Speaker Series
SoftwareGR Presents Jared DeMott: Software Security Fundamentals
Tuesday November 16th, 2019
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Atomic Object, 1034 Wealthy St. SE, Grand Rapids
Summary
Dr. DeMott has been teaching AppSec topics for 13 years. The depth and breadth required to stand-up and execute on a security program may seem overwhelming at first. But actually, by understanding what’s key to your organization, fitting the key practices into your group may not be as daunting as anticipated. Come learn which pieces are most impactful, so you can prioritize the next steps for your project.
About Jared
Dr. Jared DeMott is the Founder of VDA Labs, a full-scope cyber security company. DeMott previously served as a vulnerability analyst with the NSA. He holds a PhD from Michigan State University. He regularly speaks on cyber matters at conferences like RSA, DerbyCon, BlackHat, ToorCon, GrrCon, HITB, etc. He was a finalist in Microsoft’s BlueHat prize contest, which helped make Microsoft customers more secure. Dr. DeMott has been on three winning Defcon capture-the-flag teams, and has been an invited lecturer at prestigious institutions such as the US Military Academy. Jared is a Pluralsight author, and is often interviewed by Media to weigh in on cyber matters.
Pluralsight Courses:
https://www.pluralsight.com/paths/security-for-hackers-and-developers
Public Speaking and Security Information:
https://www.vdalabs.com/2017/11/14/get-darknet-safely/
https://www.vdalabs.com/2017/12/15/thoughts-on-snowden/
https://www.vdalabs.com/2017/11/22/embedded-iot-security/
https://www.vdalabs.com/2017/02/08/social-engineering-is-on-the-rise/
https://www.vdalabs.com/2017/02/24/great-time-at-rsa/
SoftwareGR Presents Carlus Henry: Confessions of a Test Driven Developer-holic
Tuesday October 29th, 2019
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Atomic Object, 1034 Wealthy St. SE, Grand Rapids
Summary
Test Driven Development is an industry accepted best practice. It gives developers confidence in the software that they write by promising both requirement fulfilling products as well as simpler designs. Who could ever argue against it’s merits?
For years I have been an advocate of Test Driven Development - to the point where I have been called of being a Test Driven Developer-holic. Not only did I drink the Kool-Aid, I also served it to minors.
Despite it’s merits, there is a dark underbelly to Test Driven Development. Exhausted of ignoring this underbelly, I have committed a number of sins against the Test Driven Developer community.
During this talk, I will share my confession of where almost two decades of professional software development has lead me and my current position on this topic
About carlus
Carlus Henry has been working in the Software Industry for over 19 years. Through that experience, he has been a Software Developer, Technical Team Lead and Entrepreneur. He has given many talks in the Grand Rapids Area and beyond. Most recently he has been focusing on Continuous Integration / Deployment pipelines and .NET development. He is happily married to his wife for 19 years and has 6 beautiful children - 3 boys and 3 girls that keep him extremely busy.
RSVP on Meetup
SoftwareGR Presents Andy Lester: 12 Skills Every Rookie Programmer Should Have (But Often Don't)
Tuesday April 30th, 2019
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Atomic Object, 1034 Wealthy St. SE, Grand Rapids
12 Skills Every Rookie Programmer Should Have (But Often Don’t)
Students coming out of college, or the newly popular coding bootcamps, are eager to get working in the business world of programming. Unfortunately, many college programs and bootcamps are leaving students ill-prepared for life in the working world of computer professionals.
In this talk, I'll present a dozen areas of knowledge that every programmer should know, but may not have learned, or learned with enough depth. We'll cover technical skills like SQL and regular expressions, soft skills like working effectively with other coders, and everything in between.
If you're looking to make the leap into the world of programming, or to make your first big move to the next job, you'll learn where you should beef up your skills to make sure you can hit the ground running.
About Andy
Andy Lester has been developing software professionally for over
30 years. He's released many open source projects on GitHub (https://github.com/petdance) and
Perl's CPAN (https://metacpan.org/author/PETDANCE), including
ack (https://beyondgrep.com), a grep-like search tool for programmers. Andy's experiences managing and hiring programmers are the basis of his job-hunting guide "Land The Tech Job You Love" (https://pragprog.com/book/algh/land-the-tech-job-you-love).
He writes about software development and careers at http://blog.petdance.com and tweets at https://twitter.com/petdance.
SoftwareGR Presents Joshua Hulst: Problem Solving in Software Development
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
NOTE DIFFERENT LOCATION:
Michigan Software Labs,
452 Ada Dr SE Suite 300, Ada, MI
Problem Solving in Software Development
Professional software development is an interesting craft. There are always new technologies to learn, different project delivery methods to keep up on, new hosting platforms available - so much seems to be changing all the time.
Through all of this change, one of the most rewarding (and important) parts of the craft is the opportunity we have to solve problems and create solutions. Sometimes these are technical problems and solutions, but often the technical solutions are the most rewarding when they are in support of higher level problems - figuring out how to improve a business process, making a user’s life a little better, etc.
In this discussion, we’ll talk together about methods and strategies I’ve found for thinking about problems, both technical and non-technical, and creating solutions to solve those problems. I’ll also share some lessons learned over the years about partnering with clients to solve their problems.
About Joshua Hulst
Joshua Hulst is the co-founder and managing partner of Michigan Software Labs, creator of transformational software solutions for middle market and Fortune 500 companies alike. He is a published security researcher, graduate of the GE Edison Engineering Development Program, and frequent industry panelist and speaker.
SoftwareGR Presents Jonathan "J." Tower: Seeing Your Career as an Adventure
Tuesday January 29th, 2019
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Atomic Object, 1034 Wealthy St. SE, Grand Rapids
Seeing Your Career As An Adventure
In my 20-year professional career, I have had many different adventures, as well as my share of misadventures. People, good luck, and well-timed opportunities have all played a role in the overall trajectory of my professional life, and much of it in ways I couldn't have dreamed when I was first starting out.
These twists and turns have allowed me to work for startups, meet my idols, travel the world speaking at conferences, start my own company, and a few years ago, they even allowed me to travel around the entire country for a year, working and living with my family in an RV, ultimately going to all of the lower 48 states.
I want to tell you more about that trip, and everything it taught me about seeing my career--and life--as an adventure. I hope that hearing a little about my adventures will inspire you in your own, help you to see your career in a different light, and encourage you to join in on your own adventure already in progress.
About Jonathan
Jonathan "J." Tower is a Microsoft MVP, frequent speaker, and business owner with twenty years of software industry experience. He loves solving problems and all the creative aspects of software development, as well as sharing what he's learned with others and helping to build technology community.
His current technology interests include software architecture, .NET Core, JavaScript frameworks, web APIs, and a few different mobile app technologies.
J. lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife and children, where he turned his passion for the tech community into the Beer City Code conference.