Codestock 2012 - Day 1

Yesterday was day 1 of Codestock, a software development conference held annually in Knoxville, TN.  This is the first conference I have attended, and it proved to be a very valuable experience.  I am looking forward to tomorrow even more.

Registration

As the morning began, I met with my expectation.  Get up early, go register, get some breakfast, find the first session.  I don't mind the get up early part, but seem to be in the minority.  Registration starts at 7 AM and I show up at 6:50.  Based on some comments on the lines during the Keynote, this seems to have been a wise decision, because there was no line to speak of.  

Attendees

The attendees that I met throughout the day were a welcome part of this experience.  There seems to be a thriving community here of developers.  Unfortunately for me, I am on the outside of that community, and can tell that being on the inside would greatly enhance this experience.  There are many familiar names, but none know me.  I did get pulled into several great conversations surrounding my Samsung Slate 7 Windows 8 box, so I'm glad I brought that.  After the days festivities there was a social event at one of the local restaurant-bars, where I really sealed the deal on my social awkwardness.  I did get to converse with several fellow Huntsville natives that I have met through our local user's group (HUNTUG).  

Sessions

I tried to fill every moment I could with session attendance.  They pretty much went as I expected.  Two were great, one mediocre, two were bad.  For the bad sessions, I really got a sense that the presenters knew they were bad and would use the experience to make future presentations better.  But I have to say that even from the "bad" sessions, I still walked out knowing more than I walked in knowing, which is of great value so I thank all presenters. 

The session that gave me the most was, not surprisingly, the Windows 8 deep dive, given by Jennifer Marsman.  This was a good refresher on the recent Windows 8 Code Camp that I attended with a little more real-world coding stuck in.  Jennifer is a great communicator, stays on topic, keeps the audience engaged, and packs her sessions with content.

Keynote

They keynote address was given by Nick Bradbury and it was by far the highlight of the day.  The talk was on the life of the independent developer.  He went through his career path and showed us his path from birth to success, what he has loved, what he has less-loved.  Almost everything Nick had to say seemed to be a message designed for me.  That we are at a pivotal time in human history.  That I am a big part of that.  That I want, and should want, to be a bigger part of that.  That I can affect real changes in this space.  That code craftsmanship matters.  That money only matters in that I have to provide for my family, but it should not be an end goal.  That user experience is not a buzzword, but rather a light that shines on the darkest corner of software development containing our greatest failures as an industry.  I thank you Nick for this presentation.