AI Loves Design Patterns (Too Much)

You know design patterns—Factory, Builder, Decorator, Strategy. They're powerful tools for solving specific problems. But here's the thing: AI coding tools absolutely love them. Like, really love them. They'll add a Factory pattern to create a single object. They'll wrap simple conditionals in a Strategy pattern when an if/else would work perfectly. They'll build a Builder for a class with three parameters.

This talk is an intervention. We'll examine real examples of AI-generated code where patterns were applied incorrectly, unnecessarily, or just plain weirdly. You'll learn to spot the red flags that signal pattern misuse, understand when AI's pattern suggestions are actually useful (they're not always wrong!), and discover how to prompt AI effectively to avoid the pattern addiction. Because sometimes the best pattern is no pattern at all.

AI Won't Replace You (But It Might Replace Your Code)

A practical guide to using AI coding tools without compromising your standards. AI coding assistants are everywhere now, promising to make us faster. But let's be honest: the code they generate? It's often... not great. It doesn't know your team's patterns, your architectural decisions, or why you do things the way you do. You're still the expert on your codebase, the AI just doesn't know it yet.

This talk cuts through the hype with a practical look at AI-assisted development. We'll cover what AI actually excels at (spoiler: it's great at the boring stuff), where it falls flat (architecture, domain logic, your team's idioms), and how to prompt it effectively so you get useful output instead of code that makes your teammates cry. Learn how to make AI your force multiplier for the repetitive work, so you can focus on the problems that actually need your brain.

Optimize Your Mindset (Without Overclocking)

As developers, we're always optimizing our workflows, but why don't we optimize our thoughts? Your career isn't 100% code, and in the age of AI tools, constant notifications, and information overload, the skills that matter most aren't technical. Everyone struggles with focus, managing stress, accepting feedback, or finding time for what matters. But you don't have to stay stuck.

This talk tells the story of four people and four research-backed techniques to level up your work and life: mindfulness for breaking thought loops and managing stress, growth mindset for embracing challenges and continuous learning, habit building for sustainable change, and deep work strategies for maintaining focus in a distracted world. Whether you're new to the field, a seasoned developer, or someone who's never explored "soft skills" talks, these practical strategies will help you grow, improve, and actually stick with new habits.

What You'll Learn:
- Mindfulness techniques for managing stress, staying present, and breaking negative thought patterns
- Growth mindset principles for embracing challenges, learning from failure, and continuous improvement
- Habit-building strategies that actually work (cue-action-reward loops, starting small)
- Deep work techniques for maintaining focus despite AI tool distractions and information overload

One does not simply add MFA

MFA (Multi-factor authentication), much like the fellowship in the Lord of the Rings, stands as a vital security pillar for any application, safeguarding against the dark forces of unauthorized access. However, even the most robust MFA mechanisms can face challenges. In this quest for digital security, our choices in implementing MFA can be as crucial as any decision Frodo made. Join me on an adventure as we delve into the intricacies of MFA to ensure you have a formidable implementation. We will journey through the best practices for implementing MFA, helping you fortify your digital realms. Learn from real-world experiences — the battles, victories, and, yes, occasional setbacks — and equip yourself with the knowledge to shield your applications and not betray the trust of your users.

Listening as a Superpower: Hear More, Misunderstand Less

In a culture that rewards fast answers, miscommunication is the hidden tax on engineering teams. This talk is a practical guide to active listening that improves decisions in design reviews, incident response, and everyday collaboration. You will learn how to hear what is missing, confirm intent without slowing momentum, and turn vague conversations into shared understanding.

We will cover three tools you can apply immediately: the "signal checklist" for hearing what is missing, the "clarify loop" for confirming intent without slowing velocity, and the "summarize-to-align" pattern for making decisions stick. You will also learn how to read nonverbal cues in remote settings, handle high-stakes conversations, and keep listening inclusive when the room is tense or rushed. Expect concrete phrases, live examples, and takeaways you can practice.

A practical guide to listening that improves collaboration, decisions, and engineering outcomes. Learn three concrete techniques, remote-friendly cues, and phrases you can use immediately to reduce miscommunication in reviews, incidents, and everyday teamwork.

Thoughtful AI for the Rubyist

As a Rubyist, you like to put intention into your code for a clear, readable, and inviting result, just like our MINASWAN community…so how can we bring that to AI? How can we get that intention while leveraging AI tools to create our Ruby solutions? Let's have a frank discussion about what can and can't help us with our coding and how, in the end, we have a better solution that allows us to work faster without losing that special spark that Ruby can have. This talk will discuss AI coding tools and prompts with purpose. The AI solution isn't always idiomatic ruby, so you know better what works for your codebase than the robots.