Codeland: My First Conference

Let me tell you: it was an adventure. We need to start at the very beginning.

Arriving in NYC

I (last minute) bought tickets via Grayhound and booked a hotel to the New World Hotel. The Grayhound bus driver didn't accept my e-ticket so I had to dig around my phone for a printable receipt. I landed in Port Authority around 9.30pm on Sunday. But I didn't know how to use the subway and was too anxious to ask for help so I walked from there all the way to the hotel. Of course, my phone ran out of battery so I had to drop by a Duane Reid to purchase an emergency battery pack. The hotel wasn't obscenely far but I am poor with direction, thus I arrived at 11.30pm. The hotel reeked of cigarettes and there was an unkempt mattress propped against a wall along with hand towels strewn in random places. I checked in, got my keys and went to my (very small) room. The bedsheet was disgusting and there was a loud TV blasting the benefits of Chinese healing cream that could make you look significantly younger. I tried to go to sleep but couldn't because I felt super itchy. By 4.45am I gave up, checked out of the hotel and wandered around Bower St. looking for a place to shower. At 6am I stumbled into a YMCA. They were generous and because it was my first time there, let me shower for free. I almost passed out in the shower from sleep deprivation.

At the Conference

Finally, after an hours' respite (thanks YMCA!), it was off to the conference! The line to the NYC Skirball was decently sized. Getting inside was easy. The conference was super well organized. I got a small pink tote bag that was filled with goodies (hey Flatiron, thanks for the battery pack). The breakfast was much needed. I was beyond thankful for Flatiron's lattes.

The beginning. talks had dancing-which made me really nervous (I didn't want people to see how visibly sleepy drunk I was).

Luna Malbroux's talk was hilarious. It reminded me of Starbucks' #racetogether movement (one question the Bux posed was: how many people did you eat with who wasn't the same race as you? And how often? Well my brother is a different race and I, a Chinese person, am surrounded by white people so this is often. However, this absolutely doesn't make me more #woke). I loved the fake app and everything about the talk.

Pedro Cruz's speech was inspiring. A lot of the programming hype is around the fat paycheck or making beautiful design or having a snazzy "programmer" lifestyle, but I love how he talked about an existing problem and how he tried to solve it using existing technology. He's truly made a difference in Puerto Rico, more so I can easily see his solution being used globally (it probably is). His DronAid tackled many problems, from receiving "Help" messages from people in need to seeing what they actually needed, to making sure non-profits weren't getting redundant information to creating a form of communication between various groups.

I chose Raymond Camden's Real Person's Guide to Vue.js. I'm new to learning JavaScript (I only know HTML and CSS) but I've always wanted to know: why do people always talk about Vue, React and Angular? What's the big deal? Although this talk was aimed towards more advanced web developers (aka not COMPLETE noobies), I gained so much from this workshop (plus cats!! A lot of them!!). I learned how useful Vue could be for acquiring data and also allowing interactions between the user and the site. I've been able to go over his github and Codepen at a (much) slower pace to fully piece together the workshop.

The closing talks were very fun and entertaining. I loved Ali Spittal's talk about blogging (I'm going to try to put real effort). It is necessary for me to explain what I'm learning to someone so I can sort of figure out what I'm learning. It is also a good way to keep myself organized. Building a Gendered Dictionary and An Immigrant's Journey into Tech hit home with me as I think we should consider what we are doing and how they impact society.

Coding is a tool. It's what we do with it that matters.

I didn't go to the afterparty but next year, now that I know better how to plan my trip, I will!