Speaker

Melissa Houghton

Melissa Houghton

Principal Software Engineer and DevRel at Azenix | Microsoft MVP Developer Technologies | Community Organiser | International Speaker

Perth, Australia

Melissa Houghton is a Principal Software Engineer and Developer Relations at Azenix and a Microsoft MVP in Developer Technologies.

Her work is focused on application development using .NET, and Azure, but she has a wide variety of skills and is always open to learning new things.

An advocate for women in tech with a passion for leadership, technology and giving back to the community. She frequents tech events, is an international conference speaker, and organiser of various technical events.

Originally from California, Melissa loves to travel and now lives in Australia.

Awards

Area of Expertise

  • Information & Communications Technology

Topics

  • Women in Technology
  • Impostor Syndrome
  • Software Development
  • Leadership
  • Technology
  • Angular
  • Angular Material
  • .NET
  • Team Building
  • Digital Twins
  • Azure
  • Microsoft Technology
  • Software Engineering
  • Development
  • Web Development
  • Application Development
  • .net dotnet
  • C#.Net
  • ASP.NET
  • ASP.NET Core
  • Visual Studio / .NET

Azure Static Web Apps with Blazor and .NET

Are you a .NET developer who wants to quickly build and deploy full-stack .NET serverless applications? Then this talk is for you!

In this session, we will learn how to use Azure Static Web Apps with Blazor and .NET. First, we will explore Azure Static Web Apps. Then take a look at getting started with Blazor WebAssembly paired with the serverless power of .NET Azure Functions or Azure Container Apps. We will continue on to explore other .NET API options now available. And finally, we will discover how to automatically build and deploy to Azure directly from our code repository.

Join me in discussing the benefits and use cases of Azure Static Web Apps while diving into basic and advanced scenarios of using Azure Static Web Apps with Blazor and .NET.

.NET Everything

A look at all the things you can do with .NET! The team at Microsoft has evolved the .NET ecosystem to create a platform that you can use to build anything. From the backend, frontend, cloud, and now multi-platform apps, you can do it all with .NET. Join me as we take a tour of the world of .NET, looking at the history, new features, .NET in the cloud, IoT, gaming, web, APIs, Blazor, the new .NET MAUI, and more!

.NET Internet of Things

.NET is your platform for building anything, including the Internet of Things. The powerful cross-platform, open-source framework has libraries to support hundreds of IoT devices, allows you to build applications quickly, integrate easily with Azure IoT Services, and apply machine learning models to your data.

You can use .NET to power your IoT solutions, from device integration and data processing to digital twins and end-user applications. In this session, we will tour .NET in the world of IoT and how you can use it today to build robust .NET Internet of Things solutions.

Leadership Through Self-Awareness

Become a better leader by understanding yourself. You can be a leader in any context, within your team, your organisation, your life.

A true leader is not determined by their title but by their actions and the people who follow them.

In this talk, I will dive into self-awareness, what it is, how to develop it, and its power.

With self-awareness, you can empower yourself to build on your strengths and lean on the strengths of others. Understand your behaviours and their impacts. Make a positive change and grow your leadership skills.

Through understanding yourself, you can be a great leader.

Battles of an Impostor

Have you ever felt like a fraud? Like you did not deserve the opportunities in front of you? Have you ever thought “why me, I should not be here”? Have you feared others might discover you are a fake?

Alternatively, have you seen a talented colleague not recognising their achievements? A colleague who is hesitant to take on a new role?

These thoughts and feelings are impostor syndrome; I encounter it regularly and fight against it in myself and others. Unite with me in this battle; for yourself, your colleagues and friends.

Join me as I share my experiences with impostor syndrome, how I have fought against it, and how you can join the fight.

Travel with me to .NET MAUI!

Aloha! Welcome to .NET MAUI! The all-new .NET Multi-platform App UI (MAUI). Now Generally Available, Microsoft has evolved Xamarin.Forms and taken the next step in the .NET unification to give you a cross-platform mobile-first framework for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. .NET MAUI will introduce new ways to build cross-platform applications turning your development experience into a holiday!

