What I learned from C # /. Net developers at the Go conference #
I myself am a C # developer and did the conference for the first time. I'll tell you how I crammed the cones and got a lot of fun.
This is the GoSharpMoscow C # Developer Personal Performance Day conference.
It took place on Saturday, November 15th. It was my “first fucking lump” or, as they say abroad, MVP (Minimum Viable Product). I report what I managed to do:
But the most valuable thing I received from the conference is feedback. Practically, it was TDD with format and networking experiments. Now our team knows what the participants like and what the bottlenecks are in organizing the conference.
')
For those who hear about Go # for the first time, a quick introduction.
I am developing on C #. Previously, he worked to order, then remotely in a western company, and now I am writing for my projects. I always wanted to talk with colleagues, but I was embarrassed by long reports, lack of mechanics for meeting people and the cost of events. I wanted to go to the conference to expand the horizons and communication, so I was ready to give only a small amount of money. The idea of ​​the conference and the description of the format I presented earlier on Habré here .
Preparation of the conference took three months and began with the choice of location and invitation of speakers. Many people supported me when there was nothing but an idea. And I am very grateful to them for such support. As time went on, the program evolved.
The concept was as follows: one track, short reports, a lot of communication and an affordable price.
The first day of Go # is as follows: these are the topics of personal efficiency, code-writing tools, mobile development UI, and developer career. It turned out 10 reports and 15 speakers / experts. More speakers, because Two reports are paired and there are still experts for discussions in sections. Many have seen the conference announcements (from DevExpress , TCS Bank and Luxoft ).
And so, together with VioletTape and a large team, and with the help of industry colleagues (@ 23derevo with DotNext , sidristij c CLRium), such an event was held.
I'll start with the nice. 370 participants arrived. This is the physical limit of the site and each additional chair had to be acquired with a fight.
Already during the very day of the conference, we began to receive feedback from friends and whom we invited personally. But after the event, we collected questionnaires and evaluation reports. Another part of the feedback we received in correspondence with the participants after the conference. That's what we learned.
The conference was useful for 96% (and useless for 4%). 15% learned “a lot of definitely useful things”, for 43% it was “quite useful”, 37% found something useful for themselves. The developers received the maximum benefit at the beginning of their careers and those who rested against the career ceilings and thought about changing course. At the same time, 26% expected more, but for 74% the impressions of the conference met or exceeded expectations.
Oral surveys and the results of the survey revealed a surprise. The “Career .Net Developer” section turned out to be the most useful section , although at registration the participants were mainly interested in “Effective code writing”.
Just to quote some:
So, everything is fine here, so go ahead.
Who wants to know at once what to expect soon on the December 12th team leader day ( program and registration ) and what are our plans for the thematic conferences of 2015 (Asp.Net, Desktop / Business applications, C # Highload, Backend & API, C # Clean Code) , click on the links and scroll to the end of the article.
And then go a little debriefing.
30% expected more from the conference. But this part of the participants taught us a lot. Some tips and tricks are knowhows. Therefore, I will not conduct them here :). Implementing their wishes is many hours and days of work.
Just share negative and directing reviews:
It was really difficult for us to produce a lot of technical meat in a short time of reports. At 30%, this is a format cost, but at 70%, it’s just a flaw. When preparing, we collected a lot of useful information from experts on productivity tips, but did not submit it in the most digestible form.
The conference was held without sponsors and we simply did not check that DevExpress and JetBrains in the first section went into marketing! As the participants suggested to us, it was necessary to make live coding mandatory. It was managed by the same DevExpress, but in the mobile development section. What participants are saying:
2/3 of the audience liked the short reports, but 1/3 would like the reports to be longer:
Technical reports need more time. Squeezing the technical "meat" in 15 minutes is a challenge for the speaker. We sought to avoid long reports, as this would strike at the general usefulness of time for a wide audience. But for a more homogeneous audience, we can allow long reports. And if it takes several hours to study the topic in depth, you can take it to the training, when 2-3 speakers spend one day.
