Speakers

David Alpert strives to remove friction from all aspects of the development process and is constantly reaching for a smoother experience. David is presently the Development Capability Lead at Price Industries here in Winnipeg and has been using git almost every day for three years as a front-end to github, subversion servers, and TFS.

Amir Barylko started his career in 1994 working for IBM as a senior developer while he was finishing his Masters degree in computer science. Since then he worked as team leader and architect for the past 15 years.

Having started with languages like C++ and Java he spent many years coding in C# and training other developers in topics such domain modeling, abstractions, patterns, automation, dependency injection, testing, etc.

Being an incurable geek, always thirsty for knowledge, his passion for technology moved him towards Ruby on Rails a few years ago, becoming an advocate of RoR web development and recently giving his first RoR training.

Amir is a rare combination of high technical skills, lots of experience in a wide range of platforms, exceptional presentation skills and great sense of humor. His presentations are always rich in content and fun to attend.

Donald Belcham is a senior software developer, independent contractor, and agile development expert who is a strong supporter of fundamental OO patterns and practices. He is co-author of the book, “Brownfield Application Development in .NET” (Manning Press, 2009), and actively shares his expertise with other technical professionals at user groups, code camps and conferences held throughout out the world. Past lectures have covered topics that encompass development practices, quality team leadership, and the intricacies of new and emerging technologies.

Axel Buerkle is a Technology Research Analyst at Online Business Systems. He has over 14 years of experience working on cutting-edge projects as a Software Engineer, System Architect and Project Manager. Axel holds a PhD in Computer Science from University of Karlsruhe (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) in Germany and has been a speaker at numerous conferences. At Online, he is responsible for spotting, assessing and applying new technologies, especially in the area of mobile applications.

Terry started as a software developer and found his technical calling in Data Architecture. Terry has helped to create Enterprise Operational Data Stores and Data Warehouses for the Financial and Insurance industries. Along the way Terry discovered that he enjoys helping to build teams, grow client trust and encourage individual career growth, completing project deliverables, and helping to guide solutions. It seems that some people like to call that Project Management.

Terry discovered his second calling when he discovered the principles of Lean and Agile Software Development. Terry has worked with clients and teams on Agile projects for over 7 years. He is absolutely giddy when he can combine Agile and Data Modeling on the same project.

As a practical Data Modeller and Project Manager, Terry is known to challenge assumptions and strive to strike the balance between the theoretical and real world approaches for both Data Modelling and Agile. Terry considers himself a born again agilist as Agile implemented according to the Lean Principles has made him once again enjoy Software Development and believe in what can be accomplished.

Terry is a fan of Agile implemented according to the Lean Principles, the Green Bay Packers, Winnipeg Jets, Operational Data Stores, Dimensional Modelling, and asking why?

James Chambers is an entertaining and fast-moving speaker that keeps you on your toes with content coming a mile a minute (or faster). He pulls no punches with the technology he talks about, and knows it inside-out because he uses it every day. Employed at LogiSense Corp as the Product and Community Development Manager, James is also a Microsoft MVP in Asp.Net/IIS and speaks at conferences, workshops, UG events and brown-bag lunches across Canada where he tries to get the audience laughing with him more than at him. Beyond his technology interests (which span from web to cloud to mobile) he is also active in the community raising funds to alleviate poverty, provide clean drinking water and to help find a cure for Juvenile Diabetes.

Michael DeFehr is an independent SQL Server consultant doing business throught MDD Solutions Ltd. based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His career has focused on database administration and development using Microsoft SQL Server.

A SQL Server MVP, Professional Engineer and Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional in both Database Development and Administration, Mike has spent the past 15 years producing and maintaining database solutions. Mike specializes in the relational and storage engines and his solutions emphasize performance and simplicity.

Tyler Doerksen started developing software professionally in the days of .NET 1.1. Since then, he has worked on many different platforms including web, windows, mobile, and cloud computing. Tyler has been a Developer at Imaginet for over four years. In that time he has developed features for enterprise scale solutions, helping businesses achieve their goals through process improvement.

