It’s been a while since I first had this idea, but I’ve been thinking hard about how to extend eBPFChirp newsletter and inject more real eBPF energy into the community.

Alongside developing eBPF online coding exercises (still in progress), I want to add interviews that deliver a personal touch and real industry insight—what’s happening inside the minds of exceptional people at companies like Cisco, Cloudflare, and beyond.

Bill Mulligan is definitely one of them and we discussed several interesting topics:

* A day in the lifeWhat does a typical workday look like for you?

* First encounterHow did you first “bump into” eBPF?

* The children’s book twistWhat sparked the idea to write a children’s book about eBPF?

* Common misconceptionsWhat’s the single biggest myth you still hear from newcomers kicking the tires on eBPF?

* Security concernsMany security engineers shy away from eBPF because it traditionally requires root access. Are those risks still real today, and how do you frame the conversation?

* Enterprise signalsYou talk to enterprises every week—what concrete signal tells you eBPF is a fit for them, and how can engineers spot that same signal inside their own orgs?

* Emerging workloadsLooking at the eBPF ecosystem right now—edge AI, 5G cores, serverless—which workload is about to unlock a “must‑have” eBPF pattern that nobody’s talking about yet?

* Scaling Cilium adoptionYou helped Cilium leap from “cool project” to the de‑facto Kubernetes networking standard. What marketing tactic actually moved the needle?

* Inspiring the next generationMany computer‑science students still see networking as “boring” and eBPF as niche. What concrete steps should faculty and staff take to make these topics engaging and mainstream?

* eBPF Documentary Part 2 😉

I’ll leave it at that — hope you enjoy the conversation. 🐝

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