Docker Captains are select members of the community that are both experts in their field and are passionate about sharing their Docker knowledge with others. “Docker Captains Take 5” is a regular blog series where we get a closer look at our Captains and ask them the same broad set of questions ranging from what their best Docker tip is to whether they prefer cats or dogs (personally, we like whales and turtles over here). Today, we’re interviewing Martin Terp who just joined as a Docker Captain. Martin is a Splunk Consultant at Netic.dk and is based in Aalborg, Denmark.

How/when did you first discover Docker?

I was working as a Sysadmin for a big Danish ISP, and when you work with IT, you always try to expand your knowledge: How can I improve this application? How can I make deployments easier? What is the next big thing? So back in 2016, I came across Docker, and instantly fell in love with it and containerization in general. I started testing it out, on my own little projects and quickly I could see the benefits for it in the way we deploy and maintain applications.

What is your favorite Docker command?

I must say “docker scan”, making images and running containers is pretty sweet, but you also need to think about the vulnerabilities that can (will) occur. Looking back at the log4j vulnerability, it’s pretty important to detect it, also when running your own, and building your own images. Docker scan provides this functionality and I love it, also its great to see that https://hub.docker.com/ also have implemented a vulnerability scanner 💙

What is your top tip for working with Docker that others may not know?

Use Dockerfiles! I have seen many, mainly newcomers, that are building containers by “docker exec” into the container, and executing commands/scripts that they need. Do the right thing from the start, and do yourself a favor by looking into Dockerfiles, it’s worth it.

What’s the coolest Docker demo you have done/seen ?

Dockercon 2017, docker captains Marcos Nils and Jonathan Leibiusky showcased “Play With Docker” (https://labs.play-with-docker.com/). I was really impressed and thought it would be really handy for people to get into docker.

What have you worked on in the past six months that you’re particularly proud of?

I don’t think there is a particular project, something I’m personally proud of, is that I switched jobs after being in the same place for 14 years, and started specializing in another awesome analytics tool called Splunk. Also a feel-good thing, is my contribution to the community forums. I have spent a lot of time on the forums trying to help others with their issues.

What do you anticipate will be Docker’s biggest announcement this year?

It’s really hard to tell, surprise me 😉

What are some personal goals for the next year with respect to the Docker community?

I spend a lot of time on the community forums, and there are questions that get asked again and again with “how do i”, so the plan is to create some blog posts, addressing some of the common things that get asked on the forums.

What talk would you most love to see at DockerCon 2022?

I love to see when they are presenting real-world scenarios. It’s always very interesting to see what people have come up with, how they solved their head-scratching projects, and every year I’m amazed!
But I also hope to see myself at Dockercon in the future, I hope that covid hasn’t put a complete stop to events where we can attend IRL. I would like to meet some of my fellow docker enthusiasts.

Looking to the distant future, what is the technology that you’re most excited about and that you think holds a lot of promise?

I love containers and I’m very excited to see where it will go in the future, its evolving constantly, there is always a new way to doing this, doing that, doing things smarter, and that’s also something I like with this community, people want to share their findings, we occasionally see posts on the forums with “Look what I made!” and those are the most fun to see 😊 

Rapid fire questions…

What new skill have you mastered during the pandemic?

I have on and off tried learning to play the guitar, but couldn’t really find the time for it, so I tried picking it up again doing the pandemic, and after all this time, I can proudly say; I suck at it! 😅

Cats or Dogs?

Why not both? 😊

Salty, sour or sweet?

Salty

Beach or mountains?

Beach!

Your most often used emoji?

😅