The latest articles on DEV Community by Mark Ngugi (@markngugi). https://dev.to/markngugi https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3799955%2F1740f85a-c4ac-45a5-be96-0afe079a5af2.jpg https://dev.to/markngugi en Mark Ngugi Sun, 31 May 2026 21:20:05 +0000 https://dev.to/markngugi/ubucon26-2g91 https://dev.to/markngugi/ubucon26-2g91 <p>Stepping up to give my first-ever presentation at UbuCon 2026 was a massive milestone, and honestly, it was pretty intimidating. The stakes felt high, especially with the live demo. It was a race against the clock to get everything running, and it only finally came together exactly ten minutes before I went on stage. Talk about a close call.</p> <p>While I am proud of what I delivered, I originally wanted to pack even more into the session. I had planned to showcase a simulated mission, Gazebo visualizations and RViz path simulations. While time caught up with me for the presentation, these features are still actively in the works over at the <a href="https://github.com/mark26745/aeronix" rel="noopener noreferrer">aeronix</a> project. My goal is to have the entire end-to-end setup completed and ready by the end of the year.</p> <p>I connected with some incredible engineers and industry peers and I am looking forward to building on those conversations for future professional collaborations.</p> <p>This experience proved that the best way to grow is to just put yourself out there. Moving forward, I plan to keep speaking on topics that challenge me. It is the ultimate way to deepen my own technical understanding share what I have learned with the community and grow professionally.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fh3q6bnk6fq1pdywloadl.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fh3q6bnk6fq1pdywloadl.png" alt="Ubucon26 Group Photo" width="799" height="482"></a></p> opensource architecture career learning