Conclusions on the length and structure of the reports:
We have overcomplicated our discussion preparation process, and because of this, it was more difficult for us to process the content. We collected the answers in text form, then to collect from them a presentation. And you just had to immediately collect the slides.
The opinion of experts in the discussions on the stage was difficult to perceive only by ear. As an idea for the future - to include a mini-presentation from an expert on 2-3 slides when he starts speaking for the first time. Then there will be a visual image of what he wanted to say.
We also should have collected questions for the speakers through a Twitter broadcast (you can see here , tag # goshap14). The broadcast had to not only be announced at the beginning of the day, but also periodically displayed on the screen.
The previously declared idea with signs worked by 20%. And the tags are unexpectedly 100% - everyone liked it.
For example, when asked about networking, one participant writes:
The most difficult was to balance the amount of food, feed rate and cost. We had time with coffee and drinks, and with lunch it turned out like this:
The most difficult is Exceptions. Out of cartridge, printer broke, etc. We opened the accounting "bug": companies do not like bookkeeping when the individual entrepreneur is unprinted and makes a mark on the business trip as the receiving party only with a signature. What else? For example:
We focus on creating value for middle class developers, team leaders and managers, not top developers (but more demanding and informative on feedback). The product we want to develop is affordable and frequent professional communication.
In 2015, we will do narrow thematic conferences (Asp.Net, Desktop / Business applications, C # Highload, Backend & API, C # Clean Code).
If you are interested in social activities and have a time budget, we invite you to join. On the benefits (free tickets and food, gift licenses, etc.) to be the applicant of the report, the speaker and a member of the team - here .
The upcoming event of 2014 is team leader day .
If you are a manager (team leader in C # or a project manager) or are planning to become one, then this is the best event to dive into the context and monitor trends in the management of development.
You will hear 4 reports about architecture, 3 reports about ALM and TFS, 2 reports about managing source code without TFS and DevOps tools. And also - 2 reports on the specialization of labor in .Net teams. Namely, how are decisions made about grouping people into teams and dividing tasks between them?
The format is one track, 10 reports, many breaks, earlier ending and Afterparty.
The Tulskaya metro sounds far, but it's very convenient to get there (only 3 metro stations from the very center of Moscow and 4 minutes on foot). We adjusted the schedule and format based on the first day feedback. And you will find good nutrition (link). Lunch and Afterparty will be held in the OM Café, so that you can chat sitting at comfortable chairs.
Program and registration - here .
// If I took someone’s comment from the readers in the article, then you can write to me, I’m tagging you.
This is the GoSharpMoscow C # Developer Personal Performance Day conference.
It took place on Saturday, November 15th. It was my “first fucking lump” or, as they say abroad, MVP (Minimum Viable Product). I report what I managed to do:
- fill the hall at 100 +%
- make the conference useful for 95% of participants
- meet the expectations of 70% of the participants.
But the most valuable thing I received from the conference is feedback. Practically, it was TDD with format and networking experiments. Now our team knows what the participants like and what the bottlenecks are in organizing the conference.
')
A bit of history and introduction
For those who hear about Go # for the first time, a quick introduction.
I am developing on C #. Previously, he worked to order, then remotely in a western company, and now I am writing for my projects. I always wanted to talk with colleagues, but I was embarrassed by long reports, lack of mechanics for meeting people and the cost of events. I wanted to go to the conference to expand the horizons and communication, so I was ready to give only a small amount of money. The idea of ​​the conference and the description of the format I presented earlier on Habré here .
Preparation of the conference took three months and began with the choice of location and invitation of speakers. Many people supported me when there was nothing but an idea. And I am very grateful to them for such support. As time went on, the program evolved.
The concept was as follows: one track, short reports, a lot of communication and an affordable price.
The first day of Go # is as follows: these are the topics of personal efficiency, code-writing tools, mobile development UI, and developer career. It turned out 10 reports and 15 speakers / experts. More speakers, because Two reports are paired and there are still experts for discussions in sections. Many have seen the conference announcements (from DevExpress , TCS Bank and Luxoft ).
And so, together with VioletTape and a large team, and with the help of industry colleagues (@ 23derevo with DotNext , sidristij c CLRium), such an event was held.
