James Eastham
@jameseastham.co.uk
Developer | International Speaker | Microsoft MVP | AWS Community Builder | Endurance Athelete
Talking Serveless at Datadog | ex-AWS
All views are my own.
He/Him
Talking Serveless at Datadog | ex-AWS
All views are my own.
He/Him
Pinned
James Eastham
@jameseastham.co.uk
· Oct 9
Deep Dive: Solution Architecture
Master solution architecture and turn business needs into scalable, maintainable systems
dometrain.com
Excited to announce my new course on Dometrain - Solution Architecture Deep Dive.
The #1 feedback I got on the first course was the depth. Don't worry, this ones goes deeper. Deeper into what it actually means to be an architect in 2025.
#dotnet
dometrain.com/course/deep-...
The #1 feedback I got on the first course was the depth. Don't worry, this ones goes deeper. Deeper into what it actually means to be an architect in 2025.
#dotnet
dometrain.com/course/deep-...
This is a great write up, thanks for sharing @lizthegrey.com . Pretty closely mirrors my current conflicting views on AI and the state of the world rn.
Basically, if these companies are successful at paying back their investments, they'll need to harvest double-digit percentages of every Western worker's paycheque. And if not, well, this is going to happen as the hardware depreciates faster than it's generating ROI: pracap.com/an-ai-addend...
An AI Addendum
Last month, I chose to strip away all the hubris around AI and ask one simple question, one that oddly no one had really bothered to ask; how much revenue is needed to justify the current level of cap...
pracap.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:02 PM
This is a great write up, thanks for sharing @lizthegrey.com . Pretty closely mirrors my current conflicting views on AI and the state of the world rn.
Picture the scene, you've been asked to build a brand new product in a brand new domain? How do you actually understand if you're building the right thing?
Join me and @scottgerring.com in this video where we discuss the #1 place to start when building new software?
youtu.be/50nvYvgqM6U
#software
Join me and @scottgerring.com in this video where we discuss the #1 place to start when building new software?
youtu.be/50nvYvgqM6U
#software
The #1 Place To Start Designing New Software
Hi, I'm James Eastham, a developer advocate at Datadog, and in this video, I team up with my colleague Scott Gerring to share a strategic approach to designing new software. We delve into the importance of focusing on user needs rather than technology from the get-go. Our journey starts with exploring 'domain storytelling,' a technique to better understand systems by mapping out user interactions, work items, and backend systems. We use a hypothetical app, 'Sticker Landia,' to illustrate our approach and show how it can lead to meaningful, user-focused software design. Join us as we highlight the steps to map out service boundaries and set the groundwork for building effective software solutions. Drop your thoughts and suggestions in the comments and don't forget to subscribe for more insights into modern software engineering! 00:00 Introduction: The Right Way to Start Designing Software 01:22 Problem Statement: The Sticker Landia App 02:42 Understanding...
youtu.be
November 11, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Picture the scene, you've been asked to build a brand new product in a brand new domain? How do you actually understand if you're building the right thing?
Join me and @scottgerring.com in this video where we discuss the #1 place to start when building new software?
youtu.be/50nvYvgqM6U
#software
Join me and @scottgerring.com in this video where we discuss the #1 place to start when building new software?
youtu.be/50nvYvgqM6U
#software
Hey @boristane.bsky.social , do you have any more details on the 'right' storage options for durable objects? In your post you talk about the four layers, but then when would you choose to use the storage KV store vs the SQLite database. The docs seem to suggest everyone should use SQLite?
November 10, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Hey @boristane.bsky.social , do you have any more details on the 'right' storage options for durable objects? In your post you talk about the four layers, but then when would you choose to use the storage KV store vs the SQLite database. The docs seem to suggest everyone should use SQLite?
