Coding Horror: Meeting at MIX06

March 19, 2006

Meeting at MIX06

I'll be at the MIX06 conference Monday through Wednesday in Las Vegas.

After attending PDC, VSLive, and SDWest I've increasingly come to realize that these conferences aren't about sessions. In fact, the sessions are largely a waste of time. Conferences are about meeting people face to face.

The high points of SDWest, for me, were meeting Steve McConnell and Dan Appleman after their sessions. I urged Dan to resume updating his blog, and I urged Steve to start one.

I think Joel Spolsky said it best:

Then to Austin for SXSW where I'm on some kind of panel entitled Sink or Swim: The Five Most Important Startup Decisions. Here's a good startup decision: work on your products instead of hanging out at "interactive festivals" in Texas.

Joel Spolsky is the guy you invite to your conference so he can explain to everyone what an idiot they are for attending it. And, paradoxically, that's why we love him. We're there to see Joel be Joel; the topic is largely irrelevant, even if it's called "You Are All Idiots."*

If ..

I've read anything you've written
You've read anything I've written
You're attending MIX06

.. as far as I'm concerned, I am attending MIX06 to meet you.

* Which isn't actually much of a stretch for Joel. His Eclipsecon session is cheekily titled "Is Java the new Cobol?"

Posted by Jeff Atwood View blog reactions

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Comments

If you're trying to decide if Las Vegas is the right place to hold a conference, ask yourself these questions:

1) Do you like prostitutes?
2) Do you like gambling?
3) Do you like liquor?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, I think you will enjoy Las Vegas!

Jeff Atwood on March 19, 2006 06:39 AM

Here's a cheeky statement: Joel Spolsky is the new John C. Dvorak.

Nathan on March 19, 2006 07:40 AM

Joel Spolsky is the 'software' John C. Dvorak?

Lol.. First heard on Coding Horror!

MT on March 19, 2006 11:42 PM

So are you and I hanging out at TechEd? ;)

Scott Hanselman on March 22, 2006 03:59 PM

Sure! Anyone who wants to meet, shoot me an email or post a comment!

Jeff Atwood on March 22, 2006 06:17 PM

I'd pay no attentio to Spolsky -- he's also said that pointers and recursion are the most important concepts EVAR in CS, and he's so far up his own ass he's turned in to a Klein bottle. If *you* think Joel Spolsky is a tool, come join a bunch of like-minded individuals who got evicted from the forums on joeleonsoftware.com -- www.crazyontap.com :)

Mat Hall on March 24, 2006 07:01 AM

Previous comment highlights a disturbing trend - issue bloggers obsessively searching Technorati so they can Astroturf their pet issues. Add some accountability to blog comments, Jeff. It would be nice to be able to see when this guy first visited the site and how many comments he has. Could be solved with registration (bad idea, I know) or approximated with IP tracking.

Thoughts?

Daniel Pritchett on March 27, 2006 11:00 AM