James Ward is a nerd and software developer who shares what he learns with others though presentations, blogs, demos and code. After over two decades of professional programming, he is now a self-proclaimed typed pure functional programming zealot but often compromises on his ideals to just get stuff done. After spending too many sleepless nights in data centers repairing RAID arrays, he now prefers higher-level cloud abstractions with appropriate escape hatches. James is a huge open source proponent, hoping to never get burned by lock-in again.

Topic focus: Functional programming

Check out some of James’ past talks:

• GOTO Amsterdam 2014 - Building Reactive Apps

A few of James’ achievements:

• Co-authored "First Steps in Flex with Bruce Eckel"
• Led Salesforce's Open Source Program Office
• Helped launch The Reactive Manifesto