Puzzled by the challenges of building asynchronous systems? I've got just the thing for you! In my latest video, I dive into the world of asynchronous communication, tackling the common hurdles and highlighting how getting observability right is key to scaling.
youtu.be/jPv4J6yzN34
youtu.be/jPv4J6yzN34
The #1 Challenge With Event Driven Systems
Hi, I'm James Eastham, a developer advocate at Datadog. In this video, we'll discuss the problems associated with building asynchronous systems, including the challenges of temporal and runtime coupling, and how they can lead to outages. We'll explore the differences between synchronous and asynchronous communication, the role of message channels, and the types of messages like commands and events. Lastly, we touch on the complexities of understanding cause and effect in distributed systems and the importance of focusing on units of work within observability. Stay tuned for the next videos in the series where we'll delve into solutions like distributed tracing and span linking. 00:00 Introduction to Asynchronous Systems 00:24 Understanding Synchronous Communication 01:25 Challenges of Synchronous Systems 03:19 Transition to Asynchronous Systems 05:21 Types of Messages in Asynchronous Systems 07:25 Point-to-Point vs. Publish-Subscribe 08:59 Observability in Asynchronous Systems 10:13 Conclusion and Next Steps
youtu.be
November 10, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Puzzled by the challenges of building asynchronous systems? I've got just the thing for you! In my latest video, I dive into the world of asynchronous communication, tackling the common hurdles and highlighting how getting observability right is key to scaling.
youtu.be/jPv4J6yzN34
youtu.be/jPv4J6yzN34
Reposted by James Eastham
This talk is a must-watch for people in the Event-Driven space. I saw @noctovis.bsky.social giving it live at this year's DDDEU, and I truly believe that she nailed the versioning topic 👇🙂
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCb...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCb...
Change Is Inevitable: Versioning Event-Driven Systems — Laila Bougria
YouTube video by JetBrains
www.youtube.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:39 AM
This talk is a must-watch for people in the Event-Driven space. I saw @noctovis.bsky.social giving it live at this year's DDDEU, and I truly believe that she nailed the versioning topic 👇🙂
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCb...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCb...
This is an EXCELLENT write up on Cloudflare Durable Objects by @boristane.bsky.social.
Took me a while to 'get it's as well, but once you do it's genuinely the coolest cloud service to be released in years. So many applications.
boristane.com/blog/what-ar...
Took me a while to 'get it's as well, but once you do it's genuinely the coolest cloud service to be released in years. So many applications.
boristane.com/blog/what-ar...
Boris Tane
Notes from 2 years of building with Cloudflare Durable Objects
boristane.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:03 PM
This is an EXCELLENT write up on Cloudflare Durable Objects by @boristane.bsky.social.
Took me a while to 'get it's as well, but once you do it's genuinely the coolest cloud service to be released in years. So many applications.
boristane.com/blog/what-ar...
Took me a while to 'get it's as well, but once you do it's genuinely the coolest cloud service to be released in years. So many applications.
boristane.com/blog/what-ar...
Datadog has just launched the 2025 State of Containers and Serverless report. It's been interesting to be a small part of putting this together.
It's no longer about being serverless or not serverless. It's about choosing the right technology for your workload.
www.datadoghq.com/state-of-con...
It's no longer about being serverless or not serverless. It's about choosing the right technology for your workload.
www.datadoghq.com/state-of-con...
State of Containers and Serverless | Datadog
We analyze cloud compute trends, from containers to serverless to rising GPU and Arm adoption, as organizations seek efficiency and cost control.
www.datadoghq.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Datadog has just launched the 2025 State of Containers and Serverless report. It's been interesting to be a small part of putting this together.
It's no longer about being serverless or not serverless. It's about choosing the right technology for your workload.
www.datadoghq.com/state-of-con...
It's no longer about being serverless or not serverless. It's about choosing the right technology for your workload.
www.datadoghq.com/state-of-con...
Excited to announce the new Datadog Commmunity YouTube channel. A new channel dedicated to talking about wider challenges in the tech industry that all of you are facing in your day to day work.
Link to subscribe and make sure you don't miss a video www.youtube.com/@DatadogComm...
#software
Link to subscribe and make sure you don't miss a video www.youtube.com/@DatadogComm...
#software
November 5, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Excited to announce the new Datadog Commmunity YouTube channel. A new channel dedicated to talking about wider challenges in the tech industry that all of you are facing in your day to day work.
Link to subscribe and make sure you don't miss a video www.youtube.com/@DatadogComm...
#software
Link to subscribe and make sure you don't miss a video www.youtube.com/@DatadogComm...
#software
Reposted by James Eastham
Fargate with ECS is boring. And that's why I love it. It just works!
Now it got even better with built-in Canary deployments! ⚡️
The days with custom-built rollout shenanigans, featuring multiple clusters and handmade traffic shifting with Route 53 records, are over!
