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October Meeting: Performance and Scalability in Azure using CQRS Patterns

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join Pinnacle Solutions Group and us on Tuesday, October 23rd, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. Take a deep dive into the CQRS pattern to help design enterprise systems in Azure. Learn Azure features that re-enforce the CQRS pattern that drives performance, scalability, and maintainability in a cloud environment. Discover how the pattern relates to microservices, RESTful APIs, security/trust boundaries and use practical examples to compare/contrast the pros/cons of the pattern.

The meeting presenter is Jon Banta.

Jon is a software architect of 20 yrs currently in Charlotte working in the FinTech space. He specializes in large system architectures and comprehensive security platforms. He has a background in many different industries including Banking, Motorsports, Logistics, and Gaming. Originally from Las Vegas, NV, if he is not coding, he is spending time with his wife and three kids.

The meeting sponsor is Pinnacle Solutions Group.

Pinnacle Solutions Group is an IT consulting services firm specializing in Business Intelligence, Mobile Solutions, E-Business Solutions, and custom solutions, providing IT services for companies in the Charlotte and Cincinnati regions. Pinnacle Solutions Group is an IT consulting firm comprised of seasoned and exceptional IT consulting professionals with the business acumen to communicate across levels of management as well as the technical experience to design and implement technical solutions that meet specific business needs. We build partnerships with our clients through integrity, honesty, and service. In essence, we are focused on providing the type of value for a business partnership that the Charlotte and Cincinnati IT market demands. Learn more at www.pinnsg.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

Downloads: Slides & Code

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September Meeting: Refactoring to Testable Code

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join SentryOne and us on Tuesday, September 25th, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. Most developers have the responsibility of working with an existing codebase. In many circumstances, the existing code was not designed with testing in mind. This does not allow leveraging of automated testing to reduce risk and improve quality. To realize the value of automated testing, this existing code must be refactored which is not always easy to accomplish. By attending this session, you will learn several techniques to refactoring code that was not designed to be testable. In addition, a unit test will be added to the newly refactored code and executed as a part of an automated test suite.

The meeting presenter is Richard Taylor.

Richard Taylor is a 25-year software development and technology professional living in Huntersville, NC. His experience includes the design and development of small to enterprise-class applications. For the last ten years, he has focused on web-based applications, and that is where his passion lives.

When not developing software, Richard focus is on spending time with his lovely wife Shondrecca and their five children (Richard III, Ayanna, David, Jonathan, and Stephen).

The meeting sponsor is SentryOne.

SentryOne creates unmatched solutions that empower Microsoft data professionals to achieve breakthrough performance across physical, virtual, and cloud environments. SentryOne products give customers the capability and confidence to monitor their databases, diagnose performance issues, and optimize the entire SQL Server estate to provide real business value. The SentryOne team includes more than 140 employees located in Charlotte, NC, Jacksonville, FL, Salem, NH and Dublin, Ireland. Learn more at www.sentryone.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

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August Meeting: Ethereum and the Azure Blockchain Workshop

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join Signature Consultants and us on August 28th, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. Blockchain, Ethereum, Smart Contracts, what are they? How do they work? How can I leverage them for my business? In this session, we will begin to answer these questions. We will discuss what a blockchain is. We will dive a little deeper into one of the popular blockchain frameworks, Ethereum. We will talk about what a Smart Contract is and how it fits into this ecosystem. Finally, we have a demonstration of the Azure Blockchain Workshop and some sample smart contracts.

The meeting presenter is Jason Petrin.

Jason Petrin is a Consultant at Cardinal Solutions Group, where he works with different clients to build their products in the cloud. Jason has been working as a consultant for over a decade in the Charlotte area and has focused on creating cloud solutions for the past eight years.

The meeting sponsor is Signature Consultants.

Signature Consultants started in 1997 with a singular focus: Provide our clients and consultants with superior staffing solutions. At Signature Consultants, it’s not just about the bottom line; it’s about the people. We focus on the relationships we have with our clients, consultants, and candidates. Our motto, “Getting IT Right,” is reflected in every aspect of our company – it guides our decisions and actions and ensures that our consultants and clients always come first. As a result of these efforts Signature has been recognized as one of the best staffing companies to work (over the last seven years by Staffing Analyst International). Learn more at www.sigconsult.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

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July Meeting: How to Make Life Easier with Code Generation

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join Cardinal Solutions and us on Tuesday, July 24th, at 6:00 PM in the EBC/CBC Conference Room at the Microsoft Charlotte Office. Graham will discuss his experiences, the ups and downs of tools and share his favorite. And also show how advanced code generation makes our lives easier.

