A Bar and a Camp Walk Into A University

April 27, 2014

An interesting behavior of developers is our propensity to join together for extended periods of time and engage in community-centered discussion about everything from Apache to xterm. These events cover a Boeing-sized variety of things, yet typically have most or all of the following: free stuff, free food, and freakin’ awesome talks.

BarCamp Rochester is no exception to this. It is a bi-annual gathering of technology enthusiasts in the Flower/Flour (Flaur?) City. Taking place in GCCIS at RIT, the event is a godsend to local devs looking to network. A week ago today, a sizeable crowd filled the atrium and surrounding rooms with a high level of energy. The talks were informative and interesting, but the real gem here was the potential to speak with people from local tech companies who love what they do.

To enjoy BarCamp, you have to love technology. You’re also supposed to give a talk, but they’re mad chill peeps that let you attend even if you don’t (I didn’t. Shame on me.) Things covered were vim, open learning, JavaScript (plus the 50,000 frameworks which exist for it), and many others.

My senses were also serenaded by the delicious pizza. (Note to event organizers: Pizza always makes nerds happy. Always.)

I got a lot out of BarCamp for not a lot of input. That’s probably why the mandatory talk rule is a thing. It’s a great event, and one to which I hope to contribute a talk or two in the future 🙂