Now it got even better with built-in Canary deployments! ⚡️
The days with custom-built rollout shenanigans, featuring multiple clusters and handmade traffic shifting with Route 53 records, are over!
October 31, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Fargate with ECS is boring. And that's why I love it. It just works!
Now it got even better with built-in Canary deployments! ⚡️
The days with custom-built rollout shenanigans, featuring multiple clusters and handmade traffic shifting with Route 53 records, are over!
Now it got even better with built-in Canary deployments! ⚡️
The days with custom-built rollout shenanigans, featuring multiple clusters and handmade traffic shifting with Route 53 records, are over!
Reposted by James Eastham
A fantastic release 👌
Cloudflare Workers' support for automatic tracing is now in open beta! Export traces to any OpenTelemetry-compatible provider for deeper application observability, no code changes required. https://cfl.re/4qv3Ste
Announcing Workers automatic tracing, now in open beta
cfl.re
October 28, 2025 at 1:10 PM
A fantastic release 👌
Throwback listening on the train home from London. One of my favourite albums growing up.
October 28, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Throwback listening on the train home from London. One of my favourite albums growing up.
The most beautiful lady in the world ❤️✅
Royal Albert Hall ✅
Westlife ✅
Full philharmonic orchestra ✅
I'm a lucky man
Royal Albert Hall ✅
Westlife ✅
Full philharmonic orchestra ✅
I'm a lucky man
October 27, 2025 at 7:21 PM
The most beautiful lady in the world ❤️✅
Royal Albert Hall ✅
Westlife ✅
Full philharmonic orchestra ✅
I'm a lucky man
Royal Albert Hall ✅
Westlife ✅
Full philharmonic orchestra ✅
I'm a lucky man
Reposted by James Eastham
This company doesn’t do anything by virtue of the fact they’re trying to do everything. This isn’t a business!
Sources: OpenAI is developing AI tools to generate music from text and audio prompts, including capabilities such as adding guitar accompaniment to vocal tracks (The Information)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
October 25, 2025 at 2:35 PM
This company doesn’t do anything by virtue of the fact they’re trying to do everything. This isn’t a business!
The thing is, it's very dangerous to have a fixed idea. A person with a fixed idea will always find some way of convincing himself in the end that he is right.
- Atle Selberg, winner of the 1970 fields medal in mathematics
Fantastic quote from a book in reading at the moment.
- Atle Selberg, winner of the 1970 fields medal in mathematics
Fantastic quote from a book in reading at the moment.
October 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM
The thing is, it's very dangerous to have a fixed idea. A person with a fixed idea will always find some way of convincing himself in the end that he is right.
- Atle Selberg, winner of the 1970 fields medal in mathematics
Fantastic quote from a book in reading at the moment.
- Atle Selberg, winner of the 1970 fields medal in mathematics
Fantastic quote from a book in reading at the moment.
Reposted by James Eastham
pretty cool that it's 2025 and i'm able to host my own social media account on my own server, control my own data, and have it connected to a mainstream platform that's home to millions of normal people, celebrities, politicans, journalists, etc
that's atproto right now, not some theorized future
that's atproto right now, not some theorized future
October 22, 2025 at 3:32 AM
pretty cool that it's 2025 and i'm able to host my own social media account on my own server, control my own data, and have it connected to a mainstream platform that's home to millions of normal people, celebrities, politicans, journalists, etc
that's atproto right now, not some theorized future
that's atproto right now, not some theorized future
Had an absolute blast at ServerlessDays Milano. Incredibly well ran conference, great talks. Kudos to the organisers and those that hung on until the very end to see my talk.
#serverless #serverlessdays
#serverless #serverlessdays
October 21, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Had an absolute blast at ServerlessDays Milano. Incredibly well ran conference, great talks. Kudos to the organisers and those that hung on until the very end to see my talk.
