Michelle Brenner (she/her) is a Senior Software Engineer with 13 years of experience. She started in engineering support and now leads large-scale development projects. A Philadelphia native who currently calls Los Angeles home, she is an art school graduate and a self-taught engineer. During her career, she has most enjoyed creating software that enables others to succeed, from digital artists to restaurateurs to fellow engineers.

Michelle has shared her technical travails, team-building advice, and career growth techniques as a speaker at more than 30 conferences, as a podcast host and guest, and as a writer in STMPE, 97 Things Every Cloud Engineer Should Know, and online at LeadDev, dev.to, and OpenSource. She hopes others can learn from her successes and challenges.

Presentations

23x

Meet, Greet, Repeat. Networking Skills for Maximum Impact

You could be watching a training video in your pajamas, but you chose to be here because you want real, lasting connections that can transform your career. In a world where AI blurs reality, face-to-face networking gives you an edge that online courses can’t match. Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, this session will help you set a conference goal and turn networking from daunting to delightful. We’ll cover how to keep conversations going, exit gracefully, and make connections that last, with practical tips and interactive exercises that boost your confidence and help you make the most of every event.

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19x

Remote Workstations for the Discerning Artists

Netflix is poised to become the world’s most prolific producer of visual effects and original animated content. Artists like to work at places where they can create groundbreaking entertainment instead of worrying about getting access to the software or source files they need. Our solution is Netflix Workstations. This is the story of what we made, what we learned, and what we're going to do next.

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18x

Ahead in the Clouds

Serverless apps are everywhere these days, but how do you get started? How do you decide which provider to go with? I have created the same Python app with 3 services, AWS, Google Cloud & Microsoft Azure. I will go over the highlights and lowlights, and how to judge what’s right for your project.

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17x

How to use data to get a raise (and make your first serverless app)

ROI Tracker teaches two skills, how to create your first serverless app and how to track your achievements for the dreaded annual review. I will discuss how best to communicate your successes, the technical advantages of Python based serverless apps and how to get started with your own.

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