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10 application developers to follow on social media

Consider following these 10 application developers on social media to stay up to date on the latest in the industry. They offer interesting insights into the world of app dev.

By
  • Kyle Johnson, Guest Contributor
Published: 02 Sep 2020

Software development used to be a sole focus, but now some developers have transitioned to, or started their career in, application development. We're currently undergoing a rapid shift in how organizations meet and collaborate with their employees and customer base. Businesses now have employees and customers that either work or access their products and services via a multitude of apps, such as the web, cloud, SaaS and mobile (whether they're Android or iOS). Many users out there may not even use any desktop devices at all to interact with companies. Digital transformation also plays a part in the growth of these applications and their development.

With so many voices out there on social media as everyone offers their opinion on technology, it can be difficult to weed out the interesting influencers from the companies or marketers simply hawking their wares. To help, we're putting together lists of influencers in different fields to help elevate some interesting voices you may have otherwise missed.

For this list, we're breaking down 10 application development influencers we think you should know about. These aren't the only app dev influencers out there, just 10 that we think are worth following on social media. They provide interesting insights about the app dev community and industry in general from their varying levels of experience, giving us a wide variety of voices. Some included in the list work at large vendors, offering insight into how those companies handle application development, while others remain freelance to offer more agnostic viewpoints.

These app dev influencers are knowledgeable about the field, with many actively working on developing new apps and sharing their thoughts on what the industry as a whole is up to. Some of these influencers have written books while others frequently attend conferences and give talks on application development.

App dev influencers to follow

Application development influencers

Adam Bien

@AdamBien

Bien is a developer, architect, consultant, author, podcaster and Java/JavaScript enthusiast. He has used Java since JDK 1.0 and JavaScript since LiveScript and still enjoys writing code. Adam likes to write simple code and relies on standards as a survival strategy. With standards like Jakarta EE, MicroProfile and Web Standards, you only need to enhance your knowledge incrementally, and your clients don't have to rewrite their applications, just because a framework is no longer fashionable. Bien is still amazed how much you can achieve with simplistic approaches.

Alex Dunn

@Suave_Pirate

Dunn leads the product team at Voicify and is a Microsoft MVP, PubConf Champion, Bixby Premier Developer and AWS Alexa SME. His background in application development and conversational AI has leaned into enabling applications to do more for businesses and consumers using scalable architectures and design, distributed services, cloud infrastructure and innovative edge technologies. Dunn does his best to remain platform agnostic, with specialties in C#, Kotlin and TypeScript, while building for cross-platform compatibility. You might find him co-organizing the Boston Mobile C# Meetup with Microsoft, speaking at all sorts of conferences and events around the world, streaming on Twitch and on Pluralsight. You can read his regular tips and thoughts on his website.

Jeanne Boyarsky

@jeanneboyarsky

Boyarsky is a Java developer, speaker and author. She writes Sybex's hugely popular Java certification books. In addition to being a Java developer for 18 years, she volunteers with a high school FIRST robotics team helping teach the next generation of programmers. She is also a moderator at CodeRanch where she enjoys helping other developers. Jeanne became a Java Champion in 2019. She is a Distinguished Toastmaster which involves giving over 50 public speeches. This helped her become a better conference speaker and to help even more developers.

Karim Vaes

@kvaes

Vaes is an information technology generalist, with a broad knowledge of the IT industry, and has a keen business understanding and an open mind. Vaes has earned his marks in various technical domains and held an assorted set of key roles. Currently he works for Microsoft as a specialist in application development, where he helps organizations to unlock their digital potential by leveraging cloud native applications. In the end, he is ensuring that technology becomes an enabler for organizations to grow.

Geetha Sivasailam

@GSiVed

Sivasailam is a Microsoft Business Applications MVP and a Collaboration and Custom App Dev consultant with Artis Consulting, a Microsoft Partner delivering business solutions leveraging Microsoft Business Applications, Custom App Dev implementations and various emerging technologies (Azure/IoT). She is a Power Platform enthusiast passionate about enabling others to expand their possibilities and act more effectively with emerging tools, trends and technologies.

Johan Vos

@johanvos

Vos has worked with Java since 1995. He was part of the Blackdown team, porting Java to Linux. His main focus is on end-to-end Java, combining cloud systems and mobile and embedded devices. He received a Duke Choice award in 2014 for his work on JavaFX on mobile. In 2015, he co-founded Gluon, which allows enterprises to create (mobile) Java Client applications leveraging their existing back-end infrastructure. Gluon received a Duke Choice award in 2015. Vos is a Java Champion, a member of the BeJUG steering group and the Devoxx steering group. He is one of the lead authors of thePro JavaFXbooks, the author of Quantum Computing for Java Developers, and he has been a speaker at numerous conferences on Java. He contributes to a number of projects, including OpenJFX, OpenJDK, GraalVM. He is also the project lead for OpenJDK Mobile and the co-lead for OpenJFX.

Xander Sherry

@xandersherry

Sherry is currently a senior consultant at Microsoft. They are an information security professional with expert knowledge of application and operational security, secure application architecture and design, vulnerability discovery and management, and secure implementation of applications and their underlying infrastructure. Sherry is also a software architect with more than 10 years of experience architecting software solutions and platform integrations; a client-facing consultant who develops successful relationships and creates customer value through technical problem-solving expertise; and a Microsoft Technology Expert with 17 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, 15 years with .NET, including Visual Studio, Windows, Active Directory, IIS, SQL Server, VB.NET, C#, ASP.NET and other technologies.

Reza Rahman

@reza_rahman

Rahman is principal program manager for Java on Azure at Microsoft. He works to make sure Java developers are first-class citizens at Microsoft and Microsoft is a first-class citizen of the Java ecosystem. He has been an official Java technologist at Oracle and is the author of the popular book EJB 3 in Action. Rahman has been a frequent speaker at Java User Groups and conferences worldwide including JavaOne and Devoxx. He has been the lead for the Java EE track at JavaOne as well as a JavaOne Rock Star Speaker award recipient. He has been a member of the Java EE, EJB and JMS expert groups over the years. Reza implemented the EJB container for the Resin open source Java EE application server. Reza has developed enterprise systems for well-known companies like eBay, Motorola, Comcast, Nokia, Prudential, Guardian Life, USAA, Independence Blue Cross, Anthem, CapitalOne and AAA using Java EE and Spring.

Mark Troester

@mtroester

Mark Troester works at Progress as the VP of strategy and has worked at Sonatype, SAS Institute, and Radware over his more than two decades in the industry. He is passionate about helping organizations use technology in a practical way to solve problems and to drive innovation that impacts the bottom line. Troester enjoys taking technical concepts and translating the value to a business audience, which is reflected in his ability to succinctly and uniquely position software solutions. He has helped software vendors achieve great results across the entire software lifecycle domain, including development tools, cloud and PaaS, application lifecycle management, and security and risk management. He also has experience with packaged applications and SaaS solutions that span CRM, ERP, reporting and analytics.

Maarten Balliauw

@maartenballiauw

Maarten Balliauw is developer advocate at JetBrains, an ASP Insider and former Microsoft MVP. He is the founder of MyGet, which is a universal package manager, which was acquired by Assembla. He also previously worked at Microsoft as a software engineer. His passion is in building web and cloud apps. His main interests are in .NET web technologies, C#, Microsoft Azure and application performance. Balliauw is a frequent speaker at various national and international events and organizes www.azug.be events. In his free time, he likes brewing his own beer.

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