Alice Goldfuss
Site Reliability Engineer (New Relic)
Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm Alice Goldfuss and I'm a Site Reliability Engineer at New Relic, aka a professional worrier with root access. I'm currently stationed on our main data pipeline team, and I make sure that critical infrastructure keeps humming along.
I give talks and run a sad Twitter account. My spare time is spent petting neighborhood cats, collecting tea I promise to drink some day, and ranting about intersectional tech feminism.
What hardware do you use?
For work I have a 15" MacBook Pro that I hook up to a 27" Cinema Display. The laptop rests on a Griffin Elevator stand and the monitor on a Fellowes. I type a lot, so I use a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard. I also use an Evoluent mouse, which single-handedly (hah) saved me from crippling carpal tunnel. For audio I use Sony MDR-7506 headphones.
At home I have a 27" ASUS MX279H monitor, GOGroove speakers, and an original Pentium MacBook Pro that doesn't know what the internet is anymore. My true personal computer is my phone, which is an iPhone 5s. I got the 5 even though the 6 series had already come out, since there is only so much women's pants pockets can do.
I couldn't operate either setup without my glasses. They have hi-index (1.74) lenses with Transitions coating, because sunglasses are for people with time.
And what software?
If I'm writing something new, it's probably in Python (2.7 forever), although I can also do Ruby or Go. I use vi on remote servers but Sublime locally, unless I'm rooting through Java with Intellij CE.
If I'm messing with VMs, I'm probably using VMWare Fusion. I do most testing with CentOS; but if I miss talking to our security team, I'll just pop off a scan in Kali. And, yes, I also use #containers like a good #thoughtleader.
My most-used apps are Twitter and Google Authenticator, for all those pesky 2FA sign-ins. For desktop password stuff, I use Lastpass. For jamz I use Spotify. For maintaining a reasonable circadian rhythm while living that #opslife, I use f.lux.
My personal sites are Jekyll and GitHub Pages. If I'm messing with photos, I use Gimp, and if I'm designing a shirt, I use Inkscape. I also really like Safari for tech book reading, although my free subscription is about to run out (hint, hint, O'Reilly!).
Last but not least, a special shoutout to kdump and crash, which let me feel like a noir detective on a homicide beat.
What would be your dream setup?
A remote gothic mansion with a 100 Gbps hookup, enough monitors to fit all my browser tabs (spoiler alert: impossible), and a manservant to read my rude Twitter mentions to me while he polishes the silver.
