Last week, I visited the Øredev conference. I had a gread time and since this is the forth time I attend the conference, I can see how much it has grown from the first year in 2005. Back at this first conference in 2005 I presented myself together with Magnus on the topic of AJAX which was a bit of a hype at the time. I don't know why I did not even blog about this then but sometimes I am a lazy blog writer... :( Anyways, seeing all these great speaker it does trigger an enthusiasm to get back into the game. We'll see, maybe next year I'll make a shot at present something at some conference. Certainly Øredev would be my first choice. If they would let me in again...

This year the conference was for a whole week. Two days with workshops and courses and three days with regular conference sessions. I visited the 3 days only this time. Although I probably did not manage to always pick the topic that suited me the best from those available, I think I still got a little something out of everything.

The topic of the conference was "Share Knowledge" and I think this is certainly true and a well chosen phrase. But most of all, for me, it is about getting the inspiration to dig into new fields of interest. Most, if not all speakers are very dedicated about their own topics of interest and I believe all of them spend a share amount of their own spare time to become as knowledgeable as they are within theses areas. This is the essence of passion I think. That you volunteer to walk the extra mile in order to stay on top of things and in control. Naturally this brings with a certain amount of enthusiasm in the air that is easy to grasp and feel. So, to me, the importance of this visit boils down to this important sentence: 

It becomes easier to remember that it is fun and rewarding to stay passionate about your work after a visit to Øredev.

This is a simple statement but in essence it often means that you will pick up a work related book after work or sit down in front of the computer once again after an already finished 8 hour session during the regular work day. An easy thing to say, but less simple to achieve. But if you are passionate about something it definitly becomes a lot easier. Essentially:

Passion is what drives us to become better at what we do.

Another nice thing about Øredev is that it there are many cross-discipline tracks. So it is easy to slip into the Java track, or the Testing track for instance when you feel the curiousity of a topic. There were 12 different tracks to choose from this year so I think it was quite easy to find something interesting somewhere. Naturally, there were sessions that collided making me bring out the dice, but video recordings of sessions are coming up I hear. So this parapgrah basically brings on the next important punch liner:

Øredev makes it possible to think a bit more outside the box you tend to place yourself in after weeks and weeks of regular work.

I find it a bit hard to retell which sessions I attended and what I thought about them. Basically since it would be a book writing that I never would finish. But I do say that the absolute highlight for me this conference was to see and hear Robert C. Martin speak. His book Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns and Practices has meant a lot to me as a software developer. It has completely revised the way I think about code and the importance of making a good design. There were a lot of quite famous people on the conference so I'll just skip the remaining name dropping here and instead urge you to view the excellent program selector (as already linked to above).

Oh, one more thing definitely worth mentioning:  Øredev did support this year builing schools in Africa via UNICEF which I think was an honorable thing to do. I bought a brick at the conference and I encourage you to do the same. It is probably never too late to be a hero.  

Last but not least:
Mucho thanks to the Øredev team that pulled this togheter once again this year! Looking forward to next years conference already!