Niko Virtala
@nikovirtala.io
Building better shopping experiences for retail | Principal Engineer at SOK | Randonneur 🚲
psst @awscloud.bsky.social our level of expectation for standard observability just got higher
It launched! Get traces for your app with zero code changes. No libraries, no SDK, no config. Traces show up in your dash or you can export them to your favorite o11y vendor over OTLP
blog.cloudflare.com/workers-trac...
blog.cloudflare.com/workers-trac...
Announcing Workers automatic tracing -- now in open beta
Cloudflare Workers' support for automatic tracing is now in open beta! Export traces to any OpenTelemetry-compatible provider for deeper application observability -- no code changes required
blog.cloudflare.com
November 2, 2025 at 11:54 AM
psst @awscloud.bsky.social our level of expectation for standard observability just got higher
and next we have SMCP (secure model context protocol) and MCPS (model context protocol secure) 😂
The S in MCP stands for security
August 2, 2025 at 9:48 AM
and next we have SMCP (secure model context protocol) and MCPS (model context protocol secure) 😂
I was thinking this last summer and learned that it is a protest by farmers: www.bbc.com/news/world-e...
July 31, 2025 at 8:23 PM
I was thinking this last summer and learned that it is a protest by farmers: www.bbc.com/news/world-e...
What perfect albums came out when you were 16?
2001:
2001:
July 23, 2025 at 8:01 PM
What perfect albums came out when you were 16?
2001:
2001:
"Every ride should be enjoyed to its fullest" — Adrian Hands
Vielä neljä kuskia saapui maaliin varttia ennen maalin sulkeutumista. #fgg1200
July 18, 2025 at 10:02 AM
"Every ride should be enjoyed to its fullest" — Adrian Hands
I'm about to participate long unsupported cycling event and have a problem: how to plan the cycling and breaks? How fast do I need to cycle to get decent sleep? — and so on.
June 28, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I'm about to participate long unsupported cycling event and have a problem: how to plan the cycling and breaks? How fast do I need to cycle to get decent sleep? — and so on.
Handling Avro with Event Source Mapping and Lambda has indeed been "not ideal" — but not anymore! 🤩
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/wh...
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/wh...
AWS Lambda announces native support for Avro and Protobuf formatted Kafka events - AWS
Discover more about what's new at AWS with AWS Lambda announces native support for Avro and Protobuf formatted Kafka events
aws.amazon.com
June 21, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Handling Avro with Event Source Mapping and Lambda has indeed been "not ideal" — but not anymore! 🤩
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/wh...
aws.amazon.com/about-aws/wh...
Reposted by Niko Virtala
I just released my edit of "In Praise of 'Normal' Engineers": why the best engineering orgs in the world are the ones where ✨normal engineers✨ can consistently move fast, ship code, fix shit, help their users, and move the business forward...a little more, every day.
charity.wtf/2025/06/19/i...
charity.wtf/2025/06/19/i...
In Praise of “Normal” Engineers
This article was originally commissioned by Luca Rossi (paywalled) for refactoring.fm, on February 11th, 2025. Luca edited a version of it that emphasized the importance of building “10x engi…
charity.wtf
June 19, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I just released my edit of "In Praise of 'Normal' Engineers": why the best engineering orgs in the world are the ones where ✨normal engineers✨ can consistently move fast, ship code, fix shit, help their users, and move the business forward...a little more, every day.
charity.wtf/2025/06/19/i...
charity.wtf/2025/06/19/i...
Amazon EventBridge Pipes has Kafka (both MSK and self-managed) source — Kafka as a target would be great addition 🙏
June 17, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Amazon EventBridge Pipes has Kafka (both MSK and self-managed) source — Kafka as a target would be great addition 🙏
what have I done? — in the last week an army of german sap bots(?) have started following me? 😅
June 13, 2025 at 5:51 AM
what have I done? — in the last week an army of german sap bots(?) have started following me? 😅
what's the current state of art what comes to observing AWS Lambda Functions with Node.js 22.x runtime and ES modules using OpenTelemetry? — does it work already without bigger hurdles?
May 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
what's the current state of art what comes to observing AWS Lambda Functions with Node.js 22.x runtime and ES modules using OpenTelemetry? — does it work already without bigger hurdles?
right in time! aws.amazon.com/about-aws/wh...
Amazon Aurora DSQL is now generally available - AWS
Discover more about what's new at AWS with Amazon Aurora DSQL is now generally available
aws.amazon.com
May 28, 2025 at 5:04 AM
right in time! aws.amazon.com/about-aws/wh...
it is interesting how context matters when debugging with AI — in this case Q
I spent somewhile today to figure out today why my TypeScript (JavaScript) Kafka consumer couldn't deserialize a record with Avro schema...
then I implemented the same using Kotlin, and Q found the problem immediately 🤯
I spent somewhile today to figure out today why my TypeScript (JavaScript) Kafka consumer couldn't deserialize a record with Avro schema...
then I implemented the same using Kotlin, and Q found the problem immediately 🤯
May 26, 2025 at 2:52 PM
it is interesting how context matters when debugging with AI — in this case Q
I spent somewhile today to figure out today why my TypeScript (JavaScript) Kafka consumer couldn't deserialize a record with Avro schema...
