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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · 7d

Things right now can be super heavy in #STEM - here’s some levity of my wizard-magician puppy (10mo old!) with his highland cow Halloween plushie to break up the feed. Sadly he can’t accompany me to #SC25, but I still hope to engage with as many of you as possible while there! 😁

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Sep 9

Few things in work-travel are as peak creature-comfort as settling down for the night in an optimally temperature-controlled hotel room and falling asleep to the endless supply of Forensic Files on HLN. #iykyk 🤣

Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Sep 5

But ultimately the appeal of the field is how much can rapidly change when the underlying principles remain the same. With quantum, the underlying principles change yet again. I thrive on the lifelong learning aspect, even when new things are fast & furious. 🤩

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Sep 5

One of my fave things about tech is that it is ever-changing, always evolving. In the trenches, I sometimes wish the release lifecycle was a bit less breakneck these days. And always approach the newness w/ the caution of cybersec, ethics, and a healthy dose of human-in-the-loop still important.

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Sep 5

It's truly a fascinating era to experience in the tech industry. In this case, 'security problems' =/= exploitable vulns and instead includes things like OSS dependencies. Would be interested to see the disaggregated data. Brings up broader thoughts on acceptable risk thresholds of vibe coding tho.

The Register @theregister.com · Sep 5

AI code assistants make developers more efficient at creating security problems

Fixes typos, creates timebombs AI coding assistants allow developers to move fast and break things, which may not be ideal.…

dlvr.it

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Aug 23

I shared with my colleague that this is arguably the best news I've ever received at the top of a ladder while pulling cable in the data center! In actuality: my personal best top-of-ladder news ever! Anyone have another fun story of receiving awesome #HPC news in-situ of the architecture? 😅

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media.tenor.com

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Aug 23

Received wonderful news that our #SC25 #BoF on Operational Data Analytics #ODA was accepted! I happened to be atop a ladder in the data center pulling a new 50' cable from the hubs/gws that aggregate our #tString rack door temp sensors into NERSC's data lake - #OMNI!

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Aug 13

Enjoyed a visit to @taccutexas.bsky.social today. #TACC will always hold a special place as one of the first HPC sites I worked on in my grad program - now over a decade ago. The research collaboration & support shaped my view of the field. ❤️

Tan dog with white paws wearing a red cowboy hat

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Aug 1

After ASI? And here I thought Agent Reese won the war!

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 21

Lots of cool advantages of off-prem / cloud too - more easy integration w/ new and emerging tech.

The fun thing about an engineering degree is that the old adage never dies, despite evolving technology - choose 2; good, cheap, fast. Warms my heart to know we're all still grounded in this foundation

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 21

Especially true when using on-prem resources - while you save on an ever-evolving "cloud cost model," the upfront $$$ amount for on-prem may looks exorbitant on outset. Same time, you've gotta price out annual licensing vs on-prem. It becomes extremely trade-off--based and nuanced as you scale.

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 21

We're here to help! But if you're a newbie breaking in, while we welcome every new person, all ideas, and are always open to improvement... my only caution is the same to any engineer as it was told to me too - "you don't know what you don't know." And in this case, historical knowledge matters. 😜

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 21

As someone with extensive training in SW engineering, systems architecture, distributed systems design, etc - I get that it seems easy until it isn't. 😜 I urge your continued engagement of the global #EEHPCWG Operational Data Analytics #ODA team. sites.google.com/lbl.gov/oda-...

ODA Team

Our Team Mission & Goals

sites.google.com

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 21

Observability at this scale isn’t “just software.” It’s infrastructure... with physical interfaces, hardware faults, sensor constraints, and operational context baked in.

SW matters, but it's nowhere near the full-stack... this is hardcore complex systems architecture through-and-through.

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 21

A stark reminder anyone in #HPCobservability knows all too well: conceptually simple doesn’t mean operationally trivial.

Especially when "monitoring" is a full-stack, cross-domain, centerwide data effort for users & operators. A big point: you don't need more abstraction, you need more grounding.

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 5

The mission is clear: to advance science for humankind. To say that’s only achieved along a pathway of folks privileged enough to pursue a PhD is so harmful to the community at large.

Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 5

When a PhD requirement eclipses you from considering others, you risk stacking a team of thought leaders that never implement anything or say the implementation is too hard until such time they delay the same commentary for the next system.

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 5

And as someone that’s spent longer in graduate school (thus having more years through the lens of impactful vs pushed-through PhDs — especially given limitations of the field in reproducibility)… necessitates a super balanced leader that can see both.

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 5

Not meant to throw shade. It’s just to illuminate inflexible thinking — i.e., an org that believes those 3 letters serve as a qualification that cannot be otherwise met via years of experience, years toward the degree, etc… there are legitimate dangers to stacking a house based on a degree.

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jul 5

Good things & bad things of not having finished the PhD despite being ABD after super many years — I see both the tremendous accomplishment and weight it carries but also have an eye for how limited it is or what can be pushed through when industry is the ultimate goal vs academia.

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jun 20

While it’s not a simple problem to tackle, it is worth noting that it is quite refreshing to read a response that wasn’t as superficial as “APIs” 😂

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jun 20

Was in a meeting this week that scratched an old research itch based on my past work in the #HPC event-driven workflows space… can’t stop thinking about how much fun it was to exchange ideas in the research mindset on the user-facing side again! Dare I say I might even have missed it? 🫣

Reposted by Melissa

Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jun 18

Do we as a working society value the supernovae or the red dwarfs? What is the right amount of boundary to be seen as valuable but not burn out in an infinite workday culture by an employer?

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media.tenor.com

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jun 18

Do we as a working society value the supernovae or the red dwarfs? What is the right amount of boundary to be seen as valuable but not burn out in an infinite workday culture by an employer?

a national geographic logo is visible in the corner of a dark blue background

ALT: a national geographic logo is visible in the corner of a dark blue background

media.tenor.com

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Melissa @itsmelrom.bsky.social · Jun 18

Going the extra mile vs doing too much is a gray area without a strong manager. Employees’ own circumstances are also not considered as influential in their boundaries.

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