My Experience at Coder Cruise 2018
Going in I had no idea what to expect — at this point I had mostly attended PHP conferences and some API conferences and this was going to be a polyglot conference (a tech conference that isn’t focused on just one programming language). I consider myself a novice programmer still — yes I have a website, but how do you really know it’s good (hello imposter syndrome)! I went in hoping that people would be as open as the other community conferences I’ve attended.
Coder Cruise was a once in a lifetime event for me — I had gotten into the DevRel space recently and going to conferences, but this conference was on a whole new level. Not only was I able to go to sessions and network, but I got to cross off two bucket list items: Going on a cruise and going to the Bahamas no less!!!
After going through a relatively painless boarding process (remember to bring your passport) and a safety overview, the first day really set the tone with the RingCentral Welcome Party.
It was a great way to kick off the event and get to know some of the people I would be spending the next few days with! It started off with Eli and Heather White doing an opening talk followed by Mike Stowe doing the closing remarks.
After that we got to walk around the awesome room they had booked (which was the comedy club)!! There were drinks and lots of nice seats along with a great view of the water. I got to walk around and talk to several people from all over.
Fast Forward to the next day — the true first day on the boat (to me at least)! This was the day at sea and there were several awesome sessions to attend (they ran from 9am to 5:15pm).
The next two days were the port days where we had the chance to go onshore — so sessions only ran from 2:30pm to 5:15pm. This gave you several hours to spend exploring when we docked in Half Moon Cay and then Nassau. Hope this kinda gives you a feel on how sessions worked — along with free time to explore.
Lunch was buffet style (YAY) — so there were many different foods to try (my favorite were the desserts and the pizza).
On to the best part — after the sessions finished for the day you had the awesome chance to go to dinner with everyone (tables sat about 8) and the other tables were all next to each other. You sat with the same group every night which gave you the opportunity to really get to know them. Plus, did I mention how amazingly delicious the food was. The food that stuck out to me the most was the dessert — a very delicious Creme Brûlée and Ice Cream Cake. Another cool thing was that they walked around with special drinks in a souvenir glass, so I of course had to try one for the cup ;P!
One night they had entertainment as well — the staff was singing and dancing (I love beauty and the beast and this almost gave me the be our guest vibe)!
Besides food what were some of the activities/ site seeing activities I did?
Well let me start with another food one first — I got really lucky! I got to do the Chef’s Dinner, which was a special behind the scenes tour along with a private dinner at the end of it. On the tour were several others (funny enough three of my usual dinner group were in it too).
We got to walk around the kitchen and see the equipment along with how some things were made and prepared. We also got to sample some small treats along the way. Once we got into the dining part of it we had a full 7 course meal and oh yeah did I mention the awesome magician who stopped by to perform a few of his greatest tricks (yeah I’m a total magic fan haha)!
The first port stop at Half Moon Cay was all about the beach for me — the water was absolutely gorgeous, and it was nice and warm (definitely a lot warmer than the water in the San Francisco Bay Area). But, this was all about relaxing for me — although there were many activities you could do including snorkeling, horse back riding, kayaking and more.
The next port was Nassau which was all about exploring for me (and sleeping in a bit)! Right near the port was a market so you could do some shopping (so many souvenirs) and not much farther away are more shops. There were lots of activities you could sign up for such as tours, snorkeling, etc (several of the activities are same in the different ports). Since it was my first time I wanted to explore for myself — so walked through the market area and then ended up coming across a Pirate museum which was Rrr-ight (pirate tone) up my alley.
After that I walked around more saw what some of the town looks like and it’s cool buildings. What I came across next was amazing, an interactive VR experience — so the nerd in me couldn’t help but go in. Went on two rides — one was a being on a boat and going through a river with things attacking you and the second ride was you’re on top of a high building and then it drops down and swings back and forth. The VR rides felt very realistic and I won’t lie…my stomach totally dropped when the virtual ride in the VR game dropped.
From there it was back to the boat for food and sessions. Now you’re probably wondering — well what did you do all that time when you’re on the boat and the sessions were done?
To be honest, I didn’t look into the activities onboard in advance so I packed my travel video games (like I said — I’m a nerd) expecting to spend quiet a bit of time on there. But, to my surprise, I actually didn’t even get a chance to play it, because there were so many activities (besides food)! They had dancing, nightly movies by the pool, comedy shows, an arcade, casino, and so much more.
QUICK WARNING: Internet is absolutely awful — so prepare any slides or presentations before the trip, or if you have travel video games like I do make sure to download everything in advance, but personally I found this to be great. It gave me the chance to be offline and enjoy the experience and the people I got to meet.
There was so much to do and of course plenty of time to relax. I’ll be going again this year and this time my experience will be different — I will be going as a RingCentral employee!!! And I hope to see you there this year (the conference is August 19–23) as well.
You can learn more and register to join me on this awesome, once in a lifetime type conference at https://codercruise.com/ringcentral
