My Life as IT Code: Part Two – Micro-services

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

-Lao Tsu

In this, my second post in a five-part series, I’m approaching the concept of microservices as being analogous to my life. Hopefully, my experience will assist you in your life as an IT pro, and also serve as a life hack.

I’ve written about microservices before. It seems to me that the concept as it relates to agility in code design and implementation in the data center is profound. What I see as the magic of code development and deployment in the data center is compelling because it allows the code jockey to focus his efforts on the discrete area of development that needs to take place. It allows larger groups to divvy up their projects into chunks of work that make the most sense for those doing the coding and allows for these changes to take place dynamically. The agility of the application as a whole becomes practically fluid. The ability to roll back changes, should they be necessary, retains the levels of fluidity and dynamic nature necessary for the growth of a modern application in today’s data center (whether it is on-premises or in the cloud). Sometimes, those small incremental changes can prove to be so impactful that they ensure the success of these changes.

I can draw the same correlation of small changes to large benefits in the realm of life hacks. For example, as I’ve mentioned, I play guitar, though not particularly well. I’ve been playing since I was twelve, and literally, for decades, my ability has remained the same. But recently, I learned a few techniques that have helped me improve significantly. Small changes and new levels of understanding have helped me quite a bit. In this case, learning blues shapings on the fretboard, and altering my hand positioning have made a big difference.

The same can be said of weight control. I’m a chunky guy. I’ve struggled with my weight most of my life. Small changes in my approach to food and exercise have helped me recently in achieving my goals.

Sleep is another category in which I struggle. My patterns have been bad. My average sleep per night has averaged about 5 hours. To be pithy, I’m tired of being tired. So, I’ve looked at techniques to assist in what I see as success in sleep. Removing screens from the room, blackout curtains, and room temperature have all been isolated as key criteria to staying asleep once falling asleep. So, I’ve addressed these things. Another key category has been white noise. I’ve leveraged all of these tools and techniques to assist me. Again, I'm happy to say that recently these small changes have helped.

I like to view these small changes in the same light as microservices. Small incremental changes can make a significant difference in the life of the implementer.