Incredible Technical Speakers

These are the folks to learn from when you're figuring out how to give a talk on software development. Every person on this list has both software development chops and the ability to engage an audience of their peers with a powerful presentation.

The inclusion requirements and selection criteria I used to pick the speakers are listed at the bottom of this README.

The talks (alphabetical order by last name)

• Greg Baugues's Developers and Depression from the Business of Software 2013.
  Powerful storytelling. A moving talk on a serious subject rarely discussed publicly in the software development industry.

• David Beazley's Python Concurrency From the Ground Up: LIVE! during PyCon US 2015. An entirely live coded talk that inspires and teaches the difficult computer science topic of concurrency.

• Gary Bernhardt's Wat from CodeMash 2012.
  This hilarious classic lightning talk is a great demonstration of explaining confusing technical concepts using humor.

• Mary Rose Cook's Mary Live-Codes a JavaScript Game from Scratch at Front-Trends 2014.
  Magical live coding. The talk combines programming with explanations while typing. Along the way Mary demos the code to the audience so they can see what's being created.

• Angelina Fabbro's JavaScript Masterclass during JSConfUS 2013.
  Addresses the difficult question of what topics separate beginner, intermediate and advanced programmers. Despite the title this talk is not specific to JavaScript and worthwhile to developers of all languages.

• Scott Hanselman's Virtual Machines, JavaScript and Assembler from Fluent 2014.
  This keynote talk shows off the power of dry humor combined with strong visuals and storytelling.

• Kate Heddleston's So you want to be a full-stack developer? How to build a full-stack Python web application at PyCon 2014.
  Kate's rendition of the Brady Bunch song set to her own software development-themed lyrics went over incredibly well with her audience. The hand drawn visuals from her talk also went perfectly with the presentation style.

• Zach Holman's More Git and GitHub Secrets at WDCNZ 2013.
  Engages both beginners and advanced users with the talk. Uses humor well to keep the audience engaged.

• Jessica McKellar's Building and breaking a Python sandbox from PyCon 2014.
  The talk's storytelling while traveling through the lower levels of the Python interpreter keep the audience engaged from start to finish.

• Katrina Owen's 467 tests, 0 failures, 0 confidence at Railsberry 2013.
  Great pacing, voice tone variation and usage of real world analogies to get across the concepts on software testing in this talk.

• Brandon Rhodes's The Mighty Dictionary during PyCon 2010.
  The speaking style and clarity in expressing concepts through concrete examples command audience attention.

• Philip Roberts's What the heck is the event loop anyway? from JSConf EU 2014.
  Clear explanations go along with strong visuals and live demos to explain low level technical details.

• Saron Yitbarek's Reading code good at RailsConf 2014.
  A well spoken and thoughtful talk on how to read code with fellow developers to improve your programming abilities. Weaves personal stories throughout the presentation to bring home the main points.

• My own best technical talk: Matt Makai's WebSockets in Python presented at the SF Python January 2014 meetup. This is my own favorite technical that I've given out of my 50+ talks over the past couple of years. The talk has a whole lot of live coding and audience interaction with the application as I wrote the code.

Inclusion requirements

Developing or designing software must be a major part of his or her gig at the time the talk is given.

The talk content must focus on software development or issues directly pertinent to software developer's lives

Selection criteria

This list is less about the specific subject matter and more about the speakers' command of the material and audience. There are many different speaking styles.

Not all styles are applicable to all topics. The list below should give you ideas for what style may be most appropriate for you and your subject matter.

If a speaker meets the inclusion requirements then a talk will be considered based on the following measures:

• clarity of thought transfer to the audience
• live coding & demo or clear slides that enhance the technical discussion
• speaking tone variation where appropriate
• humor
• engaging
• storytelling
• minimal crutch phrases
• eye contact
• hand work (working with "the box")
• strings
• roots
• respect for the audience
• bonus points: using a new and effective way to teach or explain content.

Sources evaluated so far

• JSConf

• PyVideo

• ClojureTV

• py-must-watch

• js-must-watch

• Tech talks

• Must see tech talks for every programmer

• O'Reilly Media videos

• Passion Projects

• Confreaks

• killer-talks

• Ask HN thread

• Random tangents through the bowels of YouTube.

• Recommendations from friends and colleagues on the best technical speaking they've ever seen from a fellow software developer

Notes & Caveats

• This list is just a starting point. I'm definitely missing many of the best software developer speakers on here. Submit a pull request with your pick.

• For each speaker I tried to pick the "best" talk. If there's one that is far better than the talk shown, submit a pull request.

• I have not explored the entire Internet (yet) so it's likely there are entire communities whose talks I have not seen. File an issue with a link to a talks list so I can watch those speakers' talks.