Latest / The Unfiltered Engineer / Bonus: Is a Conference Worth It? (LDX3 and WeAreDevelopers)
Transcript
- Vishakha (Vish): Hello and welcome to the Unfiltered Engineer. This episode is going to be short and sweet. It is where I'm going to be talking about the two conferences that I attended and some information that I can share. My hope is that if you ever want to go to these conferences or any other conferences, just getting a picture of what it looks like and the reason that I'm creating this episode is I met somebody on the bus stand. while I was going to WeAreDevelopers Conference and they asked me like how is the conference and would it be worth it if they went for three days outside of their work and attended it. So we'll talk about a few logistical things and on the part about is it worth going to conferences or not, which is absolutely a decision. But hopefully I can share the information which would make it easier for you to decide. So for context. I haven't been to a conference in ten years. The last conference I remember I went to was CSS conference and it was really great. I didn't prepare anything for it. I was going with some of my colleagues back in my first company and at that time I was very new even in my first job and just didn't know what to expect of a conference, but there was a lot of pressure on if you go to the conference, like what did you learn, what did you come back with? which is going to be generally the expectation. Like if a company is investing in your ticket, which is over a thousand, two thousand dollars, so there better be like a takeaway or something that you can implement once you come back from from that. seminar from that conference or whatever event that you're going to so logistics wise the tickets the tickets I I applied for hosting an event And I got accepted for it and that's how I was able to go in the conference I still had to get my travel tickets, I still had to figure out my living. I that LDX3 conference happened in New York, and second one was WeAreDeveloper which was in San Jose in my backyard. So I did not know about WeAre Developers. I came to know about it through Kate, who was a guest in my second episode, and she had mentioned that she's coming to San Jose. And I said, Okay, let's meet and that's when she said that okay, there is this conference. And that's how I came across it and I found somebody she tagged me on someone's post and I was able to get the ticket for it but also I applied for volunteering in that conference. So that gives you like a big overview on the two conferences and how I got the tickets. and I really wanted to be a part of the conference. It had been a very long time that I thought I am Too away from this tech space, from people working in the tech space, and it's a whole different energy when you're in a conference around people who are passionate about the same things as you are. So I had to figure out my own living, which I stayed with my cousin. I wanted to stay closer to the center where the conference was being hosted, but New York being New York, it was very expensive. And it took me about one and a half to two hours, both days, to go and to come back. so it was a pain, but it was worth it. once I went there, it was you have to identify really what's the goal of you attending the conference. My goal was very clear. Yes, obviously it was hosting the event that I was going to host. And I'm super excited. I'm really grateful for the folks at LDX who decided to choose me as the host for a couple of things. But the other piece that I went for was networking, to talk to people and just get some few more leads and speak with different kinds of people essentially. So some software engineers, some engineering managers and some directors of engineering. My first day was really, really packed. I reached a little later than the keynote. but I couldn't get to attend a lot more lot more talks. I was booked with meeting people and this is somewhere that I think both LDX3 and WeAre developers did a great job of having an app. They had their agenda, they had the schedules, they had all of it put in that app. So it was very easy to access. It was very easy to see who the speaker was, was the who the topic was. So as far as LDX3 was concerned, I was able to message people, I was able to see, and some people messaged me to meet. and it was very easy to set up time. The only thing was to remember the time that you're meeting and plan your events according to the time you're meeting. So there were a couple of people I met at the same time I wanted to attend a very specific talk, but it's okay. Like to me meeting that one person was a lot more important than attending a talk that could have that I could watch recorded later. L LDX3 also had some authors who were signing books. and I did get the software engineer's practical guide. if you know the author of Pragmatic Engineer, he was there book signing and I got that. I got Camille Fournier's manager's path. And it was just like a wonderful experience to be meeting with these people at the O'Reilly booth. So they had a lot of booths and there is swag. that space was different. The talks were on two different stages. The community representation groups discussion was different and the hangouts were also different. I was hosting a community representation groups for Asian leaders too. So all of it like it depends on you what's important and figure out, plan out a little bit of your outline, like what you absolutely do not. to miss and it's a lot more easier to meet with people one on one. so do that. The other aspect was food for me, like food meaning do I need to arrange for my own food or do they provide it? And they did provide it. both WeAre developers and L D X three did provide. It was a lot more easier to get food in L D X three. It was just quicker. But with WeAre