I went to my second Barcamp this weekend and had lots of fun. I met a lot of great, intelligent people, and got to geek it out hardcore. My thanks to the organizers and all who attended; I had a wonderful time.
There was only one theme in this years event that had somehow managed to pass over from last years — the whole “2.0” hype. There were still more hype sessions than there were technical geeky ones. There was still a lot of evangelism and selling going on. I had hoped that such aggressive enthusiasm for such obvious marketing fluff had died down over the last 365 days… perhaps I was wrong.
It’s just that kind of proselytizing that makes me shake my head at Toronto. All these intelligent and talented developers, but we’re walking around like sheep. It’s all just about following the fads and trends in the industry. Maybe that’s why we’re only the third largest tech city in North America… we’re just followers with a lot of money in our pockets.
Fine and dandy I suppose, but I don’t buy it.
However, drinks afterwards were probably the best part. Not just because of the beer, but because I got to hang out with some really intelligent people and have off-hand and frank discussions about some really great ideas. I was certainly humbled in their presence and hope to meet many of them again; and left inspired to try my hand at a little Perl golf (even though I’m probably not the kind of programmer suited to the task).
I’ve added a page with links to my essays where you can find the notes behind my Barcamp presentation: Darcs — Introduction and Application.