Now Explain It to Me : The Importance of Docs

A talk addressing the importance of being able to communicate as a developer.

It aims to look into the why of good documentation, technical writing and video walk-throughs. It shows actionable steps and shows the reasons why each step is necessary . An example of this can be :
=> Good documentation is critical for efficient and effective communication.
=> Technical writing can help to clarify complex concepts and procedures.
=> Video walk-throughs provide a visual representation of processes, making it easier to understand and follow along.
=> Documenting processes allows for standardization and consistency.
=> Good documentation can save time and resources by reducing the need for frequent follow-up questions.
=> Technical writing and video walk-throughs can improve the user experience by making it easier for people to find the information they need.
=> Proper documentation can also serve as a reference for future updates or changes to a system or process.
=> Detailed documentation can help to reduce errors and improve overall accuracy.
=> Documenting processes and procedures can also help to promote transparency and accountability.

This is Technical Talk - 7 People Skills To Look Into

This talk speaks to the importance of people skills as a developer. A deeper focus is then placed in 7 areas of focus important to the software engineering field. 1 actionable step each that can be taken to better or fix these skills. Here is a list of the skills I would like to talk about:
=> Communication
=> Collaboration
=> Problem-solving
=> Time management
=> Adaptability
=> Creativity
=> Attention to detail
=> Interpersonal skills
=> Leadership skills

Here is a list of the skills I would like to talk about:
=> Communication
=> Collaboration
=> Problem-solving
=> Time management
=> Adaptability
=> Creativity
=> Attention to detail
=> Interpersonal skills
=> Leadership skills

Tackling 10 Tech Terrors

A 30 - 45 min talk about common to intermediate problems and how to resolve them.

This talk is aimed at entry to mid-level developers. It should cover some of the following :
=> debugging syntax errors.
=> debugging logic errors.
=> grit.
=> documentation.
=> handling missing or incorrect data.
=> handling errors and exceptions.
=> managing dependencies.
=> working with databases
=> working with testing.
=> Etc

Unlocked : Growing Your Skills Through Open Source Development And Civic Hacking

As a developer, we want to increase our knowledge of the development world around us so that we can help grow our careers or help the world. Many folks can grow their career through reading blogs, books, following tutorials or watching videos. But some of us need a project or community to help us attain our career growth. Where can we find these projects or the community? In this discussion, we will show you 2 paths that you can take advantage of, so that you can give to the community and grow your career.
The first path that we will discuss is how to contribute to an open-source project. This includes the who, what, and how of open source and the places where you can contribute to an open source. Spoilers: Anyone can contribute, and you need not be a coder to contribute.
The second path we'll discuss is Civic Hacking. We will define what it is, where to get involved and cover its basic tenets:
- Do what you can?
- Where you can?
- With what you've got?

This is a talk that is presented with two speakers handling 2 separate sections.

And It Was Written ~ An Introspective in the Importance of ReadMes

Situation: You build this awesome project, providing the answers to the universe.... but no one can use it as you have no documentation.

Problem: In the world of open-source tooling, a lot of tools are built without any documentation on how to use them.

Why Talk About This: As the software ecosystem becomes more dependent on open-sourced development, it becomes a greater need to have better and clearly documented software. This talk aims to share tips to enhance documentation, and templates to make the process easier and why this is one of the important habits to develop as a developer/ software craftsman.

Why listen to me: As a former science educator turned full-stack developer, I have gained some insights into the importance of proper documentation and its effectiveness as a communication tool./skill.

A.K.A Write the F@$king ReadMe

Read the F*&K!ng ReadMe - How to Interpret A Repo's Instructional Manual

"I never got how this worked" ~ is a common talk heard by all developers at one time or another, the other one is - " this is black magic". This talk aims to point out the importance of reading the documentation attached to a repo of work. This talk is the other side to Write F*&K!ng ReadMe. It highlights how to demystify's one's code once it's created as a repo, using the instructional manual AKA the ReadMe.

This talk aims to help developers to understand :
- the importance of the ReadMe.
- how to break the ReadMe down to decipher how a project is coded or built.
- how to use the ReadMe to get more resources on the project if needed.
- finding out about open-sourced contributions etc
- provide actionable steps for all of the above.

