Every young developer should attend a conference

I believe that every young developer should attend a conference for anything in the realm of CS at least once. And by young developer I mean the length of time you have been developing professionally, not how old you are. Why do I say this? Being at a conference exposes you to many different people, ideas, and opportunities. You would most likely encounter these things over the course of your career, but a conference jumpstarts that process by collecting all these great resources for you here and now. You could end up waiting 5 or 10 years to realize that you don’t have any high-level competition or mentors around you. It only takes a minute of seeing a go getter at a conference to understand that people at your day job aren’t this fired up. Some people aren’t as focused on their skills or career, being able to say that they at least have skills or have a career is good enough for most. This is not a bad thing. So, I don’t want to put down people that focus on work life balance or just don’t see value in focusing on skills and career. But I do want to say that if you want to lift 200 lbs., you can’t lift weights with those who only want to lift 100. The soil is just as important as the seed if you want your life to bear fruit. Separation from your normal work environment and your happily average coworkers combines with the exposures of a conference to create an environment that really has the potential to elevate your career. You would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t schedule one within your first 4 years in the field.

Here are 5 main reasons you want to attend a conference in my opinion:

You will grow by rubbing minds with the best

Conferences (depending on the size of the conference) bring out specialists in the subject area of the conference. Even at a small conference you can expect at least one speaker or organizer. This means that there is at least one person with a high level of skill or influence at any conference. The chances that you’ll bump into the next Zuckerberg or Spiegel at the conference are low so I don’t want to make it seem like that will happen. Even with that not being the case, you will find someone that knows a thing or two about the subject matter of the event. At this point, it is important for me to specify the level of conference I’m advocating for. Big... Huge! GIGANTIC!! Literally the largest one available that you feel comfortable in traveling to. I’m judging based on the size of the conference because the more people are there the better of a chance that the big fish (highly skilled/experienced developers) will come out. Your mission is to find these people and learn from them. They say that iron sharpens iron. While you are in a room with people that develop the same kinds of things you do, you might as well learn a thing or two from them. Don’t leave the conference wishing you had someone who you could learn from, now is your chance. Take time between presentations to network. And when you find someone that has some experience or knowledge you wish you had, KEEP TALKING. Ask them how they amassed such experience and understanding. They might refer you to a good book, a helpful website, or tell you about their journey to gain experience (which you could most likely replicate). Use this information to take your skills to the next level.

It will inspire you

Skill isn’t the only thing you can gain from a conference. And with the limited resources (both time and the number of skilled people willing to speak to you) your ability to better your skills is limited. Your ability to be inspired, on the other hand, is far less so. Conferences bring out lots of enthusiasts. This means that you can easily find someone who is fired up about code at the event. Even though not everyone is going to be extremely motivated, you will be in a place where there are plenty of people that are. One of the main benefits of going to conferences is the inspiration you can soak up from these developers. Just seeing someone extremely fired up can rub off and make a huge impact. It can cause a shift in perspective on what you do from “this is okay…” to “this is awesome!”. That change will most definitely improve your career. I say this because people who are fired up about what they do are able to put in more time doing it. It’s just easier to do something you love. So, with all that said, now is not the time to be shy! Talk to as many people as you can. The more people you talk to the more inspired you can become! Also, the higher the chance you will find someone who is very successful in software like lead developers, architects or startup founders. Whenever I find someone further along in their career than I, I can’t stop the train of endless questions formerly known as my mouth. If you are cognizant of how much time you are taking up and how comfortable this person is taking your question barrage, then now is a great time to be curious as possible. People love to talk about themselves and feel special, so you might be able to make new friends while getting a playbook on how to be successful in your field. Don’t miss out on this opportunity by not sponging up as much drive as you can.

It grows your opportunities via networking with people who could refer you or even hire you

I’ve already brought up the types of people that will be at the conference (or least the ones to focus on). For the sake of clarity, I’ll list them. Skilled developers, motivated developers and people working in software that are further along in their career than you are. This should be a large enough percentage of people at the conference to keep you talking the entire time and I would suggest that you do just that (when appropriate of course). Because even without taking into consideration the skills you could pick up, the inspiration you could gleam, or the playbooks/career strategies you can learn, you have a major networking opportunity on your hands! Anyone from the 3 categories of people I just listed would be a great asset in terms of networking. Meet as many of these people as you can and leave them with the best impression that you can. One day you might be able to get a job or contract work from one of these people you met. So, I don’t want to turn this into a spiel about how important the role of networking is in the advancement of your career is but I will say one thing. There is some validity to the common phrase “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. Whether you are trying to move up in a company or looking to find a better one, knowing the right people can be half (or even 100%) of the battle.

You will be humbled by the experience

When I was in school I felt very gifted. I had held one or two jobs for most of college so I felt like I was a hard worker (I literally felt like the hardest working college student ever). I got an internship over a year before graduation so I felt like the pinnacle of drive and ambition. I also put in huge amounts of hours working there, which only strengthened the idea I couldn’t be out worked. I’m sure I can go on for days about how great I thought I was. But one thing I didn’t do was make sure I only compared myself to people that were driven and hardworking. By the end of college, I was King of the mediocre. I had compared myself to those around me without guaranteeing that those around were good enough competition. I brought all that up to say, if you consider yourself an average to top tier student or developer you might end up in the same situation I was. I felt so good about myself and what I was doing because I didn’t see enough people doing better. There’s no need for political correctness in this statement. You are not the best. And realizing that is the first step toward self-improvement. Going to a large conference is going to expose you to other people from other areas. That will show you what true competitors look like. It will show you exactly how unimpressive your achievements have been and humble you in a way that was impossible without being in this environment. I went to WWDC 2017 and realized that my inflated ego was just a result of my environment, and my failure to change/improve it. Having this experience doesn’t exactly have to be so dark though. I ended up extremely fired up by the end of the conference because I saw so many people going for what they want. The fact that so many people were closer to attaining their dreams helped throw fuel into my fire.

For me there was a hard to explain sense of home, or that I was with my people

When I was younger, I was picked on a lot. I was black, smart and overweight. This combination of qualities did not win me any “cool points” in the eyes of my peers. In high school, I decided I wanted to be popular and have friends. So, I changed my appearance and started trying to hang out more, to try reaching some level of acceptance. When I got into college the fact that I was studying Computer Science didn’t help. Developers were the definition of uncool, unless you were rich of course. Being in this field with this image made it hard to connect with the African-American community. As a youngster, I basically had to choose between the being in the streets and having 50% of my race dislike or look down on me for not being in the streets. Being smart or having ambitions to be anything other than a rapper or athlete can alienate you from other black youth. I was constantly uncomfortable. Not having a place that I could be myself, I ended up spending a lot of my time worrying about how my actions and words would be perceived by the people around me. Let’s tie this into WWDC17. For the first time in my life, it was impossible to be written off as the uncool nerd. We ALL were nerds by the average opinion so I felt amazing. Amazing because for once I could be who I was and not worry about its impact to my surroundings. We all came here to talk about software so there was no one to ridicule us or make us feel too smart in any way. It was interesting to see other blacks at the conference. Normally I would feel discomforted or put down but instead I was praised! I felt as if every black person I had met was proud of me and what I was doing on some level. It felt amazing! I felt like I was finally accepted. I didn’t need to change. What I did need, was a new environment. One that would allow me to grow instead of shame me for being who I was. It was here, in this sea of developers from all over the world, I had found that. And I didn’t want to leave.