation led to influencing White House cybersecurity strategy. OpenStack Ironic - https://ironicbaremetal.org/ Omnibor - https://omnibor.io The cURL project - https://everything.curl.dev/project/index.html G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/Z6h-Sfle83g. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Æva Black.

In this episode of the G Research Open Source Software Outreach Podcast (GROSS OUT), host Jay Faulkner sits down with Dr. Dawn Foster, Director of Data Science at the CHAOSS Project and veteran open source consultant, to explore the hidden infrastructure that keeps open source communities thriving. Dawn shares her 30-year journey through the open source world, from compiling dependencies as a sysadmin in the '90s to earning a PhD studying collaboration in the Linux kernel. The conversation dives deep into the metrics and governance structures that separate sustainable projects from those destined to fail—including the critical "lottery factor" (what happens when the most important person in your project disappears) and why you should build governance before you need it. CHAOSS Project - https://chaoss.community/ Dawn Foster on the Linux Kernel - https://opensource.com/article/17/10/collaboration-linux-kernel G-Research is hiring in London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/Znk5e4DfR50. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Dawn Foster.

Alex Gaynor, long-time open source contributor and core developer of Django, PyPy, and Python's cryptography library, joins us to discuss the challenging transition from C to Rust in the Python ecosystem. We explore memory safety vulnerabilities like buffer overflows, the technical and community challenges of introducing Rust to a major Python library, and how to navigate hostile feedback during controversial changes. Alex shares lessons from shipping the first Rust-based cryptography release, managing platform compatibility issues, and why sometimes breaking backwards compatibility is necessary to move an ecosystem forward. A must-listen for anyone maintaining critical open source infrastructure or dealing with the "gross" realities of pushing technological boundaries. https://cryptography.io/en/latest/ For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/FQayBHWVsQA. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Alex Gaynor.

Tabitha Diaminico from G Research sits down with Stacey Potter, Manager of Community at the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), to explore what makes open source communities thrive. Stacey shares her unique journey through open source—from working at a license compliance company to shepherding projects like Flux through CNCF graduation, and now building inclusive communities at OpenSSF. Discover the practical strategies for welcoming new contributors, the surprising parallels between marketing and community building, and why people are truly the heart of open source. Whether you're a seasoned maintainer looking to grow your project, a developer considering your first contribution, or simply curious about the open source security landscape, you'll hear actionable insights on creating psychological safety in communities, the importance of good documentation, and exciting initiatives like OpenSSF's upcoming ambassador program. Plus, get the inside scoop on upcoming OpenSSF events and smaller projects that deserve more love. G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/-nJHBWtcTug. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Stacey Potter.

In this episode of the G Research Open Source Software Outreach Podcast, host Jay Faulkner sits down with Priyanka "Pinky" Ravi, Platform Tech Advocate at G Research, to explore her unique path from full-stack developer to open source advocate. Pinky shares her fascinating journey implementing inner source practices at State Farm, leading Kubernetes GitOps adoption, and eventually joining the team behind Flux at WeaveWorks. The conversation dives deep into what GitOps really means, the four core principles that define true GitOps, and how pull-based deployment models solve configuration drift. Along the way, they discuss the evolution of DevOps practices, the power of infrastructure as code, and why the CNCF ecosystem has become such a valuable community for both users and maintainers. G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/T86st3YsZ6o. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Pinky Ravi.

In this episode of the G-Research Open Source Software Outreach Podcast, we sit down with Tim Boudreau, one of the early members of G-Research's open source initiative. Tim shares his unique perspective on transitioning from 30 years of writing proprietary software to working in open source communities. We explore the challenges of moving from the controlled environment of corporate development to the exposed world of public repositories, where your code is visible from day one. Tim discusses the psychological shifts required, from developing a thicker skin to handling rejection, and shares candid stories about both successful contributions and frustrating rejections from major open source projects. The conversation covers practical advice for developers considering their first open source contributions, the importance of community engagement, and strategies for testing the waters before diving into major contributions. Tim also touches on his current work with NVIDIA's Big AI framework and how G-Research has evolved from having an insular and closed security posture to being an active participant in the open source ecosystem. G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/-nJHBWtcTug. The GR-OSS OUT Podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Tim Boudreau.

