Wow! This year has really flown by. So many great events, technology advancements, and personal milestones have made 2025 a memorable year. Looking back, 2025 has been a year of growth and learning. From exploring new technologies to refining my skills in DevOps and cloud computing, I’ve had the opportunity to dive deep into topics that I’m passionate about. Sharing these experiences through my blog has been incredibly rewarding, and I appreciate all of you who have taken the time to read and engage with my content. Several posts this year sparked some great discussions, and a few even had follow-up questions or corrections thanks to readers like you.
You may have noticed a lot more blog posts than usual over the last few weeks. That’s because I’ve been working hard to make sure I keep up with my writing goals before the year ends. My goal is to publish a new blog post every week, but with all of the events this year that was a challenge. As a result, I had to publish quite a bit in December to catch up. I’m happy to say that I’m now back on track for weekly posts in 2026!
This year, there were also a number of posts that I started or published, but that didn’t ultimately appear on my site. Some of that content has instead been made available as either blog posts or documentation on GitHub’s own sites. For example, on April 15, GitHub chose to publish When to choose GitHub-Hosted runners or self-hosted runners with GitHub Actions. In addition, two other posts I wrote were instead rewritten to be part of the GitHub Well-Architected Framework. As soon as these posts are live, I’ll update these summaries to include links:
- Best practices for deploying Actions Runner Controller
- A summary of recommendations, best practices, and considerations when deploying Actions Runner Controller (ARC) to manage self-hosted GitHub Actions runners in Kubernetes clusters. A huge thanks to Nikola Jokic – one of the authors of the ARC project – for his help reviewing this content and making sure that it was accurate and complete.
- Securing the developer workspace
- A summary of best practices and recommendations for securing developer workspaces, with some detailed coverage of using dev containers (such as GitHub Codespaces) to make the developer environment more secure. Given the increasing number of attacks in this space, I was glad to be able to contribute to this important topic!
- Securing GitHub Actions Workflows (Contributor/Reviewer)
Some of you may know that I also enjoy helping with technical reviews for books such as ASP.NET Core in Action (Andrew Lock, Manning Publications 2021), Architecting IoT Solutions on Azure (Blaize Stewart, O’Reilly, 2024), and Applied Machine Learning and AI for Engineers (Jeff Prosise, O’Reilly, 2022). This year, I was honored to be asked by Manning Publications to help with reviewing .NET Aspire Made Easy (Fiodar Sazanavets), which is available now through Manning Early Access Program and expected to be published in early 2026.
Sharing knowledge through speaking
Another major highlight of 2025 was getting out and speaking with communities across the country. I had the pleasure of delivering 11 speaking engagements at conferences and user groups throughout the year, covering topics from GitHub Actions and custom runner images to security best practices and DevOps workflows. Beyond the speaking circuit, I also had the opportunity to help organize two conferences in Atlanta, which meant I got to contribute to shaping the agenda and bringing great technical content to our local community.
These speaking opportunities and conference organizing experiences reinforced something I’ve come to appreciate – there’s real value in connecting face-to-face with other technologists, sharing what you’ve learned, and learning from others in return. Whether you attended one of my talks or participated in the conferences I helped organize, thank you for being part of the conversation! I met some incredible people this year, and I look forward to more opportunities to connect in 2026.
Healthy and happy
I’m glad to say that this year I have a clean bill of health. After the health issues in 2023, I’ve worked hard to prioritize my well-being … and it’s paid off! All of the tests confirm that I’m healthier than ever. More importantly, I feel great! I’m grateful for the support of my family and friends, who have been there through this journey, and I’m glad to be back to focusing on the things I love, including writing, speaking, and music.
Looking ahead to 2026
2025 has been incredible, and I owe a lot of that success to the supportive community that engages with my content and invites me to speak at events. As we head into 2026, I’m excited to continue this momentum. I’ll keep publishing weekly posts about the topics I’m passionate about, including GitHub Actions, DevOps, software development, and cloud technologies. I’m also looking forward to more speaking opportunities and the chance to connect with even more of you at conferences and user groups.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Here’s to getting through 2025 and to all the exciting things ahead in 2026!