.NET Foundation Campaign: Iris Classon

About me

I'm a backend developer at Greenbyte by Powerfactors and have been writing code for the last decade and an active community member from the very start. I speak at and organize conferences and user groups, I write technical books (and comedic fiction about programming), blog, write articles, create tutorials (Pluralsight, YouTube, Microsoft etc.). Simply put, the majority of my life revolves around the .NET community (evident by my 10th year as a Microsoft .NET MVP). The other part is my family, which consists of a baby (10 months) a toddler (3.5 years) and my husband who also works in the same field albeit as a Product Owner. 'I tell developers what to do', he says. But we know that's not true :D

Why I'm running

When I first started working with .NET, I was a little intimidated by the size of the community. It seemed like there were so many experts out there, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to find my place. But I quickly realized that the .NET community is incredibly welcoming and supportive. Whenever I have a question, there's always someone who is willing to help. Therefore, from day one, it became my mission to give back and to be an active participant that helps shape the future of .NET. There were always opportunities to contribute. Whether it was through writing blog posts, answering questions on forums, or speaking at events and mentoring, I did my best to make a difference in the .NET community. When I had the opportunity to be on the board for a year and half I grabbed it with both hands, and I've been a part of the nomination committee ever since.

My skills are on the social side. Reach and Klout. Representation and diversity. I contribute to open source, but nowhere near the amazing work we see out there on daily basis. However, the board needs representation from the broad spectrum of developers (and stake holders), and I represent an important slice. You can always expect honesty and transparency with me, and those very important 'stupid questions' (there are no stupid questions!).

For me, and for many other developers, .NET isn't just a technology - it's a community of passionate and talented people, and I'm proud to be a part of it and I want to help shape it as a member of the board.

My .NET Contributions

My contributions are listed in detail on my Microsoft MVP page, except 2021 which we all deleted from our memory because of a certain pandemic. Here is a summary if you don't want to scroll:

.NET Foundation Board director, Nomination Committee

Technical Author Some of my books: The History of .Net Development and the Core That Was No More Migrating to ASP.NET Core Building Windows Store Apps ...

Conferences and User Groups Here is a selection of conferences and user groups: Oredev (my 3rd time this year!) NDC DDD MS BUILD (2x) Codecamp RO Swenug ...

Other technical content Video: Microsoft Learn Live, Pluralsight course, YouTube tutorials Technical blog Articles (Developer Magazine etc.)

Experience with the Foundation

I have extensive experience with the board as I was elected a board member in 2019 for a year and a half and I've been a member of the Nomination Committee every year since, except for this year.

What are my goals for the .NET Foundation?

As mentioned earlier, my strengths are outreach and education, and I'm immensely passionate about diversity in all its various forms. My goal is to build on existing efforts, suggests new ways to improve our diversity and outreach, and to engage the community as well as developers that don't consider themselves a part of the community. There is an extrovert ideal that tends to dominate organizations and communities, and the .NET Foundation is not immure to this. I want to make sure all voices are heard, and that we actively reach out to those that 'stay quiet' so we made decisions that include all.