Ignite the Holidays Join us for ODevs' annual holiday tech celebration on Wednesday, December 18!

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Ignite the Holidays with ODevs!

Join us for a tech-tastic celebration of code, community, and holiday cheer at the Zymarium Meadery. Our annual Ignite the Holidays event brings together Orlando's most passionate developers for an evening of lightning-fast talks, networking, and festive fun!

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Zymarium Meadery

Orlando, FL

Unleash Your Ideas in 5 Minutes

Ignite talks are your chance to share your passion, insight, or vision with the world - all in a fast-paced, 5-minute format. Our stage is your platform to spark new conversations and ignite change.

Ignite talk stage

Strict 5-Minute Time Limit

The clock is ticking! Each Ignite speaker gets exactly 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. This format challenges you to distill your message down to the most essential points.

Visual Storytelling

Dazzle the audience with your most captivating visuals. Ignite talks are all about impactful imagery that supports your narrative - leave the text-heavy slides at home.

Diverse Perspectives

From tech innovations to personal journeys, Ignite talks cover an eclectic range of topics. Every voice has the power to enlighten, so come share your unique story.

Ready to Ignite?

Apply now to secure your spot on our stage and bring your bold ideas to life. We're looking for up to 10 speakers ready to:

Our Speaker Lineup

Join us for an evening of lightning talks from Orlando's tech community.

  • Will Gorman

    Will Gorman

    Founder, Accelerate Orlando

    AO4SD - Accelerate Orlando for Software Developers

    7:35 PM - 7:40 PM

    What is going on in the Techno-Optimism movement and how is it impacting Software Developers? Many thought leaders in the technology space have embraced core ideas from the Techno-Optimist and Effective Acceleration movements. How might this impact our daily lives as developers? How might we apply these principles to our work & local community?

    Will Gorman is an active ODev member, Founder of Accelerate Orlando, and also Head of Engineering at Nucleus Security, a fast growing Cybersecurity startup.

  • Jerry Reed

    Jerry Reed

    Valencia College Professor, vintage geek, friend to cats.

    Software Quilts

    7:40 PM - 7:45 PM

    Stuffing a little extra creativity into undergrad JS projects.

    Currently Professor of Software Development, Valencia College. I've enjoyed developing software for what seems like forever. (Insert obligatory old-guy "before you were born" remark here.)

  • Robert Schneider

    Robert Schneider

    Senior Software Engineer at GitHub

    How to take good notes

    7:45 PM - 7:50 PM

    There’s a common saying that the more senior you get, the less code you write. In my experience the best software engineers are also great writers who can communicate their ideas effectively. This talk introduces the importance of writing in software development and shows a specific method that helps formulate and actualize ideas.

    Rob works at GitHub on the Edge Traffic team that owns all network traffic coming in and out of the site. He is a Florida native that runs on watermelon gum and Diet Coke.

  • Rachel LaQuea

    Rachel LaQuea

    Interdisciplinary artist turned software developer

    Frequencies: an interactive sound therapy app

    7:50 PM - 7:55 PM

    This is a MERN stack application, using MongDB, Apollo Express Server, React, & Node.js. At present, it's an interactive sound therapy tool that also includes a database of pre-made sounds. Once the user creates a new account, they can log in, save sounds to their account, download them, and can also use the interactive virtual instruments. Sounds are also organized by tag based on intention category. The idea is to continue to develop this application and use it to discover more ways to help others and understand more about sound therapy.

    Unabashedly green in the tech industry, Rachel's background in music and psychology, as well as her continued study of sound therapy & cymatics, and holistic health & nutrition have fostered her ideas for software projects that align with her specializations. Most prominent for her is to connect with other software developers with similar interests to "ignite" change in the transformation of human knowledge.

  • Mike Butler

    Mike Butler

    DevOps Enthusiast, Space Nerd, and Senior Sales Engineer for Chef at Progress Software.

    Zero Trust Given

    7:55 PM - 8:00 PM

    I am going to try to convince you that humans remotely connecting to servers is a bad thing. You will never have Zero Trust if you do not disable SSH, WinRM and RDP. It CAN be done!

    DevOps Enthusiast since 2016, space nerd and currently Sr. Sales Engineer at Progress for Chef Software. Mike has seen all sides of the Coded Enterprise, being the product owner for Chef at a very large healthcare organization. It is always a challenge to help application and OS support teams to understand “shifting left” or better local development, local testing, using a source code repository for code and helping to identify and track work. Treating Everything as Code helps drive DevOps for n00bs, it certainly helped him!

  • Luis Felipe Hernandez

    Luis Felipe Hernandez

    Senior Software Engineer, Linux Foundation LKMP Mentee

    Unit testing the Linux Kernel

    8:15 PM - 8:20 PM

    This ignite session will introduce you to KUnit (Kernel unit testing framework). Learn about its features, benefits, and how it enhances the quality and reliability of Linux kernel development.

    Luis Felipe Hernandez is a Senior Software Engineer currently residing in Orlando, FL. Outside of work he is a Linux Kernel Mentee and Open Source developer.

  • Jianyu Wang

    Jianyu Wang

    Software Engineer in IXL Learning Inc.

    Survive My First Year of Full-time Software Engineer

    8:20 PM - 8:25 PM

    I am a foreigner and have zero full-time work experience in US before. Being a first-year entry-level software engineer who just graduated, How I survived it and boosted myself quickly to be a vital role in the team? Cannot wait to share all I learned with the fellows who is about to start their career or in the same status like me. Peace! : )

    I am a ABD (All but dissertation) Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science major. Holding a dream to become a wise and professional engineer/researcher, I never hesitate to challenge interesting difficulties in learning and working. (More fact about me are in https://www.linkedin.com/in/jianyuwang/

  • Christopher Pecoraro

    Christopher Pecoraro

    Director of Web Development, Rollins College

    When crisis sets in: How should we manage critical website changes?

    8:25 PM - 8:30 PM

    On December 4th, 2024, UnitedHealthcare's CEO was shot. Healthcare-related websites rushed to scrub "about us" pages, attempting to mitigate further damage. With the rise of high-profile scandals, from Bill Cosby to R-Kelly, these system-wide quick changes will be increasingly needed. What should the best approach be to manage the "proper names" within out content management systems?

    Christopher is a software development leader, the author of Jumpstart Jamstack Development, Mastering Laravel, a conference speaker, serial user group founder, Remote Working Conference co-founder, & open source contributor from Pittsburgh, PA. He holds an EMBA from the Crummer Business School and a BS in Computing & Information Science from St. Vincent College.

  • William Cook

    William Cook

    Head Gopher, conquer.io

    Why Go?

    8:30 PM - 8:35 PM

    From the objectively most adorable mascot to the extensive built in library, I'll walk you through why you should consider Go for your next project.

    Professional developer and amateur gardener

  • Mark Prather

    Mark Prather

    Facilitator- I help make work suck less.

    Boundaries, Game Theory, and James Bond Villians

    8:35 PM - 8:40 PM

    As a tech manager, knowing when and how to deal with interpersonal conflicts was a mystery, till I found a plan, a condition and an unlikely hero.

    With a varied background, from art school dropout, to line cook, to stand up comedian. Mark (AKA Trog) brings an out of the box view to problems in the business to tech workflows. He has a decade of experience in tech project management in many different fields. Spaces, Vim, Han shot first.