Episodes

Exploring the Intersection of Leadership and Technology with Josh Teitelbaum, Senior Engineering Manager at Zendesk

Welcome back to the Anablock podcast!

In our latest episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Josh Teitelbaum, the Senior Engineering Manager at Zendesk. Josh gave us a fascinating glimpse into his role, overseeing teams that handle the core platform with a focus on deploying CICD, performance, reliability, and scalability. He shared his unique journey from physics to software engineering, culminating in his current leadership role. Throughout our conversation, Josh emphasized the importance of maintaining a balanced emotional demeanor as a leader, skillfully navigating the dual responsibilities of technical and managerial roles.

Our discussion also ventured into the realm of AI in software engineering. Josh shared his experiences with AI tools like ChatGPT and their potential application in coding while acknowledging their current limitations. He shed light on his recruitment strategy, emphasizing the value of curiosity and fearlessness in engineers. A key highlight of our chat was Zendesk's innovative use of AI in customer support, where it's used to augment human agents rather than replace them, enhancing the customer experience.

Get in touch with Josh at Linkedin.

Stay tuned for more insightful conversations here at Anablock!

For those in a rush:

00:08:17 - Software engineering, leadership, and career path. 00:18:00 - Leadership, technical skills, and management for an engineering manager. 00:24:51 - Engineering management, code review, and team productivity. 00:33:50 - Engineering curiosity, AI, and software development. 00:43:10 - AI in software engineering and customer support.

Interview with Mak Žiga: Shaping the Future of AI Interaction

Join us for an enlightening conversation with 17-year-old Mak Žiga, a leading Prompt Engineer at FlowGPT. In this podcast episode, Mak delves into his unique journey into Artificial Intelligence (AI), offering valuable insights for enthusiasts from various backgrounds.

Discover the world of AI prompt engineering, where Mak discusses his innovative work in creating more human-like AI interactions. The episode provides a glimpse into the transformative impact of AI across industries, from automating tasks to revolutionizing customer experiences.

Perfect for novices and tech enthusiasts alike, this episode is your gateway to understanding AI's potential and practical applications.

Get in touch with Mak at Linkedin.

Tune into Anablock's podcast for an engaging journey into AI's intricate world, where you'll find inspiration and insights into its game-changing capabilities across various industries!

For those in a rush:

00:06:29 - Journey into Prompt Engineering 00:12:13 - Exploring AI Methods and Cloning People 00:20:04 - AI-Generated Voices: The Science of Cloning 00:29:03 - Quality Assurance in AI Prompt Engineering 00:37:51 - Engineering Prompts for Large Language Models 00:46:58 - Growth of AI, Artificial General Intelligence, and Future Trends 00:54:20 - AI-Powered Chatbots and Revolutionizing Product Catalogs 01:03:02 - The Intersection of Software Engineering and AI in Recruitment

Interview with Bryce Jacobs, AI Engineer

Join Bryce Jacobs, an AI consultant and software engineer, in an illuminating episode where the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is demystified. Starting with personal insights into his AI journey, Bryce shares how he navigated into the field without conventional qualifications, shedding light on diverse entry points for enthusiasts.

The conversation delves into the practical realm of AI applications, exploring the emergence of AI agents and their pivotal role in task automation. From chat bots revolutionizing customer support to envisioning a future inundated with sophisticated language models, the episode offers a panoramic view of AI's transformative potential across industries.

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for both novices and tech enthusiasts, offering a roadmap into the evolving world of AI while unveiling its potentials and practicalities.

You can check Bryce's work on: www.brycejacobsai.com

Join our podcast to uncover the intricate world of AI, gain inspiration, and delve deeper into its transformative capabilities across industries!

For those in a rush:

00:00:23 The Journey into AI 00:01:25 Transition to Working with AI 00:09:38 Building AI Agents 00:14:36 Chat Bots as Customer Support 00:16:58 AI Agents for Task Automation 00:21:42 Shift to Using Large Language Models 00:28:43 The Internal Knowledge Base Chatbot 00:29:48 The Potential of Chatbots with Language Models 00:35:16 The Future of Agent Building Tools 00:43:44 AGI and Its Definition 00:45:12 Autonomous AI Agents 00:51:11 The Role of Software Engineers 00:57:09 Using Transcription as Training Data for Language Models 00:58:22 The Importance of Training Data for AI Models 01:07:44 Advice for Building Technical Skills in AI 01:10:40 The Importance of Niching in AI 01:12:02 Getting Started with AI 01:12:58 Harnessing the Power of AI for Businesses

Interview with George Xing, Co-founder and CEO of Supaglue

The new episode of Anablock Podcast is out!

