Heather Downing on .NET 5 and Other Things - Episode 90

Joining Jeffrey Palermo this week is the curious through-and-through international speaker and software engineer, Heather Downing!   Heather is a passionate coder and entrepreneur. She has experience working with Fortune 500 companies building enterprise-level voice, mobile, and C#/.Net applications. She focuses on external thought leadership, encouraging fellow programmers to present on topics outside of the office and in the community. She is also an international technical speaker and co-host of the YouTube channel "The Hello World Show" — a weekly video series that interviews software masters and teaches the audience something valuable in less than 10 minutes. Heather has built a reputation as an early adapter of new tech and is incredibly passionate about .NET 5 — which is the topic of today’s show!   In this episode, Heather shares what she loves about .NET 5, the current project she’s working on in .NET 5, solution building, Blazor, VR, game development, and what the future may look like for developers in the field.   Topics of Discussion: [:38] Be sure to visit AzureDevOps.Show for past episodes and show notes. [:50] About the recent Microsoft Build Conference. [1:08] About today’s episode with Heather Downing! [2:13] Jeffrey welcomes Heather to the show. [2:26] Heather shares her backstory and how she first got into the field. [4:41] Heather speaks about her passion outside of tech: competing as an equestrian. [6:08] What Heather has learned in bringing her two passions, horses and tech, together. [10:55] Heather speaks about one of her .NET 5 projects and the problems that it solves. [16:10] Heather explains why she is using .NET 5. [17:20] Jeffrey and Heather talk about developers’ minds and building solutions. [19:40] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [20:05] Jeffrey shares some quick announcements. [21:54] Is Heather working on this .NET 5 project from a product perspective or will it be opensource? [24:14] Heather speaks about retooling, VR, game development. [29:50] Heather gives her thoughts on the future of the web and Blazor. [32:45] Heather shares how she thinks VR may change the future of video conferencing and connecting with others online. [37:07] Heather gives her recommendations for getting started in the VR world. [39:16] How to find Heather’s content online! [40:28] Jeffrey thanks Heather for joining him in today’s episode!    Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook! bit.ly/dotnetdevopsbookforcommunity — Visit to get your hands on two free books to give away at conferences or events! Jeffrey Palermo’s Youtube Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! [email protected] — Email Jeffrey for a free 30-point DevOps inspection (regularly priced at $5000!) — Spaces are limited! Microsoft Build Conference 2020 .NET 5 Heather Downing’s Website Heather Downing’s LinkedIn Heather Downing’s GitHub Profile Heather Downing’s Youtube Channel (The Hello World Show) Heather Downing’s Twitter Arduino Oculus Oculus Quest SteamVRRec Room Unity   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.