Coming to Terms with Chef: A Support Group for the Weary and Downtrodden Admin

Abstract:

Hello, my name is Joan T. I am a Chef user.

I'm here to provide a safe, supportive environment for Chef users and developers so we can discuss our habit and help support each other. No judging.

I will discuss my time in DevOps at Cloudant, a database-as-a-service company with hundreds of servers and as many Chef cookbooks. It’s where I first encountered Chef in April 2012.

Since then it’s been rough going, but I’ve learned a lot and would like to share the story of my spiritual growth at MountainView 2013.

I have a master’s degree in science from Carnegie Mellon for writing hardware and software simulation systems. I’ve been administering UNIX systems since I rescued a Sun 3/160 and four Fujitsu Double Eagles from a dumpster in 1991. I’m now running Cloudant’s Chef kitchen as a senior software and field engineer, and helping people get the most out of Apache CouchDB-compatible service.

At first, as an experienced admin, I denied I needed Chef. Then I started cooking. When I started out, I’d touch it rarely. But before I knew it, I was on 18-hour Chef benders. This got me very angry at Chef. So I bargained with the tool for my sanity and ended up very depressed. As soon as I learned to accept Chef as part of my life, I've become a satisfied user and found peace in the daily rhythm.

Perhaps hearing my story and learning how I negotiated the five stages of Chef grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance of cookbooks – will help you find peace, too.

Coffee and donuts will be provided.

Speaker:

Joan Touzet is a senior software and field engineer for Cloudant, where she runs the company's Chef kitchen. She earned a master of science degree from Carnegie Mellon. She is a motorcyclist and pilot.