Ted Neward | Devoxx

Ted Neward
Ted Neward Twitter

From Neward & Associates

Ted is a big geek currently working as the Director of Developer Relations for Smartsheet.com. When he's not speaking on software, writing on software, teaching on software or mentoring others on software... well, that actually leaves almost no time left. He currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, two adult sons, cat, five desktops, eight laptops, twelve phones, six tablets, and a really large utility bill.

Blog: blogs.tedneward.com

method Methodology & Culture

Polytech Careerism

Conference

Starting with the ‘domain-specific language’ movement, and bolstered by the Pragmatic Programmers’ suggestion that programmers should learn a new language every year, the notion of ‘polyglot programming’ became something of a critics’ darling when talking about career paths. But somewhere along the way, it feels like the original intent has been lost, and the focus has shifted to ‘learn to program in as many languages as possible’. If you’re a software developer, and you’re currently fluent in one language, are you doomed to irrelevancy? Is it actually better to be a ‘jack-of-all-languages, master of none’, or is there some kind of happy medium in between? And if so, how do you tell when you’re in it?

In this talk, a polyglot, polycrepido and polypraeclusio programmer will talk about his experiences living across multiple languages, platforms and storage systems. It’s not all been a bed of roses, you’ll find, but there are advantages, up to a point. More to the point, by the end of the conversation, you’ll have a better idea of where you want to fit on the ‘polytechnical’ continuum, and how to make the necessary steps to get there.

java Java Language

Polytech Careerism

Conference

Starting with the ‘domain-specific language’ movement, and bolstered by the Pragmatic Programmers’ suggestion that programmers should learn a new language every year, the notion of ‘polyglot programming’ became something of a critics’ darling when talking about career paths. But somewhere along the way, it feels like the original intent has been lost, and the focus has shifted to ‘learn to program in as many languages as possible’. If you’re a software developer, and you’re currently fluent in one language, are you doomed to irrelevancy? Is it actually better to be a ‘jack-of-all-languages, master of none’, or is there some kind of happy medium in between? And if so, how do you tell when you’re in it?

In this talk, a polyglot, polycrepido and polypraeclusio programmer will talk about his experiences living across multiple languages, platforms and storage systems. It’s not all been a bed of roses, you’ll find, but there are advantages, up to a point. More to the point, by the end of the conversation, you’ll have a better idea of where you want to fit on the ‘polytechnical’ continuum, and how to make the necessary steps to get there.

method Methodology & Culture

PsyPhilProg

Keynote

Philosophy: ancient Greek for "love of wisdom", philosophy is the study of the general and fundamental nature of reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language.

Psychology: the science of the brain, emotions, and behavior.

Programming: ancient English for "please God let it compile this time".

Three distinctly different subjects, yet each deals with fundamentally the same thing: the mind, how we (or others with whom we interact) think, act, behave, and engage. Most of the time, programmers (and philosophers and psychologists) don't really think of these three things as being similar or alike, but given that all three work closely with the mind, mental models, and the ways in which we perceive and process information, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that there's a surprising amount of overlap.

But, surprisingly, it does come as a surprise to most developers. And in this presentation, we're going to uncover some of those surprises, learn a little about psychology, play amateur philosopher, contemplate the nature of mind and logic and the universe...

... and become better developers as a result.