By Riley Major, 2018-09-12
Clark Sell opened That Conference up this year with a video about community, reminding us that they didn’t set out to be event organizers but rather to help bring us together. For them, these three days at a water park are just the spark to ignite year-round engagement with our fellow technologists. That’s what sets this event apart for me– its inspirational and encouraging vibe. Continue reading
By Riley Major, 2018-04-26.
I attended the JavaScriptMN Meetup last night (video). Due perhaps to the larger attendance, it was on the 9th floor of the Olson building rather than the more common 6th floor meeting space. After plugs for sponsors Twilio, TrackJS, and FrontEnd Masters, Kelly Heikkila and Aaron Cannon from Accessible360 gave the main presentation on A Pragmatic Developer’s Approach to Digital Accessibility.
By Riley Major, 2018-04-04.
NDC has been “inspiring software developers since 2008”. Based in Norway, they host large conferences in Oslo, London, Sydney and for the first time this year, Minnesota. To introduce the Twin Cities to their conferences, they hosted a “micro” conference at the Saint Paul RiverCentre on Thursday evening, March 29, 2018.
By Riley Major, 2018-03-13
Midwest PHP — a Friday and Saturday $275 conference with three tracks of PHP-themed content — was hosted again at the Radisson Blu at the Mall of America on March 9th and 10th, 2018. In addition to 30 individual sessions, the conference opened and closed the event with keynotes highlighting community, inclusion, and accessibility.
Riley Major – 2017-08-09
Buckets of bacon, piles of marshmallows, and fire (yes, real fire this year) await those in the queue snaking out the door into the hallway. Kids tired from days of water play wait to finally get mom or dad back. They dig into a giant bowl of Starbursts and bury their head in screens. “Can I have another one mom?” “I don’t care.” Continue reading
By Riley Major, 2017-05-05
MinneWebCon is an asset to our tech community and I had the pleasure of attending for a third time this past Monday. Continue reading
by Riley Major on 2017-03-28
Jenessa White leads a conversation on junior developers at Minnebar 12, 2017-03-25.
Technology has a problem, and we need to do something about it. To be fair, it’s a problem with society, but it’s worse in tech.
Despite our lip service, we do not celebrate and encourage diversity with our actions. Worse, we actively drive women and people of color out of our communities. Continue reading
The last session of That Conference is about to begin. I’ve been steeped in technology for three days. I oscillate from confident and excited to overwhelmed and tired. There is so much to learn. I want to play with my nascent Swift app, but another talk beckons… Continue reading