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Enabling developers to push code to production at an ever-increasing velocity has become a competitive advantage. By rapidly deploying applications, companies can easily keep up with changes in the business and surrounding market and thus maintain competitiveness. Automating deployments allow developers to reduce errors, increase productivity, and deploy more frequently.

In the early days,deployments from development environments to production were predominantly a manual process or consisted of utilizing a chain of custom scripts. Both developers and operations teams had to spend a lot of time on laborious manual chores like code testing and release. With the introduction of continuous integrations and deployments capabilities through tooling, this process became more automated. Moreover, pipelines were introduced with the primary purpose of keeping the software development process organized and focused.

Over the years, pipelines became more sophisticated and more critical for companies' IT departments that went through digital transformations. More software became available online as services, APIs, and products requiring a quick update and maintenance cycle. Furthermore, companies embraced the DevOps processes around pipelines and - once applied correctly - gained a competitive advantage, according to the research from the "Accelerate" book by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim.

In this eMag, you will be introduced to the paths to production and how several global companies supercharge developers and keep their competitiveness by balancing speed and safety. Weve hand-picked three full-length articles to showcase that.

We would love to receive your feedback via editors@infoq.com or on Twitter about this eMag. I hope you have a great time reading it!

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The InfoQ eMag: Paths to Production: Deployment Pipelines as a Competitive Advantage - InfoQ.com

The final month of 2021 has been brutal for growth stocks, with some names down double-digit percentages again. Some companies' shares have struggled all year, suffering from a change in investor sentiment after a booming 2020 for all things digital in the midst of economic lockdowns.

But not all growth stocks are down in the dumps. As of this writing, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT), and Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) are up a respective 125%, 132%, and 258% year to date, making them by far my best stocks of 2021 and helping prop up my portfolio overall.

As I explained this time last year, over the long term, it pays to keep investing in companies riding strong momentum. Here's why I think Nvidia, Fortinet, and Upstart are still buys to kick off 2022 if you plan to stick with them over the next decade.

Image source: Getty Images.

2021 will go down as the year everyone woke up and realized how powerful a tech platform Nvidia is -- it's not just a top video game chip designer. Through the first nine months of the company's current fiscal year, revenue is up 65% to $19.3 billion, and free cash flow is up 85% to $5.37 billion, helping the stock more than double in year two of the pandemic.

But Nvidia's current financial explosion only tells part of the story. The company's pioneering work in artificial intelligence (AI) -- everything from advanced data center hardware to self-driving car training to healthcare and robotics applications -- could keep Nvidia's growth going strong for many years to come. For years, Nvidia has been talking about this coming wave of innovation, and has been steadily piling billions of dollars into research and development every year (at one of the highest rates among tech giants as a percentage of revenue). With many of these projects just now coming to fruition, everyone is suddenly taking note.

Data by YCharts.

This is likely the reason regulators around the globe are suddenly slamming on the brakes and indicating they may put the kibosh on Nvidia's acquisition of leading chip design licensor ARM Holdings. No worries, though -- Nvidia is itself now a top silicon designer, it's gradually expanding its reach into new areas of the semiconductor world, and it's building an incredible software division atop its best-in-class hardware. It doesn't need ARM to continue its march higher.

Nvidia stock is off 20% from all-time highs, but still trades for 103 times trailing-12-month free cash flow. I don't expect a repeat triple-digit percentage performance from shares next year. On the contrary, be ready for some serious volatility at some point. However, Nvidia is redefining the semiconductor industry, and I believe it will be one of the best stocks to own throughout the 2020s. I'm happy to be along for the ride.

Cybersecurity has had to undergo rapid change in the last two years. Cloud computing is booming, workforces have gone remote, and criminals are getting smarter to take advantage of a world in flux. As a result, young high-flying cloud-native security software firms like CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) and Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) have been getting all sorts of attention.

In comparison, Fortinet goes mostly ignored, and that's a real shame. This year's blockbuster returns merely compound what has been an incredible run in the cybersecurity industry. The stock is up more than 4,000% since its IPO in late 2009. And while Fortinet has chosen to slowly expand its cloud-based offerings via mostly organic development, it is the leader in providing security hardware for data centers -- the very computing units that make the cloud possible in the first place.

