Speaking

I speak at a few conferences each year, around the world. I enjoy discussing Open Source initiatives as well as perspective/opinion/thought-provoking discussions about various developer topics. I don’t speak very often, but when I do I try to “bring it” – going all out in terms of content, entertainment, and quality of presentation. As such, my talks tend to be rated among the highest of the conference.

I’ve added a few of these below. Enjoy.

	NDC 2011: Kill Your ORM In June of 2011 I spoke at the Norwegian Developer’s Conference about where we’ve come with our awesome data access tools – aka “ORMs”. Or rather, how far away from reality we currently are. Microsoft has spent close to 6 years working on Entity Framework, spending MILLIONS of dollars on a tool that nobody needs. This is insanity!
	NDC 2011: Make Your Rails App Sing In June of 2011 I spoke at the Norwegian Developer’s Conference about tips and tricks for keeping your Rails app happily running long after the scaffolding magic has been ditched. In this talk I discuss MySQL vs. PostGres, various gems that come in handy, and how to avoid writing code altogether by integrating with external services.
	The Next Big Thing Or Cool-Kid Koolaid? Slicing Through The Rhetoric of MVC vs. WebForms In this presentation I dissect the arguments that are polluting the blogosphere, surrounding the discussion of whether ASP.NET MVC is “right” for you and your team. Passion, misinformation, assumptions and fear have pushed people into entrenched positions, leaving little room for intelligent thought. The goal of this presentation is to “shake loose” the rhetoric and give you some concrete ideas to think about if you’re considering a move to ASP.NET MVC.
	There’s a Little Scripter in All of Us In May of 2009 I spoke at MIX09 – the Microsoft developer conference in Las Vegas. In this conference I challenged the long-held belief (in the .NET world) that your web app needs to be a highly-structured bit of software, basically suggesting that there’s a Little Scripter inside you who’s crying out for help.