Other Appearances

Media

Since 2016 I've given my main talk moure than 10 times. Each time I've made improvements. You can see below the different conferences where I've spoken, as well as podcast episodes where I've been a guest.

Podcasts

In this thoughful conversation with host Jennifer Bunk we dive into a number of subjects. I explain the origins of my conference talk and we discuss how to talk about feelings. As part of that we discuss how I think about them differently - which is part of why I want to share my ideas. We touch on meditation, and mindset rituals. I also talk about my growth mindset and how that led me to start speaking, as well as advice on how to get started giving talks.

I talk with the panel at Greater Than Code about my ideas, we cover:

– John’s Superpower: Talking About Feelings in Public

– Programmers and Feelings

– Feelings As Addictions, Comparing Your Experiences to Others’ Experiences, and Setting Boundaries

– Cognitive Deficits of Not Handling Emotions and Cognitive Benefits of Developing Fluency with Emotions

“Practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes permanent.” ~ Katrina Owen

– Negative Effects on Teams When Individuals Refuse to Acknowledge Emotions

– Influencing Emotions and Emotional Responses

Talks

Salesforce Architect Group, New York City

May 26, 2023 - Online

Just like it says on the tin, a user group for Salesforce Architects in the New Yourk area

RailsConf 2023

April 26, 2023 - Atlanta, GA

RailsConf is the world's largest gathering of Rails developers, brought together to further discussion and learning about building, managing, and testing Rails applications. With a specific focus on Rails, conference topics can range from new users to administration to advanced techniques.

Coming Soon!
Stacks Image 1394

NERD Summit

March 20, 2020 - Online

The mission of NERD (New England Regional Developers) is to collaborate with the regional community to ensure that the annual Summit and events throughout the year offer everyone, regardless of background or finances, a diverse curriculum for relevant skill building and valuable networking opportunities. Too many smart, passionate people have been traditionally excluded from tech careers, and we're changing that.

AnxietyTech

August 23, 2019 - New York, NY

A conference about advocating for mental health at work, how technology can be better designed to support mental health, what technologies are already working to help those who suffer with mental illnesses, and how companies can be leaders in this field.

Southeast Ruby

August 2nd, 2019 - Nashville, TN

Celebrating Ruby in the south(east).

RubyConf Australia

February 2019 - Melbourne, VIC Australia

A conference to share Ruby knowledge amongst like-minded Rubyists.

DevOpsDays Hartford

October 16, 2018 - Hartford, CT

Devopsdays is a worldwide series of technical conferences covering topics of software development, IT infrastructure operations, and the intersection between them. Each event is run by volunteers from the local area.

This version of the talk introduces the concept of emotional debt as an analog of technical debt.

OSCON - The O'Reilly Open Source Conference

July 19th, 2018 - Portland, OR

Conference attendees (thousands of software developers, programmers, architects, engineers, CxOs, hackers, geeks, and analysts) join up to explore the latest open source tools and technologies; get expert in-depth training in crucial languages, frameworks, and best practices; and gain exposure to the open source stack in all its possible configurations.

Heartifacts

April 21, 2017 - Pittsburgh, PA

An intimate discussion of mental health, community building, and other things software professionals need to talk about more.

Rhode Island Ruby Users Group

April 3rd, 2018 - Providence, RI

The RIRUG was started in August of 2008 with the goal of providing a solid user group for the citizens of Rhode Island.

DevOpsDays Boston

Sept 19th, 2017 - Boston, MA

Devopsdays is a worldwide series of technical conferences covering topics of software development, IT infrastructure operations, and the intersection between them. Each event is run by volunteers from the local area.

Self Conference

May 19th 2017 - Detroit, MI

Self.conference is a mix of fantastic tech presentations and insightful soft talks in fabulous downtown Detroit. We're filling two whole days with languages, tools, diversity, empathy, process, and team talks to help you expand your knowledge, meet other technically-minded folk, and immerse yourself in Detroit's tech renaissance.

This version of the talk is where I introduce the 4-level breakdown of tools in my toolbox.

Boston Ruby Meetup

January 10th, 2017 - Boston, MA

The Boston Ruby Group is a community of Ruby language enthusiasts. We hold monthly meetups on the second Tuesday of the month with two long-form talks.

Abstractions

August 19th, 2016 - Pittsburgh, PA

Abstractions is a multi-disciplinary conference that brings together everyone involved in modern software development to teach, learn, and connect. With three full days of amazing content from a huge list of diverse speakers, we hope you’ll join us and designers, developers, DevOps, managers, quality assurance, support, and community leaders from around the world.

This was the debut of the full version of the talk.

RailsConf -- Lightning Talk

May 5th, 2016 - Kansas City, MO

For every year since 2006, RailsConf has been the largest gathering of Rails developers in the world, not to mention the largest gathering of Rubyists. The 2016 edition runs from May 4-6.

This lightning talk was my first exploration of the idea. The audience response motivated me to keep going and developer the fill talk.

Subscribe for a copy of my Quick Reference

  • Articles, links and upcoming talks
  • Infrequent Emails
  • Unsubscribe without hassle