In this episode, we feature a special guest, George Xing, who is the Co-founder and CEO of Supaglue.

George has always been passionate about technology and has gained valuable experience and knowledge that has led him to where he is today.  Initially, he worked in finance before transitioning to data science, where he was captivated by the possibilities of the field before it was even a real term.

And if you are wondering what Supaglue is, it is an open-source platform that helps you ship native, customer-facing integrations for Salesforce and HubSpot in a matter of days instead of months!

Join our podcast to get inspired and learn more about the Salesforce ecosystem and how to crack it!

For those in a rush:

00:00 Introduction 00:38 Who is George, and what is Supaglue? 1:39 Supaglue’s target market 2:28 Why was Supaglue founded? 4:13 Hubspot integration 4:58 Challenges of working with the Salesforce APIs 7:31 The biggest value - saving time and effort 9:20 When is the right time to reach out to them? 11:13 Open source project 12:20 How Supaglue makes money? 13:24 Needed skill set 14:30 George’s career path 19:44 Facing the business pivot 23:40 Starting with the Salesforce Ecosystem 27:15 Salesforce platform - what’s good and what should be improved? 30:50 A bit more about Supaglue 32:17 New and exciting news from Supaglue 36:30 Angel Investor

Share your feedback with us in the comment section!

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Interview with Tom Iannone, Head of Sales and Success at Moralis Web3

Welcome to Anablock Podcast!  This show explores software, technology, ideas, business, and science.

In this episode, our guest is Tom Iannone - Head of Sales and Success at Moralis Web3.  His career path is fascinating.  With more than 10+ years of experience in Sales, Customer Success, Project Management, and Support, he sure has a lot of interesting things to say.

You can think of Moralis as an all-in-one app development platform.  Its goal is to significantly reduce the development time it would typically take you to build a decentralized app with a more traditional approach.  They allow you to build faster and smarter.

Join our podcast to get inspired and learn more about Web3 and how to save yourself time and be successful in the crypto world!

For those in a rush:

00:00 Introduction 2:05 What is Moralis, and how it works? 4:25 Tom’s professional background 6:15 Features that differentiate Moralis from other platforms 7:40 Blockchain protocols 10:45 Two most significant factors that make a project successful 13:27 What is Unity? 15:50 NFT and gaming 20:23 NFT music players? 21:18 Snoop Dogg - NFTs 22:00 How does Moralis decide which blockchain protocol to add to its platform? 23:30 Highest adoption rate of the whole crypto concept 28:40 Web3 authentication 31:40 Moralis Academy

We got you intrigued?  Share your feedback with us in the comment section!

If you don’t want to miss the next episode, subscribe to our newsletter.  Be one of the first to hear what’s new!

Interview with Mike Davis, founder of GTM Guides

The newest guest on our podcast is Mike Davis, founder of GTM Guides. If you’re wondering what GTM means, it’s short for Go-To-Market. Their job is to help ISVs successfully navigate the Salesforce ecosystem. Mike has worked within this ecosystem for over a decade and gained impeccable knowledge of how it functions. As a natural leader, he strives for excellence, doing his best and achieving results. That’s why he has spent most of his career as a sales and alliances leader. Join our podcast to get inspired and learn more about the Salesforce ecosystem and how to crack it!

For those in a rush... 00:51 Introduction of Mike and his business 3:03 Beginnings of Mike’s carrier 5:27 TaskRay 10:47 Day-to-day role of a sales leader 13:39 Interacting with the Salesforce side 16:50 What makes his team different? 18:42 Best way to test TaskRay 20:00 GTM Guides 21:20 Four pillars of ISVs going to the market on the Salesforce ecosystem 26:50 Interesting analytics 28:40 AppExchange Marketing Program 31:20 Two models of GTM Guides 33:45 Cooperation of companies with GTM Guides 36:08 The words of wisdom 38:20 Number of published apps on AppExchange 40:00 The Business Builders program 40:40 Salesforce Accelerate 41:36 Salesforce Ventures 43:48 Reaching out to Mike We got you intrigued? Share your feedback with us in the comment section! You don’t want to miss the next episode? Subscribe to our newsletter and be one of the first to hear what’s new.

