I had the pleasure of attending Beer City Code for the first time last weekend, August 14-15, 2026. Held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the conference brings together software developers and technology professionals to learn from one another. I was honored to co-lead a workshop and deliver a session, and I’m already looking forward to coming back next year!
The Workshop
On Friday, I had the privilege of co-leading “A Whirlwind Tour of AI Development Tooling” with my friend and colleague Shawn Wallace.
Over the course of the day, we worked with attendees to incorporate AI tools into their software engineering process. In the morning, we established the foundational capabilities of GitHub Copilot and Claude Code. In the afternoon, we showed attendees how to customize those tools by creating skills and custom agents (giving AI tools specialized instructions and repeatable behaviors that match a team’s development practices).
There is so much to cover in this space that we could not possibly cover it all in a roughly seven-hour workshop. It was truly a whirlwind tour, but we provided references attendees can use to continue building their skills as they learn and experiment.
The aspect I loved most about the workshop was the conversation. Attendees asked thoughtful questions and shared great stories about how they are using GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and similar tools. They also shared the challenges they have encountered and how they overcame them.
I hope I was able to provide useful answers based on my experiences. I also learned a lot from them. It is a great time to be a software engineer, and I am excited about the opportunity to keep learning new ways to solve problems creatively.
My Session
I delivered my session, “AI Agent Workflows with Azure Functions (and Friends),” at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Although I had been at the same venue the day before for the workshop, I had not seen the room for my session until just before the opening remarks. My session followed those remarks, and it was held in the big theater. I must admit, I was a little nervous about presenting on a stage in such a large room. After some good-natured ribbing from a close friend and a few prayers, I was ready to go.
I enjoy this presentation because it combines several technologies I enjoy working with: Azure Functions, Aspire, Service Bus, Microsoft Agent Framework, the Durable Task extension, and Durable Task Scheduler. Together, they help to demonstrate a practical challenge and a potential solution for running reliable and durable multi-agent workflows.
The session focuses on a question that becomes important as AI applications grow more complex: how do we coordinate multiple AI agents, preserve their progress, and recover when something goes wrong? I enjoy sharing what I have learned about this technology stack and exploring these questions with other developers.
Sessions and Themes
After my session, I had the rest of the day to attend several others. One of the great things about Beer City Code is the number of interesting sessions available. There were far more sessions I wanted to attend than time allowed.
The sessions I attended shared a common theme: how to make AI-assisted software engineering practical and how to operate AI-enabled solutions in production.
Rather than focusing only on predictions or the latest tool, the speakers shared real experiences and lessons learned. They discussed using GitHub Spec Kit, building and securing MCP, using Playwright for testing, protecting sensitive information in AI-agent logs, and writing better software with AI-assisted tools. These topics were different, but they all pointed toward the same lesson: AI tools still need thoughtful engineering, testing, security, and operational practices around them.
The attendees were eager to ask questions and continue the conversations after the official sessions ended. People are eager to improve their craft and demonstrate the value of agent-assisted software engineering and intelligent applications.
The past year or so may have been defined by hype and rapid innovation. Now it is time to deliver on the promises while adapting tried-and-true software engineering practices to this new reality.
Why Community Conferences Matter
The organizers, led by J. Tower and Victor Frye, did an absolutely amazing job with Beer City Code. The conference ran smoothly from an attendee and speaker perspective, even though I am sure a tremendous amount of work happened behind the scenes. Great job, and thank you!
I truly love technical community events like Beer City Code. Large Microsoft events such as Build are fun, informative, and valuable in many ways. Community conferences serve a different purpose. They are organized by volunteers who believe in the value of community, and the sessions are delivered by people who spend their nights and weekends sharing their experiences with their peers.
That authenticity matters. Thank you to everyone who made the weekend possible.
Community Connections
One of the best parts of the weekend was connecting with friends in the community, including Eric Boyd, Sam Basu, Chad Green, Phil Japikse, Chris Woodruff, Sam Gomez, and David Giard.
I have had the honor of knowing these gentlemen for many years through their involvement in the Midwest technology community. At a time when so many people are scattered and rely on digital tools or social media to stay connected, having even a few minutes to shake hands and catch up meant the world to me.