Through the first nine months of 2021, revenue has climbed 29% higher to $2.38 billion, and free cash is up 43% to $988 million. That makes for an incredible free cash flow profit margin of nearly 42%. Given Fortinet's well-entrenched position in the fabric of the global security ecosystem and ample cash to continue developing new capabilities, I believe the company will enjoy double-digit percentage growth for a long time to come.

Fortinet isn't the fastest-growing cybersecurity stock around, but that's OK. If slow-and-steady wins the race, fast-and-steady can certainly help you reach your financial goals. And at 46 times trailing-12-month free cash flow, shares are a bargain compared to many of the company's youngest cloud security peers. Fortinet still looks like a fantastic buy for investors in it for the long haul.

Financial technology has been a hot investment theme the last two years. As younger generations born and raised in front of screens start to mature, digital payments and banking services are becoming the norm. A slew of fresh IPOs have hit the market, all looking to capitalize on this consumer banking sea change.

One of them is Upstart, which made its public debut at the tail end of 2020. It has been an absolute rodeo for this stock thus far. After multiple swings up and down, culminating in a near-70% decline from all-time highs the last few months, Upstart stock is up a whopping 258% with just a week and a half to go until 2022.

Will Upstart quickly recover its peak valuation in the new year? Perhaps, but I'm not holding my breath. Instead, I'm doing what I have been doing all year and focusing on the great work the company is doing. Its AI-powered software is being used by a fast-expanding list of banks and lenders to assess consumer creditworthiness for personal and auto loans. It's still early in the game, but early indications show Upstart's expanded use of data points not captured by traditional credit scores is helping more households get access to loans, while helping lenders get more efficient.

The result has been quarter after quarter of big financial guidance upgrades. Specifically, revenue is up 270% to $544 million, and free cash flow swung into positive territory to $170 million through the first nine months of 2021. I don't think the company's massive outperformance of expectations will continue at the same magnitude in 2022, but it's certainly on pace to extend its expansion in the multi-trillion-dollar-per-year lending industry. At 54 times trailing-12-month free cash flow, this is no value stock -- but it's not an unreasonable price tag if you think this company will remain in growth mode for at least a few years. I'm still a buyer headed into the new year.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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My 3 Top-Performing Stocks of 2021, and Why I'm Still Buying for 2022 - The Motley Fool

We have developed a thirst for uncovering whos behind the brand, who are they associated with, and what they stand for. Companies realise also that they need to celebrate the faces behind their brands if they are to stand any chance of gaining traction on social media.

Well, put it this way, if you are marketing yourself as being a credible and accomplished professional or bankable talent worth investing in, but internet searches on you throw up very little, then its not a good look and it undermines your claims.

If you dont control your narrative and give people enough to feed on, then someone else will draw their own conclusions, which may not be a fair reflection of who you are, what youve achieved, and what youre about.

Plus, whether its of our choosing or not, no job is for life: we are being plunged into the job market with far more frequency and having to consider career changes more so than ever.

Brands are a great way to consolidate all your facets into an identifiable, recognisable and memorable format. When I say brand, were not just talking about a logo and a slogan. In fact, for professionals, that may even mean no logo and no slogan. Building a brand is about creating something that generates economic benefit, allows you to charge a premium, boosts your presence, and brings social uplift within your network. In the eyes of your audience and peers, it means going to market with a value proposition, a promise, and a commitment towards making good on those claims.

Now that Ive made these points, ask yourself this: why would you spend your time building someone elses brand and not dedicate any time on building your own personal brand? Think of it as being your name, your uniqueness, your excellence, your story, your reasons for why that you can take with you throughout your career, wherever you work.

Even better, it could give you the opportunity to shape your professional identity into something that aligns more closely with more of your whole self. Some people call that authenticity, which I take as meaning a chance to be comfortable in yourself and for people to be comfortable around you. That takes time, intentional decisions, experimentation, and finding a way to take others on that journey with you, so that they understand too.

Some of you might argue that the qualifications you have, where you studied, and the places you have worked are enough in terms of signalling your credibility and excellence, but lots of other people have those same things too. Also, one thing that social media is showing us is that people are emotionally driven even when theyre thinking rationally so facts and information alone are not enough. They need to be packaged into a compelling and intriguing story that reinforces who you are, what you do, what you stand for, the direction you are going, why it matters to others, what you can do for them, and how they can work with you.

