Major tech cities are full of developers. It makes sense. The tech companies are all over. But what about the developers located in other cities? Smaller cities? Cities that don’t have the recognition that the other major cities do?

I will speak on some of the difficulties I have had as a developer born, raised, and living in the Midwest. I’ll talk about some experiences I’ve had with other developers from the coasts as well as assumptions I see made about us. I’ll also talk about what I think we can do to be more inclusive of Midwest developers and not apply some of the biases towards them.

Secrets can be scary if they get out. That's the very feeling I had when I wrote a Medium post revealing my biggest secret, which was read by thousands.

In this talk, I will share the story of how and why I came to share this secret with the world. I'll also talk about how sharing this ultimately made me a better teammate, developer, and person, and how it had the complete opposite reaction than I expected. Through these experiences, I’ll share my insights on why being more open benefits you and your team.