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Conferences put learning 'in your face'


By Alex Handy
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September 1, 2009 —  (Page 1 of 4)
Technology conferences come and go, as do the budgets to send employees to them. When you get right down to it, though, conferences aren't about locations and topics as much as they are about people. And while software developers are not generally known for their people skills, technology conferences are still some of the best places to learn new skills and brush up on the latest technologies.

So how, exactly, do you choose where and when to send your developers to conferences? It can be tough to choose between sending your application architects to a Gartner summit versus the option of saving said money and buying them books or online training.

Fortunately, thanks to the Internet and the prevailing geek culture of our time, choosing between the budget and your employees' education isn't always necessary.

If big events are off the table for your team, knocked off by big budget cuts and the current recession, there are still options left open. Most of these options are heavily dependent upon geographic location, however. Big cities tend to offer an array of interesting opportunities. The bigger an urban area is, the more likely it is that there is a User Group of some sort (Linux, SharePoint, SQL) in town. If your company is near a sufficiently nerdy college campus, there's a chance that there is also a programmers group there, likely aligned by language.

Such groupings can never replace the in-depth technical knowledge available at a highly focused conference. But attending local meet-ups is a quick and easy way to get access to some big brains without any cash outlay. And while colleges and off-hour enthusiasts aren't likely able to answer questions about a massive Oracle installation, you can't beat the price of admission.

Alternatively, many urban areas have been seeing more unconferences recently. Though the term “unconference” first appeared in 1998, the unconference movement really began four years ago. In 2005, a group of folks were left out of the super-cool but ultra exclusive Friends of O'Reilly (Foo) Camp in Northern California. Rather than mourn their inability to get an invite to FooCamp, they created BarCamp.


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