Interview with Ivan Bjelajac, CEO of MVP Workshop

Today’s guest is Ivan, the CEO of MVP Workshop. They are building the infrastructure for fast, secure and scalable Blockchain transactions trough side-chains, mainly focused on DeFi, Supply Chains and Asset Tokenization in general. As a R&D studio they are in charge of tech in projects such as Celsius Network ($50M ICO in 2018) and Polygon (Ethereum's Internet of Blockchains) . They recently got the 75 milion dollars worth grants program for covering projects and working on Polygon Edge. In order to get inspired, learn more about blockchain and Web3 from the bests - join our podcast!

For those in rush... 00:31 Getting to know Ivan 2:05 How to get involved in the blockchain ecosystem 7:04 The culture of startups in Serbia 11:15 Web3 academy 12:25 Which project is taking the most time 14:00 MVP Workshop and Polygon 23:26 Celsius project 28:16 Defy concept 31:20 Governance behind the protocols 33:05 Working with Solana, Cardano... 37:07 Changing technologies across time 38:35 Brendon Mike 39:19 Brave browser 41:16 Web3 bringing special value 41:50 The smartest job move you could make today 44:22 User experience with abstractional layers 48:00 Trust in Web3

We got you intrigued? Share your feedback with us in the comment section! You don’t want to miss the next episode? Subscribe to our newsletter and be one of the first ones to hear what’s new!

Interview with Peter Ogilvie, Salesforce Architect, Engineering Manager at Coinbase.

If you’re thinking how successful Salesforce Architect looks like, Peter is the right one. His journey counts many successes in worldwide known companies and it arrives to the current stage where he is in the Coinbase.   In order to get inspired, learn more about Salesforce or how it was working directly with Steve Jobs - join our podcast!   For those in rush...   00:51 Getting to know Peter 02:45 Salesforce Application Architect Certification - what is it about? 04:12 Salesforce certifications and collectables 06:30 From biologist to Salesforce ecosystem 11:40 Next career - working with Steve Jobs 26:35 Steve Jobs and Saleforce 27:40 Oracle database and Salesforce 31:43 How to get into Salesforce? 39:34 Peter today 42:45 Biggest challenges when scaling a team 44:30 Salesforce flows 48:45 Lightening components 53:23 Coinbase vs other crypto currencies   We got you intrigued? Share your feedback with us in the comment section! You don’t want to miss the next episode? Subscribe to our newsletter and be one of the first ones to hear what’s new!  

Interview with Valerio Chang, Customer Success at Gearset

Welcome to Anablock Podcast.  This show is exploration of software, technology, ideas, business, and science.

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a System Integrator and Salesforce Consulting Partner. We specialize in Salesforce implementation work. Our team has expertise in solution architecture and custom development. You can reach us by visiting our website, anablock.com.

In this episode my guest is Valerio Chang. He is part of the Customer Success team at Gearset. Gearset is the complete DevOps and release management software for Salesforce. Gearset specializes in helping teams of admins and developers to make rapid and reliable releases with metadata and data deployments. Valerio and his team help users adopt continuous integration best practices and get the most out of their Gearset subscriptions.

To learn more about Gearset, please visit gearset.com.

Interview with Phil Gugliotta, Founder of Tech2 Resources

Welcome to Anablock Podcast.  This show is exploration of software, technology, ideas, business, and science.

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a System Integrator and Salesforce Consulting Partner. We specialize in Salesforce implementation work. Our team has expertise in solution architecture and custom development. You can reach us by visiting our website, anablock.com.

On this episode our guest is Phil Gugliotta. Phil is an eighteen-year veteran and leader in the staffing industry. Since 2003, Phil has been working within the staffing world, having been VP of Sales for a major staffing leader and owner of a regional staffing business in Long Island, New York.  He started Tech2 in 2009, after moving to NC, and has grown the firm into one of the premier Salesforce.com recruiting and staffing firms in the U.S.  

Tech2 Resources is a leading Salesforce.com Recruiting Firm with a long history of success placing talented individuals with top companies nationwide. Since 2010, Tech2 has been committed to delivering best-in-class staffing and recruiting services for the Salesforce ecosystem. Their perfected approach on both sides of the recruitment process sets them above their competition.  Visit their new, and improved, website at www.tech2resources.com to explore their open positions, Salesforce industry information, and more.

Austin, TX - Interview with Tony Lazarov & Rich Edison

Hello and welcome everyone. I am Vuk and this is Anablock podcast. This show is exploration of software, technology, ideas, business, and science.