Tyler has a keen eye for efficiency and eliminating waste. Tyler will often walk the line between software and infrastructure with experience in Windows Server environments, IIS, and Hyper-V virtualization. He has been working with Windows Azure since its initial release and has become a cloud leader for Imaginet.

Atley Hunter is a passionate developer with over 15 years’ experience. As one of the most prolific Modern UI developers in the world, he has more than 100 apps in the Windows Phone Store and 50 apps currently in the Windows RT Store. as a Microsoft Windows Phone MVP, Telerik MVP / Insider and Nokia Ambassador, he is constantly working with developers worldwide to improve both skills and the platforms themselves. Atley is always sharing his knowledge and connecting with developers through events, his blog, email Twitter, Skype and LinkedIn.

Nick Landry (@ActiveNick) is a Senior Product Manager for Infragistics, the world leader in user interface development tools that empower developers to build and style immersive user experiences and rich data visualization in line of business applications across all .NET platforms, the Web and mobile devices (www.infragistics.com).

Nick is at the helm of Infragistics’ mobile, data visualization and geospatial developer tools across multiple technologies and platforms. He previously spent a total of 16 years of his career in IT consulting and services organizations across various technical and business roles, designing, building, managing and selling innovative software solutions for some of the world's top brands and Fortune 500 companies.

Known for his dynamic and engaging style, he is a frequent speaker at major software development conferences worldwide like TechEd, DevConnections, VSLive, and others, and is a 9-year Microsoft MVP awarded on Windows Phone Development. With over 20 years of professional experience, Nick is a developer and software architect by trade and specializes in Enterprise Mobility, Location Intelligence & Geospatial development, Data Visualization, Touch Computing, Cloud Computing and Mobile Game Development. He wrote multiple technical magazine articles, published white papers, wrote several mobility courses, has been a technical editor for IT books, and holds several professional certifications.

Eric has spent most of the past 17 years working independently and with various Microsoft Certified Partners and ISVs as a developer and consultant for solutions based on Microsoft’s Messaging & Collaboration platform (Outlook/Exchange, Office and SharePoint). Since becoming an Outlook MVP in 2003 he has developed dozens of custom Outlook solutions for companies around the world and has juggled many roles such as speaker, author, community leader, marketer, business strategist and technical evangelist. His current passion project is planning, developing, marketing and supporting an innovative line of Outlook add-ins as a Product Manager for OutlookAppins.com. He lives with his wife and kids in Winnipeg and spends his spare time cheering on the Winnipeg Jets, working out, studying to be an amateur astronomer/alien ambassador, listening to heavy metal, shredding on his guitar and wondering if it's not too late to be a rock star.

Cory Maksymchuk is a software developer at Protegra and has been a regular speaker at local conferences. He has spent most of the last 7 years working in the Java stack as part of large software development initiatives. His true passion in life is finding elegant solutions to difficult problems and truly gets excited seeing great ideas come to life.

Were he not to be a software developer, Cory would most certainly be an inventor. Outside of work, Cory spends some of his free time working on home renovations, camping fishing and cycling.

With a passion for software development and a stubborn streak the length of Albert Street, Chad McCallum is a local Saskatchewan computer geek with over 6 years of .NET experience (and 2 years of PHP, but we won't talk about that). After graduating from SIAST Kelsey Campus, he fed his need to organize money-losing social events by founding The Saskatchewan LAN Organization (S-LAN) in Saskatoon. Realizing he needed a paycheque, he picked up freelance PHP contracting work until he could pester iQmetrix to give him a job, which he’s hung onto for the last 6 years. There was a brief stint in Vancouver, where he worked on the interactive touchscreen displays you can now see in SaskTel and Jump.ca stores across the province. Since then, he's come back to his roots in Regina and started HackREGINA, a local hackathon organization aimed at strengthening the developer community while coding and drinking beer. His current focus is mastering the art of the single-page application through JavaScript. Between an obsession with video gaming and random mobile application ideas, he tries to learn a new technology every week – you can see the results at www.rtigger.com.

Dave Mosher is a Front-End Engineer who has been designing and building web applications since using HTML tables for layout started to go out of style. A background in classical design and computer systems technology has enabled him to roam between between the worlds of design and development. Dave hails from Saskatoon, SK where he works as a freelance contractor and spends his free time running a Front-End focused user group called SaskJavaScript (www.saskjavascript.com).

