F*ck Distributed Systems. Build Distributed Companies!

Distributed Systems are easy. It is the people problems that are hard. Open Source has shown that a new paradigm for people working together is possible. Even more so, it is already radically transforming the workplace for the 21st century developer.

Remote working is no longer a difficult exception; it’s the hot new trend. As the competition for talent grows, people can now live closer to their families _and_ still get the job they want. Expats are finally able to move back home, bringing foreign currency into otherwise troubled economies, exchanging lucrative careers for better quality of life. And with the bottom-up open source approach, where developers can choose the kind of work that they do, they're happier at their jobs too.

This is nothing short of a revolution! Are you ready for it?

Transcript

1. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 F*CK DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS. BUILD DISTRIBUTED COMPANIES!
2. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS ARE EASY 2
3. PEOPLE PROBLEMS ARE HARD !!
4. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 BUILD DISTRIBUTED COMPANIES!
5. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 YORGOS 5 Software Engineer for ~ 15 years. Clean Code, OSS, Automation, Community. Working remotely for past 2 years Full-time remote for past year
6. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 6
7. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 7 FOSS API Management Solution ๏API traffic control, ๏Access Control, Rate limits & ๏Monetization (plans, etc.). https://github.com/3scale
8. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 8 ~12,000 employees 95+ offices in 35+ countries LOTS of remote (25%) MANY more WFH
9. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 HOW DOES IT WORK? 9
10. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 10 OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
11. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 OSS SHOULDN’T WORK! BECAUSE: 11 People get paid to work Small teams work best for software projects. Scaling software teams for given project X is difficult. Teams work in the same building. Teams need meetings to coordinate
12. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 12 VOLUNTARY WORK
13. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 VOLUNTARY WORK 13
14. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 VOLUNTARY WORK 14 But… People… spend their free time “working” like this!
15. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 VOLUNTARY WORK 15 VS
16. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 16 MOTIVATION
17. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 17 Work Fun
18. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 18 Motivation
19. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 19 SCALING PEOPLE IS HARD
20. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 SCALING PPL? SURE! 20
21. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 LINUX KERNEL 21 • 15600 CONTRIBUTORS • 1400 COMPANIES • 4300 NEW CONTRIBUTORS IN 2017
22. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 22 OSS WILL NEVER CATCH ON
23. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 IT ALREADY HAS. 23
24. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 24
25. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 25
26. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 26
27. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 27 OPEN SOURCE HAS WON !!!
28. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 28 SCALING ACROSS GEOGRAPHIES
29. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 DISTRIBUTED, IN NATURE 29
30. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 ACROSS TIMEZONES 30 No DM on GitHub. Instead: Simply exchanging notes on given topic (issue, Pull/Merge Request, code comment)
31. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 ACROSS TIMEZONES 31
32. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 32
33. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 33
35. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 REMOTE WORKING 35
36. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 SOME KEY FACTS 36 Huge(!) demand in software developers today Big differences in economies of different countries Big companies want to reduce costs (outsourcing) People prefer to stay close to their families & friends Or, simply put, it’s NOT always the case that: placeWhereIdealJobIsLocated == placeWhereIwantMeAndMyFamilyToLive
37. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 DEMAND 37
38. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 DEMAND 38
39. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 39
40. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 ECONOMICS 40
41. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 WORLD ECONOMICS 41 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Developed_and_developing_countries.PNG
42. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 GDP (PPP) PER CAPITA 42 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_Per_Capita_in_2015.svg
43. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 SUPPLY 43
44. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 44
45. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 45 smart people are born everywhere! (…not only where you choose to set up shop..)
46. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 DEMAND SHAPES THE WORLD 46
47. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 DEMAND SHAPES THE WORLD 47 ppl flock to large cities, big centers (where they can find jobs) yet people want to: * live somewhere sunny / warm * live close to family & friends * live in a place that fits their lifestyle (family, going out, etc. )
48. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 ONLINE PRESENCE CREATES TRUST 48
49. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 ONLINE PRESENCE Social Media: Twitter FB Instagram etc LinkedIn / Xing / … GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket / … StackOverflow 49
50. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 REMOTE WORKING BENEFITS 50
51. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 NO COMMUTE! ok… maybe you’ll have to travel to an offsite… 51
52. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 COME AS YOU ARE 52 devs hate suits don’t judge a book by its cover (clothes) focus on the clothes / outfit that you feel comfortable in NOT your pyjamas
53. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 CHOOSE YOUR WORKPLACE 53 go somewhere you feel creative. no more noisy colleagues no more open space offices
54. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 FIND IT. THEN CHANGE IT. 54
55. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 CROSS-CULTURE ENVIRONMENT 55 meet people from every part of the world learn about different customs, habits, foods diversity is built-in, not bolted on
56. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 UNDERSTAND LOCAL MARKETS 56 get to world domination(!) faster understand how to localise native language speakers internationalization built-in
57. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 LOCAL CONTACTS 57 networking in local meetups internationally distributed Alumni birds-eye view about current state of the world
58. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 TRAVEL ! ! ! 58 take work with you! Meet the world! Digital Nomad (!= freelancer)
59. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 A WORD ON DOCUMENTATION 59
60. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 REMOTE WORKING PITFALLS 60
61. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 SOME FORMALITIES 61
65. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 ASYNC COMMUNICATION 65
66. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 ASYNC COMMUNICATION you need to overcome the synchronous communication mindset blocking vs. non-blocking IO 66
67. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 NOTHING REPLACES F2F Never meeting your team is an anti-pattern Regular team get-togethers not necessarily company-wide focus not only on work, but also social activities 67
68. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 WORKING FROM HOME 68
69. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 WORKING @ HOME wait a minute… isn’t home supposed to be where you don’t work… !?!? 69
70. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 WORKING @ HOME work-life balance when do you start/stop working? where do you work? when can the kids interrupt you? 70
71. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 WORKING @ HOME 71
72. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 WORKING @ HOME 72
73. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 WORKING @ HOME 73 #proTip: ^^ is just ONE option for remote working.
74. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 REMOTE-FIRST VS. REMOTE-FRIENDLY are you the only remote guy/girl? just using Slack doesn’t make you remote-friendly 74
75. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 CONVINCED ALREADY? 75
76. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 IN GOOD COMPANY 76
77. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 HOW TO FIND A REMOTE JOB? • https://weworkremotely.com/ • https://remoteok.io/ • https://remote.co/ • https://github.com/remoteintech/remote-jobs • https://github.com/justshiv/remote-first • https://stackoverflow.com/jobs/remote-developer-jobs 77
78. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 HOW TO GET A REMOTE JOB? 78 try some freelancing working from home. Maybe it’s not for you. get / show off some OSS experience! turn to local meetups to network with remote workers … usual tips for getting a job …
79. >> Yorgos Saslis | @gsaslis | VoxxedDays Thessaloniki 2018 THANK YOU! 79 Yorgos Saslis
 @gsaslis
 github.com/gsaslis