Get the Inside Scoop on SD West 2008

Advisory board member Michèle Leroux Bustamante gives attendees the skinny on what can’t be missed in 2008.

Michèle Leroux Bustamante, principal software architect of IDesign Inc., is integral member of SD West’s Advisory board. As Microsoft Regional Director for San Diego, Microsoft MVP for XML Web Services and BEA Technical Director, Michèle’s 10 plus years of development experience make her unique insight particularly valuable. She’s track chair (with Christian Gross) of Web Services/SOA and worked to develop the new IT for Developers, along with speaking the .NET track. Reach her at mlb@idesign.net, or visit www.idesign.net and www.dotnetdashboard.net.

You're involved in the Web Services/SOA and .NET tracks, are there any new trends in those areas?

MLB: In Web Services/SOA there are some fresh offerings related to RESTful development, new perspectives on SOA related to mobility and model-driven development, and of course the usual staple discussions that touch on WS*. More than anything, I find this year has more practical content than "hype" and this is refreshing. The same applies to .NET. With .NET 3.0, we have lots of practical talks from a year of experience, while .NET 3.5 and beyond introduces a bunch of new features for WCF, WF, Ajax, Silverlight and more.

What do you find most exciting about SD West's course offerings this year?

Michele Leroux Bustamante: I think it’s great that we’ve added several new tracks, including topics such as IT guidance for developers, fundamentals for those new to some of the technology stacks—and, of course, there are lots of new technologies to cover this year on the .NET side of things.

The IT for Developers track is brand new. What can attendees expect?

MLB: This track will help developers better understand relevant IT operation issues related to networking, configuration, deployment, virtualization and general management of an enterprise system.

What are your "must-see" course recommendations?

MLB: “Networking for Coders” with Stephen Rose is just a fantastic tutorial, a must-see. In fact, any session taught by Stephen Rose or Richard Campbell is a must-see. Both are fantastic presenters, and their courses are part of the new IT track. Some other talks I recommend include “Vista for Developers” (Kate Gregory), “Essential LINQ with C# 3.0” (Mark Michaelis), and “Productive WCF” (Juval Lowy). My one-day tutorial, the “Microsoft Technology Roadmap,” is always well received because I educate architects and developers on the avalanche of Microsoft technologies, where and how they should be applied, and generally get them up to speed so they can make roadmap decisions.

What is the number one reason to attend SD West?

MLB: This conference is great because it has a diverse and yet rich offering. There aren't many places that a developer can go to learn about the latest technologies in their preferred technology, and still learn something about other technologies they may not play with every day. This keeps architects and developers more balanced in their perspectives, especially since they can discuss things with other developers from different backgrounds and expertise. This is particularly useful for companies that have heterogeneous technology stacks. They can send all their teams here, and there is something for everyone.

Check out all the Advisory Board interviews here.