Helping programmers pivot to AI.
I'm Rob Conery. I spent 6 years as a Developer Advocate at Microsoft, the last 3 working with the VS Code team on Copilot. Now I lead corporate AI training for dev teams at large companies, and I create books, courses, and videos at Big Machine.
What I do now
Corporate AI training for dev teams
For the last 8 months I've been leading hands-on AI training for engineering teams at large companies, helping developers move past the hype and actually integrate AI into their daily workflow.
This builds on 3 years working directly with the VS Code team at Microsoft, where I focused on Copilot and ran efficiency workshops for thousands of engineers. Before that I spent 3 years helping the managed PostgreSQL team ship better developer experiences.
My approach is practical: real codebases, real problems, real results. No slides about “the future of AI”, just working sessions that change how your team ships code.
AI Adoption Workshops
Multi-day, hands-on sessions with your team using your codebase. Not theory, practice.
6 Years at Microsoft
3 years with the VS Code / Copilot team. 3 years with managed PostgreSQL. Deep product experience.
Video & Course Production
Founded Tekpub (acquired by Pluralsight). 30,000+ books sold through Big Machine.
Published
Books that started conversations
CS fundamentals for people without CS degrees. Fiction that teaches you PostgreSQL. Proof that you don’t need permission to go deep.
The Imposter's Handbook
Computation, Complexity Theory, Encryption, Blockchain, Algorithms and Data Structures, Lambda Calculus and more.
A Curious Moon
Learn PostgreSQL the way the pros do: on the job and under pressure, exploring real data from the Cassini mission to Saturn.
The Imposter's Roadmap
Master source control, code reviews, DevOps, monitoring, reporting, project management, and, most of all: other people.
YouTube
From the channel
I explain hard topics in plain English. No AI narration, no filler. Just me, a whiteboard, and a story.
Big O Notation
Full Text Search in PostgreSQL
The Best Hashing Algorithm for Passwords
The Fabulous Linked List
Podcast
This Developer's Life
Stories about developers and the lives they lead. Co-hosted with Scott Hanselman. Part storytelling, part therapy, entirely human.
3.0.2
Space
Why aren't we on Mars? With Paul Lutus & Dan Bricklin.
1.1.3
Competition
Jon Skeet, David Fowler, and the drive to win.
1.0.1
Getting Fired
Where it all started. The pilot episode.
Also on Apple Podcasts and thisdeveloperslife.com
Let's work together
I'm available for speaking, workshops, consulting, and creative collaboration. If you want to make something great together, I'd love to hear from you.