deck

Making the Move to Management

Many developers have wondered where their career path might lead once they have reached the pinnacle of coding expertise in their sphere of influence at work. For almost everyone, it seems that sooner or later it leads to some kind of management. Trading your best coder’s compiler and editor for a meeting schedule and notebook might seem like a poor choice, but there are patterns that can influence how successful a geek-turned-manager might be.

Hiring and Being Hired

Almost all of us are involved in the hiring process in one way or another. This talk will cover things I think people on both sides of the interview table should know. We’ll discuss what characteristics are most crucial in making a good hire. We’ll expose the secrets of what your next potential employer is probably looking for. We’ll examine the fine art of making sure that your next employer-employee relationship is a great fit.

Single Page Apps and JS MVVM Frameworks (SkiPHP)

For many years, we’ve been building web applications in more or less the same way. The tools have changed, but the architecture has mostly remained the same. Single page applications are a newer approach that can simplify your development and provide a better user experience, especially for mobile devices. This talk discusses what single page apps are, how you build one, and lessons learned in a team that has built several in a variety of different ways. We will also discuss the role that Javascript MVVM frameworks can play in Single Page Applications. [January 2014 SkiPHP Conference Edition]

kanban the other agile

While many people have heard of Agile, and most of those have heard of Scrum, there's another Agile methodology called Kanban that might be a better fit for your team. Kanban has its roots in lean manufacturing, specifically the Toyota Production System, where it plays a key role in reducing the inventory of work-in-progress in just-in-time manufacturing. In agile software development, it's a very flexible alternative to Scrum with fewer rules and a focus on improving throughput and quality. From OpenWest Conference, May 2013. See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHFYzpiaWYU

Single Page Apps and JS MVVM Frameworks

For many years, we’ve been building web applications in more or less the same way. The tools have changed, but the architecture has mostly remained the same. Single page applications are a newer approach that can simplify your development and provide a better user experience, especially for mobile devices. This talk discusses what single page apps are, how you build one, and lessons learned in a team that has built several in a variety of different ways. We will also discuss the role that Javascript MVVM frameworks can play in Single Page Applications. [Parts of this presentation appeared at OpenWest Conference in May 2013, UPHPU in September 2013, and will appear in January 2014 at SkiPHP Conference.]