Hi! I'm Alex Mackey.
I like speaking about tech, learning & teaching AppSec, have written a couple of books on .NET, created courses for Pluralsight and A Cloud Guru and founded a non profit conference called DDD Melbourne. More about me here
About
Experienced technology leader with over 24 years experience with focus on Application Security and Microsoft Platform (.NET Core and Azure).
Currently working as Head of Technology/Principal for development consultancy Kodez and responsible for leading technology practice.
Previously held various technical and strategic leadership roles including Principal (Readify/Telstra Purple), Staff Engineer - AppSec, (Willow), Practice and Team Lead (Xero, Kiandra IT, Readify).
My experience has ranged from hands on development to leading and supporting multiple teams to business development and pre-sales to advising large public and private organisations on aspects of their IT strategy.
I've worked on a range of IT projects and engagements from Web Applications to APIs to IoT and Digital Twins.
I have written two books: Introducing .NET 4.0: With Visual Studio 2010 and Introducing .NET 4.5 published by Apress and spoken at a number of large conferences in Australia, UK, Scandinavia and Ireland including NDC Sydney and Oslo, TechEd/Ignite, Web Directions and Remix. I have developed several courses for online training provider Pluralsight and A Cloud Guru.
I founded (in Australia) and run the community conference www.dddmelbourne.com which has now been running for 11 years with over 700 attendees at the last event. I am active in the development community and was awarded the Microsoft MVP award for 7 years.
Speaking
I have spoken at a number of developer events and conferences including Web Directions, Tech-ed, Remix and many smaller events to groups of 5 to 300+.
I am based in Melbourne, Australia. If you would like me to speak at your user group or conference then please do not hesitate to contact me.
Upcoming Talks
- No upcoming talks scheduled.
Recordings
- NDC Melbourne - Jun 23rd 2022 - eXential XSS (Cross Site Scripting)
- NDC Melbourne - Jul 29th 2021 - Introduction to Digital Twins with the Azure Digital Twin Platform
- NDC Sydney - Oct 14th 2019 - A Brief History of Cloud
- NDC Oslo - June 17th 2019 - Creating Solutions for Everyone
- A Cloud Guru - Jul 19th 2019 - Azure This Week
- DIF Hub - Sep 3rd 2019 - A More Connected World
- Real Big Things - Aug 26th 2016 - Human Brain Interfaces
- Web Directions Code - June 25th - Numbers in JS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- MelbJS - July 8th 2015 - Numbers in JS
- Web Directions Code - May 1st & 2nd 2014 - Harden up your AJAX
- Web Directions what do you know? 16th Feb 2014 - Navigation Timing API
- Teched 31st Aug 2011 - HTML5 the useful bits
- Teched 30th Aug 2011 - Interview
- Talking Shop 19th April 2010
Completed talks
- Programmable Melbourne - Mar 19th 2024 - OAuth Oops
- Modern Devops Melbourne - 9th Oct 2023 - Uncovering Insights From Past Assaults On Build and Deployment Systems
- NDC Melbourne - June 22nd to June 24th 2022 - eXential XSS (Cross Site Scripting)
- NDC Sydney - Oct 14th 2019 - A Brief History of Cloud
- NDC Oslo - June 17th 2019 - Creating Solutions for Everyone
- A Cloud Guru - Jul 19th 2019 - Azure This Week
- DIF Hub - Sep 3rd 2019 - A More Connected World
- NDC Sydney - Aug 14th to 18th 2017 - VR for Web Developers
- BuzzConf Nights - May 25th 2017 - VR/AR for fun and profit
- Ignite Australia - Feb 14th 2017 - Reality Check. AR & VR for Fun & Profit
- Ignite Australia - Feb 14th 2017 - Building Gooroo.io
- Real Big Things - Aug 26th - Brain Computer Interfaces
- NDC Sydney - Aug 1st-5th - Performance and Stability Anti Patterns
- MelbJS - Sep 14th - Performance and Stability Anti Patterns
- Buzz Conf - Nov 14th & 15th - More than human
- Microsoft Ignite - Nov 17th & 20th - Microsoft Edge for Developers
- What do you know? - Math traps! - May 7th 2015
- CampJS 23rd May - Intro to WebGL with three.js workshops
- Web Directions Code - May 1st & 2nd 2014 - Harden up your AJAX
- Web Directions what do you know? April 4th 2014 - Just add WebGL
- K-Nights 14th Nov 2013 - Whats new in .net 4.5.1?
- Kiandra 1st Nov 2013 - NancyFx
- MelbJs 11th Sep 2013 - Intro to WebGL
- Deveve.net Aug 28th - Intro to WebGL
- Web Directions Code - 3rd May 2013 - TypeScript and Terminators
- Web Directions what do you know? 4th April 2013 - RX in a rush
- Adelaide User Group 13th March 2013 - HTML 5 and friends
- Introducing VS2012 and .net 4.5 5th Dec 2012
- Melbourne JS 14th Nov 2012 - Hi(Ecma)5!
