This week I'm at Devoxx for the whole week, and already I've achieved two things I didn't manage last year: I drank Belgian Beer and I've spent some time in Antwerp itself.
Devoxx 2012
NightHacking Tour: The LJC
On the same day Stephen Chin came to see me at the 10gen offices, we also ran a NightHacking session in the evening with the London Java Community. Not many people turned up (maybe I need to work on my signage to the office?) but it was a great session. In fact, having less people meant we could all be involved.
Interview and Hacking session with Stephen Chin
On Monday, Stephen Chin from Oracle visited me at the 10gen offices as part of his NightHacking tour. In the video we talk about my sessions at JavaOne and the Agile presentation I'm giving at Devoxx, and I do some very basic hacking using the MongoDB Java driver, attempting to showcase gradle at the same time. It was a fun experience, even if it's scary being live-streamed and recorded!
NoSQL is a Stupid Name
So, I've finished my first full week in the new job and I've learnt lots of new stuff. Which is great, because that's usually why you change jobs.
JAX London 2012
Seemed like a quiet conference this year. Not really sure why, maybe it was the layout of the massive (and extremely dark) main room; maybe it was the awkward L-shape of the communal space; or maybe this year people were more interested in listening to the (really very good) sessions rather than participating or meeting other people. Whatever the reason, it felt quiet and almost low-key.
Performance seemed pretty high on the agenda, as you'd expect from a London conference, with a number of things on offer:
And for my next trick….
The time has come, and I'm moving on from LMAX. I've had an incredible (nearly) four years working for one of the most radical finance firms in the world, during which time I feel I've learnt more than the rest of my work experience put together, and had the pleasure to work with some of the smartest and most interesting people I've ever met.
Introduction to the Disruptor Slides
I've produced a very cut down version of the presentation I've been giving at a lot of conferences, giving a high level overview to the Disruptor. This serves as a quick intro to the concepts behind it.
JavaOne: The Summary
So, JavaOne.
Taylor Street Cafe
I'm going to be controversial. I think this was my favourite conference of this year. I know that's not trendy, and that Oracle-bashing is still a popular pastime. And I know I've also made a big deal about how much fun it is to meet people who program in different languages. But there is something very special about being surrounded by thousands of people from all around the world who use the same technology as you, some facing the same problems, some solving very different issues.
JavaOne: The Problem With Women – A Technical Approach
Yesterday dawned, with a sense of foreboding (actually it dawned with me coughing my lungs out, but we've heard enough about the sub-optimal state of my respiratory system this week). On this day, I was giving the talk I was dreading when I got asked to do it. It's the talk I actually put more work into than any of the other sessions I was presenting at this JavaOne. It was the Women In IT talk.
Continue reading "JavaOne: The Problem With Women – A Technical Approach"
Tips for Presenters
...or, tips-for-Trisha-because-she-has-the-memory-of-a-goldfish.
- Do not drink too much coffee beforehand.
- Do not replace coffee with Diet Coke, it is not better...
- Do not drink too much coffee and drink diet coke and forget to eat.
- Check skirt length before prancing around on stage.
- Check desktop background for public-display-appropriateness.
- Close down applications that have popup notifications. Do you really want hundreds of people seeing that tweet...?
- Plug in your laptop power. Re-typing your password every time the screen powers down is boring.
- Remember your Mac-to-VGA dongle thingie. Bring one even if you don't use a Mac - there might be a cute/friendly/senior/cool speaker who needs one, and you can help them.
- Bring your slides/laptop. Not that important, especially if you've put it on dropbox.