Its also worth remembering that colleagues will be spending approximately 40 hours a week around you, and thats why communicating your human side as a positive sales point for want of a better term is also important.

Well, you need to get your diary out and set time aside. Think about what you would like to achieve in a year, and then work back and set weekly and monthly targets. For example, if you are going to vlog, are you going to put out one vlog a month? If so, then you could actually film three in one day and then release one each month.

The big mistakes that many people make are thinking too short term, setting targets that they cant maintain, not planning properly, not being honest about what commitments they already have, and spending too much money on software and equipment. If you check my YouTube vlogs then youll find that I filmed them using my iPhone, a small tripod and a plug-in mic, and they were edited using free software.

The two most important things are what you say regularly, and that you commit to producing a body of work. If you think about magazines and musicians, then you judge them on several pieces of work building a personal brand works in exactly the same way.

The following is a list of things that I actually do regularly. From personal experience and talking to other influencers, youll really start to see returns on your investment in three to six years time so be realistic, prepare yourself for the grind, and remind yourself its not how much money you spend, its how much time youre willing to put in.

Also, dont worry too much about numbers of followers and likes quality of engagement is what matters. Your stats will grow with time and your focus should be on building your brand through telling your story and controlling your image. Remind yourself that before you started, you already had a professional profile and anything else that you gain is a bonus. Also, you only need a handful of the right people interested in you, for you to suddenly become in demand and really busy!

Check out Jonathans online course Personal Branding: How to Brand Yourself Professionally, Authentically, and with Passion.

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Why personal branding and reputation management need to be part of your professional toolkit - Maddyness

Bumble (NASDAQ:BMBL) and Meta's (NASDAQ:FB) Facebook might initially seem like very different companies. Bumble's namesake product, which served 1.5 million paid users in its latest quarter is a female-oriented dating app that lets women make the first move. Facebook, the world's largest social network, connects 2.9 billion monthly active users (MAUs) to their coworkers, friends, and family each month.

But if we take a closer look, some similarities start to appear. Bumble's BFF feature for platonic friendships is gradually evolving into a social network. During last quarter's conference call, it teased the expansion of BFF into a "metaverse" for new user-created communities -- which sounds similar to Facebook's virtual and augmented reality plans for the metaverse market.

Meanwhile, Facebook launched Facebook Dating, a free dating feature for its social network in the U.S., over two years ago. But it hasn't meaningfully challenged Bumble or Match's (NASDAQ:MTCH) Tinder yet -- presumably because most people still don't associate online dating with Facebook.

Image source: Getty Images.

These two companies certainly aren't direct competitors yet. But over the next few years, could Bumble evolve into a smaller, female-oriented version of Facebook and gain a foothold in the saturated social networking market?

Bumble doesn't disclose exactly how many people use BFF, but it's dropped a few hints over the past three quarters. Back in May, Bumble said the average time spent on BFF had increased 44% for women and 83% for men. It also said more than 90% of women who initiated contact on BFF in March had found at least one match. CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said those metrics highlighted a "huge opportunity" for users who were seeking out "community and friendship through many life stages."

In August, the company said that 10% of Bumble's users were also using BFF as of the second quarter. In November, it reported BFF's MAUs had risen 45% year over year in the third quarter -- which outpaced the 20% year-over-year growth in paid users on Bumble's main app.

Bumble doesn't regularly disclose its combined number of free and paid MAUs, but its IPO filing revealed that its main app served 12.3 million MAUs as of last September. Based on all those numbers, we can estimate that BFF has roughly 1 million to 2 million MAUs.

However, that's a drop in the ocean compared to Facebook's 2.9 billion MAUs, Pinterest's 444 million MAUs, and Snap's 306 million daily active users (DAUs). Bumble also hasn't monetized BFF yet -- it's only vaguely hinted at ads, virtual goods, and cryptocurrency payments for the platform in the future.

In May, Wolfe Herd said BFF's users were forming new communities for young professionals, parents, divorcees, women who were going through menopause, and other granular groups. She also said Bumble would relaunch BFF as a blockchain-powered privacy-oriented platform in the near future.

