Development Containers: Standardizing Dev Environments and Escaping Dependency Hell
TRANSFORMATION TRACK / DEEP DIVE
ROOM 319-320 / APR. 8 / 11:10 AM - 11:40 AM
About this session
Since the early days of programming, developers have battled environment inconsistencies. From spending days configuring legacy apps to hearing the dreaded “it works on my machine,” environment issues slow teams down and cause endless frustration. Development containers offer an innovative solution by providing consistent, pre-configured environments directly within a developer’s code editor. They ensure every engineer works in the same setup, eliminating environment-specific bugs and reducing onboarding time from days to minutes.
In this presentation, I’ll provide an introductory overview of development containers and their practical use cases for teams of all sizes – from individual contributors to leaders of large organizations. We’ll discuss key benefits such as faster onboarding, simplified legacy app maintenance, improved dependency management, easy CI/CD integration, and improved cross-platform collaboration. Attendees will gain actionable insights into how to migrate existing projects to containerized environments and get their teams up and running quickly.
Following the 30-minute presentation, I’ll give a 10-minute live demo showcasing how to set up a basic development container using Docker and VS Code. The session will conclude with a Q&A, where attendees can discuss their unique challenges and next steps.
Development containers are a powerful tool to eliminate barriers in local development, allowing engineers to focus on delivering value and building great software. Our team at GlobalVetLink has seen the impact firsthand, and I’m excited to share our journey with Iowa tech professionals looking to elevate their development experience.
Key takeaways
1. Development containers eliminate “it works on my machine” issues: By providing consistent, pre-configured environments directly within code editors, development containers mitigate environment-specific bugs, empower cross-platform collaboration, and reduce onboarding time from days to minutes.
2. Development containers future-proof your development workflow: They simplify legacy maintenance, streamline CI/CD integration, and make production deployments more predictable.
3. Getting started is easier than you may think: With a simple Docker install and a few small configuration files, you’ll be launching containerized environments in no time!
Speaker
Gabriel Stackhouse
Software Engineering Manager
GlobalVetLink
Gabriel Stackhouse is a Software Engineering Manager at GlobalVetLink, where he leads and mentors a team of engineers building SaaS solutions for the animal health industry. Gabe holds a B.S. degree in Software Engineering from Iowa State University and is a graduate of the inaugural Iowa Tech Connect program, organized by the Technology Association of Iowa. With a background in full-stack web development, Gabe has extensive experience designing scalable applications and driving initiatives that improve development efficiency and system reliability.
At GlobalVetLink, Gabe plays a key role in shaping the technical direction of the organization, introducing new tools and workflows to increase team velocity and stability. He is passionate about developing well-rounded engineers, fostering continuous improvement, and supporting Iowa’s tech community through mentorship and leadership.
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