Hi, I'm Layla

Layla is a Developer Advocate at VMware serving the .NET community. She creates videos for YouTube predominantly on .NET but you'll find other topics, such as devrel and tech covered too. She is a 5 times Microsoft MVP, 3 times GitHub Star, and the founder of the #WomenOfDotNet Initiative. Layla loves sharing knowledge whilst having fun. No question is stupid and beginners are always welcome.

The past few years have seen huge hype around distributed systems and microservices. Pre-emptive implementation of a distributed architecture has led to many engineering teams struggling with vast complexity and sadly for many, the dreaded 'Distributed Monolith'. Some teams are in such a pickle that they are even reverting their distributed applications back to a monolith. I'm all for designing and developing for future growth, but there is a better way than diving straight into distributed architecture. Behold, the Modular Monolith. By design, the modular monolith is 'distribu-ready' and in this session, we'll cover the design principles and implementations that make the modular monolith one of the best options for future-proofing your application whilst minimising complexity.

Modular Monoliths are becoming more popular since people realised how very hard microservices are to manage, maintain, develop, and debug. But how do you create a modular monolith that solves the problems a microservice creates but doesn't just revert to type? This is where KitKats, satellites, and the modular monolith really do have something in common. Join me in this session as we explore the modular monolith, touching on architecture, design, implementation, and everything in between.

Applications are growing increasingly complex, and harder to manage and monitor. Throw in globally distributed microservices and distributed teams; things only get more challenging. Yet there are tools and libraries out there that can empower you the developer to make considered decisions that make everyone's lives easier, from architects to SREs. Libraries such as Steeltoe (based on the ever-popular Spring Boot for Java), YARP and Polly are just a few and in this session, I will show you how, with just a few lines of code, you can greatly improve the cloud-readiness of your application.

Microservice Architecture and the reasons why you should move to it, and the reasons you shouldn’t, have been well discussed. If you have already decided to move over to microservices from monolithic development, then you may be finding the whole process a bit daunting.

Getting started with Test Driven Development (TDD) can be very challenging. It requires a different mindset and approach to writing and developing code. However, once in that mindset, it is very difficult not to write tests first.

Introvert and extrovert, frontend and backend, this language or that one, with children or without. There are so many gaps in our industry that can have consequences if not bridged - will you get the promotion? Will you get the new job? Will your voice be heard? There are many ways to bridge a gap, and often the best way isn’t obvious. Layla and Alyssa hope, that through their stories and experiences, they can bring mindfulness and compassion to the forefront of your thoughts and help you bridge the gaps in your career and life.