Dugald Wilson's Blog

RDU Code Camp Reflections

Dugald Wilson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:13:40 GMT

RDU Code Camp has come and gone, and even though I couldn't make a single session, I am coming away quite rejuvenated on the strength of the community.

I had a great time meeting folks I only knew from Twitter before: Rachel Appel, Alan Stevens, David Penton, Mike Eaton, Dave Donaldson, and Nate Kohari, to name a few. I didn't get to talk with them as much as I would have liked, but enough to feel like I don't solely know them from their Twitter profile anymore. I also had a great time with the guys from Richmond: Kevin Hazzard and Justin Etheredge. It looks like we may be able to get Kevin to come speak at TriNUG in January!

I have a few regrets: I wish we had more volunteers, and that I could have delegated more. I may have then had the opportunity to participate a bit more, but maybe that's what other Code Camps are for. Also, Michael Neel came all the way from TN, and I don't think I got the chance to say one word to him the whole weekend.

The Speaker's Dinner went great, but some folks are never happy, and whine about how the Speaker's Dinner is elitist. I think opening up the dinner as a pre-event for all would be great, but I still haven't figured out how to make it work in terms of managing headcount/reservations/etc. It's definitely something I want to explore for the next Code Camp.
I think the Code Camp went off great, but we did have a few areas we can improve on. I think our abstract submission/acceptance cycle needs to have more feedback in it, and there is a lot of information we need to get out in a much more timely fashion. I think the focus is too much on the date of Code Camp, and there needs to be a timeline of deadlines leading up to that where information is announced.

James Avery proposed ShadowCamp as a day-after event for continuing the open discussions from the Open Spaces at Code Camp. I thought this went off amazingly well, and would love to see it embraced at more Code Camps, and really anywhere where lots of developers gather - Codemash Shadowcamp maybe?

RDU Code Camp Thanks

Dugald Wilson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:16:10 GMT

RDU Code Camp was yesterday (Nov 15). It was just an awesome time. From what folks say, it went very well. I'd like to thank all of the folks who made this possible:

Chris Love - Chris was the original driver for doing another Code Camp this year. He took the lead on getting the speakers and sessions together, and stepped up to handle the emceeing on the event.
Rob Zelt - Rob secured all the swag for the event, resulting in some very happy folks when they left yesterday afternoon.
Chuck Scheier & Srinu Tulluri - Chuck and Srinu handled the food, which surpassed all expectations.
Greg Pugh - Greg handled the promotion for Code Camp, and the excellent turnout we had is a result of his work.
Glen Alfredson - Glen handled all the financial dealings of working with our sponsors and vendors.
Jeremy Brown - Jeremy, and his wife Julie, took on the responsibility of creating the t-shirts for Code Camp. Julie came up with many designs, and Jeremy stayed on us to actually DECIDE and get it done. They turned out great, and I couldn't be more appreciative of their efforts.
Anita Luthra- Anita came in and volunteered, and helped make our registration process run smoother than I've ever seen it.
Josh Carlisle - Josh helped deliver swag, sodas, and maps. He was an invaluable fixer.
John Anderson - John volunteered for us and single-handedly turned room 201 from a classroom for 40 to a conference room for 120.
James Avery - James volunteered to run Open Spaces, which was a huge hit, and will hopefully be a part of our future Code Camps. He then helped craft the idea of our sponsorship being limited, which raised visibility for sponsors, and reduced the number of sponsors we had to handle. He then helped land us Red Gate software as a sponsor.
Brian Hitney - Brian is our Microsoft DE, so I think there is some part of his job description that has him help us out on these things. Brian helped sponsor us and provide swag, but more importantly was an invaluable resource for how to run the Code Camp, and I couldn't have done my part without his counsel.
Derik Whittaker - Derik was instrumental in securing Allscripts as a sponsor, without which we would have had a much more limited Code Camp.
Todd Phelps & ECPI - ECPI has been a wonderful host for our Code Camps, giving us complete access to their building. Todd came in on his own time Sat to open and close the building for us.
All our speakers - We wouldn't have had an event without our amazing speakers. Thank you all for traveling out of your way, and helping us have one of our best Code Camps ever!
Our sponsors - big thanks to Allscripts, Inkscribe Designs, Microsoft, Red Gate, SoftPro, and Tek Systems

If anyone has been overlooked, it is no reflection on your contribution, but rather the oversight of my still-weary brain.

RDU Code Camp

Dugald Wilson — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:04:42 GMT

RDU Code Camp is this Saturday, Nov 15, from 8:15am to 5pm. Door open at 7:30am.

It promises to be a great day full of developer-oriented content. In addition, there will be an Open Spaces, and an XBox 360 for playing Rock Band! Lunch will be provided, and there are prizes at the end - hope to see you there!

Microsoft and jQuery

Dugald Wilson — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:32:18 GMT

There have been numerous postings announcing that Microsoft is going to start shipping jQuery alongside Visual Studio. If you haven't read about this already, see Scott Guthrie's post.

This is wonderful news for the developer community for many reasons.

First, the acceptance of jQuery by Microsoft should be contagious. A lot of large enterprise organizations get their software from Microsoft, and their software tools from Microsoft. The rule in those circles seems to be "No one ever got fired for using Microsoft", and so, Microsoft tools tend to dominate the short list of what can be used in an enterprise environment. With Microsoft shipping and supporting jQuery, these developers should be able to get the buy-in from management that they need to start using jQuery.

Second, Microsoft has, in a big way, included the developer community in their path forward, and embraced existing Open source software. Microsoft has a long history of having a competing product in every market space, from web browsers and search, to video game machines and mp3 players. This seemed to have extended to the developer division, too, as MSTest and Entity Framework came in as competing offerrings. With jQuery, they are jumping in and providing support to their customers who use it, and planning to contribute tests, bug fixes, and patches back to the jQuery project. This is an exciting step forward, and leaves me optimistic about the future of Microsoft's relationship with Open Source and the developer community.