Contributor Eric Anderson

Shirshanka Das (@shirshanka) is the CTO of Acryl Data and founder of DataHub, which bills itself as the #1 open-source metadata platform. It enables data discovery, data observability and federated governance to help tame complex data ecosystems. Shirshanka first developed DataHub while at LinkedIn, but has grown it into an independent project with a thriving community.

Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com.

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In this episode we discuss:


How DataHub differs from traditional data catalogs


Themes around why community members get involved and stick with the project


Partnering with Netflix to develop runtime metadata model extensibility


The influence of the pandemic on DataHub’s open-sourcing


Dealing with the future of a project with big community and unlimited scope



Links:


DataHub


The History of DataHub

After his first child was born, Matt Wonlaw (@tantaman) imagined giving his son life advice. What kind of life did he want his kid to lead? At the time, he was working for Facebook, and he decided that his own life needed a change in direction. So Matt started vlcn, aka Vulcan Labs, a research company that develops open-source projects like CR-SQLite and Materialite. vlcn has an unusual business model – Matt receives donations and sponsorships from users and clients. It’s all part of his mission to rethink the modern data stack for writing rich and complex applications.

Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com.

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In this episode we discuss:


One reason that software is still too hard to write: Object orientations


How CR-SQLite allows databases to be merged together and Materialite provides Incremental View Maintenance for JavaScript


Why coding directly to relations can provide a more flexible and efficient approach to building applications


Matt’s decision to build vlcn as a research lab rather than as a startup


Thoughts for the future on PGLite



Links:


vlcn (Vulcan Labs)


CR-SQLite


Materialite


fly.io


PGLite



People mentioned:


Johannes Schickling (@schickling)

Amplication is an open-source development platform for scalable and secure Node.js applications. It allows engineers to skip writing boilerplate code and offers the flexibility to customize and add components. Amplification was created by Yuval Hazaz (@Yuvalhazaz1), a veteran developer who determined that low-code platforms save time but restrict freedom. Instead, Amplication uses code generation to reliably and consistently build robust production‑ready backend services.

Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com.

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In this episode we discuss:


Yuval’s “secret sauce” for building an open-source community


How platform engineers can use Amplication for company-wide standardization


A baseline organic growth rate for open-source projects


The role of generative AI in code modernization



Links:


Amplication

OpenBB is an open-source investment research platform created by Didier Lopes (@didier_lopes). OpenBB grew out of a project called Gamestonk Terminal that Didier began working on shortly before the Gamestop short squeeze in January 2021. Today, OpenBB has evolved into an infrastructure platform that allows users to build extensions and access financial data with automation and customization.

Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com.

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In this episode we discuss:


What Vice Media got wrong about OpenBB


Some major contributors to the project and the features or directions that they proposed


How a machine learning engineer from Bloomberg reached out about OpenBB


Different types of OpenBB users – students, retail investors, and other financial professionals


OpenBB’s exciting AI roadmap



Links:


OpenBB



People mentioned:


James Maslek (@jmaslek11


Artem Veremey (@artemvv)

OpenTelemetry is an open-source observability framework for collecting and managing telemetry data. OpenTelemetry has been more successful than expected, becoming the second fastest growing project in the CNCF. It allows for flexibility and avoids vendor lock-in, making it attractive to startups and large enterprises alike. On today’s show, Eric (@ericmander) sits down with Austin Parker (@austinlparker), director of open-source at Honeycomb.

Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com.

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In this episode we discuss:


How Austin’s interest in complex systems led him to the observability field and developer relations


An X argument that contributed to the merger of OpenTelemetry and OpenCensus


Why foundations help maintainers to strike a balance with their contributors


Austin’s opinion on the secret to OpenTelemetry’s success



Links:


OpenTelemetry


Honeycomb



People mentioned:


Charity Majors (@mipsytipsy)


Christine Yen (@cyen)

OPAL is an open-source administration layer for Policy Engines such as Open Policy Agent (OPA). OPAL provides the necessary infrastructure to load policy and data into multiple policy engines, ensuring they have the information they need to make decisions. Today, we’re talking to Or Weis (@OrWeis), co-creator of OPAL and co-founder of Permit, the end-to-end authorization platform that envisions a world where developers never have to build permissions again. 

Contributor is looking for a community manager! If you want to know more, shoot us an email at eric@scalevp.com.

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In this episode we discuss:


History of Permit and OPAL


The benefits of an open-foundation model rather than open-core


RBAC vs ABAC vs ReBAC


Why developers would prefer to not have to deal with authorization


Or’s own podcast, Command+Shift+Left



Links:


OPAL


Permit


Command+Shift+Left


Terraform



People mentioned:


Asaf Cohen (@asafchn)


Filip Grebowski (@developerfilip)



Other episodes:


Open Policy Agent with Torin Sandall


Community Driven IaC: OpenTofu with Kuba Martin