developers, there was a huge line. Almost every single time I wanted to get something. So that's something to keep in mind. But I was also a volunteer there, so there was a separate space for foods. Just like I know it's not that important, but I I feel that it was important to me. the second second conference was WeAre developers and I did get the conference tickets, like I said, from someone. And I had reached out, I was following a couple of people who were organizing WeAre developers, and they posted a volunteer form and I did fill it up. and I got in volunteering, like if you came in at Day Zero You would have seen me helping with the registration and check-in. I just personally three days, what am I gonna do? Meeting so many people. But WeAre Developers app was a little difficult to set up time with somebody. It was just like, yeah, you can send connection to them, but where did it go? Like how did it how can I meet these people? So unless these people were talking or speaking on the stage, it was really hard. To set up time with anybody. That's the one thing that I found. It was harder to network in the WeAre developers conference. Most of the networking I did was on the registration desk, while meeting people and I was seeing that, they are speakers. Or on the lunch tables where people were already speaking of something and you could join in the discussion. And usually people are very kind about it. So you will see. That's a lot more easier when you go into a conference, people are already open to all these things. Now, as far as the stages come or the talks come for WeAre developers, there were about like eight to ten stages. And it was wild. It was hard to keep up. Like if you are attending a talk on stage seven, then you have to go to outdoor stage. It's like a really long walk. But the point being is there were too many talks I thought and you could almost there were three or four times when I felt like I was passing from stage three to stage four to go to five and then I would say, this talk is really good. this talk is really good and all of it boils down to like what's your goal in that conference. Again, my goal was networking. However, I these conferences were back to back for me. So by the end of We are developers, I was completely tired to meet new people, but I still got to meet some people. I met Kate there. and I think that at that point I was just like, okay, let me just go and attend the talks and see what's gonna happen. I also met my friend there. We attended workshops, so that was really gay great like workshops. you could attend, you could actually practically implement things. but also it's just two hours so there is still going to be limitation on how much you can use, how much you can implement. Cool. So the whole thing though, like whether you want to attend the conference or not It really depends on you. If it's just the talks, those talks get uploaded later. At least I know that within the app it was already uploaded. So I don't know if you need to have a ticket to be on the app to see the videos. LDX3 pushes out the talks pretty much within a week or two weeks. You'll see all the speakers putting out their talks. So you won't miss the content as such. It's just the energy or the people that you need there and the new things that you find out about. So the expo fees, right? There are so many companies. So if you're looking for a specific kind of product to work with in your company, that might be a good place to speak with somebody in charge. and that's how I found that my goal was very much fulfilled in attending both the conferences. And was very essential for me since I've been in this job search mode. So it was really nice to take a break and talk to people without that pressure of okay, is this an interview or not? even though there's no pressure, I just again I like speaking with people. So it was it's still a lot easier, but it's something to keep in mind every conference you attend. your takeaway depends on what you want it to be. For me it was really very much one or two talks that I attended and I took a lot more from them than anything else. And also, actually my biggest takeaway was looking through all the talks, I realized that I'm pretty much caught up. I felt like I'm I'm missing out on what's happening in the industry. But I realized that with whatever I'm doing on my personal projects, I'm cool. I don't have to worry about do I know this or do I not know this? For example, somebody talked about migrations through MCPs. I was like, yeah, I get it. Like I have done that before. Or there was a lot of talk about code reviews and where should you put the code reviews or how do you replace like Our tendency as humans is to just replace us with AI and to do the code reviews, but they were saying to take a different approach to code reviews. And I just felt like I wanted to be in a company to be able to understand this piece, but nothing that I wouldn't be able to catch up to. I won't be too worried about it. so it did help me get a real landscape on where the industry is at. But that's all I had. If you have any questions on any of the conference topics, I'd be happy to answer. Share your questions either in the comments or LinkedIn DM. but that's all I had for you. I had a lot of fun in the conferences. If you have a chance, if you're able to make it, please do. It's very different than listening to these talks online. The atmosphere is very different. The people are very open to chatting and talking to you, like literally somebody. I stopped them on like midway. They were going somewhere. I'm like, Hey, can I talk to you? I see this on your badge. And it was they were really sweet about it to speak with me. So that's it. Thank you so much for staying with me. This was just one off episode. but I will See you back soon in the next episodes. Bye.