QCon – the End

On the second day, I met with Russ Miles, author of Learning UML 2.0, AspectJ Cookbook, Head First Software Development and soon (famous last words) Programming Spring. Why do I say “soon”? I think I had that conversation with Russ during QCon 2011… Never trust an author! It is always nice to talk to Russ – he is always full of enthusiasm but extremely busy – I believe that he is now off to Saudi Arabia, so goodbye book. As mentioned previously book signings are not my favourite activity. Just one great thing about them – I meet the authors and that can give me the opportunity to talk about the book, talk about avenues we have not thought of in marketing the book etc. and to be honest it is always nice to put a face to the writer’s name.

I also met with Adewale Oshineye, author of Apprenticeship Patterns. Not only Ade is a very sucessful author, developer advocate on the Google+ project, he is also a great photographer.  With Ade, I always feel that I can learn a lot more, that everything is possible and, yes, me too, I can become a master of technology. Unfortunately that great feeling evaporates soon after Ade leaves and I am now struggling with Google+. Sometimes I think it is more a question of time than inefficiency. So beware you will soon find me on Google+.

Lots of sponsors attended the conference, in particular 10gen, the company behind MongoDB, CouchBase, Basho – there seems to be a lot of demand for various databases. The answer at the moment seems to be no SQL, Open Source and following the Red Hat business model… but I might still be wrong so please check it yourself.  It just reminded me that we need to update our CouchDB book. I also ran into the JRebel crowdfrom the Zero Turnaround company who I am going to properly meet next week at the 33rd Degree conference.

Finally, the big change for exhibitors this year was the division of exhibitors between the 3^rd and 5^th floor. Even though the organizers did a great job trying to get people circulating between the 2 floors, I don’t think that  this new layout is working. People are not going to move from one floor to the next when they are having a chat, lunch or coffee – they stay put. See what next year as to offer.