- Readify Dev Breakfast (Perth) 31st Aug - HTML5 CSS 3 and friends
- Building the users web 22nd Aug - Bringing TDD to the browser
- Building the users web 22nd Aug – Debugging tools and tricks for every web developer
- DDD Melbourne 28th July HTML5 CSS 3 and friends
- 18th July Readify Dev Breakfast - HTML5 CSS 3 and friends
- DevEve 15th March - Mobile Madness
- Web Directions what do you know? 16th Feb - Navigation Timing API
- Teched 31st Aug - HTML5 the useful bits
- Teched 30th Aug - Avoiding JavaScript Booby Traps
- DevEvening 18th July - Avoiding JavaScript Booby Traps
- Readify 17th July - Avoiding JavaScript Booby Traps
- Readify 10th July - The future of the MS platform
- Remix 1st June - Dev's dive into Internet Explorer 9
- Readify 18th May - Dev's dive into Internet Explorer 9
- Readify 6th April - Dev's dive into Internet Explorer 9
- Deveve.net 7th Dec - HTML 5 the useful bits
- Code Camp OZ 21st Nov - HTML 5 the useful bits
- Readibrekie 18th Nov - HTML 5 the useful bits
- Readibrekie 16th Nov - HTML 5 the useful bits
- Readibrekie 11th Nov - HTML 5 the useful bits
- Teched 24th - 27th Aug - VS2010 IDE
- RDN dev day Sydney 13th June - ASP.net 4 and VS2010/.net 4
- RDN dev day Melbourne 7th June - ASP.net 4 and VS2010/.net 4
- Remix 10 1st and 2nd of June - ASP.net 4
- Remix 10 1st and 2nd of June - Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger! VS2010 IDE Enhancements
- Australian ALM Conference 13th and 14th April - .NET 4 – what you need to know
- Australian ALM Conference 13th and 14th April - Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger! VS2010 IDE Enhancements
- DevEvening (Australia) 28th Jan Parallelization in .net 4
- Victoria.net 13th Oct VS2010 - IDE
- DevEvening 3rd Sep - VS2010 - IDE
- Epicenter 28th Aug - VS2010 - IDE
- NxtGen Oxford 5th May - An intro to Oslo technologies
- WebDD 09 18th April - Whats new in .net 4?
- DDD Belfast 4th April - Whats new in .net 4?
- Vbug London 7th April - Whats new in .net 4?
- DD6 - Arabian Nights - Non technical issues of developing an application in Dubai
- DevEvening - Silverlight 101
- DevEvening - WCF basics
Books
I have written two books for Apress on .NET.
Introducing .NET 4.5 with Visual Studio 2012
Microsoft has introduced a large number of changes to the way that the .NET Framework operates. Familiar technologies have being altered, best practices replaced, and developer methodologies adjusted. Many developers find it hard to keep up with the pace of change across .NET's ever-widening array of technologies. The introduction of Windows 8 and its new style of applications only compounds the problem.
You may know what's happening in C#, but what about the latest innovations in the cloud? How is that going to affect your work? What possibilities do the new async capabilities bring? What you need is a roadmap. A guide to help you see the innovations that matter and to give you a head start on the opportunities available in the new framework.
Introducing .NET 4.5 is designed to provide you with just that roadmap. It serves as a no-nonsense primer that will help experienced .NET developers understand the impact of the new framework and the technologies that co-exist with it. This book will keep you updated on the changes and help you to seize new opportunities confidently and quickly.
The book is aimed at existing .NET developers who will be trying to come to grips with .NET 4.5 and Windows 8, which will be changing the way they need to think about creating applications.
Im pretty happy with the content of the book and think we give a good introduction to the various new features available in an easy to read format. If you want a really deep look at the various changes or a reference to keep on your shelf then this probably isnt the book for you (I really like Joseph Albahari’s C#5 in a nutshell). If however you are short of time and want a light hearted and easy to read introduction (and can put up with my terrible sense of humour) then I think you will enjoy it.
I'll also be donating 50% of my earnings from this book to the Cancer Council Australia.
If you order the book please use the links below as I make slightly more on the purchase at no cost to you through Amazon's affiliate program.
Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Apress book page
Introducing .NET 4.0 with Visual Studio 2010
What’s different about this book?
This book is about breadth rather than depth. It will get you up to speed quickly on new functionality in just enough depth to get you going but without getting bogged down with too much detail.
When something big like Visual Studio 2010 is released I believe developers need and want an overview of what’s new. When they find an area of interest they can then research it further.
When writing this book I tried to keep in mind the following ideas:
- Give the reader an introduction to new technologies
- Show how to do the basics that any developer would want to know
- Produce examples that are as simple as possible but still demonstrate the concept
- Don’t get too bogged down in detail so the book can still be easily read
