Iowa .NET User Group

Agenda
This will be our usual noon Zoom meeting presentation by one of our leaders, Dustin Thostenson!

11:50am-12:00pm - Pre-Session Waiting Room
12:00pm-1:00pm - Presentation, JetBrains giveaway

“The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere”: Fundamentals > AI
From COBOL to .COM to DevOps to AI, our industry has repeatedly promised a future where programmers are no longer needed.
And yet -- developers remain critical.
Each wave didn’t eliminate developers—it forced them to evolve.

As AI accelerates code generation, many developers will face a hard truth: we’ve optimized for syntax instead of solving real problems.
Short-term gains have come at the cost of learning the fundamentals that actually create value.
AI won’t fix this—it will expose it.

Design patterns, system thinking, communication, and quality practices didn’t go anywhere.
Too often, we’ve avoided these harder skills focusing instead on what’s easier: writing code.
WHAT we do hasn’t changed nearly as much as HOW we do it.

To move forward, we need to look back. And confront the risks emerging from:

• Missed outcomes
• AI-generated “slop”
• Tests for compliance instead of confidence
• Cryptic, sprawling systems

You’ll learn how to refocus on what matters:

• Define problems and desired outcomes clearly
• Design systems with clear responsibilities and boundaries
• Test intent, not implementation

This isn’t a talk about AI tools.

It’s about becoming the kind of developer the future still needs.

Speaker - Dustin Thostenson
Dustin Thostenson is an independent consultant, leading Delta3Consulting. He has been a developer, mentor, trainer and agile coach for decades. His passion lies in helping people grow and teams deliver. To keep it interesting he helps lead the Iowa .NET User Group and volunteers in Central Iowa. To keep it real he spends time with his wife and 4 kids.

Platinum Sponsor – QCI

Since 1995, QCI has grown to be one of the largest, Iowa-based, technology consulting firms, one client at a time. There is no secret to our success. We simply hire the best people and support a culture that is obsessed with delivering excellent service to our clients. In QCI, our clients have a partner that is large enough to provide highly skilled consultants across a wide area of expertise. Our dedication to client service has resulted in a long-term relationships through which we understand that placing the interests of our clients first is the key to being a trusted partner.