Recap of mobileiotcon 2016–1

Being a mobile Software Developer in Test just by the name Mobile Dev Test conference is very relevant to my domain and career interests. Conference tweets are at #mobileiotconf

Just like last year this year it took place in Sandeigo — https://mobiledevtest.techwell.com/ with first 2 days as tutorials and next 2 for conference talk. This year they also combined IOT sessions along with mobile and that seemed like a good idea because there are no conferences dedicated for them. Mobile developers have a plethora of other conferences to choose from hence they are quite outnumbered by testers focussed on mobile. Though the conference didn’t attract the quantity, it attracted quality both from speakers and attendees who are very technical and are dealing with mobile testing problems in their day jobs.

Logistics

• The venue Westin is pretty nice, the hotel has a unique vibe to it.
• Sandiego summer is mild and the bay view is awesome
• Breakfast, coffee and lunch were provided and they are not bad — 8/10
• Instead of waiting till last day evening when people are rushing out, raffles was done on first day evening and had quite a few prizes about 10
• There was alcohol during the raffle!
• Expo was decent number of vendors and left me with a feeling of meh.
• Staff from techwell was in good number and usually had things in control
• They placed an overwhelming emphasis on feedback and were collecting, soliciting feedback after each session
• The soundtracks blaring is background were phenominal, technical, mobile focussed and never heard before — https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/backtrace/id926558924

Keynotes

1. Jason Arbon was his usual jovial self delivering serious content and bold predictions
2. James Dempsey talked about forgiveness, gratitude and being happy in an engaging way.
3. Ellen Shaprio talked about a practical way to experiment, take risks and expanding comfort zone.
4. If any one was doing/thinking about a IOT startup Kevin Rohlin’s talk is worth then entire $ paid. He was brutally honest, pragmatic and very relatable.

More on interesting sessions in my next post..