Triangle Devs Talks @ Bandwidth HQ

This Triangle Devs meetup with be a 2-part talk series hosted at Bandwidth headquarters!

Join us on September 11th to learn something new, have some pizza, chat with fellow devs, and learn something new!

🎤 Talk 1: From Fear to Flow: The 7 Stages of AI Adoption for Developers
by Rob Ocel

Talk Summary - AI has permanently changed development. For better or for worse?For many developers, the journey from skepticism to mastery is filled with resistance, doubt, and false starts. In this talk, we’ll walk through the 7 emotional and strategic stages developers experience when integrating AI into their daily workflows—from outright denial to empowered mastery.But we won’t stop at theory. We’ll also share the battle-tested AI-productivity checklist we’ve refined over the past year—a tactical set of practices to help developers get the most out of AI tooling in 2025. Through real examples of how AI can help you write code many times more efficiently and effectively, you'll leave this session not only understanding where you are in the adoption curve—but with concrete steps to level up your AI-assisted development immediately.

Speaker Bio - Rob is VP of Innovation at This Dot Labs, a software and product consultancy helping companies build and launch large scale products. He is a co-host of the Modern Web and Leadership Exchange podcasts and a frequent speaker at local meetups. Rob has a passion for mentoring new developers and finding ways to explain difficult concepts in modern JavaScript development. He has been doing software development for nearly 20 years and is fascinated with agentic AI-human integrated coding and its promise to make software more affordable than ever before. When not developing, Rob spends time keeping up with his eight year old son, is an avid fan of JRPGs, and is obsessed with college basketball.

🎤 Talk 2: Saving Lives with Open Source
by Cory Foy

Talk Summary - When a major incident occurs, first responders from across the country unite with a single goal: to save lives. Alongside their response a critical support structure activates to ensure responders' safety, prioritize tasks, and coordinate logistics such as food, shelter, and transportation. While many companies have tried to solve this coordination challenge, most solutions are locked in closed ecosystems with costly APIs making integration and collaboration difficult, if not impossible. Over the last decade a new approach has emerged, championed by the federal government, built on open standards and open-source code, and featuring free, easily accessible apps. In this talk, Cory Foy will introduce the system, known as TAK, and highlight how these open standards have revolutionized coordination, enabling successful rescues and recoveries in events like the Helene, Milton, and Kerrville floods, as well as ensuring safety at large-scale events like the NYC Marathon, Coachella, and even the US Capitol.

Speaker Bio - Cory Foy is a long time first responder, technologist and software developer. Over the past 25 years he has worked in some of the largest software projects, including Microsoft, MIT, Beats by Dre, CircleCI, JPMC, New York Life and more. He was also one of the original signatories of the Software Craftsmanship Manifesto. When not working in technology, Cory also has served as an Assistant Fire Chief, Technical Rescue Captain, Rescue Drone Pilot, Tactical Medic, and Swiftwater/Wilderness Search Team Lead. He is now the founder of Flight Tactics, a public-safety focused technology company, as well as the Situational Awareness Subject Matter Expert for several large organizations, as well as the founder and Managing Director of TAK Public Safety, a 501(c)(3) non-profit focused on bringing situational awareness to public safety agencies across the US.