On April 13th -15th of 2018, I got to speak, for the second time, at the C# Corner Annual Conference. This conference is one of my favorites to speak at, mostly due to the developers in India being hungry for knowledge to help them improve their code and careers and the conference is run by developers … not a corporation. I enjoy the conference so much that I hope I get to come back in 2019! Below are the highlights of my trip.
Day 1 - April 10th
I arrived at The Leela hotel around 3:30 am. By 9 am, I was on my way to the C# Corner offices (about 30 minutes away). Even though I was very tired from my 22+ hour trip from America, I really enjoyed going there and meeting the members of the C# Corner team. I even got to meet the team members that make my articles look good on their site.
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I was asked to do an impromptu question and answer session with the developers who work there. I got the feeling they really liked this session that lasted at least an hour. I was even asked by a developer, in front of his boss, how to interview at a company. I sure did not expect a question like that!
Day 2 & 3 - April 11th & 12th
For both days, I was lucky to get to do some sightseeing around Delhi. For both days, my sightseeing partner was none other than the Lead C# Architect at Microsoft, Mads Torgersen! The second day, Bill Wolff, one of the other speakers at the conference, joined us.
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We saw great historical places like India Gate, Raj Ghat, the Red Fort, temples, and more. Even had some great Indian food which I love! The spicier the better! We even did some shopping and ended up in a beautiful store where everything was handmade, something hard to find in America at an affordable price.
By far, my favorite place to visit was Akshardham. In my travels, I have never seen anything so beautiful, ever! This temple was built in 5 years where every design on the outside and inside was hand carved. I would love to know how long it took them to architect it. I bet they didn’t use Scrum! I noticed that I had to learn to turn off my engineering mind to enjoy the beauty since I kept trying to figure out how they built this temple.
As the sun went down and the lights came on to illuminate the temple, it was so beautiful, I was really moved… almost to tears. No building I have seen has ever done that to me! We then attended the light show where Mads and I were drenched by the fountains. I didn’t mind since I'm not used to the Indian summer heat. The groups of students sitting next to us weren’t as brave.
During these two days, Mads and I really bonded. So much so that I joked with some of my close friends at the conference that Mads and I have a new bromance! It was a wonderful experience getting to know Mads and enjoying sightseeing together.
Day 4 - April 13th
This was the first day of the conference that featured Cutting-Edge and Career tracks. I did my Röck Yoür Technical Interview session first thing in the morning. Even though I have never interviewed in India, this was the second time I did this session at this conference and it was well received. I hope that being in this industry for over 20 years, that includes being a hiring manager, I could help the developers in India in their career.
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In the evening, there was a special event for C# Corner MVPs and VIPs, that included some learning. This was followed up with dinner and drinks. Here is a tip for conference attendees … attend these type of events, even if you are tired and want to go home. I learn more from networking, talking to fellow speakers and MVPs than I ever do at a conference session. This is where the best knowledge is learned, especially when everyone has a few drinks in them. At one of these parties, I even got asked to speak at a conference in the Netherlands.
Day 5 - April 14th
The main day of the conference is here where around 1,200 Indian geeks descended on the Leela Hotel for training, networking, fun, and tons of selfies! It was great to see all my new friends from 2017 and make new ones for 2018! During this day, I get more Facebook requests and lots of new Twitter followers, the most from any conference!
I did my new conference session that day titled Röck Yoür .NET Code Performance that seemed to be well received too. Mads Torgersen was even in attendance (which made me a bit nervous). I was happy to share my knowledge on this subject since most apps I use or have been part of do not seem to worry about this until it’s too late. When you start losing customers due to performance issues, it’s already too late.
After my session, it was time to entertain the geeks… again! I think the number one question I was asked this year was “are you playing guitar again?”! I think the word got around from my guitar playing in 2017.
I performed a 25-minute set that included a rocking intro followed by four songs from one of my favorite groups, The Cult (from England). To not let anyone down from last year, I again broke a guitar at the end of my set. No, I didn’t break the awesome guitar GrapeCity purchased for me (see image), but a very nice looking red Stratocaster knock-off.
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The crowd in the front were begging me not to break it, but I couldn’t let the crowd down. After stomping on it, throwing it into the air so it would drop on the stage, I broke it into a few big pieces that I handed to a few lucky people in the front of the crowd. One lucky person got the guitar pedal I was using too!
During the entertainment, the crowd went crazy (which I liked). Crazier than the sold-out crowd I play at my favorite music venue in San Diego, California. For much of the set, I could barely hear the music I was playing to since the crowd was so loud and at times were chanting dotNetDave… dotNetDave! Like in 2017, I had so much fun and had so much adrenalin pumping through me that I could not speak afterward and it took a while to calm down!
I sure hope if I come back in 2019, I can play guitar again!
Day 6 - April 15th
This was the last day of the conference. The day featured Web and Cloud tracks. The session I did was Introduction to Xamarin where I showed off how easy it was to write my first, multi-platform application with Xamarin from Microsoft. I even showed how to use components from GrapeCity to make developing UI even faster and with more features.
After some networking post-conference with fellow speakers, conference organizers, and sponsors, it was time to head to the airport to catch my 2:30 flight back to California.
Thanks for Attending the World Farewell Tour!
I was glad that everyone at the conference this year got to see me on my World Farewell Tour! The C# Corner Conference really started it with a bang!
I would like to say I was humbled by everyone who came to my sessions, took selfies with me, and chatted with me this year. You made me feel very special and blessed to have so many friends in India. I didn’t want to leave! Plus, I love Indian food!
I would like to thank Mahesh Chand for asking me back for this year. A big thanks to the C# Corner staff and Manish Tewatia who kept the conference going … a very big, stressful task.
Lastly, I very big shout out to Amy Reese and GrapeCity, Inc. They not only bought me that awesome guitar but paid for my travel and hotel also. Since the conference is so inexpensive for attendees, I might not have been able to make it out this year. Thanks so much!
Keep rocking your code and your career and I hope to see you again in 2019.