The company hasn't relaunched BFF yet. But during last quarter's conference call, Bumble president Tariq Shaukat discussed the possibility of launching branded avatars for other third-party virtual worlds and the introduction of cryptocurrency services for the platform.

In other words, Bumble doesn't aspire to expand BFF into a massive virtual reality world like Facebook's Horizon Worlds. Instead, it should remain a small, streamlined social network that locks users into Bumble's main app. In addition, Facebook has already reportedly sold about ten million Oculus Quest 2 headsets globally, and it could potentially tether a lot of those users to Horizon Worlds. That already gives it a big head start in the metaverse against Bumble BFF's estimated audience of one to two million users.

There might be room for a female-oriented social network in the crowded social media market. More than half of Facebook's U.S. users are female, and all the recent noise about the platform's hate speech, fake news, and privacy violations could drive more users to alternative platforms like BFF.

Unfortunately, BFF already faces some serious growing pains. A recent report at Input indicates the platform has been saturated by multilevel marketing (MLM) recruiters who pose as potential "friends" to gain new recruits. Bumble says the promotion of MLM programs on BFF is a violation of its policies, but it can be tough to weed out MLM recruiters.

Facebook has also suffered from MLM headaches before, but it's less of an issue because it's mainly a platform for a user's existing friends, coworkers, and family members. BFF, on the other hand, requires its users to reach out to strangers -- and fewer users could be willing to take that leap of faith if the platform is filled with MLM recruiters or scammers.

BFF's growth potential could also be hampered by its integration into Bumble's app, which has experienced a slowdown over the past year. If Bumble stops growing, its upcoming relaunch of BFF won't get much attention.It's also highly unlikely Bumble will ever grow as large as Meta in the future. Analysts expect Meta to generate more than 153 times as much revenue as Bumble this year, and its market cap of over $930 billion puts it in a completely different weight class as Bumble's market cap of $6.5 billion.

Bumble BFF probably won't evolve into a major social network or tech titan in the future. However, Facebook also probably won't become a major dating platform -- which will leave that niche market open for Bumble and Match.

So instead of focusing on Bumble's ability to expand its ecosystem beyond its core dating apps, investors should focus more on its ability to become the next Match -- which remains the $38 billion market cap gorilla to beat in the online dating market.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Could Bumble Become the Next Facebook? - The Motley Fool

This story originally appeared on Zacks

The Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL) was launched on 11/14/2011, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Technology - Internet segment of the equity market.

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Internet is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Global X Management. It has amassed assets over $339.94 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Internet segment of the equity market. SOCL seeks to match the performance of the Solactive Social Media Total Return Index before fees and expenses.

The Solactive Social Media Index is designed to reflect the performance of companies involved in the social media industry, including companies that provide social networking, file sharing, and other web-based media applications.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.65%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Looking at individual holdings, Meta Platforms Inc (FB) accounts for about 10.34% of total assets, followed by Tencent Holdings Ltd and Snap Inc - A (SNAP).

The top 10 holdings account for about 62.62% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Global X Social Media ETF has lost about -12.49% so far, and is down about -10.47% over the last 12 months (as of 12/28/2021). SOCL has traded between $52.14 and $78.16 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.93 and standard deviation of 28.02% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 34 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Global X Social Media ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, SOCL is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) tracks N/A and the First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (FDN) tracks Dow Jones Internet Composite Index. ARK Next Generation Internet ETF has $4.09 billion in assets, First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF has $10.16 billion. ARKW has an expense ratio of 0.79% and FDN charges 0.51%.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America

A massive push to rebuild the crumbling U.S. infrastructure will soon be underway. Its bipartisan, urgent, and inevitable. Trillions will be spent. Fortunes will be made.

The only question is Will you get into the right stocks early when their growth potential is greatest?

Zacks has released a Special Report to help you do just that, and today its free. Discover 7 special companies that look to gain the most from construction and repair to roads, bridges, and buildings, plus cargo hauling and energy transformation on an almost unimaginable scale.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportGlobal X Social Media ETF (SOCL): ETF Research ReportsMeta Platforms, Inc. (FB): Free Stock Analysis ReportARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW): ETF Research ReportsFirst Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (FDN): ETF Research ReportsSnap Inc. (SNAP): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

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Should You Invest in the Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL)? - Entrepreneur