What WWDC 2018 Taught Me (About Choosing and Attending Conferences)
By Vui Nguyen
Originally published on Sunfish Empire.
This year was the first time I attended Apple’s WWDC conference. It took 3 years of trying, but I finally got the golden ticket to attend this year, and was fortunate enough to have an employer to sponsor my trip as well!
This is the largest iOS conference in the world, and it’s the dream of many iOS developers to eventually attend a WWDC at some point in their careers. Given what a big deal WWDC is, was it worth it? More importantly, if you work for a company that will sponsor only one conference for you in a year, should WWDC be THE one? Or if WWDC is not in the cards this year, how do you select a conference to attend, and what’s the best way to get the most out of it? Come with me as I share my journey, and see!
I’ve attended 3 iOS conferences since transitioning from being a Titanium cross platform mobile developer to a native iOS developer: 360iDev (in 2016, 2017, and 2018 will be my third time for attendance and first time as a speaker so I may be a bit biased here), try!SwiftNYC (on a scholarship in 2016), and finally WWDC in 2018. During my time at WWDC, I also had the chance to attend an IBM Swift workshop at Alt-Conf, the free community-driven iOS conference next door to WWDC.
Here’s what I learned from attending these conferences.
Criteria in Choosing a Conference: Inclusiveness/Diversity
Inclusiveness/diversity can be important to some people, especially if you belong to an under-represented group in technology, like women. try!SwiftNYC was most inclusive, in terms of gender, but also in the technologies people were using. Not all attendees were senior iOS devs, some were learning iOS and coming from other technologies. This can be important to you if you’re in the learning camp and need a supportive environment to encourage you to keep going. That being said, always assume that everyone attending X Technology Conference is a Practitioner of X Technology unless they tell you otherwise. One of the issues with lack of gender diversity is some people will assume that if you’re one of the few females attending, that you don’t really belong there. Some will make comments to that affect, and that can really make a person feel excluded. So here are some pointers on how to interact with ANYONE at a conference, regardless of gender.
For example, here are some good ice breakers you can use: What company do you work for? So you’re an X developer? (this is really more of a statement, instead of questioning if they belong there). What brings you to this conference? (some answers might be: my company sponsored me, I’m really interested in X technology, I got a scholarship, etc.)
Don’t say, “Are you an engineer / developer?” (subtext: “really?”). And Don’t say, “So are you a designer?” (subtext: “you don’t really belong here”)
I’ve gone to meetups where some people (males and females) were designers or recruiters. Sure, when there’s a free tech event, you might see recruiters there, and designers / developers may go to each other’s meetups to network, why not? But not at a conference that’s worth $1600 a ticket (cost of golden ticket to WWDC). I can’t think of any company that would send an employee to a developer’s conference unless that employee was a developer. Do the math!
Here were just a few of the many tweets discussing the diversity issues at WWDC, below:
And how can you tell if a conference is going to be diverse, gender and/or technology wise? Sometimes their diversity scholarship program, if they have one, will give a clue. If the scholarship is diversity- and need-based and offers companies/individuals the chance to contribute to said scholarships, that is a good sign. This was true for both try!SwiftNYC and 360iDev. Apple, on the other hand, had scholarships that were need- and merit-based (you had to build an app using Apple technologies, this year scholarship applicants had to build an iOS playground), which meant you had to be the “cream of the crop,” so to speak, in order to win a scholarship. So, those interested in learning about Apple technologies or coming from a different technology stack, even if they belong to an under-represented group, had less of a chance to win. Also, scholarship winners represented only a small portion of WWDC attendees. try!SwiftNYC, at least when I attended in 2016, had a large percentage of scholarship attendees, enabling a larger proportion of those typically under-represented in tech, to be able to attend.
Criteria in Choosing A Conference: Engagement with Other Attendees
Are there scheduled activities in the evenings? Opportunities to meet / engage with other attendees in a more intimate setting?
