Two CTO Dinosaurs vs. Today's Tech Hype with Raz Shuty // CTO @ Aux Money

What happens when two experienced CTOs sit down to debunk the latest tech trends? Raz Schweiger-Shuty, CTO at Aux Money, joins Tobi for an unfiltered discussion about the hypes, myths, and wastes of resources that plague modern tech companies.

After taking over a 17-year-old fintech platform with no prior CTO, Raz made controversial decisions that flew in the face of conventional wisdom: stopping a microservices migration, questioning Kubernetes adoption, and focusing on measurable business value over engineering trends. His "dinosaur CTO" perspective offers a refreshing antidote to tech hype.

This conversation cuts through the noise with practical insights on: • 🚫 Why every monolith-to-microservices story ends the same way (spoiler: badly) • 💰 Reducing cloud costs from €120k to €85k through systematic waste elimination • 🔧 When Kubernetes complexity becomes a liability rather than an asset • 📊 Using DORA metrics and cost-per-transaction instead of vanity metrics • 🏗️ Building modular monoliths with domain-driven design principles • 👥 Organizing engineering teams around business value streams, not technology stacks

Chapters.

00:01:00Show premise: Two CTO Dinosaurs vs. Today's Tech Hype

00:03:56Raz's unconventional path: QA to CTO via pragmatic learning

00:08:31Junior vs senior engineers in the AI era

00:11:01Aux Money: 17 years without a CTO, then Raz arrives

00:13:45Stopping the microservices migration: building trust through disagreement

00:15:08Language choices: PHP works, Rust creates hiring problems

00:19:35Modular monolith strategy using domain-driven design

00:21:56Value stream teams and Conway's Law alignment

00:22:26Kubernetes reality check: elasticity vs complexity overhead

00:29:53FinOps deep dive: €120k to €85k AWS cost reduction

00:32:13Cost-per-transaction metrics for engineering accountability

00:35:00Platform engineering centralization dangers

00:40:22Velocity metrics are broken: focus on DORA instead

00:43:54Meantime to recovery as team health indicator

00:48:34Bottom-up AI adoption: Cursor rollout strategy

00:54:16Fintech security: ISO 27001 and AI supply chain risks

00:56:59Leadership lessons: building trust through authentic communication

Two CTO Dinosaurs vs. Today's Tech Hype with Raz Shuty // CTO @ Aux MoneyUnfiltered insights on microservices myths, cloud cost reality, and pragmatic technical leadership

Chapters.

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