February

Last week I met someone new and they (a family of engineers) said that they have been following this newsletter for a year already. Eventually, it's the reason why we are at the same table chatting and talking about future plans for the community. But they also shared that this newsletter has kind of lost its touch. Indeed, the new shortened and focused format doesn't feel that natural even to myself anymore. Therefore, I'll just stop thinking about that and try to be "in the flow" more. I must say a big thank you for the honesty to that person and one day I will. Oh, probably you're reading this now. Thank you!

LinkedIn has updated its free subscription rules - I can't add an invite note to the connect invite any more. I read the explanation as "Take our trial subscription or go back to your boring corporate life" Not cool, LinkedIn! Or is it just for me? Anyhow, one of the suggestions on the internet is to withdraw zombie connect requests. Ok, 2k removed. I still have rather mixed feelings about this whole LinkedIn friends marketing. I've met dozens of people saying thank you for receiving the invite to connect and then visiting some events I have suggested or just for making new professional connections. Then there are hundreds of people simply ignoring folk like me. And then there's 0.1% of people for whom I keep a special "never contact again" list. It does surprise me that people make special courses and real money on this approach.

If you still don't know what that picture above is about, then you must reserve 5h of your time and dive into this YouTube playlist - https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/uldiskarlovskarlovskis_cka-kubernetes-exam-activity-7160531696142987264-jben - yes, I have created a Latvian analogy of the CKA exam preps. I don't want to brag much, but actually, it's better than most of what you'll find on YouTube because of my bonuses ??

Of course, if you want to pay for such content and some special tailoring for your needs, contact me now. I have a bit of availability right now.

There was another RigaTechDinner event back in January. I don't know why, but again we didn't make a single picture. I guess I was rather disappointed that the only lady in the room was special guest Zane Vilci?a-Vectirāne (thank you for agreeing to do this!!!). What does it tell us about women in IT? That they are preferring their own community and not visiting other events? That they're just too busy and this event sucks? That they're scared or don't feel welcome? I dunno. It just made me a bit sad. Anyhow, I managed to interview Andris Aispurs and you can watch the podcast on Spotify and Youtube https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/uldiskarlovskarlovskis_the-6-rigatechcast-episode-with-andris-aispurs-activity-7160232494552735746-WRE2

An event I want to highlight is the first LatBAN event of the year. Cyril Golub sent me a private invite so I just couldn't ignore that. And somehow my only amateur picture was so good, that later other orgs started using it ?? Anyhow, after a glass of wine I managed to push myself into engaging with people I don't know. There I got to know the best pitcher (in my opinion at least) of the evening and invited him to the RigeTechDinner as our next special guest. What I truly love about these events is that you can basically feel the energy in the air. People came to connect, to change the world, and to find opportunities. It's a bit different from our typical "let's go and listen to a few good talks" evenings.

"sharpening the saw" - does this phrase resonate with you somehow? I learned it back at Accenture, probably in Stockholm, where I got an opportunity to experience a two-day 7-habits training by people who live the code. The concept was invented by Stephen Covey ages ago. With theatre, acting and directing, it's the same as with the bicycle (or coding, in case you can't ride the bike). If you don't practice it, you're not as good as you were last year. Therefore I'm happy to experience different workshops that touch on theatre or impro topics. My wife and I just visited one. I highly suggest you try it out. The leader Vika (or friend btw) managed to move people who had never done any acting in their lives. It will be announced here I think: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3BRpkWCKMd/

Another spring of the RTU DevOps course is on. Last week I collected a few good feedbacks about the lecture (https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/uldiskarlovskarlovskis_devops-activity-7159101049243381760-a3EX) and this morning Edgars and Sanita Litinska continued with the first lab. Thank you for your contribution!

Another growing community and events to highlight definitely are these coaches' gatherings. Vineta Berzina and Martins Melkis are doing something right there no doubt. WithOUT of a glass of wine, I pushed myself to talk with a few more people than my little introvert-me enjoyed. But it's easy with such coaches - everyone is trained to be open, supportive and communicative (at least I hoped for that). At the end of the evening, someone called me an orchestra. Indeed, I like living and being this way. Follow Vineta for the next event if you're interested.

Must-visit events:

• In cooperation with SEB GS, we at DevOps & AI Latvia will have a major event at the end of February. Top-class speakers from the Baltics like Matas Tvarijonas and Dr. Anita Gaile will be there, plus very cool people from SEB. We have run out of seats but there's a chance that some people from the waitlist will be included soon. I suggest signing up immediately - https://www.meetup.com/latvia-devops-and-agile-community/events/298857076/
• When I tell people, that I'm a theatre director with an IT background, their jaws drop and the first question typically is "Where can I see it?". Once again, 24th of March, tickets are available - https://www.bezrindas.lv/lv/izrade-tavs-sapnis-vel-nav-beidzies/12749/. Everyone is very very much welcome. This hobby is not free ?? It's still only in Latvian, sorry for that.
• It has not been published yet, but the next RigaTechDinner is planned on the 26th of March with 2 very very special guests from very different industries and diverse backgrounds. They have a task to send in details by Monday ??
• there are a few new communities growing on the Meetup platform. I'm planning to listen in to the Flutter meetup next week. And there's "Datu Dro?ības Klubs" in parallel.

Dear engineers, if you think that you don't celebrate that commercial Valentine's Day and it doesn't apply to you, just buy some flowers and keep your opinion to yourself. You will be appreciated.