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a System Integrator and Salesforce consulting partner. We specialize in custom implementation work. Our team has expertise in solution architecture and custom development. You can reach us by visiting our website, anablock.com.

Today’s show is about Austin, TX. Our guests are Tony and Rich. Tony and Rich are managing partners of REBEL Realty Investment Partnership. REBEL is Austin based real investment firm.

We talk about Austin. We talk about the hot real estate market, why people are moving to Austin, the history of the software industry in Austin, and real estate investment opportunities in Austin.

Richard Edison, Co-Managing Partner of REBEL  Realty Investment Partnership I LLC, is an  experienced securities professional with over 30 years industry-related experience much of  that in supervisory positions. He has successfully managed multiple investment portfolios.

Tony Lazarov, is Co-Managing Partner of REBEL Realty Investment Partnership I LLC.  Mr. Lazarov also serves as the Owner/Principal  and Senior Broker at Respace LLC, and  ManagePro LLC, an Austin based Real Estate Brokerage and property management firm with 35 agents and staff.

Interview with Dipanker 'DJ' Jyoti & Jim Hutcherson, Authors of Salesforce Architect's Handbook

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a system integrator and Salesforce partner. Anablock's technical team helps organizations to implement, customize, and optimize their Salesforce applications.

In this episode our guests are Dipanker DJ Jyoti and Jim Hutcherson. DJ currently works for IBM as an associate partner, managing IBM’s Global Salesforce Assets. Previous to IBM, he held executive positions at Capgemini, Accenture, and Citibank.  

Jim Hutcherson is currently a principal and the chief technical architect at Capgemini Government Solutions where he leads the Salesforce Practice delivering enterprise-class solutions to US federal government customers. 

They are co-authors of Salesforce Architect's Handbook.  It is available for purchase on Amazon and other bookstores. 

We talk about their book, data migration patterns and best practices, system architecture, Salesforce ecosystem, and many other interesting topics.  I hope you will enjoy our conversation.

More about guests

Dipanker “DJ” Jyoti is an industry veteran with over two decades of experience in managing digital transformation engagements with Fortune 500 companies. Dipanker holds a total of 23 industry certifications, among which 13 certifications are in Salesforce, including the Salesforce Certified System Architect and Salesforce Certified Architect certifications. Some of his other architect-level certifications include AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional, Google Cloud Certified Professional Architect, Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect, and Certified Blockchain Expert.

Dipanker currently works for IBM as an associate partner, managing IBM’s Global Salesforce Assets. Previous to IBM, he held executive positions at Capgemini, Accenture, and Citibank. Dipanker’s involvement with Salesforce began a decade ago, as part of a strategic business transformation engagement, where he got intimately involved in building a Salesforce proof of concept to demonstrate the capabilities of using a low code/no code CRM solution.  

For more details about Dipanker, you can follow him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dipanker-dj-jyoti-3104974/.

James A. Hutcherson is a seasoned business leader with more than 40 years of technology experience. His first Salesforce project was implemented in 2004 where he started his Salesforce journey. During this time, James had taken every opportunity to grow his Salesforce knowledge. He holds 17 Salesforce certifications including Certified Salesforce Application Architect and Certified Salesforce System Architect. James is an avid educator and has hosted several no-cost Salesforce training sessions over the last few years to give back and grow the Salesforce ecosystem.

James is currently a principal and the chief technical architect at Capgemini Government Solutions where he leads the Salesforce Practice delivering enterprise-class solutions to US federal government customers. 

Follow him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hutcherson-2018/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/hutchersonj.

Have a happy listening :)

Learning Series: Best Practices for Deployments with Large Data Volumes

This is our Learning Series.  In this episode we are highlighting some of the key concepts and best practices when working with big data and Salesforce.

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a system integrator and Salesforce partner. Anablock's technical team helps organizations to implement, customize, and optimize their Salesforce applications.

www.anablock.com

Interview with Tim Berglund, Senior Director of Developer Advocacy at Confluent

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a system integrator and Salesforce partner. Anablock's technical team helps organizations to implement, customize, and optimize their Salesforce applications.

In this episode our guest is Tim Berglund. Tim is a teacher, author, and technology leader with Confluent, where he serves as the Senior Director of Developer Advocacy. We talk about Apache Kafka, Confluent, Salesforce Connector for Kafka, Confluent Cloud, and many other interesting topics.

