RenderATL 2025 Recap! 🎉
The Carnival was a BLAST!
Full confession: I am writing this newsletter issue a couple days before publication. 🫣
Since getting back from Render, work has been WORKING, mothering has been MOTHERING, and life has been LIFING! 😅
So I was not able to publish this issue at the regular time of the 3rd Thursday.
But I have some time now, so let’s recap Render 2025! 🎡
I arrived in Atlanta the evening before the first official conference day. That week, the city had been hosting Atlanta Tech Week, and Render occurs towards the end of Tech Week.
My main focus this first time at Render was to meet as many of my Tech Twitter mutuals as possible in real life.
The very next morning, I got the TREAT of a lifetime: lunch with my dear friend, Lawrence Lockhart, aka THEE LawrenceDCodes! 🥰
Lawrence and I met on Tech Twitter and we became good friends, encouraging newbies with our stories of how we broke into Tech later in life (I in my late 30s and him in his late 40s - yes, we look GOODT for our ages! 🤩).
The theme for Day 1 was PINK, and it was wonderful to see the various shades and hues of pink throughout the conference. Here is the one talk I attended during Day 1; I spent much of the time meeting my mutuals and having conversations:
From Fear to Flow: The 7 Stages of AI Adoption for Developers
I got to meet Tracy Lee, the amazing CEO of ThisDotLabs! 💕
The theme for Day 2 was Boots and Bytes. I think I showed up and showed OUT in my white boots and hat, don’t you think? 😉 🤠
I spent some time with my good friends Nikema Prophet and Anthony D. Mays (who is MUCH taller than I expected! 🤩). Anthony, bless you deeply for every investment you have made in my career and life! 😘
Talks I attended:
AI for developers, by the amazing Francesco Ciulla.
Justin's Welcome Address - by the maestro behind RenderATL, Justin Samuels!
Keynote by THEE Kelsey Hightower, full of grace and truth. 🥹 Y’all, my voice was trembling a lil bit when I introduced myself to him. 🫣
The Future of Work: Thriving in a Remote-First World - by the leaders at Zillow.
In the evening of Day 2, I had a fun time at MakeSwift’s Mixer! I met one of my day-one mentees, Stacey Graham! Stacey I am so proud of how far you have come, and the example you set for us mums-in-Tech! 🥳
I also enjoyed a game of mini-golf!
Day 3’s theme was Jerseys and I proudly represented the Baltimore Ravens! 🐦⬛
The talks I attended on the final conference day included:
AI Agents for PMs: A No-Fluff Guide to Building Smarter Products by Kierra Dotson
First of all: that FIRE pink power suit Kierra had on! 🔥
As a product-driven engineer, I was excited to hear Kierra speak on how product managers are leveraging AI in their approach and process.
The Final Hurdle: From Self-Taught to First Development Job by ShashiLo
I attended this talk because I wanted to learn from this powerhouse tech mentor Shashi, who has helped launch the careers of hundreds of developers. As the founder of the Arit Developer Circle, I want to ensure that I am actually empowering those in my community. 🥰
Some more pictures from the conference!
Thank you for reading! 🙏🏾
I had butterflies while reading this it felt like I was there. Thank you for sharing and I am so sure you enjoyed yourself. 😉