Yeah, so the daily updates can be added to my list of good ideas at the time. As it is, I'm posting this one only because I feel some strange sort of internal obligation to at least document the fact that I attended. God bless the internet for being the backup drive for my memory.
I'm really glad I attended this conference which is slightly different than saying it was a good conference to attend (which it was). I personally would have liked to see more intermediate to advanced presentations on the subjects I'm interested in but maybe I just attended the wrong sessions. All the presentations I sat in on were entertaining and I gathered some good nuggets of information, but from a pure content perspective, it's hard to justify the expense. Or having to deal with the refrigerator they call Vancouver. It &*%$ snowed here the day I left, I'm pretty sure out of spite.
But the real value of DevTeach (as with most conferences) is rarely the learning experience. Or rather, it's rarely the book learning 'cause quite frankly, I learned more than I would have preferred in some cases. Last night, I sat exactly in the middle 'twixt two tables at a bar with JP Boodhoo at the head of one discussing being a thought leader in the community and Scott Belware at the head of the other talking about how strippers can't scale. It was like those cartoons where there's a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, both vying for your attention.
Much of the time, I stayed in my comfort zone and hung out with the western Canada contingent (see Appendix). There was much merriment with this crew even if, by the end of the conference, I started responding to e-mails with messages like: "Don't you people have an OFF button?" Maybe I'm getting too old.
Despite my brains getting rattled with all the head shaking in disbelief, it was primarily this human interaction I was anticipating. Hallway conversations, lunch/dinner with old and new friends, chats in the hotel bar after the conference. These are things I don't get to do much and they are my lifeline to the industry. And they help me keep pace with the alt.net movement.
All in all, a good introduction to the DevTeach experience for me and one I look forward to next May in Toronto where the flight will be more convenient. And the weather *better* be warmer.
Kyle the Declimatized
Appendix: The Coding Hillbilly's Peeps for DevTeach. A list of people or persons that kept me entertained and/or warm throughout the conference. Interpretation of that statement is left as an exercise to the reader. As I said more than once at the conference: I don't need to impress you people.