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlberglund/

Tim's podcast - Streaming Audio: A Confluent podcast about Apache Kafka‪

Confluent - https://www.confluent.io/

Salesforce Connector for Apache Kafka - https://docs.confluent.io/kafka-connect-salesforce/current/index.html

Interview with David Masri, Data Architect, Author, and Founder of Gluon Digital

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a system integrator and Salesforce partner. Anablock's technical team helps organizations to implement, customize, and optimize their Salesforce applications.

In this episode our guest is David Masri. Dave is a Data Architect, Author, and founder of Gluon Digital. We talk about his book, data migration patterns and best practices, Salesforce ecosystem, and many other interesting topics. I hope you will enjoy our conversation.

Blog - https://salesforcedatablog.com/

Book - Developing Data Migrations and Integrations with Salesforce, by David Masri

Interview with Helen Epstein, former NYU journalism professor, author, and speaker

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a system integrator and Salesforce partner. Anablock's technical team helps organizations to implement, customize, and optimize their Salesforce applications.

In this episode we have a special guest. Our guest is Helen Epstein. Helen is a former NYU journalism professor, author, and a guest lecturer. Helen is the author, editor or translator of ten books of non-fiction. We talk about her mother’s memoir Franci’s War, her trilogy of books, holocaust survivors, her start in Journalism in Czechoslovakia, and many more interesting topics. I hope you will enjoy the show.

Helen (www.helenepstein.com) is the author, editor or translator of ten books of non-fiction including the Holocaust trilogy Children of the Holocaust, Where She Came From: A Daughter’s Search for Her Mother’s History, and The Long Half-Lives of Love and Trauma Children of the Holocaust was the first book of non-fiction to examine the inter-generational transmission of trauma and is widely used in university courses as well as by psychotherapists treating generations of traumatized communities (Rwanda, Cambodia, Armenia, Bosnia, etc but also children of addicts and alcoholics).

In 2018, she published The Long Half-Lives of Love and Trauma, a book about a long psychoanalysis and her working through childhood sexual abuse by a member of her parents' Czech community. Last year, she edited and published her mother's Franci's War in nine languages (www.franciswar.com). 

Interview with Ruby Kandah and Max Epstein, Founders of CloudX

In this episode my guests are Ruby and Max. They are founders of CloudX. CloudX is a Salesforce implementation partner. They specialize in implementation of Salesforce Service Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Mulesoft, and more. We talk about learning Salesforce, switching industries, moving to the Bay Area from Houston, product management at Salesforce, building Salesforce teams at DoorDash, and many more interesting topics. Enjoy this conversation.

Get more information about Ruby: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruby-kandah/

Get more information about Max: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximilianepstein/

Get more info about CloudX: https://www.cloudx.design

This podcast is brought to you by Vuk Dukic and Anablock

Interview with Slaven Bilac, CEO of AGENT IQ

In this episode our guest is Slaven Bilac.  Slaven is the co-founder and CEO of AgentIQ. Among many responsibilities, Slaven is leading the Agent IQ Engineering Team and is responsible for technology behind Agent IQ platform from early design to serving in production.

Before Agent IQ, Slaven worked at Google for 12 years, initially focusing on improving Google Search Engine and acting as Search Lead in the Google Japan Office. Later he lead the Cloud Machine Intelligence Group tasked with making Google-internal ML technology available on GCP. While at Google, Slaven has helped build several large engineering teams and demonstrated passion for making ML and NLP technology immediately useful by launching several user-facing products.

Slaven has a PhD in Computer Science from Tokyo Institute of Technology and his research focus was Natural Language Processing and Machine Translation. He has completed his undergraduate studies at University of Washington and holds BS in Computer Science and BA in Linguistics. He holds 6 patents and has published numerous papers at peer reviewed conferences.

This podcast is brought to you by Vuk Dukic and Anablock

Interview with Nikita Prokopev, Founder of Pharos.ai

Hello and welcome everyone. I am Vuk Dukic and this is Anablock podcast. This show is exploration of enterprise software, technology, ideas, business, science and strategy. This podcast is for anyone that likes to learn new things about business and technology.

This podcast is brought to you by Anablock. Anablock is a system integrator and Salesforce partner. Anablock's technical team helps organizations to implement, customize, and optimize their Salesforce applications.

Today’s guest is Nikita Prokopev. Nikita is founder of Pharos.ai and Golden Ratio Systems. He is a senior software engineer with an amazing career and background. We talk about growing up in Russia, hacking culture, functional programming, early days of Salesforce, Pharos.ai app, and about many more tech and non-tech things.

This podcast is brought to you by Vuk Dukic and Anablock