Satisfaction statistics
I'll start with the nice. 370 participants arrived. This is the physical limit of the site and each additional chair had to be acquired with a fight.
Already during the very day of the conference, we began to receive feedback from friends and whom we invited personally. But after the event, we collected questionnaires and evaluation reports. Another part of the feedback we received in correspondence with the participants after the conference. That's what we learned.
The conference was useful for 96% (and useless for 4%). 15% learned “a lot of definitely useful things”, for 43% it was “quite useful”, 37% found something useful for themselves. The developers received the maximum benefit at the beginning of their careers and those who rested against the career ceilings and thought about changing course. At the same time, 26% expected more, but for 74% the impressions of the conference met or exceeded expectations.
Oral surveys and the results of the survey revealed a surprise. The “Career .Net Developer” section turned out to be the most useful section , although at registration the participants were mainly interested in “Effective code writing”.
What do 70% say are satisfied participants
Just to quote some:
- “The program is excellent, quite rich.”
- “A good balance of reports between the technological part and the social part.”
- “I liked the format itself - no need to run across and split apart, trying to catch all the interesting reports. The idea with tags on badges is also good. Well, I liked the food. "
- “I liked the abundance and diversity of information, the informal atmosphere, the relevance of those covered at the conference. I can only advise to continue in the same spirit. "
- “I liked the subject of the conference. Liked the tags. Liked the informal atmosphere. "
- “I am a novice developer. Accordingly, I did not know a lot. Having visited the conference, I received a large amount of new information, which I have to personally process and increase the amount of knowledge. ”
- "All liked it. If the format does not change, I will continue to visit. "
So, everything is fine here, so go ahead.
Who wants to know at once what to expect soon on the December 12th team leader day ( program and registration ) and what are our plans for the thematic conferences of 2015 (Asp.Net, Desktop / Business applications, C # Highload, Backend & API, C # Clean Code) , click on the links and scroll to the end of the article.
And then go a little debriefing.
Criticism - where we got lost
30% expected more from the conference. But this part of the participants taught us a lot. Some tips and tricks are knowhows. Therefore, I will not conduct them here :). Implementing their wishes is many hours and days of work.
Just share negative and directing reviews:
- "The speakers did not have time to delve into the topic, and gave only general information."
- “Less common words, more specifics. Roughly speaking, about the fact that CodeRush (reSharper, etc.) is there, I knew before the conference, I would like to see how they work, see the most interesting chips live. About AOP and PostSharp in general, it would be possible to allocate 2-3 times more time, the topic is quite complicated, and again, apart from the example from the main page of postsharp.com, I would like to see more code. In general, to understand the direction of further development as a developer, this was a wonderful conference. ”
- "one. Many advertisements in the section on acceleration of writing code.
2. The third part (about HR) was the most informative and useful.
3. In general, DevExpress strongly into the advertising. " - “Too much commercial information from JetBrains and DevExpress. As for the direct development, architecture, or interesting cases - there was little information. ”
It was really difficult for us to produce a lot of technical meat in a short time of reports. At 30%, this is a format cost, but at 70%, it’s just a flaw. When preparing, we collected a lot of useful information from experts on productivity tips, but did not submit it in the most digestible form.
The conference was held without sponsors and we simply did not check that DevExpress and JetBrains in the first section went into marketing! As the participants suggested to us, it was necessary to make live coding mandatory. It was managed by the same DevExpress, but in the mobile development section. What participants are saying:
“I liked the live demonstration of the work, in addition to the presentations — an application for a mobile phone in 5 minutes :-) Other speakers need to introduce similar points, they are really pushing for independent actions.”
Format and length of reports
2/3 of the audience liked the short reports, but 1/3 would like the reports to be longer:
- "The duration of the report was optimal, in general, the conference was not tired, although it lasted a whole day."
- "Convenient format, everything is perceived without fatigue."
- “The format of the conference is excellent, perhaps the technical reports will take a little longer.”
