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The Joy of Coding

Dick Wall - The Tao, of the Joy, of Coding

I’m on a plane (there’s a surprise) on my way back from The Joy of Coding.  It’s the title that attracted me to this conference, and it was a great little one day event with awesome people like Dan North, Erik Meijer and Dick Wall presenting.  What I liked about the themes is they were broadly technology agnostic, pulling back to a level which made me remember why I’m a developer.  It inspired me to do more research and more thinking, and less panicking and trying to write code.  That might seem odd, as someone who goes to as many conferences as I do should get loads more research and thinking time than most developers living under the whip, but I seem to spend so much time bouncing from thing to thing I don’t get space to just sit and think, or to read things in any depth.

The conference organisers made it easy to focus on the bigger things - the venue was great, with a nice space for mingling with people but nooks and corners for doing work or for video conferences.  The hotel they chose was one of the best I’ve stayed at - the room had a sauna in it.  A sauna!  I spent the evening using every toiletry they provided, and moving between the sauna, the steam/shower cabinet and the jacuzzi bath.  I won’t pretend I did a lot of thinking, but it was a really awesome way to top of a crazy week, and I feel almost sane.

So if I’m going to leave you with one thing from my experience at the Joy of Coding, it’s to Stop.  Stop and think.  Stop and ask.  Stop and read.  What are you doing?  Why are you doing it?


And most of all, do you feel Joy when you’re coding?



PS There are some really great photos from the conference on Flickr.

Comments

  1. Mark Dathorne8 March 2014 at 17:14

    I lost the joy for a while probably due to too much work, too much support & little/no time to research. Once I made time for this by reading blogs such as yours & videos from Parley/Skills matter, I recently rediscovered the joy & am especially excited about adding Spock to my artillery. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trisha10 March 2014 at 06:34

      That's really nice to hear, thanks! Good luck, and I hope you keep rediscovering joy.

      Delete
  2. A. Jesse Jiryu Davis9 March 2014 at 20:09

    These are great questions to ask. I often hurry to write code too soon, but I don't really learn, or invent anything, unless I stop and think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trisha10 March 2014 at 06:43

      I think we don't get given enough permission, generally speaking, in most jobs to stop and think. Which is a bit short-sighted, since that's mostly what we should be doing.

      Delete
  3. Richard Fearn25 June 2015 at 21:43

    Which hotel was it?

    ReplyDelete

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