RedMonk September 2024 Update
A small, sharp research firm focusing on developer-led technology adoption and developer culture. We help folks understand the industry by understanding you.
Greetings from RedMonk’s Atlanta “office,” where Nature appears to have gotten the memo that after Labor Day the weather should indeed become milder. I’m Kate Holterhoff, senior analyst at RedMonk, and it is my pleasure to host our September newsletter.
Much has happened these past few weeks, and much is on the horizon. Launch season is upon us, so we are hearing lots of briefings these days—some more exciting than others, and, unsurprisingly, not a few focus on AI. We have also been following several stories in the software development news. Elastic changed Elasticsearch’s license to the OSI approved open source AGPL. Layoffs continue, with approximately 27,000 tech employees laid off in August across numerous companies, including major firms like Intel, Dell, and Cisco. GPUs reign unopposed, with the (over?)valuation of Nvidia acting as the AI hype canary in the coal mine.
Lately my mind is on my microphone, as I’ve been doing a ton of podcasting for the MonkCast. Of course, RedMonk has long had its hand in the podcast game (shout out to Hark), but recently we’ve hosted a number of Friends of RedMonkTM on the show including Jay Miller, Adam Seligman, Adam Rackis, Tina-Marie Gulley, J Chris Anderson, and Sean McQuaid. The format may be casual, but the takes are spicy! It is a privilege to speak with the lights of the industry about the state of tech—what technology trends our guests are following, what excites them right now, and what they forecast for the future. Mostly, we just have a lot of fun. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Most importantly, we are ramping up for Monktoberfest, which is happening the first week of October in Portland, Maine. In fact, beyond our own event, October is shaping up to be back-to-back conferences for the analysts, so be sure to check our events calendar and say hello if we’re visiting your town.
Thanks for reading!
Kate
Links Roundup
We at RedMonk are old enough to remember when the value was in the software.
Derek Comartin’s philosophy around feature flags reminded us of the importance of progressive delivery. Derek notes the success of feature flags is tied to “allowing you to develop and integrate code without it being released to end-users until it’s ready.”
Elasticsearch now under the AGPL.
Jeremy Howard explains that in the era of AI, documentation must now be written with two audiences in mind: humans and machines.
Write the Docs Atlantic 2024 kicks off this weekend!
Recent RedMonk Research
It’s been almost a year since Broadcom acquired VMware, and Rachel Stephens discusses how her experience at VMware Explore in Las Vegas (August 26-29, 2024) reflected this change in Under New Management: Impressions from VMware Explore 2024. RM clients mentioned: VMware by Broadcom and Intel.
Rachel Stephens brings the data in her research on Software Licensing Changes and Their Impact on Financial Outcomes. RM clients mentioned: Elastic, HashiCorp, and MongoDB.
Kelly Fitzpatrick dissects her experiences during this spring/summer’s Season of AI Conferences. Part 2: On the Road (and Closer to Home) RM clients mentioned: AWS, Cisco (Splunk), Dynatrace, Fastly, MongoDB, and PagerDuty.
Recent Videos and Media Appearances
In What is AI at the Edge? How Fastly’s Response Caching Aims to Reduce Costs and Improve Performance Kate Holterhoff joins Fastly SMEs for a demo of Fastly Compute (a platform powered by WebAssembly that runs any language and allows developers to rethink application architectures around edge computing) and a discussion of Glitch (Fastly’s developer platform), KV Store, and how Fastly is bringing AI to the edge using machine learning models.
RedMonk’s James Governor has been on a video kick lately:
James and Simon Wistow, co-founder of Fastly, discuss the challenges and future of open source in the tech industry in How Fastly is Keeping Open Source Sustainable in the Age of the Licensing Rug Pull.
James interviews David Annez, VP of Product at loveholidays, to explore the company’s approach to adopting absolute cutting-edge technology while managing risk in You Don’t Need to be Afraid of the Bleeding Edge in Tech Adoption.
What is Architectural Observability; How to Quickly Tell if Your Architecture is Good or Bad: James and Amir Rapson, CTO and founder of vFunction, delve into the challenges of managing technical debt, with a focus on determining whether an application’s architecture is good or bad.
Exclusively on The MonkCast:
RedMonk Recommends
This part of our newsletter introduces those of you looking to hire talented individuals to people we know who are seeking new opportunities.
This month, RedMonk recommends Wesley Faulkner. With a career that spans developer relations, community building, and strategic leadership, Wesley has established himself as an influential voice in the tech industry. As a Senior Community Manager at AWS, Wesley managed user groups across North America, fostering growth and engagement. His experience building diverse and inclusive developer ecosystems, combined with his ability to craft strategic initiatives, has made him a sought-after speaker, leader, and advocate.
Wesley is currently looking for a leadership role in community management or developer relations, where he can leverage his experience to drive meaningful change and foster community growth. His blend of technical acumen and empathetic leadership makes him a perfect fit for organizations focused on innovation and inclusivity.
Learn more about Wesley’s work and accomplishments at his portfolio site or check out his LinkedIn profile.
There’s Still Time to Sponsor The Monktoberfest!
The Monktoberfest (October 3-4, 2024) is an exclusive event blending beer and technology, attracting a diverse group of elite developers, CEOs, sysadmins, marketers, and DBAs. By sponsoring, you join the conversation and help build this premier developer conference, reaching an audience of influential technical professionals.
See available sponsorship opportunities here and contact Morgan Harris with any questions you might have about sponsorships, including pricing.
Meet the Monks
Events we'll be attending:
Dreamforce 2024: 09/16 - 09/19, San Francisco, CA
Confluent Current 2024: 09/17 - 09/18, Austin, TX
Write the Docs Atlantic: 09/22 - 09/24, Virtual
Atlassian Developer Day On Tour: 09/26, Toronto, ON
Fastly Xcelerate 2024: 10/09, New York, NY
Hashiconf 2024 10/16, Boston, MA
IBM TechXchange: 10/21 - 10/23, Las Vegas, NV
GitHub Universe 2024: 10/28 - 10/30, San Francisco, CA
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2024: 11/12 - 11/15, Salt Lake City, UT
Supercomputing24 11/17 - 11/22, Atlanta, GA
Connect.tech 2024 11/18 - 11/22, Atlanta, GA
AWS re:Invent 12/2 - 12/6, Las Vegas, NV
Events we'll be hosting:
The Monktoberfest 2024: 10/3 - 10/4/2024, Portland, ME. Tickets available now!
Our mailing address is:
RedMonk
411 Congress Street
Portland, ME 04101
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