Bio
Armed with over 15 years of experience and a passion for his profession, Nate is no stranger to developing quality software applications. He applies his expertise in C++, Java, .Net and JavaScript, and his focus on test driven development (TDD) and clean code, to write revenue-generating applications. Nate has the expertise to work solo and the personality to work alongside a larger team. His work positively impacts a variety of industries, from small startups to Fortune 50 businesses. When he’s not working at Aviture, speaking at a conference, or creating courses on Pluralsight, you can find Nate training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and spending time with his wife, kids and herds of cats, rabbits and other pets at home.
My Talks
Everything I Needed to Know About Debugging I Learned in Elementary Physics
You've been tasked with fixing a bug, but you're not sure where to start. Come learn a mental framework for solving problems, and see that framework in practice as we solve problems that have happe...
From Cholera to the Space Shuttle Challenger: What Can We Learn About Professionalism from Other Professionals?
Software is a relatively young profession, and it started as a hobby for most of us. By looking at a couple incidents in other professions, we can glean valuable lessons as to what it means to be a...
How Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Made Me a Better Software Developer
After years of being a couch potato, I started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) thinking it would be a break from software development. However, some of the principles I learned on the mat have a...
How Test Driven Development (TDD) Improved My Quality of Life as a Developer
When I first started out, I loved programming. Then, over time, I started to dread making changes, as one change broke something else. Once I started focusing on TDD, however, my job satisfaction w...
Let’s Get Functional with Elixir!
Elixir is a dynamic functional programming (FP) language built on top of the Erlang VM, but comes from developers in the Ruby ecosystem, so it's an accessible functional programming language.
This...
Phoenix & Umbrellas: Understanding What You’re Building
It's easy to write an application using the Phoenix framework for Elixir. However, sometimes the ease of writing gets in the way of good practices. This talk looks at one practice, umbrella applica...
Software Can Change the World
Sometimes working on CRUD apps makes it hard to imagine that software can really have an impact on someone's life, but it can. And not just the finished product, even the mere act of writing softwa...
Your Tests Are Too DRY
The Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle is great, but using it while writing tests can cause pain and frustration. This talk looks at how to stay sane while not worrying about DRY tests.