- This talk is aimed to be a community talk.
- It can be 30 - 50 mins long based on the audience.
- target: Anyone but catering mostly to entry-level and mid-devs.

Open-Sourced - Growth Hacking Your Tech Skills

How does one grow one's technical skills on limited resources ( whether by choice or otherwise ) or show how one can learn using current resources?

This talk aims to provide a how-to guide to developing one's technical skills using community resources to enhance the developer's journey. It will use examples from my journey such as freeCodeCamp meetups, mentorships, hackathons, and civic hacking, providing actionable steps with accompanying learned insights. These steps include :
=> What is is open source learning?
=> Establishing your learning goal and breaking down the steps to getting there.
=> Understanding the importance of joining a community and being an active participant.
=> Why you should blog and tweet your progress as you learn.
=> Why and how you should contribute to open source?
=> How to find activities such as hackathons, meetups, and civic hacking groups that will challenge you?
=> Examine how to building a coding habit eg #100daysofCode.
=> How using open source resources helps you to learn makes you a better and more valuable developer/ engineer.
=> Etc ( anything else that may cater to the theme of the conference or meetup where this talk is being given).

- This talk is aimed to being a how-to on how to use open source resources to grow as a developer.
- It can be 30 - 60 mins long based on the audience and their needs.
- Target: developers at any experience level.

Don't Scare The Newbies

One of the hardest things to do as a developer is to develop and maintain a beginner-friendly community. This issue has a bit of complexity built into it as experts have a problem relaying knowledge to beginners.

Using my last four years as one of the organizers for freeCodeCamp Atlanta, my talk provides a few actionable ways to create an environment that enables the retention and growth of beginners in a developer community. It is based on the article of the same title: =>https://tinyurl.com/ycv72hbh.

This talk will entail actionable tips and tricks that I learned as one of the freeCodeCamp Atlanta organizers. This talk may include:
=> The importance of creating beginner-friendly spaces.
=> How to support newbie developers and interested people.
=> The importance of communication in nurturing developers.
=> Results of the application of some of these details.
=> How to establish virtual and physical environments that enable newbie developers to thrive.
=> Etc

- This talk is aimed to be a community talk.
- It can be 30 - 50 mins long based on the audience.
- target: mid to snr devs.

How !To Be Mentored

How to does one get the best out of a mentor-ship, while provide providing value to both the mentee and the mentor in times of time spent and growth?

The mentee/mentor relationship in tech tends to be wrought with issues if not structured properly on both ends. This talk hopes to provide actionable steps learned from my wins and losses based on my experience being a part of a learn-to-code mentorship group for 1 year period. This talk will include :
=> Understanding the value propositions of the participants [mentee vs mentor]), etc.
=> Setting relationship fundamentals/foundations and expectations/results.
=> Time and task management suggestions.
=> How to deal with challenges as they come up.
=> Content to read ( books, articles, and people to follow on Twitter).
=> Etc ( Anything else that can come to mind when writing this talk based on the theme of the audience/ conference ).

- This talk is aimed to be a community talk.
- It can be 30 - 50 mins long based on the audience.
- target: Anyone but catering to entry-level and mid-devs.

Social Goodness || Civic Hacking - What's in it for me?

I am giving away my time and talent for free, how to I benefit from being a part of civic hacking?

This talk will look at the benefits of being a part of the local civic hacking community. This talk will use some concrete examples to speak about how I have become a better developer and project manager through those experiences and was a part of a team that donated $40,000 to charity. I will also cite experiences and provide actionable steps learned as a developer and a community organizer, explain how civic hacking has helped me to grow as a developer ( using examples from Marta Hackathons, AT&T C3 Hackathons, Civic Hack nights, Atl Thinks competitions )
These steps include :
=> How to use civic hacking to grow your soft skills.
=> How to use civic hacking to grow your technical skills.
=> How to use civic hacking as a networking tool.
=> How to use civic hacking projects as a part of job hunting ( both technically and behaviorally).