Disclaimer: My notepad is full of various, sketchy, cryptic scribblings I find interesting or important, but none of them would make a good, separate blog post (at least for now). That's why I've decided to bundle them up once in a while (let's say: monthly) & publish as a collection of "shorts" - hopefully you'll find them interesting & there may be an occasional discussion popping around about some of them (hopefully).
A./ DevConf 2017
DevConf (1st of this name, successor of ABBDevDay) is over & done. Frankly, in my case it was an absolutely different experience - maybe I just got distracted by having my own session (and I've treated it almost too seriously), but for the very first time I was far more focused on people than content itself. Even if I had to skip the party after the 1st day, whole event was an absolutely amazing networking experience - because of reconnecting with some old buddies, meeting F2F some people I knew only via the Internet, but also having chat with random participants - some of them approached me just because they read / watch my stuff, but some of them just wanted to exchange opinions with a person they don't know.
I've left DevConf ...
- ... with a decent number of ideas & inspirations noted down
- ... with a lot of respect to the Orgs (I know they were not doing it for the first time, but wow, organisation was pretty much flawless - at least IMHO)
- ... convinced (& quite hyped about that) that we truly have a decent Dev community, right here in Poland
I guess I'll be coming back next year ...
B./ OnePlus 5
I've bought OnePlus 5 some time ago (June). Due to its distribution model, it's not that easy to put your hands on one (as it's not available in shops or at mobile carriers), so people keep asking whether I intend to make a review or something. In fact, I don't ...
Why so? The main reason is that ... I don't really have anything specific to say about it. I've got used to using decent mobile Android flagships & OP5 meets all my expectations here. It's fast, solid, well-specced: it just delivers what its creators have promised. I had no problems with it & if I had to buy a new phone, I'd go for it again. Nothing less, nothing more, no over-excitement needed :)
C./ Recruitment
X: Hi Sebastian, I've got a question: I believe you know John Doe, you've worked with him before, right?
Me: Yes, we did some stuff together few years ago. Why?
X: We're looking for people & we were wondering whether he'd be a good addition to our team here in ABC Inc. ...
Me: No, definitely not. He's just too good & it would be a waste for him to make such a step backwards.
X: ...
... oopsie ...
D./ Everyone needs to be (ocassionally) reminded
We, humans, are very odd beings. We tend to think we know everything & we don't like being patronised or lectured, but in so many cases we actually NEED being reminded about absolutely basic stuff, just to re-gain a healthier perspective or just to give something a 2nd thought.
I had such a situation quite recently: some time ago I've raised an issue because I knew something (beyond my reach within organization) doesn't make much sense & has its (negative) effects upon others. Then I've switched back to stuff I can impact directly, happily forgetting that whatever positive effect I'll make, it will suffer from the issue mentioned above. I've focused on reaching local optimum, while forgetting that the bottleneck is somewhere else. And this madness lasted until I've listened to Jimmy Bogard speaking about bikeshedding.
Conclusion: be humble, listen to others, it helps.
And once you re-focus, hit it, like there's no tomorrow.
E./ Setting the mood
While communicating, we keep our focus on passing the correct information in comprehensible way - this is hard enough. In fact, we tend to forget that our message (each one) usually does contain an emotional element as well. That's exactly what happened to me few days ago - I was delivering quite a complex talk (not strictly technical, but engineering-oriented one), so pretty much everything I was focused on was about:
- having an interesting (for audience!) message & clear, natural flow
- time management & overall talk dynamics
- valid, correct & relevant content that contributes to passing the intended message
You can imagine how surprised I was when some of feedback I've got was NOT about the content's quality, but about it being very strong, grim & even depressing. And you know what? It was a real epiphany & a very appreciated reminder - such talks are not only about passing knowledge & experience, but also about making people feel better, giving them something positive to think about, some hope to rely on.
F./ Procent's (new) book
Maciej 'Procent' Aniserowicz is release'ing his first book soon. If you haven't heard about him, it's the 1st guy in polish .NET Software Engineering community (AFAIK) who has decided to completely give up typical, daily job & fully focus on community-oriented activities under his own, personal brand. Trainings, workshops, sponsored events, patronage, digital content, occasional consulting - everything in sort-of-evangelist style.
Surprisingly (or not), the more successful he gets, the more unfriendly, even hateful voices keep popping up. It seems like some people just don't get that community-targeted activities don't have to be gratuitous - one has to earn enough money for his (& his family's) upkeep. Personally, I think that Procent's efforts bring more value (to the community) than what he gets in return. Especially if you consider that majority of what he does is targeted at juniors & beginners, who actually need some guidance & support.
G./ ElixirConf EU 2018
These news have made my day - next year's ElixirConf EU will be hosted in ... Warsaw, Poland! Mark your calendars - 16-18 April 2018. Two key speakers have already been confirmed & YES - it's not a big surprise as we're speaking here about:
- José Valim - creator of Elixir
- Chris McCord - creator of Phoenix
This seems like a good enough reason to consider your participation.