360Flex – Speaker – Jeffry Houser

Besides being the creator of The Flex Show podcast, Jeff is a long standing member of the Flex and ColdFusion communities. Jeff has been involved in 360|Flex in a ton of ways, from sponsoring, to being a sounding board for ideas.

He’s also speaking, twice! Jeffry is doing 2 sessions, one on using the iCal data format with Flex, and the other is on building Flex Components for the real world.

Q: How long have you been working with Flex?

A: I think I started a little over four years now, but my mind goes hazy on the details.  I shifted my focus to building Flextras Components full time about three years ago and the site launched early last year.

Jeff and I actually worked together when I was a Flex consultant on a project, years before I joined him on the Flex Show.

Q: What do you like most about Flex?

A: I love the interaction that Flex (and the Flash Platform) can bring to web applications without browser compatibility issues.  I also love the fact that my “job” is to make cool components that helps Flex Developers save time when they build applications.

More people need to know about Flextras. Developers often waste so much time building things over and over, or simply digging code out of other older projects for-resuse. Flextras is a great idea!

Q: What 1 session are you most excited about seeing at 360|Flex DC?

A: Doug McCune’s keynote of course.  Doug is always inspiring and brings a fresh perspective on development.  I can’t wait to be invigorated by all the stuff I should be doing.

Doug is one of (IMO) the most inspirational Flex developers in our community. Ask him about attending the first ever 360|Flex in 2007, his logo, and what he was doing before that, compared to now. Plus he’s insanely entertaining, and smart as hell!

Q: What about 360|Flex DC are you most excited about?

A: You’re far enough east that I’ll get to drive down instead of taking a flight and that’s sweet.  We’ll be at the nation’s capital too, which is a nice treat.  I hope to visit the Smithsonian museum on one of my extra days; as there is always something interesting to see there.  ( Who wants to join me?).  Of course, I look forward to my “Guitar Hero” ego being knocked down a few pegs.  I’m just a small fish in a big pond.

Guitar hero is always a blast! I’m hoping to get some sight seeing time in too, probably afterward though.

Q: Do you prefer ninjas or robots?

A: Robots for sure.  Sometimes they can be creepy, but when you see a robot there is a good chance that they are not there to kill you.  A Ninja is always the last thing you’ll see.

LOL

Q: What is one thing you’d like to see improved in the Flex Framework?

A: Quicker compile time would be great; but really I have more requests for Flash Builder than I do for the Flex Framework.  I want Adobe to make it easier for me to develop and build components or applications.  The framework is solid, for the most part.

Q: Is there someone you’re hoping to see at 360|Flex DC?

A: Well, John and Nicole, of course.  But, aside from you too the last 360|Flex, in San Jose, allowed me to meet some of Flextras clients for the first time in person.  That was a great treat for me (and I hope for them).  I hope to meet a few more this time around.  In addition to old friends, I want to meet you, dear reader, so be sure to stop by the Flextras booth with your hard questions and I’ll do my best to answer.

Ah Schucks!! Yeah 360|Flex allows so many people to meet for the first time after months or even years of being friends and even co-workers online! It’s so great to give folks a chance like that.

Q: Lastly, what would you tell someone who was on the fence or hadn’t heard (I know, they’re out there though) of 360|Flex to get them to come?

A: If you want to learn about Flex, 360|Flex is the best conference to do so.  If you’re still coming up to speed the full day of hands on 101 training is perfect.  Then you’ll be bombarded with plenty of sessions from some of the industry’s top coders and you’ll get the chance to pull any of them aside to ask them about anything you want.

Couldn’t have said it better myself!!

You really shouldn’t miss out on this event. This is the farthest East 360|Flex has ever been, and it’s continued existence on the east coast means we need you to come out and hang with the best and brightest of the industry! Register now before it’s too late!!