Notes from CFUnited Day 1
Since all of your favorite well known bloggers are covering what actually went on in the different classes, I thought I would just write about 2 things that struck a chord with me.
The first is something that Hal Helms said during his talk on OO Programming using CFCs. He gave us the old Buddhist proverb: "If you see The Buddha on the street, kill him." (because the real Buddha is the one you internalize, blah blah blah), and then he gave us the programmers equivalent: (Paraphrasing) Don't do what I say just because of who I claim to be or who you think I am. Take my advice as an example and try it yourself. See if it works for you. Try other things, too. Make mistakes.
The reason that this caught my attention was that he's right. As much as we idolize some of the "big names" in the CF community, we have to remember that we are being paid (by our clients) to provide them the most optimal solution for their individual situation, and sometimes that deviates from the standard or from what so called experts claim are best practices. It was a great reminder to think for myself and realize that my own knowledge adds value to the situation.
The second was the Open Source BOF discussion led by Raymond Camden. It was a very laid back discussion, but what I took away from it were two things. First, that writing open source software can be a great marketing tool to advertise your abilities and create leads for custom consulting projects. Ray has more or less made his career out of the projects he lands based on the clout earned from his Open Source projects.
And secondly, that working on O.S. software that interests you will provide an engaging opportunity to learn and explore new ideas, which should be considered valuable experience by your company. Someone at the BOF mentioned the likelihood that each of our contracts state that anything we work on, even in our own personal time, is the IP of the company. Some will argue that you should be allowed or encouraged to spend part of your work week on personal projects (Google does).
Of course this depends on your individual situation, and it's understandable that if you're a billable resource then your boss wants to keep you billable as much as possible. Whether or not your boss will let you work on personal projects one afternoon a week, if you're reading this, you probably would work on them in your free time anyway. I know I will, and do.
So far, I think this conference has already paid for itself in the knowledge I've picked up and the contacts I've made. Heck, it even pays for my new subscription to Fusion Authority.
Posted in CFUnited 07 June 28 2007