Once again, 360iDev wins in this category. In 2017, 360iDev featured the Night of Meat, Karaoke, Board game night, Pizza night, etc. Sometimes there were multiple events happening on the same night! Also, are the activities themselves inclusive? In other words, are there different activities that appeal to different types of people besides just the stereotypical white male developer? This of course, overlaps somewhat with inclusive/diversity, but it’s hard to separate the engagement with other attendees from diversity entirely. For example, for 360iDev’s Night of Meat, if meat wasn’t your thing, some people went to a popular vegan restaurant that night instead. While video games may be popular with many programmers, that is not necessarily true of all programmers. I heard try!SwiftNYC in 2017 had bowling night, which I would have gone to had I been able to attend last year. Bowling night could be a nice alternative to video games for some folks.
Also at the social activities / events, are there non-alcoholic beverages as well as alcoholic beverages? I’ve been to some meetups/tech events where the only thing to drink was beer. Some people may choose not to partake in alcohol for any number of reasons, and they should be able to exercise that choice. While WWDC and try!SwiftNYC were both great at providing a variety of beverages for everyone at their events, 360iDev stands out as not only providing non-alcoholic beverages for pizza night, etc., but also stating it explicitly in emails and other communications, so people know in advance that that’s an option.
Why does this matter? Because if a person does not drink alcohol, or eat meat, or play video games, and those are the only social activities available, this could affect that person’s ability to engage and therefore, network, with other attendees at those events!
Finally, try!SwiftNYC 2016 had pizza night at a popular restaurant one evening, but it was super crowded so I went with a much smaller group and ate out somewhere else. But honestly, it was fine for me that try!SwiftNYC didn’t have a lot of scheduled evening activities at that time, because the gender diversity and smaller conference group made it so much easier for me to meet people anyway.
The best things for me at WWDC were the Women’s Breakfasts, where I finally made some new friends, and (ironically) the IBM workshops at Alt-Conf, which was not even an activity sponsored by WWDC! The IBM workshops had a good mix of both WWDC and Alt-Conf folks, and I was lucky enough to catch up with some old friends completely by accident too.
How to get the most out of attending WWDC (for first timers):
- Even if you’re lucky enough to go to WWDC, spend some time at Alt-Conf. No, really: Attend a workshop held at Alt-Conf for part of the time. Maybe volunteer at Alt-Conf part of the time just so you can meet people early on in the week (especially if it’s uncomfortable for you to just go up and talk to random strangers all day, like it can be for me)
- Attend the Women at WWDC breakfasts (which are open to everyone, and sponsored by Apple). There you can hear inspiring presentations, like the one where they interviewed female scholarship winners, and yes, meet some people in a smaller setting. And if you’re a woman dying to meet other women at WWDC, that’s where you need to be!
- That being said, don’t just spend all your time going to talks. Many of them will be available online later anyway. Avail yourself of the expertise of the Apple engineers during the coding labs. And if you don’t have a project you’re working (personally or for work) where you need help, think of starting one and talk through your idea with an Apple engineer.
- Put WWDC on your resume and LinkedIn — it’s a good discussion point and a great way to meet like-minded people to say you were there.
My name is Vui Nguyen (pronounced “vooey nwen”) and I am a Denver, CO native.
Currently, I’m an iOS mobile developer for the SimplyE project, the e-book reader app for the New York Public Library. I’m also an Intel Software Innovator specializing in the Internet of Things.
My areas of expertise include iOS mobile development in Objective-C and Swift, cross-platform mobile development in Titanium* for Android and iOS, and full-stack development in JavaScript and Node. I’m the CTO of infoGuide Apps where we build mobile field guide apps for classic cars, and an avid fisherwoman. **
Prior to my current adventures, I have been a software developer with over 15 years of experience in Java, enterprise, web, and mobile development at large companies and as a freelance consultant.
If there’s an opportunity for us to collaborate, please drop me a line and say ‘hi’.
To learn more about infoGuide Apps and our classic car mobile apps, please contact us here.