In this episode of the G Research Open Source Software Outreach Podcast, host Jay Faulkner sits down with security researcher and engineer David Leadbeater. They dive into David’s journey from hacking on Linux as a kid to discovering vulnerabilities in modern terminals. The conversation explores how obscure bugs can linger in new code, the messy reality of threat modeling, the challenges of maintaining secure open source software, and war stories from email security days. Check out DGL's personal blog at [dgl.cx](dgl.cx). Come work for G-Research in Dallas, TX or London, UK -- see open positions at https://www.gresearch.com/vacancies For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/-nJHBWtcTugSpecial Guest: David Leadbeater.

Mark Burnett, Head of Technology Innovation at G-Research joins us to discuss the impact of open source on enterprise software, the value of being a loud open source customer, and finding open source already aligned to business needs. Mark also provides valuable insight to other business leaders on how to engage the open source community and use open source concepts to fail fast and innovate fast. G-Research is hiring in Dallas, TX and London, UK! Apply at https://gresearch.com/vacancies. Subscribe to the video version of this podcast at https://youtube.com/@oss-grSpecial Guest: Mark Burnett.

Join us as we talk to Ben Wilson about Databricks. Learn about the journey of working in an OSS based business, look into the future of "AI", and learn about how a seasoned developer can have a "GR-OSS" moment and recover from it. Links: Databricks https://www.databricks.com/ Free Form AI podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/1ka6DzxQR65hLYldeTmu9Y Adventures in Machine Learning podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adventures-in-machine-learning/id1531074814 Come work for G-Research in Dallas, TX or London, UK -- see open positions at https://www.gresearch.com/vacancies For a video version of this podcast, check out https://youtu.be/-nJHBWtcTugSpecial Guest: Ben Wilson.

In this podcast, Jeremy and Clark talk to us about the open infrastructure stack that powers open infrastructure software! Learn why OpenDev exists, what it can be useful for, and how you can join the collaboratory. Read more about... OpenDev https://opendev.org Zuul https://zuul-ci.org Gerrit https://www.gerritcodereview.com Quay.io https://quay.io OpenStack https://openstack.org OpenInfra Foundation https://openinfra.dev Greenbone security scanner https://www.greenbone.net Special Guests: Clark Boylan and Jeremy Stanley.

In this podcast, Tabatha and Jay discuss security, oss communities, and the places security and community can intersect. Learn how GR-OSS works with CHAOSS and OpenSSF as part of our open source work. Read more about... CHAOSS https://chaoss.community/ OpenSSF https://openssf.org/ Want to use open source software to build the next big thing? Check out job vacancies at G-Research! https://www.gresearch.com/vacancies/Special Guest: Tabatha DiDomenico.

In this podcast, we delve into the critical role open source foundations play in fostering the growth and sustainability of open source software. Julia Kreger, Chair of the Open Infrastructure Foundation, joins us to share her expertise and passion for the open source movement. Learn how foundations can ensure that open source projects continue even when a contributor moves on. Read more about: Open Infrastructure Foundation @ https://openinfra.dev G-Research job opportunities @ https://www.gresearch.com/vacancies/ Special Guest: Julia Kreger.

Major League Hacking (MLH) and GR-OSS have been partnering for years developing the next generation of open source developers. Join us as we talk about struggles, successes, and how overall rewarding this work can be. Learn more about MLH and apply for an MLH Fellowship at https://fellowship.mlh.io. View a video version of this podcast and more content from GR-OSS at https://youtube.com/@oss-gr. Other Links: MLH Hackathon League schedule https://mlh.io/seasons/2025/events Thank you to our MLH Fellows for their help with this podcast: Adam McArthur Afonne-CID Paul Onyedikachi - http://x.com/cee_eye_d Juan Escalada Christos Bisias Mehdi Nassim Khodja The GR-OSS OUT podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Alex Gornet.

