Kaushik L.

Fellow in-house taxonomists, ontologists, metadata managers, and semantic wizards: what is the name of the team or business unit that you work within? I have the good fortune of getting to rename the "Content Standards" program I lead at Kaiser Permanente IT. My team has determined that the name is too vague to convey the core activities of the program, and leads to confusion with the cross-functional teams we collaborate with. I'm looking for a clear name that will resonate with stakeholders within my org. So I've got a very classic taxonomist question: What to call the program? 🤔 For some context... What my program is responsible for: - Defining and governing standards for metadata, structured data, taxonomy, and ontology for classifying/structuring digital content - Implementing processes and platforms to good metadata hygiene - Assessment and remediation of content metadata What my program doesn't cover: - Writing or editorial style guides - Content design - Content strategy - Site maps or navigational structure - Data governance Any ideas are most welcome!

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Longhorn Electric Racing Is Building the Future of Electric Vehicles with Cadence Tools. Longhorn Electric Racing is a student-run racing team at the University of Texas, Austin. Not only are they building the best race cars, but they’re also building the future generation of engineers. Their electric vehicle team is one of their most recent teams, founded in 2016. Some of the challenges they face in designing an electric car are making sure it can go as fast as possible, making sure it has sufficient cooling, and making models effectively. With the help of Cadence CFD and Cadence OnCloud, they’re reaching their goals much more efficiently. https://ow.ly/phqj50RuqK4

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A landmark day at AWS, as Matt Garman begins as CEO. His note to AWS employees: 1- customer obsession remains #1, 2- generative AI has enormous promise, and 3-innovate and take risk! Excited to see what this next chapter brings. 👇 In terms of goals, we feel the same way here CloudFix - we help our customers save on their AWS bills using AI, automation, and a huge amount of experience in AWS cost optimization! I'm proud to be part of an AI-first company, and feel like every day I get to work with technology that will play a role in bringing about the "Star Trek"-future I've always been looking forward to! If you want to save on your AWS bill, the first step is to find out exactly where and how much you can optimize. To do this, get a free savings assessment. We can scan your Cost and Usage Report and other usage information, and give you valuable insights on exactly which resources can be resized, snapshotted, which ones are idle and can be deleted, and much much more! Ping me or any of my CloudFix colleagues if you have any questions!

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Planet Labs is laying off 17% of its workforce, affecting 180 employees, including 98 in San Francisco, due to the need to align resources with market opportunities and improve efficiency. - 🌍 98 workers in San Francisco impacted, including two VPs and many engineers - 💸 Planet Labs has faced significant financial challenges, reporting losses of $140.5M, $162M, and $137.1M in the past three fiscal years - 📉 Since going public in 2021, Planet’s stock has dropped, with the company now valued at $532M #TechNews #Layoffs #PlanetLabs 🛰️ Planet Labs uses satellite data to monitor Earth, helping farmers and governments 💼 Company went public via SPAC merger in 2021, initially valued at $2.8B 🛠️ CEO William Marshall acknowledged responsibility for prior layoffs in 2023 📅 New layoffs set to take place on August 26, 2024 💲 Approximately $10M will be paid out in severance and termination benefits Cash-burning tech company conducts second San Francisco layoff in 11 months https://lnkd.in/guNcuWJC

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Amazon's Project Kuiper faces more delays, impacting its goal to compete with SpaceX's Starlink. - 📡 Amazon's satellite internet project, Project Kuiper, is delayed again. - 🛰️ Aims to deploy 3,232 satellites to provide global broadband. - 🚀 Partnerships include ULA, Arianespace, and Blue Origin. - 🌍 Targets underserved and remote areas worldwide. - 📅 Commercial service expected by 2025 despite setbacks. #satellite #broadband #innovation - 📡 First two prototype satellites already launched. - 💼 Amazon investing heavily in infrastructure. - 🌐 Designed to bridge the digital divide. - 📈 Ambitious goal but facing significant challenges. - 💰 Long-term initiative requiring substantial innovation and investment. Amazon's Starlink Rival, Project Kuiper, Faces Another Delay https://lnkd.in/guPn4cUT

