Azure & DevOps Podcast

April Yoho: GitHub in 2025 - Episode 346

Apr 21, 2025

April Yoho, a Senior Developer Advocate at GitHub, has a rich background in application transformation and DevOps. She shares her inspiring journey from data center outages in the U.S. to discovering cloud automation in the U.K. April discusses GitHub's transformation into a comprehensive platform focusing on security and developer productivity. She highlights the innovative Codespaces, enhancing the cloud development experience, and explores how GitHub Copilot is streamlining workflows and boosting productivity, reshaping the future of development.

37:56

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April Yoho

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Quick takeaways

April Yoho emphasizes the evolution of GitHub into an end-to-end enterprise platform prioritizing security, scalability, and AI-enhanced productivity for developers.

The introduction of GitHub Codespaces allows developers to overcome traditional barriers with cloud-based environments, enhancing collaboration and accelerating project initiation.

Deep dives

April Yoho's Career Journey

April Yoho, a senior developer advocate at GitHub, discusses her career evolution, which began in the U.S. but shifted to the UK after experiencing significant challenges in data center management. Confronted with long hours and outages at her previous job, she sought a different career path and became involved with Microsoft Azure as the cloud began gaining traction. April's journey took her from a managed service provider to a focus on application transformation and DevOps practices, where she became adept at automation and infrastructure as code, ultimately embracing GitHub and Azure's capabilities to optimize software delivery.

Intro

3min

A Transformative Career Journey in Technology

2min

Exploring GitHub's Evolution and AI Advancements in 2025

2min

Unlocking Cloud Development with Codespaces

6min

Unlocking Developer Potential with GitHub Copilot

21min

Exploring Workspaces and AI in Development

4min

April is a senior developer advocate and DevOps practice lead for GitHub, specializing in application transformation and DevOps ways of working. Her focus is working on Microsoft Azure to take customers on a journey from legacy technology to serverless and containers, where code comes first, while enabling them to take full advantage of DevOps. April was previously a cloud consultant and solution architect for various partners in the UK and brings her years of experience in helping customers plan their journey. She also serves as a Hashicorp Ambassador, dedicating much of her time to working with infrastructure as code (IaC). She enjoys making Azure and its features more accessible. Her technical expertise includes PowerShell, Golang, and occasionally TypeScript and C#. In her free time, April enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, and scuba diving. Additionally, she is a triathlete who competes in Ironman and Half Ironman events.

Topics of Discussion:

[1:57] April’s career journey — from U.S. data center outages and 72-hour shifts to discovering cloud and automation after relocating to the U.K. [3:53] How an early Azure migration in 2013 ignited her passion for infrastructure as code and DevOps.

[5:33] GitHub’s evolution into a full end-to-end enterprise platform, with a major focus on security, scalability, and developer productivity. [6:51] Code Spaces: VS Code in the cloud with 60 hours free per user — solving compute and environment parity issues across teams. [10:00] GitHub’s internal use of Code Spaces: every GitHub employee (aka “Hubber”) uses it to work on the github.com codebase. [12:29] Code Spaces’ advantages in lab and hackathon settings, including speed, security, and reliability. [13:55] Breakdown of GitHub Copilot’s flavors: chat, inline suggestions, edits, pull request reviews, and agentic AI. [17:12] Real-world uses of Copilot Edits: generating documentation, writing tests, and making cohesive multi-file changes. [20:00] GitHub’s goal of enabling the “10x developer,” not just in speed but in quality, consistency, and creativity.

[25:00] How AI tooling is changing how we think about architecture, code reuse, and shrinking monoliths into modular libraries. [30:00] Prompting strategies: how different cultures and languages impact the way developers interact with AI tools. [32:47] GitHub Workspaces: start from requirements, generate a plan, and get a head start on writing and converting code. [35:00] April’s belief that AI-driven development is already here, and edits are one of the best ways to experience that transformation now.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo

.Net Aspire and Data API builder with the Community

April on GitHub

April on LinkedIn

April on X

Universe 2024: GitHub Embraces Developer Choice with Multi-Model Copilot, New App Tool GitHub Spark, and AI-Native Developer Experience