*** Access to the EBC/CBC Conference Room is through the FIRST entrance for the building on the left. ***

The meeting presenter is Graham Kerswell.

Graham Kerswell is currently based in Mooresville NC working in the Banking sector. He studied computer science at the Laurentian University and has worked with leading companies in a variety of business sectors including Seismic data services, Automotive Manufacturing, Legal, Education, and Banking. He has been providing software solutions for over 20 years. Graham has been an advocate for development tools and has tried many over the years, always trying to improve upon his mission of “work smarter.”

The meeting sponsor is Cardinal Solutions.

Cardinal Solutions delivers digital solutions across cloud, data and analytics, mobile, and web. We have 500 employees in seven offices who use an Agile process to collaborate with clients across the country, delivering the right solutions that users embrace, and providing strategic guidance and training to help advance businesses. Learn more at www.cardinalsolutions.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

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June Meeting: Multi-paradigm for the win-Secrets to becoming a better programmer

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join Signature Consultants and us on Tuesday, June 26th, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. Are you a polyglot programmer who uses multiple languages on a single project? Are you ready to take this practice to the next level to increase productivity, code correctness, maintenance and, in some cases, performance? If yes, then this session is for you!

In this session, we will discuss and demonstrate how multi-paradigm programming is even more potent than polyglot programming. Most mainstream programming languages support multiple programming paradigms (object-oriented, generic, functional, etc.), yet many developers confine themselves to a single paradigm. Whether using single or multiple languages, I will show you how to maximize potential by adopting multi-paradigm programming.

The key to better programs is knowing which languages to choose for the designed effect and how to combine them correctly for the desired outcome. For example, although object-oriented programming paradigms are widely used, the applications and design practices for functional programming may provide improved solutions to your architecture. After this session, you will walk away with the ability to select which paradigm is a better fit given a domain or sub-domain, and most importantly, you will learn the skills to make different paradigms coexist to create highly modular, extensible, and loosely coupled components. The goal of this session is not to claim that one paradigm is better than the other, but rather to introduce another way of thinking about programming to become a better developer.

The meeting presenter is Riccardo Terrell.

Riccardo Terrell is a seasoned software engineer and Microsoft MVP who is passionate about functional programming. He is active in the .NET community and the author of “Functional Concurrency in .NET,” which features how to develop highly-scalable systems in F# & C#. Riccardo believes in polyglot programming as a mechanism for finding the right tool for the job. You can read his blog at www.rickyterrell.com and follow him on Twitter at @TRikace.

The meeting sponsor is Signature Consultants.

Signature Consultants started in 1997 with a singular focus: Provide our clients and consultants with superior staffing solutions. At Signature Consultants, it’s not just about the bottom line; it’s about the people. We focus on the relationships we have with our clients, consultants, and candidates. Our motto, “Getting IT Right,” is reflected in every aspect of our company – it guides our decisions and actions and ensures that our consultants and clients always come first. As a result of these efforts Signature has been recognized as one of the best staffing companies to work (over the last seven years by Staffing Analyst International). Learn more at www.sigconsult.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

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May Meeting: A .NET Developer’s View Of The OWASP Top 10

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join TEKsystems and us on Tuesday, May 22nd, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. The Open Web Application Security Project periodically puts out a report showing the top ten risks for web applications. In this talk, we will review the latest version of the OWASP Top 10 Application Security Risks, released in 2017. We will briefly cover each of the ten topics and explain how they apply to the Microsoft .NET world of MVC and Web Forms, focusing on things a developer can do to write more secure code. This talk will not go into great detail on any individual topic, but we will have a chance to see a couple of these risks and mitigation techniques in action.

The meeting presenter is Kevin Feasel.

Kevin Feasel is a Data Platform MVP and Engineering Manager of the Predictive Analytics team at ChannelAdvisor, where he specializes in T-SQL and R development, fighting with Kafka, and pulling rabbits out of hats on demand. He is the lead contributor to Curated SQL, a contributing author to Tribal SQL, and one of the contributors behind We Speak Linux. A resident of Durham, North Carolina, he can be found cycling the trails along the triangle whenever the weather’s nice enough.

The meeting sponsor is TEKsystems.

