Michael Carducci
Software Architect & Magician
Michael Carducci spent years learning to see things as they actually are; first as a magician, then as a software architect, now as both simultaneously. And somehow that’s not even the whole story.
He’s the author of Mastering Software Architecture (Apress, 2025) and is currently writing The Semantic Layer. He has spent over 25 years following interesting problems; through roles from individual contributor to CTO and back again, across industries and continents.
As a speaker, he applies the same toolkit he uses in close-up magic: attention, misdirection, timing, storytelling, and the instinct to take the long way around when that’s where the truth lives. Audiences at hundreds of conferences across four continents have described his talks as the kind that change how you think about a problem rather than just what you know about it.
He also makes YouTube videos about technology and curiosity with his wife Kate, because some ideas are too important (or too interesting!) to leave only in conference rooms.
Presentations
HP/HA MySQL Distributed Cluster with Galera and MaxScale
Monday, 9:00 AM EST
In this workshop you'll get an in-depth overview of Galera Cluster; an open source, true Multimaster Cluster based on synchronous replication. We'll combine it with MariaDB MaxScale and you'll learn how to easily implement a high-performance, highly available distributed MySQL cluster.
This workshop assumes basic familiarity with Linux, command line MySQL and a laptop. You'll be provided with VMs and ssh access.
Fully Optimize Your Memory
Tuesday, 8:30 PM EST
Unlock your latent photographic memory. In this session you'll learn failsafe techniques and systems that allow you to never forget names, appointments, or numbers. In the process you'll be more effective and imaginative at work; improve reading speed and comprehension, and shorten study times.
An improved memory will change your life, literally. In the session we will describe in detail several memory techniques that, with a little practice, will have you remembering virtually anything you want.
The Influential Engineer Overcoming resistance to change
Wednesday, 5:00 PM EST
By the end of this conference you will have learned many new tools and technologies. The easy part is done, now for the hard part: getting the rest of the teamand managementon board with the new ideas. Easier said than done.
Whether you want to effect culture change in your organization, lead the transition toward a new technology, or are simply asking for better tools; you must first understand that having a “good idea” is just the beginning. How can you dramatically increase your odds of success?
You will learn 12 concrete strategies to build consensus within your team as well as 6 technique to dramatically increase the odds that the other person will say “Yes” to your requests.
As a professional mentalist, Michael has been a student of psychology, human behavior and the principles of influence for nearly two decades. There are universal principles of influence that neccessary to both understand and leverage if you want to be more effective leader of change in your organization.
In this session we discuss strategies for getting your team on board as well as when/how to approach management within the department and also higherup in the organization.
Scalable MySQL Architecture with Galera and MaxScale
Thursday, 1:30 PM EST
In this session you'll learn how to build a truly scalable, truly robust database cluster using Galera and MaxScale.
Galera Cluster for MySQL is a true Multimaster Cluster based on synchronous replication. Galera Cluster is an easy-to-use, high-availability solution, which provides high system uptime, no data loss and scalability for future growth.
MaxScale as an Application-to-Database dynamic data routing platform insulates client applications from complexities of backend database cluster to improve database availability, security and scalability. MaxScale as a Database-to-Database dynamic data routing platform simplifies interoperability across databases.
From Zero to Continuous Delivery - Concepts, Culture and Overview
Thursday, 3:15 PM EST
Continuous delivery is not a pipe-dream technology, reserved only for the “cool kids” at hip tech startups. Although it's not easy, many concepts are within reach of most teams. That being said, it require more than simple technology changes. Attend this session to learn the fundamental concepts of CD, how to build your CD pipeline with Gradle and Jenkins, and recommendations on tools and best practices.
No prior knowledge is assumed and this talk will start from first principles.
Part one begins with a detailed overview of what CD is (and isn't) and how to build a business case for CD. Making both the technical case and business case for CD is vital as it's necessary to get the entire organization on board with the changes required.
Part two is a deeper dive into building a continuous delivery pipeline with Gradle and Jenkins (although the broader concepts can be applied to the tooling of your choice) You'll see how easily Gradle integrates with Java and how to leverage configuration management and gradle plugins to build all of your quality gates.