What is .NET MAUI? How can you get started? What features are available? Travel with me to MAUI to find out!

Digital Twins: Discover a practical solution to islands of things

Digital Twins change how we use IoT and bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds. They turn your Islands of Things into an Internet of Things. This talk will share insights on the exciting opportunities Digital Twins provides and the Azure Digital Twins PaaS offering that enables it.

Battles of an Impostor

Have you ever felt like a fraud? Like you did not deserve the opportunities in front of you? Have you ever thought “why me, I should not be here”? Have you feared others might discover you are a fake?

Alternatively, have you seen a talented colleague not recognising their achievements? A colleague who is hesitant to take on a new role?

This is impostor syndrome; I encounter it regularly and fight against it in myself and others. Unite with me in this battle; for yourself, your colleagues and friends.

Join me as I share my experiences with impostor syndrome, how I have fought against it, and how you can join the fight.

The format can be 20min or 10min (lightning)

Recording of the 20min version from DDD Sydney is here: https://youtu.be/t2qr64GN8Qo

My blog post based on the talk is here: https://melissahoughton.dev/2020/02/22/impostor-syndrome.html

JavaScript in the Cloud

A look at all the fun stuff you can do with JavaScript, in the cloud!

Traditionally, JavaScript is the language of the web, and it still is. But today it's so much more. With the advent of server-side JavaScript and JavaScript support in major cloud platforms, JavaScript's power increased dramatically.

From building, maintaining, optimising and deploying, the end to end development and delivery process is possible with JavaScript in the cloud.

Cloud platforms give us the tools, elasticity and scalability to create high performing applications without managing the physical infrastructure.

Take advantage of the cloud while using a language you already know: Javascript!

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful: Angular Material

Are you an Angular developer? Do you want to make beautiful, consistent angular apps? Don't reinvent the wheel! Use Angular Material - Angular's UI component library based on Google's Material Design, made by Angular for Angular.

Angular Material is fast and easy to use, and instantly gives your app that professional, polished look! Taking care of the
heavy design lifting, Angular Material leaves you to focus on functionality.

What is Angular Material? How can you customise it to match your style and brand?

What are the downfalls, pain points and things to keep in mind?

Is Angular Material right for you?

Come find out the answers to all these questions and more!

What are Digital Twins?

Digital Twins change how we use IoT and bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds. They turn your Island of Things into an Internet of Things. I want to share insights on the exciting opportunities Digital Twins provides and the technology that enables it.

Programmable 2023 - Sydney Sessionize Event

March 2023 Sydney, Australia

Programmable 2023 - Melbourne Sessionize Event

March 2023 Melbourne, Australia

NDC London 2023 Sessionize Event

January 2023 London, United Kingdom

.NET Conf 2022 Sessionize Event

November 2022

NDC Sydney 2022 Sessionize Event

October 2022 Sydney, Australia

NDC Oslo 2022 Sessionize Event

September 2022 Oslo, Norway

DDD Perth 2022 Sessionize Event

September 2022 Perth, Australia

NDC Melbourne 2022 Sessionize Event

June 2022 Melbourne, Australia

.NET Conf 2021 Sessionize Event

November 2021

NDC Sydney 2021 Sessionize Event

November 2021

Azure Community Conference 2021 Sessionize Event

October 2021

Azure Serverless Conf Sessionize Event

September 2021

TECH(K)NOW Day on INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY Sessionize Event

March 2021

DevFest WI 2020 Sessionize Event

October 2020

NDC Sydney 2020 Sessionize Event

October 2020 Sydney, Australia

NDC TechTown 2020 Sessionize Event

August 2020 Kongsberg, Norway

Melissa Houghton

Principal Software Engineer and DevRel at Azenix | Microsoft MVP Developer Technologies | Community Organiser | International Speaker

Perth, Australia