By working for TEKsystems, you become part of our dedicated Microsoft Technologies Practice. Since its inception, our Microsoft Technologies Practice has helped hundreds of Microsoft Specialists to find an ideal job opportunity in the marketplace. Our program at TEKsystems specializes in the cornerstone technologies of the Microsoft stack – .NET, SQL Server, and SharePoint. Our team consists of Delivery Experts, in the major market geographies, with ties to the most cutting-edge work opportunities.

As a member of the TEKsystems Microsoft Technologies Practice, you will have access to a Market Delivery Expert that focuses on Microsoft Technology jobs around the clock in your local region as well as across the US. In some cases, we may offer you the opportunity to become a full-time employee of TEKsystems and work as a Microsoft expert on our staff or at our most prestigious clients. Be sure to speak with your local TEKsystems contacts Lindsey Thomka Hardin, Holly Cavanaugh, Kierra Brown, Tara Nolan and Alexis Dragan about our Microsoft Technologies Practice and how it can benefit your career.

People are at the heart of every successful business initiative. At TEKsystems, we understand people. Every year we deploy over 80,000 IT professionals at 6,000 sites across North America, Europe, and Asia. Our deep insights into IT human capital management enable us to help our clients achieve their business goals – while optimizing their IT workforce strategies. We provide IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise, and IT services to help our clients plan, build and run their critical business initiatives. Through our range of quality-focused delivery models, we meet our clients where they are, and take them where they want to go, the way they want to get there. Learn more at www.teksystems.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

Downloads: Slides

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April Meeting: Cloud-First Lightning Talks

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join Cardinal Solutions and us on Tuesday, April 24th, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. This month, we will have a series of 20 min talks centered around our favorite topic: Cloud! Each could easily be an entire Guild presentation by itself, so we’ll get right to the meat while giving you enough context and info to research further on your own.

CI/CD for Serverless – Ben Westmoreland

The Azure Function offerings are quickly becoming a mainstream approach for getting things out the door more frequently and more reliably. Going serverless doesn’t mean missing out on the great workflows, CI/CD, and other options in your deployment pipeline. In this session, we will explore methods to incorporate Azure Functions into your DevOps workflow including build and release approaches, as well as approaches for automated testing and environment provisioning.

Ben is a Managing Consultant at Cardinal specializing in DevOps strategy and has been an IT consultant in the Charlotte area for 20+ years

Scaling Containers with Kubernetes and AKS – Jason Petrin

Containers are rightfully touted as a must-have tool in your DevOps toolkit, reducing operations overhead and providing scalability. Containerizing apps in some cases can be as easy as checking a box, but scaling them isn’t as straightforward. In this session, we will discuss scaling Docker containers with Kubernetes and Azure Container Services (AKS) as well as demonstrate how Kubernetes can deal with changing workloads.

Jason is a Principal Consultant at Cardinal with expertise in cloud architecture and 20 years of experience in IT.

.NET Examples of Key Cloud Patterns – Lloyd Faulkner

Just because you have microservices or have deployed to Azure doesn’t mean your app is optimized for the cloud. We’ll look at some of the most common design patterns you’ll want to employ in your app architecture to take advantage of the cloud, and particularly see .NET examples for implementing those patterns.

Lloyd is the AppDev Practice Manager for Cardinal’s Charlotte office, specializing in cloud architecture and agile processes.

The meeting sponsor is Cardinal Solutions.

Cardinal Solutions delivers digital solutions across cloud, data and analytics, mobile, and web. We have 500 employees in seven offices who use an Agile process to collaborate with clients across the country, delivering the right solutions that users embrace, and providing strategic guidance and training to help advance businesses.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

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March Meeting: .NET Core & The .NET Open Source Framework – The Fundamentals

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join Logical Advantage and us on Tuesday, March 27th, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. In last month’s presentation, we learned all about the power and flexibility of ASP.NET Core. This month we will step back and look at the new .NET Ecosystem and the platform that makes ASP.NET Core possible. Join Geoff Gray as he lays out the structure of .NET, including things like the .NET Standard Library, the new .NET platform, and how application models (also called workloads) like ASP.NET Core fit into the overall design.

  • Learn about the differences between Mono and .NET Core.
  • Explore the concept of .NET workloads; including .NET Core console apps, ASP.NET Core, Windows 10 UWP
  • See how the various .NET base implementations (including Xamarin) combine into the .NET Standard Library.
  • Understand how the .NET Foundation is shaping the future of .NET.