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I had the chance to speak at Alaska Airlines earlier this week during their internal innovation summit. It was great to learn how Alaska has long been innovating across their experiences and technology. I had the opportunity to talk about Niftmint, tokenization, and how it supports a more detailed and authentic customer experience as users can be rewarded for their actions. I’ll share more detailed clips of my talking points in future post. For now, here is a recap of the day! #tokenization #ai #commerce #web3

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Having lived in SF bay area for so long, I came to know the big coffee culture scene here. I was totally consumed by it a while ago and spent years trying to attain the “perfect" latte. I published a fun coffee story and my entire home setup, which took weeks of research and multiple iterations, in my blog link in bio. Meanwhile, to all fellow coffee loving tech peeps, here are some top tips that no one told me. Put it in practice at home or in microkitchens. - A big factor in preparing milk suitable for latte art is pressure of the wand. If this is important to you, you need to get a machine that has a strong enough pressure. - When pulling shots, put in 18g of beans and extract 30g of espresso. - The darker the roast, the coarser the setting should be on the grinder, the lighter the roast, the finer the setting should be. - When adjusting the grind setting, do so while the grinder is working if there are beans in the hopper. Otherwise, a bean can get stuck between the burrrs. - Pulling a shot should take 20-30 sec in time, or based on observation. It should look like caramel going out, not a waterfall. - Eventually work your way to using a bottomless portafilter. It punishes you for all the small imperfections when preparing your coffee puck, like any tilt, and uneven distribution. It does so by spraying the espresso all over the place. The more you can get it to flow uniformly, the better your preparation of espresso, objectively. - Seal your beans in a vacuum, so they don’t go stale. The more stale the beans, the more minor adjustment you need to make to grind finer. - When steaming milk in your pitcher, you can tell if it’s done by holding the pitcher and as soon as the heat becomes unbearable i.e. stings, it’s done. - Taking a latte art course at a local coffee shop was the best boost for me to start nailing latte art.

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I co-presented a "Male Allies" talk last month at an Amazon conference with the extremely talented Natalie White and thought I'd share here (pt 1). An ally is a person who *actively* supports the rights of a marginalized group that they are not a member of. "Ally" is not a label that you get to assign yourself through your intentions, it's a badge you earn through your *intentional actions.* Allies can't just "not be a bad guy" - you have to actually be the good guy and good guys lend a hand and help out. Helping out doesn't mean being a "Hero" or a "Rescuer" - situations that require heroics are rare and people who are members of marginalized groups are fully capable of being their own heroes. Being an Ally means taking steady and regular actions in the moment (daily!) to make space, question, correct lightly, and set an expectation of equity so that your colleagues don't have to do this all by themselves - on top of their other work - on top of the inequities that make that work harder. Natalie's talk that I contributed to focused on gender allies because men in software have an outsized ability to act as allies to women and non-binary people in US corporate tech culture. Tech companies like Amazon have more men in leadership roles, women enter tech fields at a lower rate (US), and exit computer science at shorter tenures than men - with research showing that bad culture is one of the biggest reasons for that departure. Men benefit from a host of tech gender stereotypes - in that they don't suffer the same harms of micro-aggressions ("smile more!"), cultural expectations ("she'll volunteer to be the note taker!"), and conflicting standards ("He's a direct leader! She's a B!"). We simply just benefit from being the majority gender of the computer science field - and not because we're more capable (we're not). Being an Ally is the right thing to do as a person, for our colleagues, and as an imperative to make our workplaces more diverse (companies with higher diversity perform better), equitable (fairness ensures higher performance and engagement by our people), and inclusive (feeling included where we spend so much of our lives makes us happier and healthier people - and perform better). While men have a lot to do as allies in software, there is room for all of us be allies to someone - to the only quality engineer in the team, to the person on the team who immigrated from another country, to the person who looks "different" from others in the team, and yes - even to graduates of Ohio State (spoiler - I went to the University of Michigan). More to come if there is interest...

