Speaking

Upcoming Presentations

I don't have anything scheduled right now but if you are looking for someone to present on the topics of management or mental health for developers, let me know.

Previous Presentations

Developers Should Not Become Managers (Unless They Should)

Having spent 15 years in technical roles before becoming a manager, I wanted to share what I thought were good and bad reasons for someone thinking about a similar transition. Ultimately, I think people need to think very clearly about what is really required in a role and whether it fits them personally. Historically, management has been treated as a promotion from development and has led to far too many people being placed in a role that doesn't suit them.

Slides for "Developers Should Not Become Managers (Unless They Should)"

Debugging Our Feelings

This talk is an expanded and updated version of "Developer, Heal Thyself". I have presented versions of it at:

Jamie Strachan from Peers Conference on Vimeo.

Slides for "Debugging Our Feelings"

Developer, Heal Thyself

I was invited to speak at the first ever HamOnt.js in October of 2016. I gave a talk on how developers can use cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to handle non-technical challenges like procrastination, perfectionism, impostor syndrome, and criticism. This is a very personal topic for me as CBT has helped me cope with my depression I wanted to share my story to help create space to talk about mental health issues in our industry.

Slides for "Developer, Heal Thyself!"

Sorry! The Monopoly is at Risk

I gave this talk at Nerd Nite XLI in October of 2015. I got to attend my first Nerd Nite when the CBC hosted Nerding Out and really liked what I saw. The organizers were kind enough to let me come speak at the next event and expound on my love of board games and how great a time it is to be a board gamer.

Slides for "Sorry! The Monopoly is at Risk"

Getting to Know Grunt by Writing Your Own Plugin

Presented at Web Unleashed 2015, this talk describes the process I went through building a Grunt plugin to solve a problem for our team. The project ended up teaching me more than I expected and has benefited all of my projects since.

Slides for "Getting to Know Grunt by Writing Your Own Plugin"

OOCSS In the Real World Revisited

At CSS Dev Conf 2014 I presented an updated version of my previous talk that included extra information about how the project had fared since its launch. If you have a Pro account with Treehouse you can watch a full recording of the presentation.

Slides for "OOCSS in the Real World: A Case Study from the CBC - Revisited"

Getting to the Heart of Agile

Given at Web Unleashed 2014, this talk was an examination of Agile agile practices and how to make sure we focus on what really matters.

Slides for "Getting to the Heart of Agile"

OOCSS In the Real World

My first conference talk was at FITC Screens 2013 where I presented a case study about our attempt to embrace Object Oriented CSS at the CBC.

Slides for "OOCSS in the Real World: A Case Study from the CBC"