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HackerYou & FITC Web Unleashed 2018

FITC Web Unleashed 2018: Tech Talks from HackerYou Instructors & Alumni - Plus a Free Coding Competition

HackerYou FITC Web Unleashed 2018

Blog HackerYou & FITC Web Unleashed 2018

8 min read

Melissa Carter's headshot

By Melissa Carter

Senior Designer

Juno College

It’s that time of year again! FITC Web Unleashed is around the corner.

If you’re a HackerYou alumnus, a front-end developer, or someone who’s just diving into the Toronto Tech community for the first time, this conference is for you.

FITC (Future. Innovation. Technology. Creativity.) is an organization that hosts design and technology events worldwide, and is bringing Web Unleashed to Toronto for a fifth consecutive year. This Front-End Developer conference focuses on the latest tools, techniques and technologies in front-end web development, and features a roster of amazing developers from around the Greater Toronto Area. HackerYou has always been proud to be involved, and this year our instructors and alumni make up 17% of the total speaker lineup.

This October 1st and 2nd you’ll see a tonne of friendly HackerYou faces around the Web Unleashed space. You can stop by our booth to meet the team, find out more about upcoming courses, or just say ‘Hi’!

FITC Opening Night Party @ HackerYou

HackerYou will also be hosting the FITC opening night party on Monday evening at our Queen Street offices. The party will feature a special FITC version of Visibility:Hidden. If you’ve been to one of our events before, or saw an accelerated preview at Web Unleashed 2017, you know what it’s all about. If not - Visibility:Hidden is a coding challenge where contestants get 20 minutes to code a one page site using HTML & CSS. Sound simple? Not really! The catch is that they have to code the entire thing without previewing the results in the browser. The competition features different rounds that increase in difficulty, live previews projected for the audience to see, and a DJ to keep everyone pumped! At the end of the evening one coder will be crowned Web Unleashed Visibility:Hidden champion. At just a quick twenty minute walk from the Web Unleashed venue, HackerYou is the perfect spot to stop by and kick back after the first day of the conference.


Besides our booth and opening night party, you can also find featured talks by HackerYou instructors and alumni throughout Web Unleashed. Here are some talks we know you won’t want to miss:

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Heather Payne - Opening Remarks

This year at FITC Web Unleashed HackerYou CEO, Heather Payne, will be giving the conference's opening address. This slot is usually saved for FITC Director Shawn Pucknell, but was passed to Heather this year so that she could welcome attendees and participants to the first official day of the conference. You can catch Heather's opening address on October 1st @ 9:20am.


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Zoe Daniels - LOL Computer Y Tho?

Zoe Daniels is a Lead Instructor & Developer at HackerYou, where she spends her days coding and teaching the next cohort of emerging front-end developers. Zoe was a writer and performer before diving into web development, and will be combining her passions of coding and comedy for her 2018 FITC talk. Throughout any learning experience, there are many questions answered with the unsatisfactory ‘I don’t know, that’s just how it is’. Zoe will tackle these questions and leave you with some helpful tidbits of explanation, and give you something to laugh about along the way. You can catch Zoe’s talk on October 1st @ 11:30am.


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Simon Bloom - The React Cookbook: Advanced Recipes to Level Up Your Next App

Simon Bloom is currently a Web Application Developer at TWG, a Lead Instructor at Canada Learning Code, a Teaching Assistant at Bridge School, and Lead Instructor of HackerYou’s Full Stack Masterclass. Before starting at TWG Simon was also a graduate and then a Lead Instructor of HackerYou’s Full-Time Web Development Immersive Bootcamp. Simon will be using his React expertise and teaching listeners some practical patterns they can use to make current and future projects more composable and pleasant to work with. You can catch Simon’s talk on October 2nd @ 11:30am.


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Wes Bos - What’s New in React & Intermediate React Workshop

Wes Bos is a full stack developer and former lead instructor of HackerYou’s Part-Time Web Development and Part-Time JavaScript courses, as well as our Full-Time Web Development Immersive Bootcamp. In a fast paced talk full of code and examples, Wes will be exploring the ever-changing language of JavaScript and specifically, the new aspects, packages, and techniques becoming popular in the React community. Additionally, Wes is hosting a full day workshop where you will build an app together while learning intermediate concepts to help you solidify your knowledge of React.js. You can catch Wes’s talk on October 1st @ 2:30pm, and attend his workshop on September 30th @ 10am.


