Emily: Thanks for taking the time to sit with us, Stephen! You’re one of the busiest people I know — Head of Open Source at Cisco, OpenSSF Scorecard steering committee member, board member, advisor, angel investor… the list goes on! Looking at all of the things you’ve been working on right now, what have been some of the recent highlights?
Stephen:
If I’m being real, I don’t think I’ve personally done anything pretty cool lately.
In the past, I’ve worked on building teams of contributors and maintainers in open source communities. More recently, I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to build a team of brilliant open source architects as an Engineering Director and Head of Open Source at Cisco. They’re the ones that do cool stuff now.
Everyone on my team is at a different stage of their open source journey and watching them learn, grow, and hit new personal and professional milestones is definitely an enduring highlight for me! Celebrating new accomplishments with contributors I’ve worked with or mentored in the past is another really important part of the highlight reel.
I fondly remember when I was just getting started with Kubernetes and now I’m coming to the realization that there’s a newer generation of maintainers emerging and running faster than we did, which is a real delight to see.
Emily: The open source ecosystem has evolved a lot over the last decade. What are some of the changes that you’re seeing throughout the community that you’re excited about?
Stephen:
I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that open source runs the world.
Right now, I’m pretty excited about the fact that more and more people are starting to realize that fact. I’m not going to argue the nuances of any legislation here, but I would say that heightened scrutiny from governments worldwide around the use of open source software is bringing what we spend time on to the fore.
That scrutiny is making it easier to catalyze discussions and corporate directives about safe and responsible use of open source software, including the sponsorship and maintenance of open source ecosystems that help create the software our companies consume.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t call out initiatives like the Sovereign Tech Fund (STF), which supports the development, improvement, and maintenance of open digital infrastructure, and is funded by the German government.
Emily: We’ve chatted on this before, but open source has been super important to many at Edera. It was two of our founder’s entry into tech - allowing opportunities to learn how to code and embracing non-traditional backgrounds. One of the (many) things we love about you is your focus on embracing and advocating for non-traditional backgrounds and diversity in tech. How do you see the current landscape? What opportunities do you see for us as an industry to do better?
Stephen:
Fun fact for the readers: I also have a non-traditional background and have managed a 17-year career just fine without a college degree!
I started with sneaking into a network engineering class in high school, and then a little while later, reading the certification study guides for the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) cover-to-cover before going job hunting. To this day, I’ll be forever grateful to the manager who gave me a chance to start my professional journey because of the book smarts I displayed.
It would’ve been easier if I had access to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC).
It would’ve been easier if I knew that open source software existed.
It would’ve been easier if I wasn’t neurodivergent.
Every time I think about how much harder my path was because my background wasn’t traditional, I remember that I’m in a position to direct funds to programs that prioritize making it easier for the next generation of people like me. I would urge people in similar positions to do the same.
I’m proud to have been a founding sponsor of GitHub’s All In for Students, an online program for tech students from underrepresented backgrounds that provides open source education, training, and internship opportunities. We’re also sponsors of Outreachy which provides internships in open source and open science to people subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry where they are living.
Outside of programs like this, it’s also been really great to see opportunities to fund diversity scholarships for premier industry conferences.
Emily: Many might not know this yet, but you recently joined us at Edera as an Advisory Board Member. We’re just a little (or a lot) excited about it. What about Edera got you interested to take this role with all your other competing priorities?
Stephen:
Easy question! Hands-down, it’s the people, their raw technical acumen, and the genuine care for ensuring open source ecosystems thrive and are secure.
Pretty much every member of the Edera founding team I’ve either worked with, invested in a company they’ve worked for, or used and thoroughly enjoyed a piece of software they’ve helped to build.
Time and again I’ve seen members of this team deliver on solutions to complex and critical engineering problems and I’m thrilled to be able to play a small part in seeing what you all build next!
Emily: This wouldn’t be an Edera interview without a nod to your favorite music or playlists. What have you been listening to?
Stephen:
Spotify daylists are ruling my playlist right now and here are some of the artists on rotation: BENEE, Kaytranada, Duckwrth, The Marías, Kendrick Lamar, Tommy Richman, Sabrina Carpenter, Remi Wolf, Chappell Roan, King Princess, Caroline Polachek, Qveen Herby, iyla, Naïka
Some French music: Lous and The Yakuza, Myra, Yoa, Stromae, LYNN
...and a little high school nostalgia: Paramore, Taking Back Sunday, Metric, Evanescence, Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, Coheed & Cambria, Underoath, Thrice, Head Automatica, AFI, Death Cab for Cutie.
Emily: I think you just gave us a whole new Edera playlist we may just call “Stephen’s Hits”! We’ll make sure to get some nods to your favorites in next month’s Edera Beats playlist!
Ok, another one. If you had three months off to do whatever you wanted, what would you do? Travel, take up a hobby, sleep a lot? None of the above?
Stephen:
Unsurprisingly, I’d first catch up on some pull requests and issue triage for some of my favorite open source projects. Maybe find a new project to hack on?
After that? European tour, improve my pool game, sing lots of karaoke, level up in the latest Diablo 4 season, find a new anime to watch, a dram or two of a whisk(e)y I haven’t tried yet, and eat a few delicious meals with friends.
Emily: To wrap things up - what was the best piece of advice you’ve been given, or a quote that resonates with you. Work or personal!
Stephen:
People —> Process —> Tools
I’ve kept this one close to me since it was passed along:
Any change should be driven by understanding the people who will be involved in both delivering and experiencing the change. Having a clear understanding of the people involved allows you to build a process that accommodates their needs.
That’s when you actually have enough information to build the tools.
Tools built in the absence of these considerations are very often tools that are no fun to use!
Always lead with people in mind.
