KRTConf
I didn’t get a chance to meet Steve Jobs, and I’m not sure I ever will.
I hadn’t thought to be an audience for Dennis Ritchie until now, and — that chance is gone too.
But I have been privileged in recent years to meet many others: through Seattle Xcoders, at DjangoCon, NodeConf, at CouchConf, in the Tri-Cities and during this week’s visit to Portland.
It would feel like name-dropping to compile the “have met” list here, and honestly, these people have been unanimously surprised to hear that I’d been wanting to meet them in the first place.
It’s an honor to meet so many human heroes and be honored as a human back. To learn to listen better and learn better from them. To hope that I might have something someday to share back, technically or socially or spiritually?
I’m becoming less and less of an independent developer and finding more and more that “indie” should never mean “lonely”. No matter how fast or far the trail, there are many to share it with.
That’s a part of our vision at &yet, and a part of the reason we’re hosting a conference next month. A good conference isn’t to parade heroes or meet new contacts, but to be community.
I have to admit I’m excited to meet more amazing people and to talk again personally with online contacts next month. But I’m also glad that the theme of the conference, Keeping It Realtime, is not about one technology that’s pulling ahead. It’s about a tactic that many technologies in the lead share.
Seems like a heroic strategy to me, as far as those go.