Hailing from the wilds of suburbia, Tom is jack-of-all-trades independent consultant with a recent focus on mobile development. Currently on contract to Xamarin, he spends his days fusing the wonderful world of Android and C# into documentation, examples, and resources to help others cross over into the world of mobile development.

David is as passionate about hands-on software development as he is about engaging others in striving for quality software that solves real-world business problems. David has several years of experience in developing software solutions for energy and agricultural companies, where he has always been a strong advocate for agile best practices. He currently works for P2 Energy Solutions, where he leads development of commercial products using .NET. David enjoys staying on top of the latest technologies, and in his spare time has built and published Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 apps.

David is a Microsoft MVP in ASP.NET/IIS, has a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Saskatchewan and is active the software community, presenting at local events and international conferences. David currently serves as the President of the Calgary .Net User Group.

Jeff Pihach is a software engineer at Canonical developing their next generation client heavy web applications. Previously, as an independent web developer and entrepreneur, he worked taking corporate web applications from concept to reality.

An advocate of utilizing OO principals in front-end development and an active community member and contributor to the YUI JavaScript framework, you can usually find him after hours hacking on all things JavaScript or blogging at fromanegg.com

Steve Rogalsky first started experimenting with agile and lean techniques as a child. He learned the importance of ‘test first’ and the folly of ‘test last’ after starting a snow ball fight with the older kids in the neighbourhood. While playing the popular lego game of ‘zoom your vehicle towards your brother’s vehicle and see which one breaks first’, he honed his simple design and iterative development skills.

As a pre-teen, while playing Monopoly on the Commodore 64 with his younger brother, he discovered the value of user stories. Modifying the BASIC code, he implemented the following user story successfully: “As an [older brother], I want to [secretly add cash to my younger brother’s account], so that [he will continue playing even when he is hopelessly losing].”

Today, Steve applies these childhood lessons as an agilist and team member at Protegra. He works with fellow team members and clients to apply agile principles and practices in order to build quality in, increase communication, and improve the outcome of projects. Known to experiment with new agile techniques, he is often testing out new practices on his unsuspecting team members as part of his commitment to continuous improvement. Steve is also a founder of the Winnipeg Agile Users Group, a Post-It and Sharpie junkie, green bar addict, speaker, dad and husband.

Eden Rohatensky is a developer and designer who has experience in both mobile and web. After leaving her position as a Mobile & Web Designer for GasBuddy.com, she now works as a web developer for their sister product, OpenStore. She has worked closely with the University of Regina’s Computer Science Student Society, and various other tech groups to help build the development community around her.

Dylan Smith is a Microsoft MVP (ALM), and an ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) consultant for Imaginet where he spends his time helping teams become more successful at delivering software. In addition to over 15 years experience designing and architecting mission critical applications, Dylan helps run the .Net User Group and Agile User Group in his hometown of Winnipeg. In the past 7 years Dylan has focused on agile development techniques and practices. He has led the shift to agile and lean development practices across multiple teams, projects and companies.

Mark is the Product Manager on the OData team at Microsoft and was previously the Product Manager on the Entity Framework team. Before Microsoft he did solution architecture and software development for a startup company.

My name is Simon Timms, I work as a freelance software developer with an interest in distributed systems, CQRS, cloud computing and ice cream. Ice cream most of all. I don’ t know if you’ve tried pumpkin pie ice cream but you really should.

In the past I’ve worked on GPS systems, been a build master, developed websites, written production accounting software and painted fire hydrants. At the moment I work for a large engineering house and I have a start up Oso Consulting which has developed WellTrkd.

David Wesst has been working with web and user experience development for the past 5 years and currently works for the University of Manitoba in the Faculty of Medicine as a Systems Analyst in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After finishing university, David has continued to follow his passion for the future of web development, experience design, technology, and game development both in and outside of the workplace. David has spoken at a number of conferences across Canada about HTML5 development and has been awarded the MVP award in the area of Internet Explorer since 2011.