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Date: 4 January, 2012 - 15:44

In previous years, I've reviewed & covered each conference as I went to them. In 2011, I got so busy that I gave up midway through the year and just decided to do a recap at the end.. it's only now that I realized how many I actually attended. So without further ado.. here are the conferences in order:

January

I've covered CodeMash previously, so I'll spare you from a second round. [post]

I've already written on PHP Benelux, so check out my PHPBenelux coverage here.

February


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Date: 5 December, 2011 - 09:14

Although I attended the event below on behalf of my employer Twilio, this is not necessarily their position on this topic. I write representing my own opinion and thoughts..

Last week, I was tapped to represent Twilio at the Made In Austin recruiting event at University of Texas-Austin. While the event was well-organized, the students were sharp, and the overall experience was beneficial, I noticed something odd. When students approached me, they all had one of two approaches:

One group - thankfully the smaller one - would open with "Hello. I am XXX. I am looking for an entry level position where I can demonstrate my attention to detail and teamwork skills." It was basically the verbal form of their Objective Statement. While that's great on paper, I wanted to hear what they really think and want in a position, so I countered with:


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Date: 26 August, 2011 - 08:30

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in Austin's first Friday Night Hacks hosted by Damon Clinkscales. When he first told me about the concept, I was intruiged:


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Date: 13 June, 2011 - 07:30

A few weeks ago at php|tek, I was lucky enough to deliver the Closing Remarks. Well.. it was less "lucky" and more of a "wait..


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Date: 10 May, 2011 - 08:00

php|tek: a professional conference with a community flairIf you haven't figured out by now, I attend quite a few conferences and catch a lot of presentations from numerous speakers. I've found that most presenters have a sweet spot. They're good at expressing a concept but don't get into the code. Others can build ridiculously powerful applications but couldn't describe the concept if their lives depended on it.

In the middle, there's a special kind of person. They're the ones that can explain a concept and whip up some demo code. Or alternatively, they can look at some code and identify not just what it's doing but likely reasons why.


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Date: 8 April, 2011 - 13:12

Last month I attended SXSW for the third time. In addition to having a good time and meeting up with friends & colleagues, I had the chance to be a guest on Developer Smackdown to talk about Community and the similarities and differences between them in the PHP and .Net Communities.