Technical reports need more time. Squeezing the technical "meat" in 15 minutes is a challenge for the speaker. We sought to avoid long reports, as this would strike at the general usefulness of time for a wide audience. But for a more homogeneous audience, we can allow long reports. And if it takes several hours to study the topic in depth, you can take it to the training, when 2-3 speakers spend one day.
Conclusions on the length and structure of the reports:
- Make the report time limit flexible. To give technical reports more time (30 minutes) in comparison with survey (10-15 minutes).
- At the end of each report is a section with recommendations.
- Mandatory live coding for reports about tools.
Organization of discussions
We have overcomplicated our discussion preparation process, and because of this, it was more difficult for us to process the content. We collected the answers in text form, then to collect from them a presentation. And you just had to immediately collect the slides.
The opinion of experts in the discussions on the stage was difficult to perceive only by ear. As an idea for the future - to include a mini-presentation from an expert on 2-3 slides when he starts speaking for the first time. Then there will be a visual image of what he wanted to say.
We also should have collected questions for the speakers through a Twitter broadcast (you can see here , tag # goshap14). The broadcast had to not only be announced at the beginning of the day, but also periodically displayed on the screen.
Tags, tags and networking
The previously declared idea with signs worked by 20%. And the tags are unexpectedly 100% - everyone liked it.
- “Tags on badges are a great idea.
Plates on the tables are abstractly interesting, but this can only work if there are 2-3 times more seats at the tables than there are people who want to. ” - “The idea with the tables was excellent, but it was necessary to distribute the dinner separately and more tables were needed.”
- “It's really great to go to the table with the technology of interest, find like-minded people near it, and speak the same language”
For example, when asked about networking, one participant writes:
“I liked sticking the“ PHP ”tag onto a badge mate :) But seriously, organizing tables for informal communication is a very good idea, but they should be taken away from the power zone and the question-answer session in some places more interesting than the reports themselves.”
Nutrition
The most difficult was to balance the amount of food, feed rate and cost. We had time with coffee and drinks, and with lunch it turned out like this:
- ““ Vegan Holiday ”didn’t like it at all. But then the food arranged more than. Coffee is the best I've tried in my life. Now I spit on the worker :) "
- “There was clearly not enough power supply points, especially during lunch.”
Other problems
The most difficult is Exceptions. Out of cartridge, printer broke, etc. We opened the accounting "bug": companies do not like bookkeeping when the individual entrepreneur is unprinted and makes a mark on the business trip as the receiving party only with a signature. What else? For example:
- conference branding: did not roll up and did not place logs in the coffee break
- TK for the photographer: the speakers did not shoot against the background of the audience
- Pricing policy: large gap between early and late price.
- contests: underestimated the complexity of accounting and summarizing.
What's next
We focus on creating value for middle class developers, team leaders and managers, not top developers (but more demanding and informative on feedback). The product we want to develop is affordable and frequent professional communication.
In 2015, we will do narrow thematic conferences (Asp.Net, Desktop / Business applications, C # Highload, Backend & API, C # Clean Code).
If you are interested in social activities and have a time budget, we invite you to join. On the benefits (free tickets and food, gift licenses, etc.) to be the applicant of the report, the speaker and a member of the team - here .
Team Leader Day December 12, Fri
The upcoming event of 2014 is team leader day .
If you are a manager (team leader in C # or a project manager) or are planning to become one, then this is the best event to dive into the context and monitor trends in the management of development.
You will hear 4 reports about architecture, 3 reports about ALM and TFS, 2 reports about managing source code without TFS and DevOps tools. And also - 2 reports on the specialization of labor in .Net teams. Namely, how are decisions made about grouping people into teams and dividing tasks between them?
The format is one track, 10 reports, many breaks, earlier ending and Afterparty.
The Tulskaya metro sounds far, but it's very convenient to get there (only 3 metro stations from the very center of Moscow and 4 minutes on foot). We adjusted the schedule and format based on the first day feedback. And you will find good nutrition (link). Lunch and Afterparty will be held in the OM Café, so that you can chat sitting at comfortable chairs.
Program and registration - here .
// If I took someone’s comment from the readers in the article, then you can write to me, I’m tagging you.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/243707/
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