Speakers • MenderCon 2024

Introduction & Overview

Learn what to expect, what the rules are, etc.

Closing Circle & Retrospective

A with the end of any project, let’s come together to talk about what went well, what could’ve been better, and what should change for next time.

M. Scott Ford Co-Founder and Chief Code Whisperer, Corgibytes

M. Scott Ford is the Co-Founder and Chief Code Whisperer at Corgibytes, a software consultancy dedicated to modernizing existing codebases. Scott, who has been called the “Bob Vila of the internet”, is a polyglot developer who, at last count, is fluent in over twenty programming languages. Scott’s love of software restoration and remodeling began in college where he and his team were responsible for retrofiting the testing tools for the X-31 jet fighter. Since then, Scott has maintained a test-focused approach to his work and found the most joy in projects where an existing codebase needed to be improved. Scott is also a guest lecturer on Continuous Delivery practices at Harvard University.

Using Code Coverage and Mutation Testing to add tests to Legacy Code

A technical talk in which Clare will show you how to add tests to legacy code that has none, as a precursor to refactoring.

Clare Sudbery Technical Coach, Independent

Clare Sudbery is an independent technical coach with 24 years of software engineering experience. She specialises in TDD, refactoring, pair programming, continuous integration and other eXtreme Programming (XP) practices. Clare taught the Coding Black Females’ Return to Tech programme and co-ran Made Tech’s academy – coaching inexperienced engineers to learn on the job. She has a passion for helping under-represented groups to flourish in tech. Clare hosted Season One of the acclaimed Making Tech Better podcast and publishes content on Medium (“A Woman in Technology”) and her own site (“In Simple Terms”). She is the author of the Stupidity Manifesto, has written about trunk-based development and refactoring for O’Reilly and for Martin Fowler’s site, and regularly presents workshops and keynotes at events all over the world.

From Legacy Monolith to Microservices via Event Storming

It can be overwhelming to take a legacy monolith and split it into microservices, especially if the code seems messy. However, conversations with techies and non-techies over policies and process through an exercise called Event Storming can help ease your migration from a monolith to microservices. In this session, you will learn about Event Storming in the context of breaking down a legacy monolith eCommerce system into microservices.

Sarah Dutkiewicz Senior Trainer, NimblePros

Sarah Dutkiewicz is a native Clevelander, Microsoft MVP in Developer Technologies, published technical author of a PowerShell book, podcast/live coding guest, conference organizer, hackathon lead organizer, speaker, community advocate, software developer, wife, and mom. She speaks on topics such as software architecture, domain-driven design, Azure DevOps for varied audiences, database development, web development, and user experience guidance for developers. With her varied career, Sarah brings developer, DBA, and server admin perspectives to technical and non-technical teams, bridging communication gaps, and helping them grow.

AI Coding: The State of the Mend

The future of software is the future of software maintenance. A year since the release of GPT-4, millions of developers have tried AI language models in their workflow - with wildly varying results! New prototypes sometimes come easily, while updating existing codebases (without breaking them) is much harder. As menders, we must understand how this fits into a sustainable and high-quality process. What really works? What challenges remain? How can we solve them? Let's explore.

Ray Myers Chaos Engineer | Tech Lead, Indeed.com

Ray Myers is a legacy code expert and skeptical enthusiast for AI. With 16 years in software engineering across multiple industries, he urges a focus on our collective lessons learned to improve our systems and organizations. He publishes guidance on Craft vs Cruft and Mender.AI, with influences from DevOps to Taoism.

Keynote - Community is Just as Important as Code

Nearly a decade ago, a small group of menders (and one maker) found community with each other at a conference and Legacy Code Rocks was born. Since then, the Legacy Code Rocks community has grown to over 1000 people, 150 podcast episodes, a weekly meetup and of course, MenderCon.

In this talk, Andrea Goulet, the maker who kindled the spark, will take us back to those early days and reflect on how the bedrock of the Legacy Code Rocks community has always been creating a sense of belonging. Compassion and empathy are at the core of being a mender. Mending is caring deeply, seeing potential, and being willing to work through the frustration of making things better one small step at a time. This commitment to helping others feel seen instead of shame is why the Legacy Code Rocks community is so special — and it’s exactly why having the heart of the mender is what our world needs now more than ever.

Andrea Goulet Co-Founder & Chief Vision Officer, Corgibytes

Andrea Goulet is on a mission to embed empathy into the software industry. She is a sought-after international keynote speaker, experienced software entrepreneur, and award-winning industry leader. Her expertise centers on using empathy and effective communication to modernize legacy and mission-critical software systems.

Through her online courses, Andrea has taught over 50,000 students how to level up their empathy and communication skills to create better software. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Empathy-Driven Software Development, and the founder of Empathy in Tech and Legacy Code Rocks, two an online communities where code and compassion connect.