CodeCampSA 2010 Day 2

So did Sunday live up to Saturday’s standard? I think it did pretty well.

Today’s highlight was probably Lama’s talk on the .NET Micro Framework. If I were developing embedded systems then this does sound a very attractive option (especially compared to the tools and languages that I understand a lot of embedded development takes place in).

An excellent weekend. It would be great to get more people to attend as I think they’ve missed out on a great professional development opportunity.

Your next opportunity to quench your CodeCamp thirst will be on November 21-22nd at (the slightly delayed) CodeCampOz in Wagga Wagga.

CodeCampSA 2010 Day 1

Today was day one of CodeCampSA 2010. It’s been really enjoyable and I think the talks I saw today are probably some of the best I’ve seen in Adelaide.

It’s been quite a community atmosphere, with some good discussion and interaction between speakers and audience. What has pleased me the most is the technical depth that the talks have taken. This is a ‘developer’ conference after all, so it is great to have some meaty presentations that give you something to chew on 😀

My personal highlights are probably the talks by James Chapman-Smith (Lambdas, Monads, LINQ & the Reactive Extensions) and Omar Besiso (Entity Framework 4.0: A Guide on using POCO Self Tracking Entities). James in particular has inspired me to take a closer look at Func<>, Action<> and how LINQ can be used in more places than you would think.

Even my own talk seemed to go well, which is pleasing (having to restart my SQL instance not withstanding!)

My only quibbles lie not with the event, but the facilities. I can’t believe in the year 2010 that UniSA can’t get an electrician in to fit more power outlets in their lecture theatres - 4 outlets for the entire theatre is ridiculous. The data projector in our room was also pretty disappointing – very washed out and hard to read (even from the front row, and yes we did try to adjust it without success). I feel sorry for the students who have to put up with this all the time.

But I’m not going to let that diminish my enthusiasm. Now I just have to wait to see what the speakers on Sunday’s agenda can produce!

Going to Tech-Ed as a Technical Learning Guide

I received news yesterday that I’ve been selected to be a Technical Learning Guide (TLG) for the Hands-on-Labs and Instructor-Led Labs at TechEd Australia 2010 Conference on the Gold Coast in late August (I was eligible for this because I’m now an MCT).

Rob suggested that I apply, and I’m glad I took his advice! As a TLG I will be asked to do one or more of the following activities:

• assist attendees with the self-paced hands-on-labs.
• assist attendees while they performing an instructor-led lab.
• present an instructor-led lab.

I’m really looking forward to this, and just in case you didn’t make the connection about the picture – they’re Girl Guide biscuits 😀