then I implemented the same using Kotlin, and Q found the problem immediately 🤯
I spent somewhile today to figure out today why my TypeScript (JavaScript) Kafka consumer couldn't deserialize a record with Avro schema...
then I implemented the same using Kotlin, and Q found the problem immediately 🤯
@mreferre.bsky.social this Q thingy is pretty good. right now I only wish the VSCode plugin agentic mode would have a similar option to run commands autonomously as the CLI version has [t] — now the flow keeps waiting for me to run them and that unnecessary interruption is just a waste of time
May 16, 2025 at 6:32 PM
@mreferre.bsky.social this Q thingy is pretty good. right now I only wish the VSCode plugin agentic mode would have a similar option to run commands autonomously as the CLI version has [t] — now the flow keeps waiting for me to run them and that unnecessary interruption is just a waste of time
It's sad to watch as someone develops a system that doesn't have proper principles and also the willingness to give up on those things that even remotely resemble principles.
Then they wonder why is it so damn hard and slow to develop and run it.
Then they wonder why is it so damn hard and slow to develop and run it.
April 23, 2025 at 9:54 AM
It's sad to watch as someone develops a system that doesn't have proper principles and also the willingness to give up on those things that even remotely resemble principles.
Then they wonder why is it so damn hard and slow to develop and run it.
Then they wonder why is it so damn hard and slow to develop and run it.
This is probably very much a philosophical question, but why do people try to model a non-structural world and its natural order (someone could call it chaos) by structural means and by trying to restructure it? — Why can't they accept it?
March 24, 2025 at 9:59 AM
This is probably very much a philosophical question, but why do people try to model a non-structural world and its natural order (someone could call it chaos) by structural means and by trying to restructure it? — Why can't they accept it?
Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)
kent · Du & jag döden · Song · 2005
open.spotify.com
March 23, 2025 at 5:27 PM
which is ultimately more important: solving the customer's problem or the developer experience?
I guess... I hope you know my answer 😅
I guess... I hope you know my answer 😅
2 pizza teams is good for feature velocity and terrible for UX consistency
I never should've said anything bad about the GCP admin interfaces because wow AWS shows that the bar can go much lower
March 22, 2025 at 11:36 AM
which is ultimately more important: solving the customer's problem or the developer experience?
I guess... I hope you know my answer 😅
I guess... I hope you know my answer 😅
Reposted by Niko Virtala
The IEEE republished a lightly edited version of my recent essay, "In Praise of 'Normal' Engineers". 🙌 spectrum.ieee.org/10x-engineer
The greatest engineering orgs in the world are not the most pedigreed or top heavy, but the ones where normal engineers can move the business forward, day by day.
The greatest engineering orgs in the world are not the most pedigreed or top heavy, but the ones where normal engineers can move the business forward, day by day.
Why Great Engineering Orgs Thrive on "Normal" Engineers
Software engineer Charity Majors challenges the "10x engineer" myth, arguing that true productivity lies in team performance, not individual brilliance. She encourages building workplaces where "norma...
spectrum.ieee.org
March 13, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The IEEE republished a lightly edited version of my recent essay, "In Praise of 'Normal' Engineers". 🙌 spectrum.ieee.org/10x-engineer
The greatest engineering orgs in the world are not the most pedigreed or top heavy, but the ones where normal engineers can move the business forward, day by day.
The greatest engineering orgs in the world are not the most pedigreed or top heavy, but the ones where normal engineers can move the business forward, day by day.
If I could fix one thing to ease your brick-and-mortar grocery shopping, what could it be?
We have some pretty neat things cooking up (more about those little later) but there must be something we (and everyone else) have missed?
We have some pretty neat things cooking up (more about those little later) but there must be something we (and everyone else) have missed?
March 13, 2025 at 3:43 PM
If I could fix one thing to ease your brick-and-mortar grocery shopping, what could it be?
We have some pretty neat things cooking up (more about those little later) but there must be something we (and everyone else) have missed?
We have some pretty neat things cooking up (more about those little later) but there must be something we (and everyone else) have missed?
Oh, why doesn't @awscloud.bsky.social AppSync support Schema Directives?
March 13, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Oh, why doesn't @awscloud.bsky.social AppSync support Schema Directives?
Can anyone seriously claim that he is wrong? fortune.com/2025/03/04/a...
Amazon’s CEO is cutting middle managers because they want to ‘put their fingerprint on everything’—he's giving power to individual contributors instead
Andy Jassy is flattening the company’s hierarchy—and it may be perfect for Gen Z avoiding managerial roles and burnout.
fortune.com
March 11, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Can anyone seriously claim that he is wrong? fortune.com/2025/03/04/a...
Reposted by Niko Virtala
I use this image a lot, but I also really love this image.
February 28, 2025 at 9:02 PM
I use this image a lot, but I also really love this image.
@mreferre.bsky.social how will you cope with this: "AWS has announced the end of support for the Amazon Chime service" ?
February 19, 2025 at 7:12 PM
@mreferre.bsky.social how will you cope with this: "AWS has announced the end of support for the Amazon Chime service" ?