Susanne Bach Ladefoged Hou
Software Engineer @ Danske Commodities | Speaker | Guardian of the Dependency Galaxy | Driven by Passion, Powered by ADHD
Århus, Denmark
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Susanne (She/Her) is a C# backend engineer in the .NET stack who loves clean, maintainable code, automating the boring stuff, and letting tools like Renovate do the heavy lifting. She started her career as a full-stack developer, but these days she’s all about backend magic—automation, productivity, and building software for critical infrastructure that is reliable, robust, and built to keep things running.
As an international conference speaker, Susanne shares clear, relatable stories about building software, working smarter with automation, and boosting developer productivity, all delivered in a practical, approachable, and yes, sometimes fun way. She also champions inclusive, neurodiverse-friendly environments in tech.
When she’s not coding or speaking, Susanne enjoys exploring creative projects and slaying demons in Diablo IV. Her approach to work and life is rooted in curiosity, creativity, and finding joy in the process—whether that’s writing code, telling stories, or leveling up her character in-game.
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Topics
Automate or Stagnate: Keep Your Dependencies up to date with Renovate
Maintaining software dependencies and updating external packages and dependencies is something that nobody really wants to do, and it is often forgotten and neglegted. We would all much rather spend our time actually developing new, exiting stuff. But leaving you dependencies unmanaged can leave you with security issues, and prevent you from using some of the nice, new features that might make your code even better than it is today.
In this talk, we will dive into why managing external dependencies is a critical part of software development—even if it’s not always the most exciting thing to do. We will explore the risks of ignoring them and show you how automation can transform this chore into a seamless, time-saving process using Renovate.
To illustrate how this can look in practice, I will share our story of implementing automated dependency management in our own codebase, which is a part of Europe's critical infrastructure. You'll hear about how we integrated Renovate, the challenges we faced, and the benefits we've experienced since. We will also discuss some alternative strategies and cases where automated dependency management might not be the ideal choice, and eventually you will leave this talk equipped with practical strategies to start the automation journey yourself.
Focus in a Fragmented World: A Developer’s Guide to Staying Productive
In today’s tech landscape, developers work in an environment built for constant interruption — notifications popping up all the time, priorities shifting before we’ve even finished our coffee, meetings multiplying like rabbits, and our devices doing everything they can to lure us away from actual work. For many of us, staying productive isn’t just hard, it feels like trying to swim against a tidal wave while someone keeps throwing beach balls at your head.
As a software developer with ADHD, I’ve spent years experimenting with tools, habits, and workflows to keep myself focused — not in theory, but in the real world of deadlines, code reviews, teams messages, and the endless notifications we all get these days.
This talk breaks down the classic focus challenges developers face: spending too much time on our phones, struggling to start large tasks that suddenly feel enormous, procrastinating until stress takes over, losing track of what we were supposed to be doing, and drifting through meetings without absorbing a single word. Each section shares practical strategies I’ve personally tested — from structuring work sessions and managing dopamine distractions to locking my phone in a box and using productivity apps to manage my tasks.
Whether you have ADHD or just feel overwhelmed by the chaos of modern work, you’ll walk away with practical tactics you can apply immediately to build clarity, momentum, and sustainable productivity in a fragmented world – not just at work, but in every aspect of life.
If you’ve ever opened 326587 tabs, stared at a half-written function, and wondered why you’re reorganizing your desk instead of coding… this talk is for you.
NDC Toronto 2026 Sessionize Event Upcoming
Update Conference Prague 2025 Sessionize Event
Susanne Bach Ladefoged Hou
Software Engineer @ Danske Commodities | Speaker | Guardian of the Dependency Galaxy | Driven by Passion, Powered by ADHD
Århus, Denmark
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