conferences and web dev
I thoroughly enjoyed attending both the Zend and SDWest conferences this year. So much of what we do as developers is standing on the shoulders of giants - learning from their examples and mistakes. It shows how much of a community we are in the world. Arguably the most global and technologically connected of any community.
I’m glad I attended both conferences, because the combination of the two showed me clearly what is missing from both. SDWEST gave me the concepts and trends that are so important in software development, and Zend gave me specific examples of the best ideas about php, but neither covered the seemingly obvious overlap of “web software development.”
I’m talking best practices, trends in user interface technology, advantages of xhtml compliance, how to handle legal concerns, and so on. I could continue at length generating a list of topics I’d love to see on a conference schedule.
So the obvious next step would be… create a conference! Or even propose the idea to O’Reilly or CMP for inclusion in one of their conferences. But I’d say that’s jumping the gun a little.
This conference needs to stay small and cheap. One of the likely reasons this doesn’t exist is because the target audience doesn’t have the time or deep pockets to invest in a big conference. I’m talking small web dev shops, or small teams in larger organizations where the web is their passion and their bread and butter. It needs to be financially accessible (i.e. free), and convenient (read: local).
I’ve attended the New York Tech Meetup, and the NextNY events, and while they are making great strides in bringing the tech/new media community together, I don’t see how much the group is benefiting from the meetings.
Okay, that may not be fair. I’m sure that some valuable connections were made, and some great ideas were formed, but I’m really looking for something that can really give back to the whole community. I want peoples’ experiences to drive education of the community, so we can really move forward in technology and make the web a safer place for our kids. (I jest)
In what non-believers call a coincidence, Charlie O’Donnell of USV/NextNY announced that Google is happy to play host to NextNY’s next meeting. This would also be the inaugural non-recreational meeting of the group. A perfect opportunity to present the idea. I proposed to Charlie that we use this event to start a series of talks or roundtables aimed at the web community in New York. While he doesn’t think it would fit in with the next meeting, he suggested I start a wiki page on the site to gain some traction with the group. Now I need to get some ideas down for people to respond to!