Aaron K. Hawkins

Ok, its not as big as Christmas Eve, but I’m still excited for the conference to start tomorrow.  This will be my second time attending and I’m excited for different reasons this time.  RailsConf 2007 was my first conference that wasn’t run by No Fluff Just Stuff so I think my expectations were unrealistic.  The NFJS conferences that I attended were more intimate due to the limited number of attendees.  The speakers were all fantastic and people I had heard of and looked up to.  Many were published authors.  I sat in multiple classes taught by people like Dave Thomas and Justin Gehtland.  The chance to eat with them and talk in the hallway was just as valuable as the sessions.  ’Brain Fatigue’ is an adequate description of my brain’s condition at the end of the day.  However, I left feeling renewed and inspired. 

In contrast, I left RailConf 2007 with mostly a headache.  I was expecting a similar experience like those from NFJS- minus the small conference like atmosphere.  I think the biggest surprise were the vendor land-mind talks.  You know the ones - they have titles like “scalability” etc but really are about a specific product.  I wasn’t really aware of this trap, and took for granted the NFJS policy on not allowing vendor presentations, and inadvertently spent more time that I would have liked in vendor sessions.  My goal is to avoid unintentionally wandering into those this year.

It also seemed like the presentations just weren’t up to par - both the topics and the skills of the presenters.  RailsConf sold out quickly last year - and to address the increased demand the conference added another track late in the process.  I’m not sure if that was the cause, but I suspect it played a part in the feeling that overall things just weren’t polished.  Now there were definitely exceptions, but I felt that out of the 3 days - almost an entire day of sessions could be categorized as ‘meh’.  Maybe it was just a manifestation of the growing pains exhibited in the community as a whole.  Maybe I just didn’t know, like in college, which were the do not miss, in contrast with the avoid at all costs, presenters.  

This year, I’ve grown up a bit with rails.  I’m more familiar with the technology.  I have some experience under my belt and am able to ask better questions.  I think the speakers have also had the time to prepare their thoughts and polish their presentations.  I’ve done some homework on the speakers and am looking forward to hearing what they have to say.  I’m also excited to meet fellow developers and broaden my horizons.  My outlook is a bit different,  I have a better idea of what to expect, and I’m optimistic that this is going to be a great event.  Here’s to a great RailsConf 2008.