In one my rare weekends at home, I found myself on a pottery course (this is the sort of thing that happens when you're a "yes" person).
photos
JavaOne 2013
So, I thought a few months ago that my blog would become more of a travel blog than a tech blog because of the amount of conferences I was going to. Turned out that I was so busy writing / updating / practicing talks and workshops and, er, travelling, that I never got around to doing retrospectives on the events I'd been to.
LJC Open Conference 2012
Saturday I had the pleasure of being part of the 5th London Java Community Open Conference. This is a great event to end the conference season on – it made me feel good about being part of the LJC, and got me excited about the prospects for 2013. The fantastic thing about an open conference … Read more
Summary of Devoxx 2012
Devoxx 2012 from Roy van Rijn on Vimeo.
Devoxx topped off a crazy two months of conferences. I've heard people talk about the conference season in the past, and been slightly (OK, very) jealous of all that jet-setting. I'll admit, however, to a slight feeling of relief that my focus until Christmas is pretty much going to be coding. I hope.
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.
JavaOne: User Group Sunday
Well this is exciting! JavaOne 2011 is the first conference I spoke at, so this the first time I’ve covered the same conference two years running. I think. It’s very nice to be back at JavaOne. Last year it was my first opportunity to meet so many people – the guys at Oracle who work … Read more
The Strange Loop
Last week (was it only last week?) I was at Strange Loop, presenting a workshop on the Disruptor.
I didn't really have any expectations from the conference, I've never been before and, if I'm honest, hadn't heard of it before. So everything was a pleasant surprise.
It's a very geeky conference. I mean that as a compliment, of course. Lots of very smart people talking about stuff that's waaaay more advanced than you frequently get in the conferences employers would be happy to pay for. The themes I mostly saw were functional programming and the (insert horribly abused term) Big Data space.
GOTO Amsterdam
Three airports and three hotels in a week, and I don't know whether I'm coming or going. Add to that a mere four hours sleep last night, and this might resemble the ramblings of a mad woman (more than usual that is).
GOTO Amsterdam was a different affair to GOTO Copenhagen, which is not necessarily a bad thing - it's great that the events have their own personalities and aren't cookie cutter versions of the same thing.