#005:  In this episode of DevEx Unpacked, Alan Carson chats with Ciara Carey, Solutions Engineer at Cloudsmith, about her career journey from developer to DevRel to her current customer-facing role. 

Ciara shares real-world insights on software supply chain security, how teams are using Enterprise Policy Management (EPM) to control open source risk, and why Cloudsmith’s cloud-native platform is a game changer for DevSecOps workflows. 

You’ll also hear stories about support chats, high-stakes demos, speaking gigs, and what makes a successful customer onboarding journey. 

A must-listen for engineers, platform teams, and security-conscious startups. 

• (00:00) - From DevRel to Solution Engineering: Ciara’s Cloudsmith Journey
• (04:56) - Solving Real Developer Pain: Artefact Management in the Wild
• (09:06) - Guardrails Not Gates: Balancing Speed with Software Security
• (13:12) - Rethinking DevSecOps: Lessons from Real-World Customer Use Cases
• (17:02) - Inside Enterprise Policy Management: What Customers Really Want
• (21:25) - Rego, Auditing & Automation: Making EPM Easy for Teams
• (25:01) - Who Uses EPM, and How It Bridges Developers and Security Teams
• (31:01) - From POC to POV: What Makes a Successful Cloudsmith Onboarding
• (34:28) - Building the Customer Success Engine (and Letting Go)
• (41:48) - Talks, Panels & Product Demos: Behind the Scenes of DevRel Life
• (43:32) - The New Cloudsmith UI: Refresh, Delight, and Real-Time Feedback
• (47:26) - Cloud-Native FTW: Usage Dashboards, Seamless Upgrades & More