theCronJob
A podcast for engineers building and operating modern infrastructure. Powered by Zesty.
Hosted by Omer Hamerman and Mark Serdze, The Cron Job explores Kubernetes quirks, cost optimization strategies, scaling, reliability, and the art of keeping things from catching fire in production, all while unpacking the deeper DevOps questions around ownership, automation, and the tradeoffs behind every engineering decision.
Tune in for real-world stories, sharp insights, and the occasional infrastructure epiphany.
Episodes
27 episodes
Episode 27: Is Your Vibecoded Application Cost-Efficient?
Omer and Mark discuss the implications of AI in software development, particularly focusing on Kubernetes and cost efficiency. They explore the challenges of 'vibe-coded' applications, the limitations of AI in providing optimal solutions, and t...
Episode 26: How Your Fears Cause You to Overspend on Cloud Resources
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the psychological factors that influence cloud spending decisions. They explore how these fears can lead to over-provisioning and inefficiencies in cloud resource management. The conversation emphasizes th...
Episode 25: Why You Shouldn't Scale
In this episode, Omer and Mark delve into the complexities of scaling applications in Kubernetes. They discuss the nuances of when and how to scale, emphasizing the importance of understanding application behavior, the right metrics, and the po...
Episode 24: DevOps Hot Takes
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the implications of AI on infrastructure management, the evolving landscape of engineering jobs, and the increasing abstraction in technology. They explore the potential risks of AI in generating and manag...
Episode 23: The Death of SAAS
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the evolving landscape of SaaS, the impact of AI on DevOps, and the challenges of building in-house solutions versus relying on existing SaaS products. They explore the complexities of Kubernetes, the bene...
Episode 22: From NGINX to Gateway API: Where Kubernetes Networking Is Heading
The retirement of NGINX Ingress might sound like just another Kubernetes update, but it reveals a much bigger shift.As teams start asking what replaces it, deeper questions come up about how traffic should be managed, who owns it, and wh...
Episode 21: Re:Invent 2025 Announcements and What They Mean to Cloud Users
In this episode, Omer and Mark reflect on AWS re:Invent and what it reveals about the current state of cloud infrastructure, with AI and agentic systems clearly dominating the narrative. They discuss how these trends intersect with DevOps, cost...
Episode 20: *SPECIAL EPISODE* 2025 Recap + Our Wild 2026 Predictions
In a special episode, Omer and Mark look back on the themes that defined their year - from the growing influence of AI to the ongoing challenges of cloud infrastructure. The conversation covers shifts in AWS commitments and pricing models, incl...
Episode 19: What We Learned from the Cloudflare Outage
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the recent outages affecting major internet services like Cloudflare and AWS, exploring the implications of AI on infrastructure reliability, the centralization of internet services, and the risks associat...
Episode 18: How to ensure quality when building a Kubernetes product?
In this episode, our host Omer and special guest Tzachi Tzafrir discuss the complexities of testing in Kubernetes, exploring various strategies for effective quality assurance. Tzachi shares insights on balancing fast testing environments with ...
Episode 17: DevOps Horror Story of the Week
In this episode of The Crown Job, Omer and Mark delve into the spooky side of technology, sharing horror stories from their experiences in the tech industry. They discuss the recent AWS outage and its bizarre effects on smart mattresses, a ghos...
Episode 16: DevSecOps & Security Integration
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the importance of integrating security into the DevOps culture, specifically focusing on DevSecOps. They explore the responsibilities of developers in ensuring application security, the significance of und...
Episode 15: DevOps common mistakes and how to avoid them
In this episode of the Cron Job podcast, hosts Omer and Mark delve into the intricacies of Kubernetes, focusing on common mistakes in resource allocation and container management. They discuss the importance of right-sizing resources, monitorin...
Episode 14: Spot vs. On-Demand
In this episode, Omer and Mark delve into the intricacies of using Spot Instances versus On-Demand Instances in cloud computing. They discuss the mechanics behind Spot Instances, the importance of building applications that can adapt to the vol...
Episode 13: When AWS Crashed: Building Resilience in a Multi-Cloud Environment
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the complexities and considerations surrounding multi-cloud environments, particularly in light of recent AWS outages. They explore the implications of cloud strategies, disaster recovery, and the economic...
Episode 12: The Future Of K8s
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the future of Kubernetes, exploring various upcoming features and enhancements. They delve into the significance of streaming list responses, the management of pod lifecycles, dynamic resource allocation, ...
Episode 11: Is This the Best Language for K8s Applications?
In this episode, the hosts and their guest Ido Slonimsky delve into the ongoing debate about the best programming language for Kubernetes. They explore various languages, including Go and Rust, discussing their advantages and disadvantages in t...
Episode 10: DevOps Horror Story of the Week
In this episode, Omer and Mark share their personal horror stories from the world of engineering, focusing on challenges faced in Kubernetes, DNS issues, security breaches, and the costs associated with cloud infrastructure. They discuss the im...
Episode 9: DevOps Hot Takes
In this episode of theCronJob podcast, hosts Omer and Mark engage in a lively discussion about various hot takes in the tech industry, focusing on Kubernetes, DevOps, AI, and multi-cloud strategies. They explore the effectiveness of horizontal ...
Episode 8: How to Automate Pod Rightsizing?
In this episode of The Cron Job, Omer and Mark delve into the complexities of right sizing in Kubernetes, discussing the differences between horizontal and vertical scaling, the challenges of automating resource management, and the potential co...
Episode 7: The K8s Application Deployment Blueprint
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the challenges of deploying applications on Kubernetes, using a movie aggregator application as a case study. They explore the importance of understanding Kubernetes components, scaling, monitoring, and th...
Episode 6: Have you ever seen a worst architecture?
In this episode of The Cron Job, Omer and Mark delve into the topic of bad architecture in software development, sharing real-world examples and discussing the implications of poor design choices. They explore the evolution of architectures, th...
Episode 5: Can we trust open source?
In this episode, Omer and Mark discuss the complexities of trusting open source software, particularly in the context of Kubernetes and other popular projects. They explore the evaluation process for open source projects, the risks associated w...