Joe Beda Principal Engineer
@jbeda
@jbeda
@jbeda
@jbeda
Joe Beda Principal Engineer
What is your area of expertise? I guide the long-term technical vision around how VMware uses Kubernetes to build the tools that let enterprises connect developers directly to infrastructure in a way that makes businesses more effective. I also help encourage and support VMware’s mission to be an effective member of the larger open source community.
How and why did you get interested in technology? Computers have always been a part of my life. I’m a second-generation programmer and I remember my dad bringing home punch cards that we used as scratch paper for shopping lists. What I value most about technology is, despite the challenges, it is fundamentally optimistic—we can use tech to make the world a better place.
What is the one piece of advice you would give any organization looking to modernize its applications and/or infrastructure? It is the journey, not the destination. Building the right culture that can continually improve and use new tools (like Kubernetes) is the real value. Start with some teams and build a collaborative relationship between applications and infrastructure teams. When it works, they boost each other and create a virtuous cycle.

Watch Joe talk about the use of YAML in Kubernetes

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Josh Long Spring Developer Advocate
@joshlong
@joshlong
@joshlong
@joshlong
Josh Long Spring Developer Advocate
What is your area of expertise? I know a thing or two about building cloud native applications with Spring and adjacent technologies like Kubernetes. Heck, I even wrote the book: Cloud Native Java.
How and why did you get interested in technology? My dad never locked the door to the office with his business's sole computer, and I couldn't help myself. I suppose I was curious. I learned about programming because I wanted to automate a publishing workflow I'd built up for my middle school.
What is the one piece of advice you would give any organization looking to modernize its applications and/or infrastructure? Think about production. How quickly can you take an idea from concept to customer? The best technologies (like Spring) will reduce that cycle time and help you get to production quicker. Microservices, CI/CD, cloud computing, and the like aren't technical innovations—they're workflow optimizations. They shorten cycle time with faster feedback to get us to production faster.

Watch Josh talk about reactive programming

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Stephen Augustus Senior Open Source Engineer
@justaugustus
@stephenaugustus
@justaugustus
@stephenaugustus
Stephen Augustus Senior Open Source Engineer
What is your area of expertise? One of my goals in Kubernetes is to identify underserved, high-impact parts of the project and give them a little love. I also built the Release Engineering, Enhancements (KEPs), and Cluster API Azure subprojects; worked on efforts to improve issue triage; and founded WG Naming, which laid the foundation for the Inclusive Naming Initiative.
How and why did you get interested in technology? My close friends encouraged me to forgo my computer engineering degree and get into corporate IT. I was already fixing printers, bricking my desktop on a weekly basis with Windows RCs, and playing around with Cisco SMB networking equipment, so I figured I’d give it a go. Since then, I’ve done a little bit of everything. Nowadays, I spend most of my time solving people problems, although I still look back fondly to my days under a desk or in a data center.
What is the one piece of advice you would give any organization looking to modernize its applications and/or infrastructure? Maintain focus on the desired outcomes and existing pain points. In the cloud native world, it’s easy to fall into the trap of chasing new and shiny technology, while losing track of the business needs you initially set off to solve. Most importantly, cast a wide net and have conversations with everyone at the table: To be successful, developers, operators, security staff, corporate IT, and product, program, and project teams all need to be aligned.

Watch Stephen discuss the benefits of deliberate release cycles

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Nikhita Raghunath Senior Engineer
@nikhita
@nikhita
@nikhita
@nikhita
Nikhita Raghunath Senior Engineer
What is your area of expertise? Reach out to me about contributing to the upstream Kubernetes project, especially in areas related to API conventions and its related machinery, controllers, and CRDs; community infrastructure; automation; and testing.
How and why did you get interested in technology? I am from India, and it gets really hot during the summers! The computer lab was the only air-conditioned room in my school, so my main goal in 6th grade was to find a way to spend more time in the lab. I asked my mom to teach me how to type faster, and then asked my teachers if I could type stuff for them. I became amazed by what computers could do as I spent more time in the lab and learned from the older kids about their computer homework.
What is the one piece of advice you would give any organization looking to modernize its applications and/or infrastructure? Modernize at your own pace and always keep developer experience in mind. If your main priority is to build and ship quality code faster, modernize applications that matter the most and then automate the path to production. Automation helps ensure that developers focus on their code instead of the underlying infrastructure. Open source components are ideal for this because they improve visibility and make it easier to troubleshoot apps in production.

