In this episode, hear my reflections on eight years as a Developer Advocate at Neo4j - learning in public, teaching before feeling “ready”, and navigating the constant balance between deep technical work and community engagement. Get updates on what I'm currently focused on: upcoming events, writing a more complex chapter of the Java book, sharpening Cypher skills, and exploring an article that challenges the default use of Object Graph Mappers (OGMs) in graph applications.
Highlights
8 Years in Advocacy
Learning fast by presenting and teaching
Balancing deep work, travel, and ad hoc collaboration
Adapting to the accelerating pace of tech and AI
Current Projects
Preparing for Devnexus and upcoming virtual events
Contributing to Road to NODES AI workshops
Writing a more advanced Java book chapter (avoiding the editing loop)
Intentionally improving Cypher skills through deeper practice
Rethinking OGMs
Exploring the article “The Very Slowly Ticking Time Bomb, Your Graph Persistent Stack”
Questioning whether OGMs add unnecessary translation layers in graph apps
Considering alternatives
Expanding the toolbox — no one-size-fits-all solution
Events
Devnexus (Atlanta, GA)
San Francisco Bay ACM (Virtual Event)
Road to NODES AI Workshops (Free, virtual)