About 300 web developers from across the Midwest will convene in Milwaukee next week for the third annual MKE DOT NET conference.
MKE DOT NET launched three years ago as an effort by Brookfield-based software development company Centare to fill a gap in the dot net industry and make Southeast Wisconsin more attractive to dot net developers.
It’s grown over the years to attract developers and industry professionals from across the Midwest and experts from across the country, said David Pine, a MKE DOT NET organizer and technical evangelist with Centare.
“It’s about bringing together the developer community to celebrate all of our technical accomplishments here within the Midwest,” he said. “When you’re a part of the developer community, you’re exposed to more technologies and you get to not only share your learnings, but learn from others. That’s the greatest way, I believe, to progress through a career, rather than being stagnant.”
The conference will kick off with keynote speaker Maria Naggaga, a program manager with Microsoft. Naggaga’s presentation will focus on building modern developer tools.
“If you look at the past, developers learned two ways: in school and also with a book,” Naggaga said. “But now it’s changed because code has become more accessible and it’s no longer that everyone who is a developer has a degree — a lot of people are self-taught and going to bootcamps. And the way that we can ensure that people are constantly learning new stuff and are up to date is to make the online experience better.”
About 30 speakers will lead breakout sessions on topics focused on best practices and new technologies.
The conference will be held Sept. 9 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 1721 W. Canal St. Ticket information is available at mkedotnet.com.