10 Things I Loved about Devcon 2015

I’ve been writing about Devcon for the past 2 years now. First was #MobileDevNBeyond then #DevelopersUnite. Coming to its 3^rd summit, it’s a marvel to see how much the event has scaled. That’s why for this year, I’m counting down the 10 things I loved about Devcon 2015.

 

10 Things I Loved about Devcon 2015

10. The Venue

One great way to see how big Devcon has become is their venue. Compared to previous venues, this year’s place was waaaaay bigger. I mean it felt like it was five or six times bigger than last year’s. The summit was held at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. Because of so much room, Devcon was able to have simultaneous talks in different venues. Talk about options, right? The areas for the partners and sponsors were spacious enough for cool and engaging activities.

 

The areas for the talks were very conducive for learning. The main hall had tables (and even electrical outlets) for people to take notes and even to test and try out codes. Having this venue really had an impact on how participants moved around, so that we could network and engage in conversations.

It was so big, we needed a map so we wouldn’t get lost. 😉

9. From a 1-day event, Devcon 2015 was a 2-day event.

Aside from having an awesome venue, Devcon had a problem to address: how to handle the vast amount of knowledge from a number of great speakers.

Instead of causing massive information overload from the participants by jamming all resource speakers in one day, Devcon devised to add an additional day, so that developers could have a better Devcon experience. This went really well with the venue’s space.

Because of this, developers could follow these easy steps:

function haveSuccessfulDevconExperience(dateToday){
   if(dateToday in [devconDays]){
      wakeup();
      attendDevcon2015();
      absorbKnowledgeInCache();//save in short term memory
      goHome();
      sleep();
      writeKnowledgeInDisk();//save in long term memory
   }else{
      wakeup();
      doUsualActivities();//work or study
      waitForDevcon();
      sleep();
      dreamAboutDevcon();//Win Mac Air in Dream
   }
}

 

Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to create a backup of the knowledge you absorbed while at the event, either. In short: take notes.

 

8) The Goodies

Yes! I love freebies. I now have a bag, a shirt and some stickers. How awesome is that? Still, more than just free stuff, these items commemorate that I was part of the biggest developers’ conference in the Philippines.

 

7. The Games and the Geeky Hugot

The game was basically a “bring me” game, but what entertained me was when they started bringing in the intangible stuff, like a singing voice. It was cool listening to developers sing and they’re actually not half bad.

What really got me hooked to the game, though, was when they had to bring their geeky “hugot”.

First was from the guys and the winning hugot was, “Buti pa sa design… may U & I”.

The crowd (especially the girls) went crazy .

The next was from the ladies and the winning hugot was witty and deep. It goes, “Bakit ang mga lalaki parang switch statements? May option 1, may option 2… Pero sa break lang naman ang tuloy”.

The crowd went wild because of that hugot. Even the competitors cringed and admitted defeat.

Don’t worry; not all guys are like switch statements. Some of us are like loops with an immutable variable. 😉

while(alive){
   love(her);//immutable, don't try to change... I dare you.
}