.NET Rocks! Old Developers using New Tools with Brady Gaster
Nov 13, 2025
In this talk, Brady Gaster, a Microsoft product manager specializing in Azure and Visual Studio, explores how developers are adapting to cutting-edge tools. He shares insights on app modernization, leveraging AI for migrations, and the role of LLMs and GitHub Copilot in enhancing coding experiences. Brady also discusses the playful side of modernization, like integrating Rust for fun prototypes. The conversation covers both the excitement and challenges of embracing new technology in the developer landscape.
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From Agents To Large-Scale Modernization
- Brady shifted focus from chat agents to application modernization when tools started to automate big parts of cloud development.
- He now helps architects modernize hundreds or thousands of apps, not just one or two.
Iterate With Spec-Driven Prompts
- Break large AI-generated tasks into iterative, spec-driven steps to get reliable outputs from models.
- Use spec writing with AI and iterate rather than asking one big open-ended prompt.
Migration Tools Are Becoming Universal
- Migration tooling is getting more generalized and powerful, lowering the bar for language and platform switches.
- LLMs and generators can now do much of the conversion work previously done by bespoke tools.