If you are a .NET Developer of any kind, this overview contains essential information that will help you future-proof your career.

The meeting presenter is Geoff Gray.

Geoff Gray is a Senior Application Performance Test Consultant and owner of Gray Test Consulting. He has a degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering and extensive experience helping companies in the IT industry improve their applications’ stability, maintainability, and performance while also teaching them how to manage these environments moving forward. He believes in “teaching people how to fish.” He earned much of his experience during his 24+ years working for Microsoft in technical delivery roles.

The meeting sponsor is Logical Advantage.

At Logical Advantage, we offer a suite of customized services to help your organization realize IT success. With our proven methodologies, keen understanding of business operations and an unyielding commitment to quality, we bridge the gap between resources and results. Learn more at www.logicaladvantage.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

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February Meeting: Introducing ASP.NET Core – From the Ground Up

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join TEKsystems and us on Tuesday, February 27th, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. Microsoft is re-inventing ASP.NET to embrace open-source and the web community. In this talk, Shawn Wildermuth will walk you through an empty project to serving MVC6 pages. While he shows you the nuts and bolts, he’ll explain the reason why ASP.NET Core is a complete re-write of the platform.

The meeting presenter is Shawn Wildermuth.

Shawn Wildermuth has been tinkering with computers and software since he got a Vic-20 back in the early ‘80s. As a Microsoft MVP since 2003, he’s also involved with Microsoft as an ASP.NET Insider and ClientDev Insider. You may have taken one of his more than twenty courses on Pluralsight. He’s authored eight books and innumerable articles on software development. You can also see him at one of the local and international conferences he’s spoken at including TechEd, Oredev, SDC, NDC, VSLive, DevIntersection, MIX, Devteach, DevConnections and Dev Reach. He is one of the Wilder Minds. You can reach him at his blog at www.wildermuth.com. He’s also making his first, feature-length, documentary about software developers today called “Hello World: The Film.” You can see more about it at www.helloworldfilm.com.

The meeting sponsor is TEKsystems.

By working for TEKsystems, you become part of our dedicated Microsoft Technologies Practice. Since its inception, our Microsoft Technologies Practice has helped hundreds of Microsoft Specialists to find an ideal job opportunity in the marketplace. Our program at TEKsystems specializes in the cornerstone technologies of the Microsoft stack – .NET, SQL Server, and SharePoint. Our team consists of Delivery Experts, in the major market geographies, with ties to the most cutting-edge work opportunities.

As a member of the TEKsystems Microsoft Technologies Practice, you will have access to a Market Delivery Expert that focuses on Microsoft Technology jobs around the clock in your local region as well as across the US. In some cases, we may offer you the opportunity to become a full-time employee of TEKsystems and work as a Microsoft expert on our staff or at our most prestigious clients. Be sure to speak with your local TEKsystems contacts Lindsey Thomka Hardin, Holly Cavanaugh, Kierra Brown, Tara Nolan and Alexis Dragan about our Microsoft Technologies Practice and how it can benefit your career.

People are at the heart of every successful business initiative. At TEKsystems, we understand people. Every year we deploy over 80,000 IT professionals at 6,000 sites across North America, Europe, and Asia. Our deep insights into IT human capital management enable us to help our clients achieve their business goals – while optimizing their IT workforce strategies. We provide IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise, and IT services to help our clients plan, build and run their critical business initiatives. Through our range of quality-focused delivery models, we meet our clients where they are, and take them where they want to go, the way they want to get there. Learn more at www.teksystems.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

Downloads: Slides & Code

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January Meeting: Website Security 101 – The Really Easy Stuff

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join Signature Consultants and us on Tuesday, January 23rd, at 6:00 PM in the Redwood Conference Room (formerly named MPR or the Multi-Purpose Room) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. Web developers know security is crucial, but the topic of security is not fun or exciting and can be daunting to understand. The issues discussed in this presentation are critical to protecting all websites. The topics covered will be explained and demonstrated in an easy to follow format that will be simple to implement when you get back to your office.

The meeting presenter is Sean Rhone.

Sean Rhone has over 20 years of IT experience and has been developing applications using the Microsoft stack since Visual Basic 4.0. He has worked in small start-ups as well as Fortune 1000 companies and has, in one way or another, been around the healthcare field for most of his adult life.

The meeting sponsor is Signature Consultants.

