FutureTalk Summer Series with Eryn O'Neil

Please join us for our third and final installment of FutureTalks: The Summer Series! Each month we’re hosting talks in both San Francisco and Portland, where we’ll be examining the code of tomorrow, celebrating the people who make it, and looking ahead to the future of Modern Software.

This month we'll hear from Eryn O'Neil, Software Engineer at Clockwork Active Media Systems. Check out her talk below, and stay tuned for this month's San Francisco event!

Programmers Can UX Too

Programmers have a bad reputation when it comes to UX, but it’s time to set the record straight: It isn’t because we don’t care! It’s because we fall in the trap of thinking we can design a user interface and write it at the same time when, the truth is, these processes require different kinds of thinking. But learning how to unlock that part of your brain is worth it– and you’ll be surprised at what you already know. From one developer to another, this talk will discuss why you should think critically about the interfaces you write and give you some strategies you can start applying right away.

This talk is aimed at developers, both front-end and server-side, who implement user interfaces but may not have training in UX. And the truth is, ALL programmers implement user interfaces; sometimes the user is another developer (in the case of an API) or a more advanced user (for a command-line tool), but all software has its users.

Eryn is a PHP web developer (LAMP, naturally) and technical lead at Clockwork Active Media in Minneapolis, MN. There, she has worked on everything from e-commerce to online promotions to building a CMS. Her philosophy? Simple: Write software that’s easy to maintain and even easier to use. Based in Saint Paul, MN, Eryn spends most of her free time swing and blues dancing, rock climbing, and wishing it weren’t snowing.

Doors will open at 5:30, and the presentation will begin right at 6p. The food and drinks are provided by Bellagios and New Relic.

Upcoming FutureTalks:

› September 17th • Ward Cunningham • SF

Then, in October, you can continue your learning at FutureStack14, New Relic's second-annaul tech conference.

› FutureTalks is brought to you by New Relic in collaboration with TAO