My Blog

New Course: Front-end Web Dev Quick Start
New Course: Front-end Web Dev Quick Start
August 31, 2014

It’s that time again. I’ve recently released a new course on Pluralsight. This time I tackle Web Development for complete beginners.

The Gear from the First 80 Days on the Road
The Gear from the First 80 Days on the Road
August 23, 2014

As many of you know, me and my new wife are having the trip of our life. We’re in Switzerland at the moment and having a great time. We are certainly learning as we go what is important and what is not. I thought it might be a fun chance to talk about the gear I’ve used so far and discuss what worked and what didn’t.

Atlanta Code Camp 2014!
Atlanta Code Camp 2014!
August 21, 2014

Even though I can’t be there this year, I’m excited to help out in holding this year’s Atlanta Code Camp. On October 11th, 2014, the Atlanta Code Camp will be held at the Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia.

Web API in Aberdeen Scotland
Web API in Aberdeen Scotland
August 8, 2014

For my last stop of my UK user group tour, I stopped in the town of Aberdeen. This is as far north as I’ve ever been. It’s at 57 degrees north latitude. That’s the same as Juneau Alaska! Luckily it’s summer time.

Angular.js Talk in Glasgow Scotland
Angular.js Talk in Glasgow Scotland
August 6, 2014

It’s been a busy week. Today I got to spend the day in Glasgow and see the city a bit. In the evening I got to talk to a great group of developers about Angular.js. They were mostly open to the ideas about building interactive pages with Angular.js.

Node.js in Edinburgh Scotland
Node.js in Edinburgh Scotland
August 5, 2014

I’m now on the Scotland swing of my Wilder World Tour.  Had a chance to stop by Edinburgh. What a lovely city, at least as much as I’ve seen so far.

Can't We Just Get Along: The Spurious NoSQL Battle
Can't We Just Get Along: The Spurious NoSQL Battle
August 3, 2014

The first blog post I ever wrote was a short one on databases. In fact for those of you who haven’t been following me for more than ten years, my old domain was “ADOGuy.com”. I wrote about ADO and ADO.NET pretty exclusively for years.

My visit to Gloucester UK
My visit to Gloucester UK
July 31, 2014

My next stop this week was in the town of Gloucester in England. The group that ran this meetup was great and had everything setup to make this an easy talk to give. I especially want to thank Franck Terray and Sophie Lipowska for running the meetup.

Next Stop: Nottingham England for Node.js
Next Stop: Nottingham England for Node.js
July 31, 2014

The last stop of the week was in Nottingham. I had a chat with the Sheriff about some stolen hoodies. At least that’s what I thought he said – his accent was quite thick ; )

Hereford Node.js Talk
Hereford Node.js Talk
July 30, 2014

I stopped by the small town of Hereford to talk to them about Node.js on Monday. The small, but very enthusiastic group was great! If you get a chance stop by and visit this adorable small town.

My Talks in Bristol England
My Talks in Bristol England
July 26, 2014

As my first talk in the UK, I was tasked with doing two talks in one day.  The group was a lot of fun and asked some key questions.

England Swing of the WilderWorldTour
England Swing of the WilderWorldTour
July 18, 2014

Next week I start a short swing around southern and south-midlands England. I had hoped to do more events in England, but this short swing of four user groups is all I’m doing in England (though I’ll be in close-by Scotland in early August and Ireland in September).

Meet Up With Me in London This Thursday
Meet Up With Me in London This Thursday
July 15, 2014

Quick reminder that I’m going to be holding a quick, informal Nerd Dinner in London, UK this Thursday (July 17th, 2014) at 6:30pm (or 18:30 if you prefer) local time!

The Other Half of Your Job
The Other Half of Your Job
July 14, 2014

I do enjoy building things with code. When I started 28 years ago, that’s what I thought was the essence of what a “computer person’s” (e.g. software developer) job was to sit dark in a room and grind out computer code. Of course we know that it just isn’t true.

It Is Time to Learn JavaScript
It Is Time to Learn JavaScript
June 22, 2014

JavaScript is having a great year. With the continuation of web development, Node.js, and even Apple adding JavaScript as a replacement for their AppleScript.

Learning How to Balance Work and Life
Learning How to Balance Work and Life
June 12, 2014

I love what I do. The consulting, the software development, the courses…I really love it all. It keeps me in a constant state of learning and I am overjoyed and extremely lucky for this to be my life’s passion.

John Robbins Debugs the Hello World Podcast
John Robbins Debugs the Hello World Podcast
June 6, 2014

John Robbins has saved me in uncountable ways over the years due to is great work on books and tool for debugging. That’s why I was so excited when he agreed to be on the show.

On This Week's Podcast: Jon Flanders Files a Brief
On This Week's Podcast: Jon Flanders Files a Brief
May 23, 2014

Jon Flanders and I go back to our DevelopMentor days and now we’re both authors at Pluralsight. It was great catching up and see how he got started.

Humanitarian Toolbox
Humanitarian Toolbox
May 9, 2014

I’m happy to announce that I will be working with the Humanitarian Toolbox to both help publicize this important project as well as work on some of the projects. This is an important open source project that is trying to do some real good for the world out there.

Time Zones and Servers
Time Zones and Servers
May 8, 2014

I am getting married and that means I get a bunch of development tasks to do for the wedding planning. I guess it’s my own fault, I did propose with an app.

My Switch to Azure Websites
My Switch to Azure Websites
May 6, 2014

I am a developer first. I’ve become my family’s IT department but not by choice. This is the fate of most developers I know.

Phil Haack and a Bad Joke on This Week's Podcast
Phil Haack and a Bad Joke on This Week's Podcast
May 5, 2014

As a fan of the direction of ASP.NET, I’ve been an avid fan of Phil Haack’s for some time now. His clarity of communicating why the web should work definitely helped ASP.NET become the great framework it is today. He’s now doing the same thing at GitHub!

A Bunch of Devs Presentation
A Bunch of Devs Presentation
May 1, 2014

I recently had the pleasure of talking to the “A Bunch of Devs” user group in Atlanta about Web API. I had never spoken at this group and I had a great time.

New Course on .NET Code Reviews
New Course on .NET Code Reviews
May 1, 2014

One of the things that I help companies with are code reviews. I love doing code reviews. It let’s me look at a large codebase with fresh eyes and help a company out with a set of recommendations for improving their process, teams and code.