The Hacks

Wow, what a difference a few weeks can make! Do you remember when everyone was talking about, and participating in the "great resignation"? Everyone was quitting their jobs and jumping to new opportunities that offered better benefits and more money. 

Now, things are different. The tech industry has gone from big signing bonuses and tons of open positions--to hiring freezes and large-scale layoffs. 

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about your job!  Do you feel like you have job security? Are you wondering if you should be worried about your position within your company? Tom has years of experience with this issue and has some insight into what he thinks the next few months will look like on the employment front, in tech.  Listen now!

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Tom is still recovering from Covid. Somedays he feels great, and other days, he feels horrible. This has been really tough for him, because even though he's "better", he still can't exercise like he usually does. To make things worse, the less he exercises, the more he thinks about it. To be clear, Tom is NOT a "gym guy", not even close, but he is really starting to notice the effects of not exercising in his work!

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the importance of fitness in the tech world. Tom has some recommendations for all of us "computer nerds" that will help keep us focused, happy and more productive.  He and Chunga will also talk about the importance of tech in the fitness industry!

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Tom Hatch is still waging a valiant battle against Covid! Nevertheless, he's excited to be doing this episode of The Hacks. 

Today, He and Chunga are talking about what a Chief Open Source Officer actually does.  It's a mysterious position for people, even if they have a career in the open source world! Do you work closely with a Chief Open Source Officer?  Would you have an interest in holding that title? Tom and Chunga break down the various responsibilities, liabilities, and pressures that a Chief Open Source Officer will face on a daily basis. LISTEN NOW!

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Tom is back from his long, super summer vacation! How did it go?  Not well, not well at all...

Now that he's back, Chunga has a bunch of questions about an article that Tom sent him. It's about the dangerous vulnerabilities of open source software. It's a technological truth, open source software runs the world and affects the lives of every, single, human in the civilized world—the U.S. Government is exceptionally concerned about this truth. The article in question claims open source is all dominating and dangerously vulnerable, which means we're all equally vulnerable!

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga discuss this article and whether or not they agree with any of its claims.

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Tom and Chunga have wanted to try a special bonus episode like this, for a while. The idea is simple.  Release a bonus episode on a Friday that has nothing to do (or at least very little) with tech or the tech industry.  After all, there is life outside of code, cloud automation, or config management, right? We're calling these episodes Free Flow Friday!

In this bonus episode, Tom and Chunga are talking about an amazing new streaming series on Paramount + called The Offer. It's a series about the people who made the movie The Godfather! Chunga has spent pretty much his entire professional life working in the entertainment industry and he says that this series perfectly captures what it's like to work in showbusiness. Tom has always had an interest in acting, writing and producing films, so Chunga told him to watch it--he was blown away.  Not only because of how well written it is, but because of what professionals--in any industry--can learn about what it really takes to become successful from The Offer!  Tom says it's incredible and everyone needs to see it!  What about you?  Have you seen The Offer?  Let Tom and Chunga know what you thought about it! Listen now, and have a great weekend!

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We all love them--maybe it's human nature. Regardless of whatever it is, that's pushing our buttons, we can't seem to get enough when it comes to conspiracy theories. There are a billion of them out there and a sizeable amount of them are focused on tech! 

Lucky for us, Tom Hatch is a former member of the U.S. Intelligence community and has an abundance of knowledge when it comes to this type of subject matter. What he has to tell you may not be as fun as some outlandish conspiracy, and it may ultimately disappoint you.  Tom says that the vast majority of all conspiracy theories are complete rubbish and most of them are physically impossible!  What specifically is he talking about?  Listen NOW to find out!

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Every so often, Tom comes up with an idea for The Hacks that, at first, seems pretty wacky, only to find out later that he's kind of a genius. This is one of those episodes.

Tom has made an observation that ancient Egypt and the modern-day tech industry are virtually identical when it comes to the problems that each has had to face. The issues that brought about the decline of dynasties and pharaohs are-at their core-the exact same issues. Does this mean that these problems could do the same thing to the tech space? Tom says, without a doubt, yes! To make things even more ominous, he also says it's already started to happen!

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It's been a rough few weeks for Tom. First, it was building temperamental servers, and then--he got a cat. Anyone who knows Tom knows he's just not an "animal" type of guy. 

To make things even more challenging, Crypto has crashed--yet again. This latest crash has been bad enough that it has people selling off video cards and other types of computer hardware. It has others walking away from Crypto Currency completely. Are they making the right decision? Could this be a bit of an overreaction? Even though Crypto is extremely volatile, it'll always be around, right? Well... not necessarily, Crypto Currencies can and do fail!

Regardless of these crazy swings, Tom says that if you're a tech professional, whether you like it or not, it's going to be vital for you and everyone else to become fluent in understanding Crypto Currency, how they work, and how they're utilized within the tech industry. Tom says it, along with Blockchain is the way of computing in the future.

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It's something we should all come to grips with, and prepare for. If you choose to build a career in the tech industry, you will--at some point--go through the acquisition process. Odds are, many of you have been through it already.

Because of this, Tom and Chunga thought it would be a good idea to talk about why big corporations buy other big corporations. What is the motivation? Why do companies choose to go through this intense, time-consuming, and intricate process? Tom says the motivation for acquisition is often times much different than what most people think. Not only that, the actual reason may surprise you!  Listen now to find out what they are!

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While Tom and Chunga were working away on a project earlier this week, Tom mentioned a computing term that Chunga hadn't heard before. He used the word "demon" and said that it wasn't working in his new, custom-built servers. 

Demon as a computer term was something that surprised Chunga and was curious about what it meant in context. Was Tom saying his computer hardware is evil?  

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom talks about the historical origin of the word Demon as a computer term. The story is pretty crazy and goes back to the very beginning of the computer! It also helps explain why some modern computer terms have been problematic as well. Listen now!

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