Chapter 1: Getting to Know Google’s Cloud

I was consulting in Canary Warf, London, for a large financial services consultancy a few years ago when I got called into a meeting with a client who’d just signed a significant software development contract to be deployed into Google Cloud. I was invited to help answer Google Cloud questions. I arrived a little early wearing blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a T-shirt showing a father and son walking together. The son asks, “Daddy, what are the clouds made of?” The father replies, “Linux servers mostly.”

Precisely on time, in strolled a British banker. How did I know? I’m American, and if an American closes their eyes and pictures a banker from a 150-year-old brick-and-mortar UK bank, yeah, it was this guy. Former RAF officer, three-piece suit, cufflinks. Suddenly, I felt way underdressed.

The meeting started, and Google Cloud was mentioned for the first time. Mr. Banker looked like he...