Ep68: Career Highlights + OGM Alternatives

In this episode, hear my reflections on eight years as a Developer Advocate at Neo4j - learning in public, teaching before feeling “ready”, and navigating the constant balance between deep technical work and community engagement. Get updates on what I'm currently focused on: upcoming events, writing a more complex chapter of the Java book, sharpening Cypher skills, and exploring an article that challenges the default use of Object Graph Mappers (OGMs) in graph applications. Highlights 8 Years in Advocacy Learning fast by presenting and teaching Balancing deep work, travel, and ad hoc collaboration Adapting to the accelerating pace of tech and AI Current Projects Preparing for Devnexus and upcoming virtual events Contributing to Road to NODES AI workshops Writing a more advanced Java book chapter (avoiding the editing loop) Intentionally improving Cypher skills through deeper practice Rethinking OGMs Exploring the article “The Very Slowly Ticking Time Bomb, Your Graph Persistent Stack” Questioning whether OGMs add unnecessary translation layers in graph apps Considering alternatives Expanding the toolbox — no one-size-fits-all solution Events Devnexus (Atlanta, GA) San Francisco Bay ACM (Virtual Event) Road to NODES AI Workshops (Free, virtual)