She Talks Tech – ValidKube and DevOps Trends

We got the pleasure to sit and talk with Rona Hirsch, DevOps Engineer at Komodor, a company revolutionizing Kubernetes troubleshooting. In this interview episode, we talked about the future trends in DevOps, a new open source project by Komodor – ValidKube, and some of the challenges for women in technology.

Watch & Listen to the full interview episode.

Rona Hirsch

DevOps Engineer at Komodor

You are a DevOps engineer at Komodor, so maybe you could share your vision of DevOps trends?

DevOps has gained its momentum as a mainstream software development methodology and continues to evolve, focusing on invoking innovation and bridging the gap between companies and customers’ needs. 

· The first trend I can anticipate is more movement towards the cloud rather than keeping environments and infrastructure on-prem. Under the circumstances of the COVID pandemic, DevOps provides the efficiency, flexibility, speed, and feedback loops required for optimal workflows and agile innovation crucial to a business’s success. 

· Next is adopting the microservices architecture that promotes DevOps ideas of agility and modularity. This trend significantly reduces the amount of code developers write and makes it simpler to maintain. It also ensures that teams instantly take on new technologies or versions of existing technology without waiting for the rest of the application domain to catch up.

· Another movement that will be a part of DevOps’s future is DevSecOps. Now security is the central part of DevOps pipelines. It enhances automation throughout the software delivery pipeline, eliminates mistakes, and reduces attacks and downtime. The process can be completed seamlessly using the right DevSecOps tools and methods for teams looking to integrate security into their DevOps framework. As a DevOps engineer, I don’t recall seeing any release cycle that wouldn’t include a security pipeline. 

· Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is here to stay. Nowadays, many companies require their DevOps engineers to automatically manage the IaC to get more done in less time, automate and quickly gain rollback or recovery. This process reduces errors and enables you with a lot more visibility. 

· Last but not least is Kubernetes as a de facto standard for container orchestration. The popularity of Kubernetes continues to explode. Working at Komodor, I can see how the focus shifts from treating Kubernetes only as an infrastructure system on the Ops side to a more approachable system to Devs where we can use Kubernetes more efficiently by managing all projects in the same way or rolling out updates without taking the whole application down.

I know Komodor has a new open source project called Validkube. Can you explain to our listeners what the project is all about and where they can find it?

ValidKube is an open-source tool designed to help developers validate, clean, and secure their Kubernetes YAML code. It fuses three popular open-source projects – kubeval, kubectl-neat, and trivy. The kubeval project validates Kubernetes configuration files, and the kubectl-neat project cleans up Kubernetes YAML and JSON output to make it readable. The trial project scans for vulnerabilities in container images, file systems, and Git repositories. ValidKube brings together these projects in a single view that provides DevSecOps with a quick way to ensure YAML code hygiene and ensured security within a few clicks. 

At Komodor, we support the Kubernetes community and ecosystem by building tools that remove friction points and knowledge gaps by bridging Ops and Devs. And since Kubernetes is relatively new in its adoption, many engineers are still struggling with concepts and best practices, especially when talking about YAML files. You can find it on GitHub or by accessing validkube.com. 

Can you talk about some of the challenges you face being a female in a male-dominated industry?

The biggest challenge for me to be a part of a male-dominated industry was self-doubt. Women in tech, and maybe women altogether, tend to think that we are not as good as our male peers. We don’t believe in ourselves enough, which often holds us back. And as a result, we don’t ask for what we deserve, either promotion opportunities or pay raises. 

Females have always been a minority when it comes to the tech industry. In your opinion, what can companies do to get more female involvement in the tech space?

Nowadays, there is more awareness for promoting and encouraging women to pursue careers in tech. However, there are still very few women role models compared to men. We hear a lot about men who take important roles and do great things, but we hardly ever hear about women in tech and their achievements. That can be discouraging, making it hard for women to relate to the industry as a field where we achieve significant results. 

I would encourage companies to start with a small step of changing the job descriptions, ensuring they are either gender-neutral or address both males and females. Another step is improving female visibility in tech news, articles, and posts. Also, supporting women in tech non-profit organizations, forums, and workshops could bridge the gender gap in the tech industry and help women advance in the high-tech world.

What lessons can you distill from your career to advise young women aspiring to build their careers in technology?

The tech industry has come a long way and is continuously evolving. Now, it’s much easier for employees of any gender to manage a work-life balance and grow their careers. Women shouldn’t see a career in tech any different from a career in law, accounting, or sales. It still requires persistence, skills development, empathy, and hard work. But my advice to women is to work on any self-doubt, build your network, stand for what you believe in, and make yourself heard whatever career you choose. 

Rona, it’s been a delight to have you on the show. We’d love to have you back. Thank you so much.

Stay tuned for more great interviews coming your way!