Coffee and Open Source

Mark Techson, an award-winning university instructor and senior software engineer, has two decades of experience developing tech solutions. Passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences and demystifying coding, he currently works as DevRel Lead on the Angular Team at Google.You can find Mark on the following sites:WebsiteLinkedInGitHubBlueskyXYouTubePLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Brian Pontarelli is a technology entrepreneur currently solving login, registration, and user management challenges with FusionAuth. Brian started programming at the age of 8 and studied Computer Engineering at CU Boulder. During his early career, Brian worked as a software engineer at companies such as BEA and Orbitz. He started working on his own products nights and weekends and quit his day job after selling to a few large companies. He bootstrapped the company for 16 years before selling a majority share to Updata Partners. Brian still codes, but spends most of his time focusing on growing FusionAuth and helping customers solve their auth problems.You can find Brian on the following sites:XLinkedInGitHubHere are some links provided by Brian:FusionAuthPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Don is the CTO and Co-Founder at Searchcraft, a developer-centric platform focused on re-imagining content search for applications. Don has spent nearly 30 years in software engineering, building applications for both startups and enterprise-scale companies.You can find Don on the following sites:WebsiteLinkedInGitHubBlueskyHere are some links provided by Don:Searchcraft PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Dan Wahlin is a Principal Cloud Developer Advocate at Microsoft working with developers to leverage the capabilities available in Azure, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform. In addition to his work at Microsoft, Dan creates training courses for Pluralsight, speaks at conferences and meetups around the world, and offers webinars on a variety of technical topics. Prior to joining Microsoft, Dan was CEO of a consulting, architecture, and training company for 20 years helping enterprises build great software.You can find Dan on the following sites:BlogLinkedInGitHubXBlueskyPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Alvin is a technical writer and software developer specializing in Microsoft technologies, specifically .NET, C#, and XAML. He has over 30 years of experience developing applications for Windows, mobile, and the web. He has authored two books for Packt Publishing and is a full-time content developer on the Windows developer docs on Microsoft Learn. His published books are 'Learn WinUI 3' and 'Parallel Programming and Concurrency with C# 10 and .NET 6'.You can find Alvin on the following sites:WebsiteLinkedInGitHubBlueskyMastodonPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Noelle Russell is a multi-award-winning speaker, author, and AI Executive who specializes in transforming businesses through strategic AI adoption. She is a revenue growth + cost optimization expert, 4x Microsoft Responsible AI MVP, and named the #1 Agentic AI Leader in 2025. She has led teams at NPR, Microsoft, IBM, AWS and Amazon Alexa, and is a consistent champion for Data and AI literacy and is the founder of the 'I ❤️ AI' Community teaching responsible AI for everyone.She is the founder of the AI Leadership Institute and empowers business owners to grow and scale with AI. In the last year, she has been named an awardee of the AI and Cyber Leadership Award from DCALive, the #1 Thought Leader in Agentic AI and a Top 10 Global Thought Leader in Generative AI by Thinkers360.You can find Noelle on the following sites:WebsiteLinkedInYouTubeXHere are some links provided by Noelle:Scaling Responsible AI: From Enthusiasm to ExecutionAI Leadership InstitutePLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Patrik is a programmer from Sweden with over 20 years of experience, starting his journey at the age of 7 on an ABC-800 and later exploring platforms like the Commodore 64, Amiga, and PC. He has been active in the open source community since 2010 and is the creator of tools such as Cake and Spectre.Console, along with several other open source projects.He has a strong interest in developer tooling and devops, and enjoys working with languages like C#, Rust, and Swift. His contributions have somehow been recognized with three GitHub Star awards and seven Microsoft MVP awards (suggesting a possible clerical error or that bribes actually work).Outside of tech, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing guitar, and working on home improvement projects.You can find Patrik on the following sites:WebsiteLinkedInGitHubBlueskyMastodonXPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Kohsuke Kawaguchi is a prominent software engineer, best known as the creator of Jenkins, an open-source automation server that is widely used for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). He is currently the Co-Head of AI at leading DevOps provider, CloudBees and the former Co-CEO of Launchable, an AI platform that speeds up testing to help teams expedite their continuous integration (CI) and delivery pipelines, which was acquired by CloudBees in 2024.Kawaguchi developed Jenkins as a side project when working at Sun Microsystems in 2011. Since then, it has become an essential tool for developers and DevOps professionals around the world helping teams automate parts of software development, testing, and deployment.In addition to his work on Jenkins, Kawaguchi has contributed to the broader open-source community and has worked with various technologies related to software development, automation, and cloud computing. He is also known for his contributions to the world of Java and DevOps.You can find Kohsuke on the following sites:WebsiteXLinkedInGitHubHere are some links provided by Kohsuke:CloudBeesPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin

Spriha Tucker, Field CTO at Buildkite and a two-time Y-Combinator founder, dives into the nuances of bridging engineering teams with client needs. She shares her transformative tech journey from Assam to professional triumphs at Google and Microsoft. The conversation highlights the playful side of projects with Raspberry Pi, the importance of user-centric design in AI, and the critical role of culture in DevOps. Spriha also emphasizes the need for innovative software solutions to tackle global challenges, infusing fun into serious tech discussions.

Shawn Wildermuth has been tinkering with computers and software since he got a Vic-20 back in the early '80s. He has been a Microsoft MVP since 2003. You may have taken one of his more than twenty-five courses on Pluralsight. He's authored eight books and innumerable articles on software development. You can also see him at one of the local and international conferences he's spoken at including Techorama, KCDC, Stir Trek, TechBash, DevSum, and DevConnections. You can find Shawn on the following sites:WebsiteXLinkedInYouTubeGitHubBlueskyMastodonPLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTSpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube MusicAmazon MusicRSS FeedYou can check out more episodes of Coffee and Open Source on https://www.coffeeandopensource.comCoffee and Open Source is hosted by Isaac Levin