After the conference

I'm back home from the O'Reilly "Emerging Technologies" conference.

The conference was a good break from the routine. It was an opportunity to meet people and become introduced to new ideas. The sessions at the conference are varied, and do not focus on programming/development issues. While some sessions talk about technology, no one is demonstrating a new debugger or technique for writing efficient code. Instead, people look at the social and long-term aspects of technology, such as cellphone sharing habits and sustainable cities.

It was also a networking opportunity. (Networking in the people sense.) I met a number of people and there may be some short-term contracts out of the conference, but that has yet to be seen. The attendees are smart, hopeful people, which makes sense because this is a niche conference about the future. Few people attend (I estimate less than a thousand) and those who do are thinking about the big future. Everyone at this conference will have heard of The Clock of the Long Now and if they haven't heard of ti they will be interested in it. So while there may be few people, it is a good set to talk with.

Here at home I am handling the mundane things. Yesterday I interveiwed a staffing company in the area, VisionTech. They are a local supplier, with a goal of growing. The interview went well, in that we exchanged our objectives. They may be positioned a bit better than other companies to find a position, since they deal outside of the defense world. (I could work for a defense contractor, but I would need a clearance -- that takes time -- and I would like to avoid large, bureaucratic organizations. At least for a while.)

Today I have lunch with a former co-worker. Not for networking, but simply for social interaction.