Signature Consultants started in 1997 with a singular focus: Provide our clients and consultants with superior staffing solutions. At Signature Consultants, it’s not just about the bottom line; it’s about the people. We focus on the relationships we have with our clients, consultants, and candidates. Our motto, “Getting IT Right,” is reflected in every aspect of our company – it guides our decisions and actions and ensures that our consultants and clients always come first. As a result of these efforts Signature has been recognized as one of the best staffing companies to work (over the last seven years by Staffing Analyst International). Learn more at www.sigconsult.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

Downloads: Slides

{"meta":{"date":"2018-1-23","speaker":"Sean Rhone","sponsor":"Signature Consultants"}}

Annual Tech Community Holiday Gathering

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Each year the Charlotte tech community comes together for our annual holiday gathering. We’re excited to announce that the gathering this year will be held on Friday, December 1st at The Boiler Yard in Camp North End. High fives all around to Garrett Tichy from Hygge for getting us set up with such a great space this year.

This is a great event where we all come together to celebrate the Charlotte tech community, get to know some of the other local meetups, and round out our year together. We hope you’ll join us for a night of conversations, food, and drinks. We hope to see you there!

The annual holiday gathering will immediately follow the community edition of FusionConf.

Please RSVP.

November Meeting: RDBMS vs. Document DBs – How do I decide?

Posted on by Mark A. Wilson

Join TEKsystems and us on Tuesday, November 28, at 6:00 PM in the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR) of the Microsoft Charlotte Office. Document databases have gotten a lot of exposure recently. So much so that some have suggested that the time of relational databases has passed. Others suggest that document databases are just a one of the recent bright-and-shiny technologies that isn’t much more than a fad. Who is right? The answer is not what you might expect.

This presentation will recap the design considerations developers prioritize in picking one technology over the other. Using SQL Server and MongoDB as representative systems, we will consider the developer experience using these technologies. We will take a look at at the tools used to design, query, transform and optimize both relational and document database systems. Finally, we will take a brief look at Cosmos and the features it offers extending and simplifying the cognitive load a little bit more than Mongo.

This presentation is aimed at the developers who have been using either relational or document database technology and want to see what they were missing.

The meeting presenter is Doug Corbett.

Doug Corbett is a software consultant that has been developing applications primarily in the Microsoft stack since 1994. He has worked with teams in large Fortune 500 companies as well as small 100 person companies. His greatest sense of accomplishment came by consolidating five disparate systems into one web application within nine months. Deployment went smoothly. All bugs were resolved by noon of release day, just in time for lunch. Many thanks go to Kathleen Dollard and her book “Code Generation in Microsoft .NET”

In July 2017, Doug founded Lionheart Consultants; a consultancy focused on helping .NET teams get up to speed quickly with Angular, TypeScript and MongoDB. He is reacquainting himself with the effectiveness of code generation and is currently looking at how to leverage his experience with Angular CLI schematics.

The meeting sponsor is TEKsystems.

By working for TEKsystems, you become part of our dedicated Microsoft Technologies Practice. Since its inception, our Microsoft Technologies Practice has helped hundreds of Microsoft Specialists to find an ideal job opportunity in the marketplace. Our program at TEKsystems specializes in the cornerstone technologies of the Microsoft stack – .NET, SQL Server, and SharePoint. Our team consists of Delivery Experts, in the major market geographies, with ties to the most cutting edge work opportunities.

As a member of the TEKsystems Microsoft Technologies Practice, you will have access to a Market Delivery Expert that focuses on Microsoft Technology jobs around the clock in your local region as well as across the US. In some cases, we may offer you the opportunity to become a full-time employee of TEKsystems and work as a Microsoft expert on our staff or at our most prestigious clients. Be sure to speak with your local TEKsystems contacts Lindsey Thomka Hardin, Cody Martin, Kierra Brown, Holly Cavanaugh, and Amanda Miller about our Microsoft Technologies Practice and how it can benefit your career.

People are at the heart of every successful business initiative. At TEKsystems, we understand people. Every year we deploy over 80,000 IT professionals at 6,000 sites across North America, Europe, and Asia. Our deep insights into IT human capital management enable us to help our clients achieve their business goals – while optimizing their IT workforce strategies. We provide IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise, and IT services to help our clients plan, build and run their critical business initiatives. Through our range of quality-focused delivery models, we meet our clients where they are, and take them where they want to go, the way they want to get there. Learn more at www.teksystems.com.

Please RSVP so we know how much food to order.

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