Come join as Florian Verdonck schools Jay on basics of functional programming and talks about his experience working with F# and improving the F# ecosystem in the latest episode of the GR-OSS OUT podcast. View a video version of this podcast, and more content about Open Source, including CNCF Armada, OpenStack, and many other projects at https://youtube.com/@oss-gr Other links: https://fsprojects.github.io/fantomas/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/fsharp/style-guide/formatting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SHBNMPwS-s "Getting Started with Fantomas" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Ob5Vp4a9c "Formatting F# Code" at NDC Oslo 2021 https://podcast.gr-oss.io/2-ai-and-ml "AI and ML with Jonathan Giannuzzi" The GR-OSS OUT podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Florian Verdonck.

Come join as Dejan Pejchev talks about his experience working with Kubernetes in the latest episode of the GR-OSS OUT podcast. Find out about how G-Research has engaged with the upstream CNCF communities to support their open source infrastructure. See Dejan's talk about Kubernetes scheduler performance here: https://kccncna2024.sched.com/event/1i7p8 Read more about Armada at https://armadaproject.io View a video version of this podcast, and more content about Open Source, including CNCF Armada, OpenStack, and many other projects at https://youtube.com/@oss-gr Other links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN7YTNG1U9I - Carlos Santana on Armada https://www.cloudknit.io - one of Dejan's first projects The GR-OSS OUT podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Dejan Zele Pejchev.

Guest: Itamar Turner-Trauring, Open Source Python Developer Itamar joins host Jay Faulkner for a conversation about dataframes in general, with a focus on polars. He explains why dataframes are important, and how polars' approach compares with the approach taken by pandas. It's not all about data science though, Itamar has a long history of contributing to interesting python technologies and debuggers. Itamar shares some real world stories from his experience, including a "gross" moment he has overcome. Find other episodes and information about our guest at https://podcast.gr-oss.io/. Find this episode, and other useful OSS videos at https://youtube.com/@oss-gr GR-OSS OUT podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Itamar Turner-Trauring.

Guest: Jonathan Giannuzzi, Open Source Evangelist at G-Research and core contributor to FasttrackML Jonathan joins host Jay Faulkner for a conversation about artificial intellegence and machine learning. He explains the basics of AI/ML architectures, how data scientists get their work done, and how FasttrackML helps them get more research done faster. Jonathan will also answer our recurring question: "What's a "gross" moment while working on open source, and how did you overcome it?" Find other episodes and information about our guest at https://podcast.gr-oss.io/. Find this episode, and other useful OSS videos at https://youtube.com/@oss-gr GR-OSS OUT podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Jonathan Giannuzzi.

Guest: Alexander Scammon, Head of Open Source Development at G-Research Video: https://youtu.be/IUHdAmFnUT8 In the premiere episode "What is GR-OSS?", host Jay Faulkner welcomes Alexander Scammon to the G-Research Open Source Software Outreach Podcast. As a founding member of the GR-OSS initiative, Alexander provides an in-depth introduction to this bold experiment in open source transparency. You'll learn the fascinating backstory of how GR-OSS was conceived as well as the curiously named GR-OSS acronym itself - where it came from and what it represents. Alexander will also give us the first answer to our recurring question: What's a "gross" moment you've had while working on open source? Whether you're new to open source or a long-time participant, this inaugural show lays the groundwork for a podcast series that isn't afraid to explore the messy realities behind building successful OSS projects and communities. Tune in to understand the vision behind GR-OSS! The GR-OSS OUT podcast is produced by Ben Wiley.Special Guest: Alexander Scammon.