No - I think most software engineers get led down a path early in their careers that puts them into this mindset that they must have a (relational) database whenever they need to store data. Which leads to exactly these sorts of overcomplications with access control.
Well, that sounds like the vast majority of services. What I would say is that blob stores exist, and limiting access based on OAuth claims works very well with very little effort.
That’s half accurate - from a business model perspective. The majority of tech today, is about putting information in a database for a fee. And then not forcefully showing that information to people, for a fee.
Most of what “techies” consider tech is nothing more than social media website design, advertising, and data extraction. Most of these techies couldn’t survive in an actual engineering environment.
That is essentially what a honeypot is - a system with fake data that is designed to look attractive. If that data ever surfaces, you know you have problems!
I haven’t seen this take too many times but it was my biggest concern with DOGE access. Who’s to say Big Balls doesn’t install back doors and sell access to the FSB?
So true. The tech bro that tells you they are an engineer or they invented something, is delusional. No champ, all you created was an interface to another database. You created a click to run SQL script & 80% of your data was siphoned to join the ID you extracted from someone. Nothin' new at all.
Back in the day I actually invented a way to make flash accessible by injecting it with xhtml. So much so, the company patented it. But then again that means nothing now. So correct!
Sadly true, flash was the invention, anything on it or using it is just an interface to data. Did you get a percentage of the patent rights or was it modern capitalism where you get to starve while watching the CEO on stage telling everyone about their invention?
I too live in software after wasting time as mechanical engineer in a country that sold off its manufacturing to hurt unions.. Not working out so well for us these days. I traded a 50 hour week for an 100 hour week, I showed them ...
I stopped working for agencies after that. Just other corporate and startups. Back in the startup life and enjoying it. That eight hours of meetings a day in corporate land was pretty brutal.
I don’t know that I agree with that characterization in general, however, the amount of code and tech that exists that didn’t need to if there were no bad actors is quite scary
The majority of software written is 'CRUD' apps - which is about data movement. But, the majority of intellectual investment is not there; that's been done and is easy to do. Intellectual investment is in a few other places; those problems are actually also a slightly finite pool.
Yyyeah and yet we end up with a fleet of PostgreSQL replicas, a few pg_bouncers before them, a few HAProxies with VRRP between them, an etcd cluster, and a bunch of Python that make the entire thing work and self-heal.
Pretty much! Strip away the hype, and most of tech is just glorified spreadsheets with access control. Whether it’s social media, banking, or AI, it’s all just putting data in boxes and making sure the wrong people don’t move those boxes around too much.
Lmao when I read your post I was thought “well this is a very simple way of explaining a lot” then I read your bio and I laughed at how fitting it was.
I often refer to myself as a data plumber. I make sure the bytes flow from one end to the next, clear any blockages along the way, and put in filters and valves where they're needed.
The bytes must flow.
Well, if we want to split hairs, it's hacktually about engineers spending countless days in meetings to understand requirements and then splitting those up into a thousand little pieces (JIRA tickets) and then failing to achieve the end goal and being left with a ton of tech debt, plus FTPing Excels
When Elon said something about 150 year olds on Social Security, I and everyone who's worked on a legacy system knew exactly what the issue was. Whether he actually believes it or not, who knows.
My last job: What do you want training on?
Me: SQL Databases please
MLJ: Nope that's not related to your role
Me: Which is...
MLJ: Data entry.
Me: In to a...
MLJ: In to an SQL Database.
Me: And that's not related?
MLJ: No. Who introduced you to the concept of a 'database', anyway?
Me: ...my role...
And AI comes along and reads it, without context and rewrites it, without context and rereads it, without context and rewrites it...ad infinitum. See the problem?
People worried Trump wouldn’t allow elections needn’t — he has enough time to ensure victory with the appearance of legitimate elections. Russian interference will be full go and our elections will look just like theirs.
Most databases are just full of WRONG information. Fake numbers. Fake names. Probably rigged by Democrats! We should open them up—let my people fix them. I know the best people, they’d do a fantastic job! Elon, let’s make this happen!
Whereas Business Analysis is about getting the right people to tell you what the right information is, and who should be creating, updating and reading it (and deleting it when no longer needed).
Comments
That's more "cybersecurity."
Data validation can be extremely complex and is mostly dependent on the business rules for each application or domain.
But there's a lot more to IT than those things. (Retired programmer here.)
Integrity - being able to trust the data by not allowing unauthorized changes
Accessibility - ensuring data is readily accessible to those who require access
DOGE broke all three.
an experienced database administrator
who know the law and legal liability well
been there, done that
got more than a tee-shirt 😎
We can assume every system touched by DOGE had backdoors installed. The question is, who now has access to the backdoors and all the data?
The data and systems are all compromised, and the data can not be trusted.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/us-treasurys-workstations-hacked-cyberattack-by-china-afp-reports-2024-12-30/
Not hardware.
The bytes must flow.
Devil's in the details.
Technology or Tech covers so much more... Basically - Hard Sciences, Material Science... Science.
Me: SQL Databases please
MLJ: Nope that's not related to your role
Me: Which is...
MLJ: Data entry.
Me: In to a...
MLJ: In to an SQL Database.
Me: And that's not related?
MLJ: No. Who introduced you to the concept of a 'database', anyway?
Me: ...my role...
#ElonMusk #MAGA #RealData
Get in the streets tomorrow, America!
But technology is literally a shovel to dig dirt.