Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
In this AMA livestream, Viktor and Scott tackle a wide range of cloud-native and DevOps questions from the community. Topics include whether to use the object provider or native provider when managing AWS resources with Crossplane (spoiler: always object/upjet), the security considerations of running AI agents in Kubernetes clusters, and a spirited debate on Argo CD versus Flux CD — particularly around the pain of sync waves, Lua scripting, and why Flux's Kubernetes-native architecture wins out when complexity grows. The duo also weigh in on deploying microservices (anything but Helm and Jsonnet for first-party apps), the role of Backstage as a single pane of glass IDP with MCP server support, and how to architect a global production-ready SaaS platform on Kubernetes with tools like Crossplane, Flux, Kyverno/Nirmata, Harness, and eBPF-based observability.
The conversation also covers practical career advice — don't quit before finding your next job — along with thoughts on Open Web UI vs. LibreChat, dev environments with Coder and dev containers, the Bitnami Helm chart situation and the broader open-source sustainability crisis, sovereign cloud adoption in Europe, and secret rotation in open-source tools like OpenBao. Viktor and Scott close out with a candid discussion on what DevOps actually means versus how it's practiced, job hopping versus retention for salary growth, and the timeless wisdom of automating repetitive work before anyone notices you have free time.
▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⏱ Timecodes ⏱ ▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Intro (skip to first question)
05:29 Crossplane AWS: object provider vs native provider?
07:25 Securing AI agents in a Kubernetes cluster
10:15 Argo CD sync waves and workarounds vs Flux CD
14:24 Job searching advice in the current market
15:06 Open Web UI vs Libra Chat comparison
17:54 Argo CD app of apps with plain YAML manifests
19:43 Using Terraform to manage Kubernetes resources
21:43 Real world use cases for Backstage
27:38 Best way to deploy microservices in Kubernetes
30:29 Citrix secure development spaces vs Coder
33:37 Architecting an IDP for global SaaS on AWS
38:14 Spotify Portal for commercial managed Backstage
40:51 Does YouTube presence help landing jobs?
44:47 Securing a global production-ready SaaS on Kubernetes
46:35 Thoughts on Open Coro project
48:57 Learning DevOps to get a job
50:16 Best way to scale salary as a cloud engineer
53:32 Sovereign cloud adoption in Europe
01:03:04 Open source tool with secret rotation feature
01:04:15 What does DevOps actually mean day-to-day?
In this AMA livestream, Viktor and Scott tackle a wide range of cloud-native and DevOps questions from the community. Topics include whether to use the object provider or native provider when managing AWS resources with Crossplane (spoiler: always object/upjet), the security considerations of running AI agents in Kubernetes clusters, and a spirited debate on Argo CD versus Flux CD — particularly around the pain of sync waves, Lua scripting, and why Flux's Kubernetes-native architecture wins out when complexity grows. The duo also weigh in on deploying microservices (anything but Helm and Jsonnet for first-party apps), the role of Backstage as a single pane of glass IDP with MCP server support, and how to architect a global production-ready SaaS platform on Kubernetes with tools like Crossplane, Flux, Kyverno/Nirmata, Harness, and eBPF-based observability.
The conversation also covers practical career advice — don't quit before finding your next job — along with thoughts on Open Web UI vs. LibreChat, dev environments with Coder and dev containers, the Bitnami Helm chart situation and the broader open-source sustainability crisis, sovereign cloud adoption in Europe, and secret rotation in open-source tools like OpenBao. Viktor and Scott close out with a candid discussion on what DevOps actually means versus how it's practiced, job hopping versus retention for salary growth, and the timeless wisdom of automating repetitive work before anyone notices you have free time.
▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⏱ Timecodes ⏱ ▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Intro (skip to first question)
05:29 Crossplane AWS: object provider vs native provider?
07:25 Securing AI agents in a Kubernetes cluster
10:15 Argo CD sync waves and workarounds vs Flux CD
14:24 Job searching advice in the current market
15:06 Open Web UI vs Libra Chat comparison
17:54 Argo CD app of apps with plain YAML manifests
19:43 Using Terraform to manage Kubernetes resources
21:43 Real world use cases for Backstage
27:38 Best way to deploy microservices in Kubernetes
30:29 Citrix secure development spaces vs Coder
33:37 Architecting an IDP for global SaaS on AWS
38:14 Spotify Portal for commercial managed Backstage
40:51 Does YouTube presence help landing jobs?
44:47 Securing a global production-ready SaaS on Kubernetes
46:35 Thoughts on Open Coro project
48:57 Learning DevOps to get a job
50:16 Best way to scale salary as a cloud engineer
53:32 Sovereign cloud adoption in Europe
01:03:04 Open source tool with secret rotation feature
01:04:15 What does DevOps actually mean day-to-day?
