Mark Michaelis
Chief Technical Architect, Founder, Author of Essential C# series, Microsoft Regional Director and MVP
Spokane Valley, Washington, United States
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Chief Technical Architect, Founder, Author of Essential C# series, Microsoft Regional Director and MVP
Mark Michaelis (itl.tc/Mark) founded IntelliTect, a high-end software development company based in Spokane, Washington. When not leading his company, he teaches at Eastern Washington University, presents conference sessions on technology and leadership, or delivers updates for the next edition of his book.
A world-class C# expert who honed his engineering skills by serving on several Microsoft software design review teams, including C#, Azure, and Azure DevOps, Mark is the author of Essential C# (itl.tc/EssentialCSharp). As a direct result of his work with C# and Azure DevOps, Mark has been a distinguished Microsoft MVP for over 25 years and a Microsoft Regional Director since 2007. A firm believer in autonomy, mastery and purpose, Mark’s management and leadership style enables him to successfully handle a day with only 24 hours in it.
Mark and his wife, Elisabeth, have invested a significant amount of the profit generated by IntelliTect into fighting debilitating poverty around the world. They have done this by thoughtfully partnering with charity organizations to increase access to basic food and water infrastructure, improve educational opportunities, and fight injustices like human trafficking and the systematic oppression of women.
When not bonding with his computer, Mark enjoys Frisbee, soccer, biking, and showing his kids real life in other countries. Mark lives in Spokane, Washington. He is looking forward to finding his next adventure following his return from traversing the length of Africa.
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The Exponential Technology Revolution
In 2025, we are starting on the 5th industrial revolution - Industry 5.0 - and its shift towards a more human-centric approach to industrialization. Unlike Industry 4.0, which focused on automation, cloud computing, AI, ML, IoT, Big Data, nanotechnology, quantum computing, and blockchain to optimize efficiency, Industry 5.0 emphasizes singularity and the collaboration between humans and advanced technologies to extend beyond productivity, aiming to enhance worker well-being, sustainability, and societal value. This session explores the opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations we face today in striving to be fully human. Don't miss this session to catch the vision and obligations that accompany the world of tomorrow.
Building a Legacy with a Lifetime of Giving
As someone in the tech. industry, I expect that almost everyone attending this talk is in the richest 1% of the global population and, as such, you have the opportunity to literally save lives and change the world. In this counter-culture talk, we discuss the concept of a lifetime of giving and what it means to build a legacy of positive change in the world. We consider difficult topics like how much to give, where to give, how to be a wise steward of what you have, and how to give without hurting. It is surprising how hard it is to give strategically in a way that truly makes a difference. Join us for this open discussion about what you can do practically to truly change the world.
Modernizing C# Guidelines
With the release of C# 10.0 comes a host of coding choices that are non-trivial to resolve. Questions such as when to use a record class rather than just a class, should I ever declare a struct rather than a record struct, what about global using statements vs project elements, or should I ever not use file scoped namespace declarations. C# 8 .0 & 9.0 include raise similar questions such as when is a protected interface member relevant, how does one declare a non-nullable property without incurring C# warnings (and does C# 11.0 help with this). The recent C# feature additions seems simple at first but there are numerous idiosyncrasies to wrestle with. Don't miss out on this session to understand the internals of modern day C# and how and when to best leverage these features and what C# 8.0-11.0 provides to improve the language.
An Epic Adventure that will Change Your Life
We've all dreamed of taking amazing adventures and seeing the world. At the same time, we think of all the obstacles and objections to why we can't. In 2023, my son and I drove the length of Africa, from South to North. Despite all the reasons not to, and even though we faced some crazy challenges, it was one of the best decisions I ever made, and it has changed who we are for the rest of our lives. Join me for a chance to change your worldview, dream beyond your objections, and hear some incredible and inspirational stories from our adventures.
C# Refresh - all the new C#/.NET Features of the last 5 years
C# has evolved rapidly, with five major language releases in the last five years (C# 10–14), making it difficult even for experienced developers to stay current. This session delivers a focused refresh on the most impactful modern C# features today.
We’ll explore powerful additions, including collection expressions, primary constructors, raw string literals, required members, file-scoped namespaces, global usings, pattern-matching enhancements, params collections, the new Lock type, and the latest C# 14 capabilities, such as extension members and the field keyword. Along the way, we’ll also examine recent .NET platform advancements, such as Native AOT and key runtime performance improvements.
Whether you're modernizing legacy code or returning to .NET after some time away, you'll leave with a practical roadmap for adopting modern language features and understanding which ones deliver the most real-world value. Expect live code demonstrations and before-and-after comparisons that make the benefits clear and immediately applicable.
As a bonus, we’ll briefly touch on a practical reality of modern development: when you're working with the newest language features, even AI coding assistants may not yet know about them - so understanding these capabilities firsthand gives you a real advantage.
The Future of Software Development: The Path Forward in a Changing Industry
YIKES! What has happened to software engineering? In this session, we examine the factors contributing to the 25% decline in job opportunities for software engineers. Next, we discuss ways to enhance our career resilience. Where should we focus our learning? Where are the opportunities for future software engineers? What increases our job security, and if we are looking for work, what are the key qualities that make us an attractive employee?
Mapping AI Maturity: From Developer Capabilities to Enterprise Transformation
This session presents a practical framework for assessing AI maturity at both the individual developer level and the broader organization. We begin by evaluating how effectively developers apply AI-assisted coding, reasoning tools, automation, testing, and domain expertise in their daily workflows. The session then expands to organizational maturity using a four-level model: laggards, professionals, strategic innovators, and digital transformers. Attendees will leave with clear rubrics, diagnostic questions, and concrete next steps that increase AI maturity at both the personal and organizational levels. The goal is to help you elevate your capabilities while guiding your organization toward more effective, sustainable AI-driven transformation.
Mastering the Agentic Coding Workflow
Agentic Coding (formerly vibe coding) is transforming software development by shifting developers from typing every line to expressing intent and refining output. In this session, you'll learn practical techniques for AI-augmented development: structuring effective prompts, maintaining context across conversations, guiding AI reasoning, collaborating with AI during debugging, and validating generated code. This session shows how to apply Vibe Coding effectively in everyday development and then follow best practices to move it from prototype to production. You will leave knowing how to leverage AI as a reliable accelerator for shipping code with production-level quality.
AI Axioms: Principles for Thriving in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is a cognitive revolution. But while tools evolve rapidly, principles endure. This talk introduces a set of practical, durable “AI Axioms” — guiding truths for navigating the age of machine intelligence. Rather than focusing on tools or tactics, this session explores the deeper mental models required to thrive in an AI-native world. Attendees will leave with a clear framework for decision-making, delegation, leadership, and personal leverage in an era where intelligence is abundant — but wisdom remains scarce.
DevSum 2024 Sessionize Event
Mark Michaelis
Chief Technical Architect, Founder, Author of Essential C# series, Microsoft Regional Director and MVP
Spokane Valley, Washington, United States
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