Events

Career & Leadership

It's Dangerous To Go Alone: Lesson From The Tech Wilderness


3:30 PM - 3:50 PM

When you start your journey in "Legend of Zelda", one of the earlier lines says to you "It's dangerous to go alone, take this". Working in tech can feel like playing Zelda, one moment you're going through your onboarding and the next you're walking into the wilderness that is the industry. With over a decade of experience in the tech industry, I've gathered a few gems that can help guide folks who are early in their career that I wished I had at the start. We'll look at 7 valuable lessons from myself and some special guests that can make your tech journey less dangerous than Zelda.

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Personal Operating Manuals


3:50 PM - 4:00 PM

Personal Operating Manuals helps your teammates understand you better. They provide a quick guide to how you approach work, what you value, how you are best communicated with, and what folks misunderstand about you. In this session, I will speak about how teams that share their POMs work better together. Then I will use my personal POM to illustrate how to create one.

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You-Market Fit


4:00 PM - 4:30 PM

“What makes you a good fit for this role?” Do you dread this question? Maybe you have a hard time connecting your skills with a specific job description, or you may even be pursuing roles that aren’t a good fit in the first place. Product-market fit means finding a suitable market and building a product that meets the needs of that market. When product-market fit is done right, you don’t have to waste time and resources selling your product. Instead, the market organically sees the value you provide and is ready to buy.  If you've ever struggled to identify and define the unique value you can provide to potential employers, this talk will cover how to apply the concepts of product-market fit to your own career growth. Whether you are currently looking for a role or planning your next career move, you’ll learn how to ensure your target market, product (that’s you!), and how you position yourself are all in alignment for success.

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Culture & Community

Python vs Hip Hop. How Devs Can Remix Community, Culture and Code


11:00 AM - 11:30 AM

In 1994 - "The south had something to say" according to Andre 3000, and two of the greatest rap albums ever were released out of New York City. We also saw the evolution of major programming languages like PHP, CSS, and Python. The modern era of developer has lived in a world where Hip Hop culture went from being considered niche and dangerous to being the definition of popular culture. In that same time we've seen the Python Programming language become a standard bearer for non-traditional developers across many industries. But the development landscape has more in common and still much to learn from the music genre. This talk shares insights that developer communities in large can learn from the raise of modern hip hop culture.

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The Business Case for Human Decency


11:30 AM - 11:50 AM

Parental leave. Medical leave. Remote, hybrid, or on-site work. Employees who are burnt out, or dealing with mental health crises. These situations might seem like human interest issues, but they are business issues at their core. How leaders handle these things has a serious long-term impact on their teams as much as the individual, and ultimately, on the company. Join me to learn how you, as a leader, can make the best choices to both be a moral, ethical human, and a company asset. Not yet in leadership? I will also share how you, as an individual contributor can advocate for yourself, and assist your leaders in making choices that treat you ethically and are also a win for the business. When everyone is ethical, everyone wins!

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Heated: An Honest Conversation on Early/Mid Career Burnout


11:50 AM - 12:00 PM

I will speak about early/mid career burnout, signs to look out for, and tips for managing and preventing burnout for individuals, companies, and employee resource groups.

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Straight No Chaser Advice Office Hours


12:00 PM - 12:20 PM

Since developing the Profit Without Oppression Economic Theory, the most formable challenge I continually face is the lack of real-world experience folx have with engaging in uncomfortable conversations. Far too many professional relationship and engagements falter and/or fail because folx practice avoidance, ex. passive aggression, deflection, being untruthful, over compensating, professional violence, retaliation, etc. by default. A world that reflects the supremacy, coercion, discrimination, and exploitation free future that we seek, requires us to reckon with many uncomfortable, internal and external, truths...this work must be done or we're just wasting our time while building a future of trauma; harm, and pain. In this session, I will give her advice for navigating uncomfortable and important workplace conversations that impact your professional and personal life.

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Keynotes

From Data to Destiny: Empowering Change Through Technology and Community


9:05 AM - 9:35 AM

Description coming soon!

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Ethics in AI


1:15 PM - 2:05 PM

Moderated and curated by Noble Ackerson, this keynote panel brings together AI and data experts from across the industry to have the conversation we need around building a foundation of ethics in AI.

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Career Stories: Mekka Okereke, moderated by Erich Lee


4:40 PM - 5:10 PM

Have you ever wondered how some of tech's most well-known creators, builders, and leaders became the powerhouses they are today? Hear their stories and lessons learned in our new series, Career Stories. In our live, first edition of Career Stories, join us for a fireside chat with, Mekka Okereke, as he shares the journey to building some of the most productive, impactful and inclusive teams at Google, shaking tables along the way.

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Software & Systems

Build the Next Generation of Web Apps With Angular


9:45 AM - 10:05 AM

The web is changing and Angular is changing to meet developers needs of the modern developer. But how is Angular changing? What features are available to help you build the next generation of Angular web apps? Come to this session to learn how Angular is evolving to enable developers to build dynamic web applications across the web stack. Whether you are new to Angular or a seasoned Angular developer what I'm going to share will leave you excited about the future of web development with the platform. You'll find out why there has never been a better time to develop web apps with Angular.

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The Joy of Typescript


10:05 AM - 10:25 AM

Joy isn't probably the first word you would use to describe TS but what if I could change your perspective on it? We'll dabble in some basics but overall I want to share some techniques and helpful patterns that have helped me enjoy the process and how handy it has become for me for building multiple internal services at my company. Together we can embrace the challenge.

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Time Travel Debuggers


10:25 AM - 10:45 AM

Debugging has always been one of the most challenging and time-consuming tasks in software development. A sad fact is most programmers don't use a debugger, and opt to use log statements instead. This is a sign that the available debuggers aren't meeting the task. The concept of time travel debuggers has been around for many years. In this talk, I'd like to: - share with you my obsession with creating such a debugger - how time traveling works - show demos of 3 different time-traveling debuggers - show you the tip of the iceberg of the enormous research literature on this subject

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Unleashing the Power of the chatGPT API: A Developer's Guide to Building Your Own AI


2:15 PM - 2:45 PM

Join us in exploring the transformative potential of the chatGPT API in the 2023 AI landscape. This session will guide you through building an AI-powered application, discussing practical use cases like natural language processing and virtual assistants. Gain insights on integrating chatGPT seamlessly into your projects, delve into machine learning basics, and understand the nuances of model fine-tuning. We'll also address the ethical considerations in AI, ensuring responsible application development. With hands-on demos and real-world examples, you can confidently harness chatGPT's capabilities for innovative and impactful AI solutions. Don't miss this chance to elevate your development journey.

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Demystifying code through testing


2:45 PM - 3:15 PM

It can be daunting jumping into an established code base that you have no context or experience with. One of the easiest ways to familiarize yourself with code that is new to you is through its test infrastructure. But what if you are tasked with introducing tests when none exist? Or maybe tests do exist but they are finicky or the code is indecipherable? Join my session to learn how you can begin navigating such situations in any code base or language and begin setting the tone for your team when it comes to good code and testing practices.

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Register

Get your ticket to attend REFACTR.TECH in Atlanta, October 27 for a day full of keynotes, tech sessions and demos, and of course, parties! With topics ranging from software engineering to leadership to data and community, there’s something for everybody!