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Andrea Crofts - Inclusive Form Inputs & Gender Diversity in Technical Leadership Round Table

Andrea Crofts is a Product Design Manager at League Inc, a chapter lead of Hexagon UX Toronto, and a graduate of HackerYou’s Full-Time Web Development Immersive Bootcamp. Andrea will be sharing her love of inclusive design through a talk focused on making form inputs representative of modern society, by operating in spectrums rather than binaries. Andrea will also be hosting a participatory round table discussion on the importance of diversity in technical leadership roles, covering not only why diversity is important, but how to make steps towards closing the chasm. You can catch Andrea’s talk on October 1st @ 1:30pm, and participate in her round table on October 2nd @ 2:30pm.


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Robyn Larsen - International is the New Mobile First

Robyn Larsen is a Front End Developer with the Shopify International Growth Team and a graduate of HackerYou’s Full-Time Web Development Immersive Bootcamp. In her talk, Robyn will be discussing how international is disrupting the way we think about commerce, in the same way mobile disrupted a once desktop-only internet. Learn about UX principles and tooling Shopify is putting into action to offer more languages in a product that was previously only supported in English. You can catch Robyn’s talk on October 1st @ 2:30pm.


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Haris Mahmood - Our Human Experience & Life of a Senior Dev

Haris Mahmood is a Front-End Developer at Shopify and a former Lead Instructor of HackerYou’s Part-Time Web Development courses. Haris will be discussing the importance of understanding our own biases, and how they impact the decisions we make, the products we create, and the tech community as a whole. Haris will also be sharing the stage with a number of other developers including fellow HackerYou instructor Anne Thomas during a group talk, to discuss their roles as senior developers and the journeys that got them there. You can catch Haris’ group talk on October 1st at 1:30pm, and his individual talk on October 1st @ 2:30pm.


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Jen Taylor - Accessibility TO-DOs

Jen Taylor is a Front-End Developer at Shopify, co-creator of HYa11y, a mentor of HackerYou’s Part-Time Web Development courses, and a graduate of HackerYou’s Full-Time Web Development Immersive Bootcamp. Jen will be sharing her passion and expertise on accessibility in a group talk on improving the work flows and processes that go into making a product accessible. You can catch Jen’s talk on October 2nd @ 11:30am.


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Anne Thomas - Incremental Development: Maintaining and Improving Long-Lived Websites & Life of a Senior Dev

Anne Thomas is the Technical Director at Out of the Sandbox, and a Lead Instructor of HackerYou’s Part-Time Web Development and Part-Time JavaScript courses. Anne will discuss the importance of building sites that can withstand time, and how to work with legacy sites that contain out of date code to update and maintain them. Anne will also be participating in a group talk along with fellow HackerYou instructor Haris Mahmood to discuss their roles as senior developers and the journeys that got them there. You can catch Anne's group talk on October 1st at 1:30pm, and her individual talk on October 2nd @ 10:30am.


There are so many amazing things going on this year at FITC, we don’t know how they cram it all into just two days. We’ll be there manning the booth, supporting HackerYou speakers, and kicking back at Visibility:Hidden, so make sure to stop by and say 'Hello'! Whether you’re new to the Toronto tech scene or a FITC veteran, we know you won’t regret checking out this amazing front-end conference so get you. We hope to see you there!

Your HackerYou Web Unleashed Schedule

September 30th

10:00am - 5:00pm Intermediate React Workshop with Wes Bos

October 1st

9:20am - 9:30am Heather Payne's Opening Remarks

11:30am - 12:15pm LOL Computer Y Tho? Talk with Zoe Daniels

1:30pm - 2:15pm Inclusive Form Inputs Talk with Andrea Croft OR Life of a Senior Dev with Haris Mahmood and Anne Thomas.

2:30pm - 3:15pm What’s New in React Talk with Wes Bos OR International is the New Mobile First with Robyn Larsen OR Our Human Experience with Haris Mahmood

8:00pm - 11:00pm Web Unleashed Opening Night Party, Visibility: HIdden with HackerYou

October 2nd

10:30am - 11:15am Incremental Development: Maintaining and Improving Long-Lived Websites with Anne Thomas

11:30am - 12:15pm The React Cookbook: Advanced Recipes to Level Up Your Next App Talk with Simon Bloom OR Accessibility TO-DOs with Jen Taylor

2:30pm - 3:15pm Gender Diversity in Technical Leadership Round Table with Andrea Croft


Want to see what other events you can attend to get involved with HackerYou? Check out our events page for upcoming dates and details.

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