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Check out the "Titan Text Premier Demo" built by my team on this page

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Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword; it's pervasive. Amazon's leadership principle of "Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility" translates this from corporate strategy to daily habits, hence reshaping industries and driving innovation. #Sustainability #SustainableInnovation #Amazon #AmazonPrinciples #NetZero #CarbonNeutral #RenewableEnergy #WasteReduction

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🌟 Reflecting on Two Years at Amazon: A Journey of Growth and Gratitude 🌟 As I mark the completion of two years at Amazon, I find myself in a state of humble reflection. It's hard to believe its already 2 years since the day I nervously stepped into this bustling hive of innovation. Back then, if you had told me I'd be celebrating this milestone, I might have doubted it. Like many, I was unsure if I would even last six months in such a dynamic and fast-paced environment. These two years have been a whirlwind of challenges, opportunities, and growth. I've had the chance to dive headfirst into many different technologies, each one stretching my abilities and expanding my horizons. From cloud computing to machine learning, I've tried to embrace the unknown with open arms, with an eager to learn and evolve with each new project. But perhaps the most rewarding aspect of my journey has been the opportunity to build high-performing teams from the ground up. There's something truly magical about bringing together a group of talented individuals and watching them soar. Together, we've faced obstacles with determination, resilience, and a shared commitment to excellence. I am grateful for my wonderful teams without whom this milestone wouldnt have been possible. Of course, along the way, there have been setbacks and failures. Projects that didn't quite go as planned, initiatives that missed the mark. But in the true spirit of Amazon, we've embraced these moments as opportunities for growth. Each failure has been a valuable lesson, guiding us towards greater success in the future. Looking back, I realize that these past two years have been a turning point in my career. I've had to unlearn old habits and old ways of thinking, making room for the innovative mindset that defines Amazon, and Amazon ways of doing things. It hasn't always been easy, but it has been truly rewarding. At this juncture, I am deeply grateful for the support and guidance I've received from my leaders and peers at Amazon. Their mentorship and encouragement have been instrumental in my growth and development. Ankur Shrivastava, Naveen Belur, Kameshwari Mudgala, Narayan Hegde, Rahul Pamecha, Nandan Dubey, Abhishek Khandelwal, Partha Bera, Dan Brown, Anil Godavarthy, Venki Ravi, Suraj Ray, Vipul Jain, Vardaan Sharma, Nabagat Purohit, Ulrike Wingenter, David Gona, Bibhuprasad SKA, Avi Spivack and Andrew Connolly As I look ahead to the future, I do so with a sense of excitement and anticipation. The journey so far may have had its challenges, but it has also been filled with moments of triumph and growth. And through it all, one thing remains clear: It's always Day 1 in Amazon, and I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this incredible journey. #Amazon #CareerJourney #Gratitude #HumbleReflections #amazonanniversary #2years Amazon Amazon Web Services (AWS)

