Remembering Scott Allen
Tags: programming, dotnet, news
Published: 2020-01-14 21:49:36

---
title: Remembering Scott Allen
published: true
description: Remembering Scott Allen, an icon of the C#/ASP.NET Community
tags: programming,dotnet,news
cover_image: https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/g9heha0w68fwtihht04i.jpg
---

>"Hi, I'm Scott Allen... "

When you heard those words, in that voice, you knew you were about to learn something and have fun doing it.

Sadly Scott Allen passed away Friday. He was a founding author at Pluralsight, creating [54 courses for the Platform](http://bit.ly/30iIY52) and becoming the top-performing author of all time.  Scott was the host of the [Herding Code](http://bit.ly/2spvnwh) Podcast, CTO of Medisolv, and a Microsoft Regional Director. He was an international speaker and an Icon of the ASP/.NET world. [Visit Scott's Blog](https://odetocode.com/)


![Scott Allen](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/r837op5pod3r0k0fts5q.jpg)

## The Teacher

Scott is a big reason I am where I am today. Scott's course on C# was the first course I took at Pluralsight. I was a software engineer learning a whole new language and framework, and he brought it into clear focus for me. My skills and knowledge flourished so much I was mentoring folks on C# in a little over a year. 

## The Leader

First, he taught me, then inspired me. Teaching has always been a passion of mine. I've always shared my skills as soon as I gain them, but I never thought of myself in an instructor role. I enjoyed the act of showing someone something new. For the longest time, my vision of an "instructor" was the professors I had in school. Loud, energetic, and often brimming with ego. Words nobody would use to describe me.  

Taking Scott's courses changed my mind. His relaxed yet confident style and ego-free attitude towards teaching were extremely effective. This was obvious by the tremendous impact he was making. It made me think there might be room in this world of online instruction for me. So I tried out for Pluralsight, and in 2016 I became an author which changed my life.

![Scott Allen](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/an9jp4ja956xvtnhdmjl.jpg)

## The Mentor

In 2019 I joined Pluralsight as a full-time employee. At Pluralsight Live I hosted an event called "Tech Insights", where I spoke on stage with leaders at the conference. Scott was among the first people I asked to talk with, and he happily obliged. 

While running from one spot to the next, I bumped into Scott near the entrance to the courtyard and introduced myself. He said, "Hey nice to meet you, do you want to join me for lunch?". I couldn't refuse. 

During lunch, we talked about pretty much everything except tech, which was a good break for both of us that day. We talked about our families, where we live, the keto diet, and a funny story about him buying a new snow plow for his driveway. He eagerly anticipated that first snow, and when it came, the snowplow was covered so bad he couldn't get to it. He needed a snowplow to find his snowplow, he told me, laughing. 

I found him to be a kind person and very down to earth. He treated me like an equal. Towards the end of the lunch, he was in full teacher mode, giving me some tips on authoring that I'll never forget.

Here are some big takeaways: 

- Don't obsess over things like statistics, views, and money. Whether your students are learning what you are teaching is the indicator of success. Focus on that. 

- Don't try to become the personality you think people want you to be in courses (I did this early on BTW). Be yourself, whoever that is.

- Don't forget why you got into it. You're here to teach. Imagine your student is sitting right next to you as you speak into the microphone. Keep the learner viewpoint in your mind as much as possible. 

These are principles I'll never forget. 

He treated me with kindness and respect and offered wise advice. He showed how you could become a titan in an industry without sacrificing others or acting superior. 

![Scott Allen](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/fckpktun781b5712go6j.jpg)

## The Person

I can't say I knew Scott that well, but I would guess his impact on the world around him went farther than professional success. He was a true geek in every sense of the word and loved sharing knowledge. He also enjoyed building others up. Over the years, I've never seen him bashing others, punching down, or doing anything other than being kind and gracious. He volunteered a lot of time and energy into his community, doing what he loved, which was building people up.   
  
He was a truly kind and generous person who will be missed. 

The best way we can honor Scott is to be more like Scott. Let's do more to build up those around us.  

[Here's what our CEO had to say about Scott's passing](http://bit.ly/38asAX5) 

Here are some things his fellow technologists had to say about him. 

{% twitter 1216462438767497216 %}
{% twitter 1217124891335348224 %}
{% twitter 1216464507158945792 %}
{% twitter 1216852597681856514 %}
{% twitter 1216724821364674560 %}
{% twitter 1216710317847216129 %}
{% twitter 1216703795419406337 %}
{% twitter 1216674906999533568 %}
{% twitter 1216666107286827008 %}
{% twitter 1216635669063393280 %}
{% twitter 1216628185636446210 %}
{% twitter 1216615139035607043 %}
{% twitter 1216542497750634496 %}
{% twitter 1216503152213741568 %}

You can also listen to our first podcast episode which featured the man himself. 

{% podcast https://dev.to/allhandsontech/000-a-conversation-with-scott-allen %}