Watch Nikhita explain how to contribute to Kubernetes

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Jen Handler Go-to-Market Lead, Services Strategy
Jen Handler Go-to-Market Lead, Services Strategy
What is your area of expertise? Product Management. I have more than 15 years of experience helping teams deliver value, focusing on products and services that deliver great outcomes for users and customers. My aspiration for myself, and the people I work with, is to always feel confident we're working on the most valuable thing.
How and why did you get interested in technology? I got interested in technology at an early age; my father was with IBM for his entire career, and he always brought the latest tech home for us to play with!
What is the one piece of advice you would give any organization looking to modernize its applications and/or infrastructure? Go into it with an experimental mindset. Think like a scientist, and require evidence. What outcomes are you after? What problems are you trying to solve? How might you best solve for them? What metrics will you need to impact? And once you have these down—don't take on everything at once! Prioritize based on things you most need to learn to have the biggest de-risking impact on your modernization effort. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

See Jen discuss what makes a great product manager

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Hannah Foxwell Director, Platform Services, EMEA
@hannahfoxwell
@hannahfoxwell
@hannahfoxwell
@hannahfoxwell
Hannah Foxwell Director, Platform Services, EMEA
What is your area of expertise? My secret superpower is building teams, and in my current role I work with our customers across EMEA to build successful platform teams in their organizations. My team coaches engineers through the adoption of automation, product mindset, and SRE practices, delivering application platforms that delight developers!
How and why did you get interested in technology? I started my career in technology by accident. After university I applied for a graduate program because it involved 3-6 months living in India, and that sounded like fun. I’m still having fun today and I feel so lucky to work in such a fast-paced, exciting environment alongside brilliant colleagues.
What is the one piece of advice you would give any organization looking to modernize its applications and/or infrastructure? One of the challenges many organizations face is that the work is never done. By the time one technology has matured, something better has been invented to supersede it. The most important piece of advice I would give an organization is to optimize for continuous learning; this works best when you invest in long-term product teams and not temporary project teams.

See Hannah explain how SRE improves employees’ lives

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Josh Rosso Staff Software Engineer
@joshrosso
@joshrosso
@joshrosso
@joshrosso
Josh Rosso Staff Software Engineer
What is your area of expertise? I have been involved in the Kubernetes community since 1.0, including helping to develop key projects such as etcd, OCI, and the alb-ingress-controller. I really enjoy digging into distributed systems and helping others understand the inner workings. Most of my day-to-day is working with customers on architecting and implementing cloud native systems such as Kubernetes.
How and why did you get interested in technology? I love the simplicity and minimalism that technology can offer. Small little pieces that do their job well and, as a whole, can solve complex problems.
What is the one piece of advice you would give any organization looking to modernize its applications and/or infrastructure? It does not need to be an application effort OR an infrastructure effort. Pair with both sides of your organization to ensure infrastructure builds things that benefit application developers, and that application developers make best use of the available infrastructure!

Watch Josh discuss real-world Kubernetes deployments

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Paving the Road
to Modern Apps

VMware Tanzu: The who, how and why of application modernization

The last few decades of IT innovation delivered great advances in infrastructure; now, it’s time to build apps that make the most of those new tools. In an increasingly digital world where business requirements can change literally overnight, it’s the only way to thrive.

VMware Tanzu helps you build new apps, modernize existing ones, and evolve your software development process around cloud native technologies, patterns, and architectures. Here’s how.

Part I

Shared expertise

When you’re navigating a complex tech landscape, having experts by your side makes all the difference.

