Code Mash Recap

Codemash came and went over a week ago but I've been hoarding my free time so the blog has gone by the way side. I must say that codemash is as unique a conference as you can find and the organizers do a superb job of providing valuable content and access to bright people. The speakers I saw were very good overall and made you question how the conference is not pummeled with only charging $200 or less.

The highlight for me had to be speaking with Jim Weirich on a couple of occasions about Ruby and his work at EdgeCase. He's the man behind Rake, XmlBuilder, FlexMock, and other pieces to the Ruby puzzle I'm sure I'm forgetting. He was extremely down to earth and very practical about using the appropriate language for the job. He's like DHH with his passion for Ruby and Rails, but without the arrogance.

Additionally, I was reminded why I really enjoy working with the people I do at QSI. We sent no less than 30 people there, had a couple of speaker/organizers, had the most rocking booth of all the vendors, and most importantly had great discussions about software over beer every night there. At least 5 people made comments to me about their desire to learn Ruby and/or Rails. We'll hopefully capitalize on this passion by forming a 12 step program to get us familiar with Ruby (first and foremost) and then Rails. I'll keep the blog updated through the journey to beautiful code...

CodeMash Coming Up

I was fortunate enough last year to attend CodeMash in it's inaugural event. I can say without a doubt that it is the most unique conference I've had the pleasure of attending. I'm somewhat odd in that I code daily in .NET and Java and usually play with Ruby in the wee hours of the evenings. CodeMash is the only conference I know of where I can go to sessions for all of these topics and still learn about other topics like Python, Groovy, Android, etc...

The speakers aren't just slobs off the street either. Neal Ford, Jim Weirich, Bruce Eckel, and many others will present at CodeMash this year. Always cool to go to a session of someone whose book you have on your shelf. Being able to see speakers of this caliber for less than $200 does not happen often.

I'm always up for a beer after the sessions, so let me know if you'll be attending. I'll get Mark Blankenship to buy us a round.

Oh, and did I mention it's at a waterpark? That's right, 2 conferences within a month for me where I get to hammock up!