#serverless #serverlessdays
#serverless #serverlessdays
Reposted by James Eastham
atmosphere devs! 🧑🚀
just published a protocol checkin: docs.bsky.app/blog/protoco...
tl;dr
expect to see a lot of updates from us in the next few months. we're hard at work on making AT easier to build on & ensuring the network remains a resilient foundation for the future of open social
just published a protocol checkin: docs.bsky.app/blog/protoco...
tl;dr
expect to see a lot of updates from us in the next few months. we're hard at work on making AT easier to build on & ensuring the network remains a resilient foundation for the future of open social
Protocol Check-in (Fall 2025) | Bluesky
We last shared a protocol roadmap back in March 2025, and wow does time fly. If we're being honest, we haven't tied a bow on as many of these threads as we would've hoped. Oh time, strength, cash, and...
docs.bsky.app
October 20, 2025 at 9:59 PM
atmosphere devs! 🧑🚀
just published a protocol checkin: docs.bsky.app/blog/protoco...
tl;dr
expect to see a lot of updates from us in the next few months. we're hard at work on making AT easier to build on & ensuring the network remains a resilient foundation for the future of open social
just published a protocol checkin: docs.bsky.app/blog/protoco...
tl;dr
expect to see a lot of updates from us in the next few months. we're hard at work on making AT easier to build on & ensuring the network remains a resilient foundation for the future of open social
@julianwood.com showing us all the cool new tools and techniques that you need to know about as a serverless developer.
#serverless #serverlessmilano
#serverless #serverlessmilano
October 21, 2025 at 1:22 PM
@julianwood.com showing us all the cool new tools and techniques that you need to know about as a serverless developer.
#serverless #serverlessmilano
#serverless #serverlessmilano
Reposted by James Eastham
Trying to think of any previous technology that needed this many people out there telling everyone that they're wrong about how it stinks and it is very good and helpfully actually
April 26, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Trying to think of any previous technology that needed this many people out there telling everyone that they're wrong about how it stinks and it is very good and helpfully actually
Daniele Frasca up next talking all things multi-region serverless architecture. Love seeing real world applications of things like cell based architecture.
Not relevant for everyone, but a powerful pattern to be aware of at scale.
#serverless #serverlessdays
Not relevant for everyone, but a powerful pattern to be aware of at scale.
#serverless #serverlessdays
October 21, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Daniele Frasca up next talking all things multi-region serverless architecture. Love seeing real world applications of things like cell based architecture.
Not relevant for everyone, but a powerful pattern to be aware of at scale.
#serverless #serverlessdays
Not relevant for everyone, but a powerful pattern to be aware of at scale.
#serverless #serverlessdays
@theburningmonk.com kicking things off at Serverless Days Milano talking about the hard parts of #serverless.
October 21, 2025 at 8:37 AM
@theburningmonk.com kicking things off at Serverless Days Milano talking about the hard parts of #serverless.
October 21, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Reposted by James Eastham
Exclusive: Anthropic spent $2.66 billion on Amazon Web Services in the first three quarters of 2025, around 100% of their estimated revenue. Its costs appear to increase with their revenue, showing little path to profitability.
www.wheresyoured.at/costs/
www.wheresyoured.at/costs/
This Is How Much Anthropic and Cursor Spend On Amazon Web Services
So, I originally planned for this to be on my premium newsletter, but decided it was better to publish on my free one so that you could all enjoy it. If you liked it, please consider subscribing to su...
www.wheresyoured.at
October 20, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Exclusive: Anthropic spent $2.66 billion on Amazon Web Services in the first three quarters of 2025, around 100% of their estimated revenue. Its costs appear to increase with their revenue, showing little path to profitability.
www.wheresyoured.at/costs/
www.wheresyoured.at/costs/
Reposted by James Eastham
Zack Polanski,
"People are feeling hope because I'm talking about wages not being high enough, the cost of living is too high, and what we need to do is tackle inequality in the heart of our society"
"The 4 wealthiest people in Britain own more wealth than 20 million people combined"
"People are feeling hope because I'm talking about wages not being high enough, the cost of living is too high, and what we need to do is tackle inequality in the heart of our society"
"The 4 wealthiest people in Britain own more wealth than 20 million people combined"
October 19, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Zack Polanski,
"People are feeling hope because I'm talking about wages not being high enough, the cost of living is too high, and what we need to do is tackle inequality in the heart of our society"
"The 4 wealthiest people in Britain own more wealth than 20 million people combined"
"People are feeling hope because I'm talking about wages not being high enough, the cost of living is too high, and what we need to do is tackle inequality in the heart of our society"
"The 4 wealthiest people in Britain own more wealth than 20 million people combined"