2026 January. Leaving Splunk/Cisco
Books I'm reading #
The Opposite of Worry: The Playful Parenting Approach to Childhood Anxieties and Fears Lawrence J. Cohen. Trying to be a better parent. Some extreme stories, but the overall message of the book seems to make sense.
Books I've read #
Generative AI in a Nutshell: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of AI by Henrik Kniberg. Quite good and short intro to LLMS and working with them.
And since my last post I can recommend:
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport
Mini Philosophy by Jonny Thomson. I really enjoyed those short chapters - each introducing a new idea.
Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn't Food by Chris van Tulleken. A little disappointed by it, but it's worth familiarising yourself with the case against ultra-processed food.
For the complete list you can see my Goodreads
Elsewhere on the Web #
My friends are writing a book about Vibe Engineering. Best practices, mistakes, and tradeoffs by Tomasz Lelek and Artur Skowroński. It's in early access, but it's worth taking a look.
Music #
NO BATIDÃO - ZXKAI. Disclaimer: I have no idea what the lyrics are about, but I discovered it around the New Years.
Turns out it's a Phonk. No idea a genre like that that even existed.
Personal Thoughts #
Splunk #
I had a great team at Splunk and we had a big project of taking Forwarder Management and moving it from the old UI into the new Agent management. I have to say that Splunk cultural value of "Fun" could be felt and was making for a great place to work.
Cisco #
I knew Cisco might buy Splunk before I joined so it was expected. I have to say that Cisco tried their best to integrate staff and overall make it a positive experience for everyone.
Still, it's a different working culture. You could feel it in the tools we were switching to and the changes at the top of the org.
But, my team was still making a good work.
Unleash #
By luck I got recommended to Unleash and to my suprise managed to pass the interview. It was a really, really tough decision and I'm really not sure if it makes any financial sense. Thiking through it I realised that I already solved the problem I was hired for at Splunk, and while there is always more that could be done it might be a good opportunity for the rest of the team to grow. Also, Unleash looks like a place where I can learn more as well. So I'm starting in February.
You can subscribe to my monthly posts at kula.blog/newsletter
Want to learn more?
Sign up to get a digest of my articles and interesting links via email every month.