Tell us about...

Tell us something funny about yourself?

I can do the floss (thanks kids!)

Why should companies or developers modernize?

As a business owner and a developer, the biggest advantage I see to modernizing is reducing burdens. It could be administrative burdens (simplify server admin by using docker or lambda), cognitive burdens (organized workflows, reduce manual steps), etc. It is not about following the latest fads, you still have to weed out what is a fad, and what actually adds value and improves your process.

Why is ColdFusion (CFML) still relevant?

Because (1+1 == 2) in CFML. Unless that statement becomes false in CFML it will continue to work, and get the job done for many many years to come.

What would you like to experience during the conference?

II'm always looking to learn something new at conferences. It is a good way window shop various techniques and technologies without actually having to invest in fully learning it. Then after the conference I eventually start learning and implementing those techniques and technologies that resonated well with me.

Which speaker at ITB do you want to sit down and ask a few questions?

George Murphy, besides talking to him about Terraform, I would probably also ask him about fishing. George is always fun to chat with.

Why should attendees go to your session?

It doesn't get much more cutting edge than running CFML on AWS Lambda. Whether you have used Lambda before or not, there should be quite a bit to learn for anyone willing to attend. Also this is one of the few opportunities you may have to hear me talk about something besides security ;-)

What is your favorite *Box Product and why?

CommandBox - it is the swiss army knife that every CFML developer should have on their belt. I use it every day.

Tell us about...

Tell us something funny about yourself?

I have serious impostor’s syndrome. Hilarious, right?

People in the CFML community know me as “the AWS guy,” which is great. But I know so little — so very little — compared to some of the real AWS gurus out there. If you ask me about CloudFormation, I’ll break into a cold sweat, shout “look over there!,” and bolt from the room.

I try to learn something new every day. Whenever AWS comes out with a new service (which feels like a weekly event), I try to figure out how I can add it to my AWS Playbox app. Between teaching at the graduate level, maintaining a huge CFML app, and trying to turn my three boys into responsible young men, I don’t always get to adding new services to the playbox right away. When I do find the time, though, I pull up the AWS SDK JavaDocs and stumble my way to success. I love that I get to learn, and try new things — sometimes things that I can use in my real production apps at work. All the while I’m learning to be less of an impostor and more of a pro — at least until the next Re:Invent conference.

Why should companies or developers modernize?

If you’re in technology, your skills became outdated today. It’s a brutal, ever-changing landscape. Keeping up isn’t a “nice to do,” it’s a “must do.” I’m not saying that you have to know every new JavaScript framework, or be able to spin up Kubernetes clusters in your sleep. Just be aware. Take small steps. Get better every day. Doing that will have a profound impact on your ability to work smarter and remain relevant in this industry.

Why is ColdFusion (CFML) still relevant?

CFML is Java, but better. It lets you develop quickly, while having at your fingertips literally tens of thousands of battle-tested libraries which can do just about anything you need them to do. CFML isn’t perfect. It doesn’t need to be. It just needs to make you productive right away, every day, which it does for me and my team.

What would you like to experience during the conference?

One of those moments where your brain has been completely fried by the sheer intelligence and smart work of one of the presenters. That feeling of “damn, I just got better as a developer by listening to this.”

Which speaker at ITB do you want to sit down and ask a few questions?

Pete Frietag — he’s so darn smart!

Why should attendees go to your session?

CFML can only do so much. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be tapping into the incredible power that infrastructure and software-as-a-service providers give you. Let’s be frank: AWS is the biggest player in that space, and it’s only getting bigger. If you really want to use AWS (or Azure, or GCP for that matter) in a meaningfully secure way, you have to master access permissions. If you can even get a quarter of the way to mastery of that topic, and learn how to automate some of that from within your CFML app, that’s a big win. And that’s what I hope to provide to people who go to my session.

What is your favorite *Box Product and why?

CommandBox - it empowers me to be a better developer every day.

Tell us about...

Why should companies or developers modernize?

To stay ahead of the competition, to take advantage of recent innovations and make their lives easier, to stay relevant, to give your customers and teammates the best experience possible.

Why is ColdFusion (CFML) still relevant?

CFML has all the fun language and ecosystem benefits that the JavaScript/Node community rave about. Plus it has several baked-in features that make it THE tool for integrating with other systems. I run a consulting business; we try to be objective and pick the right tool for the given project. 9 times out of 10 we pick CFML first.

What would you like to experience during the conference?

Into The Box is always a great place to learn the truly cutting edge things being done in the CFML space. I expect to attend several great sessions and learn more modern techniques for using CFML in 2019

Which speaker at ITB do you want to sit down and ask a few questions?

Brian Klaas always does a fantastic job; I learn a lot from his presentations. I'm also a big fan of talks by Eric Peterson and Matthew Clemente. Looking forward to seeing all of them.

Why should attendees go to your session?

There is so much promo about how the Node ecosystem has made JavaScript a "run anywhere" language. The truth is, we a very similar set of functionality in the CFML space with CommandBox. My session will help shed some light on how easy it is to use CommandBox to get a lot of the same benefits one gets from Node and npm. The CFML community really can get those same benefits with the tools already available to them!

What is your favorite *Box Product and why?

CommandBox. As part of my consulting business we often flip between several projects in a given week. Being able to spin up servers that match my client specifications with a simple command line tool saves us tons of work