✨ Getting to know the wonderful Continuous Delivery Community
Name: Luke Philips
Pronouns: He/Him
Location: Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Who are you?
I work as a Principal Software Engineer at a financial services company, having previously been at many major Telco’s and Media companies before. I enjoy the intersection of technical challenges and sharing knowledge/experiences through the open source communities. Additionally, contributing to the occasional Wardley Map research group for strategic thinking and analysis of industries I have been in. I enjoy being active, as well as finding all the best coffeeshops and enjoying a good book.
Your hobbies?
Having grown up in Colorado I greatly enjoy all the “Colorado Things”. The great outdoors and stunning mountain ranges and the various activities amongst it all – hiking, trail running, mountain biking, skiing/backcountry skiing, camping. Additionally spending time advocating for local causes, most recently getting into transit support for my community. In lieu of TV, I watch way too much cooking YouTube.
What did you want to be when you were a kid?
Astronaut
What led you to a career in tech?
As a kid having assembled every Lego imaginable, as well as disassembly of any household appliance I could get my hands on – sometimes to the chagrin of my parents. Building and exploring, the schools I grew up at gave us very early Internet access (Unix terminals) and that just set off a long path of self-learning.
Do you remember your first open source contribution?
As a teenager learning what Linux was (kernel 2.0 days) – finding the local LUG, asking questions/commenting on docs might be an early “contribution.” First GitHub commit was to Homebrew, with a new release of Vert.X
How did you get involved in the Continuous Delivery Foundation?
Some of the early collaborations with CDF and OpenGitOps, presenting at an early GitOpsCon/cdCon combined event – sharing about the success we had with CD and GitOps principles. Most recently CDEvents has become the “missing” piece I’ve been looking for, glueing together the complex “Application Delivery” space.
What’s your favourite thing/project/tech to work on?
A few years ago I purchased a new-to-me home as well as discovered the Home Assistant project. It has been a wild journey ever since, every aspect of my home now has a Grafana dashboard associated with it, I’ve overhauled my home’s electrical systems, and there are various protocols throughout the house.
Tell us about the thing you’re most proud of and why?
Partnering, helping, and collaborating with many of my colleagues to achieve their first conference talks. Every one was an incredible opportunity to connect more and share their brilliance with the broader community.
What is the best connection you’ve made through open source?
When you meet that person who created/maintains those obscure CLI, App, Database tools, etc.. that you become so dependent on in your day-to-day – it’s like a true rockstar moment.
What’s your favourite open source conference?
Am I allowed to say anything other than cdCon? ArgoCon has been special for me and its community has been great.
What is your #1 tip for getting involved in the community?
Keep showing up and have patience. My first GitHub contribution was also rejected, as well as many early conference talks, though I kept learning, improving, getting involved in other ways and found success.
Where can we find you?
Connect with Luke ➡️ Linktree
More from Luke
Watch the CDEvents, GitOps, and Argo CD talks and podcast Luke has recently been a part of.