Brent Laster
Global author, trainer and founder of Tech Skills Transformations LLC
Hi, I'm Brent Laster - a global trainer and book author, experienced corporate technology developer and leader, and founder and president of Tech Skills Transformations LLC. I've been working with and presenting at NFJS events for many years now and it is always exciting and interesting.
Through my decades in programming and management,I've always tried to make time to learn and develop both technical and leadership skills and share them with others Regardless of the topic or technology, my belief is that there is no substitute for the excitement and sense of potential that come from providing others with the knowledge they need to help them accomplish their goals.
In my spare time, I hang out with my wife Anne-Marie, 4 children and 2 small dogs in Cary, North Carolina where I design and conduct trainings and write books. You can find me on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/brentlaster), Twitter (@brentclaster) or through my company's website at www.getskillsnow.com.
Presentations
GitHub Copilot for DevOps
In this workshop, we'll focus on how DevOps engineers can leverage GitHub Copilot for typical DevOps tasks, simply and easily. We'll discuss how Copilot Chat can be used to drive creating specifications and infrastructure for use with Docker, GitHub Actions, Terraform, and Kubernetes.
By the end of the workshop, participants will understand where, when, and how GitHub Copilot can be used to accelerate being productive with these DevOps apps.
Join speaker, author, and former DevOps director Brent Laster for a fast-paced, hands-on session to understand how you can put GitHub Copilot's AI capabilities to work in common DevOps scenarios. With only a GitHub id and a browser, you'll be able to leverage a full IDE environment in GitHub Codespaces without installing anything on your own system. Each lab will focus on a different technology and guide you through creating simple examples that you can extrapolate to larger, production efforts.
You'll need to bring a laptop and already have an account and access to the public GitHub.com to do the labs.
We look forward to seeing you in the workshop!
GitHub Copilot for DevOps
In this workshop, we'll focus on how DevOps engineers can leverage GitHub Copilot for typical DevOps tasks, simply and easily. We'll discuss how Copilot Chat can be used to drive creating specifications and infrastructure for use with Docker, GitHub Actions, Terraform, and Kubernetes.
By the end of the workshop, participants will understand where, when, and how GitHub Copilot can be used to accelerate being productive with these DevOps apps.
Join speaker, author, and former DevOps director Brent Laster for a fast-paced, hands-on session to understand how you can put GitHub Copilot's AI capabilities to work in common DevOps scenarios. With only a GitHub id and a browser, you'll be able to leverage a full IDE environment in GitHub Codespaces without installing anything on your own system. Each lab will focus on a different technology and guide you through creating simple examples that you can extrapolate to larger, production efforts.
You'll need to bring a laptop and already have an account and access to the public GitHub.com to do the labs.
We look forward to seeing you in the workshop!
Incorporating AI into your SDLC
Just as CI/CD and other revolutions in DevOps have changed the landscape of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), so Generative AI is now changing it again. Gen AI has the potential to simplify, clarify, and lessen the cycles required across multiple phases of the SDLC.
In this session with author, trainer, and experienced DevOps director Brent Laster, we'll survey the ways that today's AI assistants and tools can be incorporated across your SDLC phases including planning, development, testing, documentation, maintaining, etc. There are multiple ways the existing tools can help us beyond just the standard day-to-day coding and, like other changes that have happened over the years, teams need to be aware of, and thinking about how to incorporate AI into their processes to stay relevant and up-to-date.
Books
Jenkins 2 - Up and Running
by Brent Laster
- All about Jenkins 2, Pipelines-As-Code, CI/CD, etc.
Professional Git
by Brent Laster
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Leverage the power of Git to smooth out the development cycle
Professional Git takes a professional approach to learning this massively popular software development tool, and provides an up-to-date guide for new users. More than just a development manual, this book helps you get into the Git mindset—extensive discussion of corollaries to traditional systems as well as considerations unique to Git help you draw upon existing skills while looking out—and planning for—the differences. Connected labs and exercises are interspersed at key points to reinforce important concepts and deepen your understanding, and a focus on the practical goes beyond technical tutorials to help you integrate the Git model into your real-world workflow.
Git greatly simplifies the software development cycle, enabling users to create, use, and switch between versions as easily as you switch between files. This book shows you how to harness that power and flexibility to streamline your development cycle.
- Understand the basic Git model and overall workflow
- Learn the Git versions of common source management concepts and commands
- Track changes, work with branches, and take advantage of Git's full functionality
- Avoid trip-ups and missteps common to new users
Git works with the most popular software development tools and is used by almost all of the major technology companies. More than 40 percent of software developers use it as their primary source control tool, and that number continues to grow; the ability to work effectively with Git is rapidly approaching must-have status, and Professional Git is the comprehensive guide you need to get up to speed quickly.