The folks who make up the VMware Tanzu team aren’t just leaders in their fields—in some cases (like Kubernetes, Cloud Foundry, and Spring), we’ve actually helped create them. This was true when you first worked with VMware to transform your data centers around virtualization, and it continues now as we help you modernize apps around cloud native technologies. And by engaging with VMware Tanzu Labs—which for decades has helped everyone from Twitter to T-Mobile build better software and better software cultures—you can take the fast track to digital transformation.

Part I

Shared expertise

More ways to learn

Our experts also share their knowledge across a variety of channels targeting developers, operators, executives, and everybody in between. Here are some of our frequently updated resources, as well as a collection of educational guides, e‑books, and blog posts.

KubeAcademy

Free Kubernetes training and courses for beginners, experts, and everyone in between.

Tanzu Developer Center

Tips, guides, videos, and more to master cloud native technologies and patterns.

The Podlets

VMware Tanzu experts discuss every level of the cloud native landscape on this podcast.

Cloud & Culture

Tanzu Labs experts and clients share modernization best practices on this podcast.

TGIK

Kubernetes masters explain anything you’ve ever wanted to know in this YouTube series.

Tanzu Talk

Watch VMware Tanzu thought leaders and customers discuss modern software development.

Part II

All roads lead to production

We’ve helped some of the world’s biggest and best organizations kickstart their transformations—and we can do the same for yours.

When you partner with VMware Tanzu to transform your apps with cloud native technologies and modern app architectures, the results are immediate and impactful. You can release new apps and features faster. Take advantage of automation to secure your platforms so your operations teams sleep soundly. So while the world changes overnight, you can adapt and scale digital operations with ease.

Part II

All roads lead to production

How customers stay ahead of the curve

Not all thought leaders are created equal. The experts on the VMware Tanzu team have honed their insights over years of living through industry and technology trends, and helping customers navigate through their digital transformations. This collection of blog posts, white papers, e-books, and more will help you plan for what’s coming and make solid long-term decisions about technology, personnel, and process.

Digital Transformation for the Busy Executive

Advice, explanations, and anecdotes on modernization

3 Principles of Digital Transformation

What every leader should understand

6 Modernization Myths and How to Bust Them

Now there are fewer excuses for lagging

To Kubernetes, or Not Kubernetes?

That is the question; the answer is nuanced

How CEOs Can Enable Innovation

The cloud native era calls for flexibility

Prepare for the Next-Generation of DevOps

Team structures must account for increased scale and velocity

Digital Transformation Can Change People

4 types of employees to support as the org evolves

The Risk Profile of Technical Debt

Debt is unavoidable, so make sure it's adding value

5 Pillars of Digital Transformation

From empowering employees to expecting the unexpected

Business Transformation Simplified

A 4-part approach to effectively modernizing your business

Part III

The technology of Tanzu

The software products, open source projects, and services at the core of VMware Tanzu help smooth your transition to cloud native.

VMware Tanzu has deep roots in cloud native technologies, including Cloud Foundry, Kubernetes, and Spring, among others. This foundational understanding, combined with VMware’s history as the driving force behind data center virtualization, allows us to build enterprise-ready products for the modern, cloud- and container-centric era of computing. When you choose to partner with us, you're choosing to build on technologies that are more than just new toys: they’re mature, secure, and optimized for large enterprise requirements.

Part III

The technology of Tanzu

Hands-on transformation with Tanzu Labs

Chat With An Expert

Although cloud native technologies are a necessary part of most modernization efforts, software products alone can’t transform a business or develop better applications. Your organization still might need help with any number of other necessary steps, including guidance on agile development, a strategy for breaking down monolithic applications, or a framework for deciding which applications to modernize first. Tanzu Labs can help ensure these things happen, by entrenching experts within your teams to help them master their brave new world.

How to Facilitate Distributed Teams

Advice on tools, processes, and personal health

Scaling an Agile Software Factory

Don’t forget to scale the leadership team, too

Choosing the Right Application Architectures

Today’s new thing is tomorrow’s problem; choose wisely

Your Path to Agile Matters

How to pick the right approaches and keep improving

Thinking Beyond the SLA

Service-level objectives as a measure of reliability

How to Build Productive, Self-Sufficient Teams

“Lean governance” balances outcomes and autonomy