What Working in DevOps Has Taught Me About Empathy, Focus & Resilience
When I first transitioned into a DevOps role, I thought the biggest challenges would be around tooling, mastering Terraform, getting Helm charts right, or…
Field notes
What I’m learning while building AI products.
Practical notes on AI products, CTO decisions, and the platforms that keep them reliable.
Why Every Infrastructure Engineer Should Walk Through Hypothetical Case Studies
In the world of infrastructure engineering, we often find ourselves reacting—patching issues, upgrading systems, automating workflows. But the real edge comes not from reaction,…
Supercharge Your DevOps Workflow with Notebook LM
As a DevOps Engineer, you’re constantly context-switching—between CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, incident response, and stakeholder alignment. Notebook LM, a powerful AI-powered notebook from Google, offers…
DragonForce Cyberattack Incident and DevOps Defense Strategies
Introduction In late April 2025, a cybercriminal group known as DragonForce launched a series of cyberattacks against major UK retailers, causing widespread disruptions and…
Fighting Back Against AI Slop: Guardian Article Summary & DevOps Perspective
Introduction & Disclosure As a DevOps engineer, I believe in using technology to amplify the good – to support learning, build reliable systems, and…
Fix the Damn Thing Because It’s Broken: CVEs, Security Theatre, and Real Accountability
I recently found myself nodding along to a heated conversation about CVEs and the illusion of security they often create. One line hit particularly…
Taints and Tolerations in Kubernetes (And a Way to Never Forget Them)
If you’ve ever run into scheduling issues in Kubernetes, chances are you’ve been bitten by taints and tolerations. It’s one of those things that…
Welcome to AlanOps 👋
A home for practical notes on building products, making sound technical decisions, and keeping ambitious systems reliable.
🧰 The DevOps Engineer’s 80/20 Golang Cheat Sheet
As a DevOps engineer, I’m always looking for tools that help automate, integrate, or just get out of the way. Go (Golang) is one…
Tracking Token Usage in Azure OpenAI (PAYG vs. PTU)
How Azure OpenAI Tracks Token Usage Azure OpenAI measures usage in terms of tokens processed – counting both prompt tokens (input) and completion tokens…
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