Chris Sellek
Writer of things
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Chris writes things. That...feels ambiguous. You see, that used to say "Chris writes apps" because Chris is a web developer. But as of May 2018, Chris has also written a book. So...now it says 'things.' See? It's a pun on the word 'writes'. Haha!
Ahem. Let me start over.
Chris writes things. Most of the time, he's writing code at his 9-5 working for SAS. But occasionally, late at night, once all his favorite people (1 wife, 2 daughters, 1 son) have gone to sleep, Chris dons his superhero outfit (he's partial to Batman) and delves into fantastical, imaginary worlds of his own creation, crafting stories that would amaze and astonish you if you were only to give him some of your money. Recently, he launched his author career with the self-publication of a short horror story.
In his spare time, he also enjoys playing video games, watching movies, reading fiction, and spending time with the aforementioned favorite people in his life.
He is passionate about being passionate, he's an extrovert who loves the chance to force an entire room to listen to him for 20+ minutes (please and thank you), and he's a follower of Christ who firmly believes that maybe being a Christian and being sane are NOT mutually exclusive things.
In short, Chris is totally awesome and he definitely did not write this bio.
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Area of Expertise
Unit testing your component-based front end
Attendees will learn how to build out a solid foundation for their codebase's unit test suite. This foundation will set their test suite up for long-term success, maintainability, and confidence in the stability of their code.
The speaker will be using TypeScript and React for examples, but the lessons learned will be transferrable to any other language and component-based framework.
The Art of Worldbuilding
I recently finished the first draft of my first, full-length fantasy novel. I realized very quickly into writing this thing that it's REALLY easy to contradict yourself. In fact, I realized in Chapter 3 that I had already contradicted myself. The best part? The contradiction took place before Chapter 1 even began and changed several weeks of backstory. So...I didn't even make it into the first word before contradicting myself. Oops.
After doing some rewriting, I sat down and made some guidelines for myself to hopefully help prevent these contradictions in the future. After writing these guidelines and following them, I realized that they apply very well to writing apps and not just books! And that is what my talk is about! I explain what an app "contradiction" is and then explain my guidelines for preventing them while trying to keep things light, funny, and entertaining enough to keep people interested and paying attention!
Training an ML Algorithm to Predict NFL Game Winners
If you're like me, the definition of "machine learning" is basically "magic." It bothers me when I don't understand things, so I embarked on a journey to learn how to machine learn.
Join me as I walk through my journey on learning how today's AI works and learning how to put my own algorithms together. We'll discuss the basics behind Machine Learning and how you (yes, you!) can write your own algorithms!
Takeaways:
- "Demagicify" machine learning. Learn the basics of how and why the tech works.
- Walk through my own journey to build out my NFL game prediction AI.
Avengers Initiative (Ethics in the Software Engineering Industry)
Hi, my name is _redacted_, and I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.
In a world run by computers, those who know how to tell computers what to do are superheroes. Are we using our powers for good or for evil?
Join me to discuss the responsibilities we have as real-life superheroes: from making sure we're speaking up against immoral practices, to raising up the next generation of Avengers, to giving our time and skills to make the world a better place!
My hope is that when you leave this talk, you'll feel challenged to consider the moral implications of what you're doing on a day-to-day basis, to be an inclusive leader instead of a dictator, and to work on volunteer projects to help those who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford their own team and leadership.
I call this...The Avengers Initiative.
Intro to Coding
Have you ever wanted to feel like a wizard? Not like a Harry Potter wizard (we are still unfortunately stuck in this lame place called "reality'), but the kind who can type a few words on a screen and watch something they've created just -- poof! -- exist? This is coding.
In this session, we'll get rid of the magic behind "telling a computer what to do." And yes, you ARE smart enough to do it. You don't need to be some computer prodigy who thinks in 1s and 0s or someone who can multiply 3-digit numbers in their head (or even 1-digit numbers, for that matter).
We'll walk through the basics of coding and learn why coding is basically a modern-day superpower. And who doesn't want to have a superpower?
By the end, you'll see that coding isn't magic, it isn't boring, and it's definitely not just for those old millennial people. It's a tool that you can utilize to build phone apps, websites, video games, or even just automate that annoying task you have to do on your computer constantly.
Takeaways:
- What coding actually IS (spoiler alert: it's actually NOT magic)
- Why coding doesn't require genius or math
- How you can get started building up your new superpower TODAY
A Good Test Suite Who Can Find
Have you ever found yourself hesitating, your cursor over the “deploy” button, with sweat pouring down your face because you know who will be blamed if (or let’s be honest: WHEN) everything explodes? You’re a QA engineer, of course, you have. If only there were some way to have a higher degree of confidence in those pesky devs you’re working with!
The more astute of you will know what’s coming next: THERE IS! And that “some way” is your test suite.
Couple questions for you:
- If your test suite is green, can you push to prod RIGHT NOW with a high degree of confidence that nothing will explode?
- If your test suite is red after running your e2e tests ONLY ONCE APIECE, do you have a high degree of certainty that something is wrong?
If you answered “no” to either of those questions, then it’s likely you dread deploy day. And what does that mean? Your test suite isn’t doing its job.
A test suite’s entire purpose is to buy you confidence — a high degree of confidence — that there are no regressions with the latest updates to your codebase. Anything less and it’s not just underperforming, it’s misleading.
In this session, we’ll talk about what a solid test suite should look like and how it’ll give you more confidence than you’ve ever had in your deploys. It might even mean deploy days stop being sweat-inducing stressmares that keep you up at night!
Takeaways from the talk:
- By the end of this talk, you’ll be properly equipped to evaluate and transform your current test suite into a confidence-boosting tool that will make you smile when the time comes to click that deploy button.
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