YGLF 2019: Code Camp
We have a dream: To become home of learning and growing for Frontend developers in the Frontend community in Israel and the global industry, as one.
We’ve established You Gotta Love Frontend in 2015. A global english-speaking conference for frontend loving people. I was one of its early founding team members. Since then, the team grew larger and wider with super talented people who drive the conference to whole new areas, geographically and professionally.
In the past I’ve written about the effort it takes to create such a big conference. This time, I want to take you behind the scenes of raising the bar even higher and creating a quality, curated conference. This year our challenge has doubled because we’re making a special edition of YGLF, and we call it Code Camp.
YGLF Code Camp will be held on April 3–4, 2019 in Nahsholim, Israel. Our vision for Code Camp is to bring a group of passionate frontend devs away from all urban disturbances, to share knowledge, sharpen their skills and mingle together.
The Concept
Since its debut in 2015, the YGLF conference have been evolving in two parallel tracks: adapting the audience’s interests and taking the people in the audience to a new level of conference engagement.
We believe that focus is one of the most important values of a successful conference, as developers in the crowd are seating in a seat that is different from the one they are used to in their office, so the atmosphere is different too. Also the people around them are different. It makes the whole experience exciting. And excitement, of course, is the biggest enemy of human focus.
On top of that, conferences usually offer a very passive experience for the crowd. Because it “only” requires one to seat tight and listen. The thing is, developers like to be active, and at the very minimum to hover their fingers over a keyboard. Actively solving problems with code is the real food and fuel for a developer.
In YGLF Code Camp we are tackling the challenge from a different angle: We are granting the audience with a retreat to a countryside venue overlooking the Mediterranean sea.
Do not get confused, this doesn’t mean you’re going to lie down on the beach doing nothing. It means you’ll be busy learning new technologies and practicing them hands-on on your computers.
As an outcome of the concept, Code Camp is going to be a gathering for advanced level developers. The talks and workshops are going to be expecting certain level of experience in the crowd, and build up from there.
The Missing Ingredient
Usually, in YGLF conferences, we host around 20 talks, lectured by honorable speakers from around the world. These talks are keynoted with one-hour long talks by worldwide leaders in the frontend industry. Over the years, we had keynotes given by Dougles Crockford, Lea Verou, Christian Heilmann, Vitaly Friedman, Bruce Lawson, Richard Feldman, Sarah Drasner and many more.
Our conferences have always spun over two days, but this year, in Code Camp, we are adding one important ingredient to the mix: lodging! At the end of the first day, instead of calling it a day and going back home, we are hosting everybody for a goodnight sleep at the same venue as the conference itself.
This year, the conference is going to be whole two-day experience, where people could really set aside their day-to-days and engage in an intense hands-on frontend studies.
The friends you will meet at the venue, will spend with you two days, where you actually could network together and expand each other’s knowledge. Without the pressure of getting back home at 5pm, people will enjoy a more harmonic experience.
Venue
Despite its name, Code Camp will be hosted in a concrete-built hotel. We know our audience, and we know most of you will prefer a cosy room in a hotel over a tent in the field. Especially if you need to bring your own computer and other expensive equipment.
The selected venue is Nahsholim Seaside Resort, resides in a Kibbutz by the same name, at a pastoral location on the beach, an hour drive north of Tel Aviv. Except the scenic view, the venue offers the facilities required by such an event. A big hall for all-hands talks, multiple intimate rooms for workshops and classes, restaurants, courtyards, and great outdoors.
The venue offers relaxing accomodations for its guests and the rooms are equipped with everything you need for the night between the conf’s two days. Each room will accommodate two or three conference attendees.
Workshops
Developers thrive with code. We like learning new stuff, but what we like even more is implementing them. The implementation phase is what actually binds the links in our brains and completes the learning phase.
That’s why first hearing a speaker on a big stage, and then seating in a classroom with him guiding you through specific code challenges, is the holy grail.
In Code Camp, we take the value of learning and knowledge sharing to the next level and offering 3 workshops on each day of the conference. So you’d have the benefit of attending both the amazing talks, and the intense workshops.
Shall I remind you at this point, that the workshops are free to conference attendees? :)
Speakers
The frontend industry is growing to become an independent adult. As one, it has its own success stories and failures, but also its own challenges and unique solutions. There are so much to discuss that is burning to every one of us, daily in our work as frontend developers.
The full agenda is still being revealed, but we have already announced some of the big names, and great topics that are going to be presented on our stage this year. On our blog, we share interviews we’ve done with our talented speakers, so you could take an early glimpse into their minds.
Kyle Simpson
Kyle Simpson is an evangelist of the Open Web, passionate about all things JavaScript. He writes, speaks, teaches, and contributes to OSS. Kyle is also the writer of the super-successful book series: You Don’t Know JS.
John Lindquist John Lindquist is a co-founder of egghead.io. John has spent the majority of his career developing Rich Web Applications. Before starting egghead.io, John worked at JetBrains as a WebStorm evangelist, and before that, he was a Technical Architect at Isobar leading large teams in building the latest and greatest in web apps for the HBO, Bloomberg, and the US Air Force.
Rich Harris
Rich Harris is an Emmy award-winning visual journalist and software developer on the New York Times investigative team. He is the creator of several widely-used open source projects including Rollup, the module bundler used by the JavaScript ecosystem’s most popular libraries.
Una Kravets
Una Kravets is a Brooklyn-based international public speaker, technical writer, and the Director of Product Design at Bustle Digital Group. She’s written for various online publications such as A List Apart, 24 Ways, Smashing Magazine, and SitePoint, and started both the DC and Austin Sass Meetup groups. Una also co-hosts the Toolsday developer podcast and has a Youtube video series called The Markup Artist, which features videos about about life, fashion and tech.
Asim Hussain
Asim is a developer, trainer, author, and speaker with over 17 years experience working for organizations such as the European Space Agency, Google and now Microsoft, where he is a Senior Cloud Developer Advocate.
Topics
The concept of offering a harmonic experience to our attendees, led us to build a highly technical conference this year. YGLF Code Camp is about to be a two-day rush of technical deep dives, instructed by the developers who actually take part in designing the languages we use on the web, and by those who push the web forward as a platform.
We are going to cover the most important topics for a frontend developer these days, edge to edge: JavaScript’s latest additions and new stuff coming out this year, functional programming, rethinking reactivity, performance, React, extreme state management and the building process of a component library. In addition, we are also going to cover some other interesting topics of the software industry, implemented with JavaScript: artificial intelligence, hacking, security considerations, math, proxying and CSS smart techniques.
Tickets
To guarantee an advanced-level conference, this year, attendees have to apply to purchase a ticket for YGLF Code Camp. Once approved, the payment for a ticket can be made. Applying is free! Just sign up to have us review your application as soon as possible. Attending is still quite easy and we are here along every step of the way.
We invite every frontend developer out there to join us for this unique gathering. Ticket prices cover full access to the two days of YGLF Code Camp, all talks, workshops, overnight at Nahsholim (prices may vary per room type), breakfast, lunch, drinks, coffee all around, loads of fun activities and much more. As for the workshops, do keep in mind that space is limited, so when the time comes you better hurry up!
Prices are listed on our venue page, in the site. Remember, prices include everything you need for a two-day code retreat. YGLF Code Camp is like the best type of vacation — your body rests while your mind works.
See you there!
Originally published at www.israel.yglfconf.com.