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Amazon-to-Google-to-Amazon #a2g2a thought of the day: interesting to see how RTO (Return-to-Office) outcomes are entirely different for the two companies. In my post today, I don't really want to go down the path of debating whether RTO is "good" or "bad". There's very emotional and valid opinions on both sides, and it affects people's personal lives in real ways. Please be respectful. Whether you agree with the policy or not, for it to actually work it does need *critical mass*. Both companies have essentially the same RTO policy (3 days/week expectation), but there's significant differences is in how the message was delivered and enforced - and the outcome. Google’s 3-days-per-week was mostly a “pretty-please, would-you, if-you-don't-mind” with no actual enforcement (but some vague threats). So most people ignored it. They still do. Leadership got frustrated and the message got less polite over time, but nothing really changed. Even as of 3 weeks ago, when I was still a Google employee, the buildings were fairly empty. That made being physically in the office significantly less useful, other than enjoying the perks of free food and massages by myself (and occasionally with 1 or 2 coworkers). Amazon’s 3-days-per-week came with actual enforcement. Amazon used badge reader data to track when people were actually coming to the office, with consequences. It does feel a bit draconian, but you can’t argue with the effectiveness of saying “we have a policy that we believe is business-critical and we’ll enforce it or else.” I appreciate that when I come to the office, I can find my coworkers there and we can have f2f meetings. There’s critical mass for RTO to actually be effective. Amazon has picked a lane. Personally, I have not figured out how to truly be productive and happy working remotely in the last 4 years. I respect and appreciate the fact that some people have, but I haven’t. I do like the option to stay home a day or two, skipping my long commute, working from a lounge chair in my backyard on a sunny day. But there’s nothing like the energy in the room of a good group meeting, or the chemistry of a face-to-face 1:1, or the enthusiasm of two engineers standing in front of a physical whiteboard drawing boxes and arrows with markers brainstorming about the future. Or the bonding of sharing a meal or a walk between buildings with a coworker. I feel energized when I’m physically in the office. It literally charges my batteries. I’ve been coming to the office 4x/week and loving it. 

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Reflecting on the insights gained at #AWSSummit LA, I'm intrigued by the potential of Amazon's Bedrock and Q in transforming software development methodologies. Bedrock's commitment to simplifying integration processes stands as a beacon of hope for developers grappling with complexity. Its promise of seamless integration not only streamlines workflows but also underscores the importance of user-centric design in modern software architecture. In parallel, Amazon Q emerges as a guiding light in this journey, offering invaluable insights on integrating with Bedrock while automating code generation. This fusion of practical guidance and automation not only accelerates development cycles but also empowers developers to focus on innovation. As we navigate the evolving landscape of software development, these innovations compel us to rethink our approaches, paving the way for more efficient, scalable, and resilient systems. Excited to witness the impact of these advancements as we continue to explore the frontiers of technology and innovation. #SoftwareDevelopment #AWS #Innovation #TechTrends #AI #CloudComputing

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Back at Meta, I worked with a 10x engineer who grew from senior to staff in just 1 year, 5x faster than average. Here was his secret for insane growth: Embrace looking like an idiot. This engineer joined my team, which entirely did Android. However, he came from an iOS background and had never written Android code before. Instead of spending months doing tutorials and reading docs, he just started hacking code together, putting out a PR within his 1st week. It was literally some of the worst Android code I had ever seen. So I left a lot of feedback. And several other engineers left a lot of feedback. His mountain of mistakes didn't phase him at all, quite the opposite. He happily took all the feedback and asked follow-up questions, eager for more. He repeated this process constantly, and after ~2 months, he was writing more code than 95% of the team, including me. You couldn't even tell that he was new to Android. If you want to grow fast, completely let go of your fear and ego. To learn the other tactics this engineer used to learn so quickly, check out my in-depth explainer here: https://lnkd.in/giW8N4FP #techcareergrowth #softwareengineering #staffengineer #growthtips #meta

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Exciting announcements from the #AWS New York Summit! 🚀 My personal shortlist: 1. Amazon Q for Developer is now available in Amazon SageMaker Studio, streamlining ML workflows! 🔬 https://lnkd.in/dDcTn_pq 2. Customize Q for Developer with your private code base in your IDE for a seamless experience! 💻 https://lnkd.in/dyEQcpPX These releases will undoubtedly boost our productivity, improve the quality of our developed content, and automate tasks that we, as SDEs, often find tedious, such as providing useful comments in our code base. 😎 3. Amazon Bedrock Guardrails can now be used as a separate API, enhancing LLM security! 🔒 https://lnkd.in/d4QjmdPJ LLM security is a crucial aspect for moving our projects into production, and Bedrock Guardrails simplifies this process. The ability to leverage the capabilities provided by Bedrock Guardrails across LLMs hosted in different environments is truly amazing! For a comprehensive list of top announcements, check out this link: https://lnkd.in/d8GA-z5A #genai #ml #aws #sagemaker #bedrock #q

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