Rachel Hawley's DevExpress Community Blog

February 2011 - Posts

• The community event that never sleeps – NYC Code Camp

  The first instalment of NYC Code Camp 2011 was held at the Microsoft NYC offices in Midtown Manhattan on February 19th. Gary and I made the trip over to show our support as Gold sponsors for the event. It was a great event with the venue being almost filled to its Health & Safety capacity. There was an incredible turn out of developer talent and some excellent sessions to sate their appetites. DevExpress friend, Miguel Castro, ran two back-to-back sessions on MVVM, which many said were the highlight of the event. If this is a topic that is of interest to you, keep your eyes open for more on this from Miguel in the coming months. There was a huge range of sessions covered over the course of the day. The organisers arranged the topics as a Wall of Content. Gary presented two very popular sessions on refactoring in the Enterprise and design patterns. I only just managed to squeeze in through the door of the latter session as it was standing room only. If you were present please do feedback to Gary and let him know what you thought of his presentations (garys@devexpress.com). We were really pleased to catch up with Kendall Miller of Gibraltar Software, who is a DevExpress customer working with our reporting controls. Kendall was speaking on commercial API development and was also on hand to show off his use of XtraReports on the DevExpress sponsor table. Thanks Kendall! DevExpress would like to extend our thanks to Steve Bohlen, Mark Freedman and the rest of the organising committee for inviting us to be a part of NYC Code Camp. In addition, Gary and I would like to say a big thank you to “Alpha Geekess” and Microsoft Developer Evangelist, Rachel Appel, for her hospitality over the weekend – totally awesome. I posted a couple more photographs to the DevExpress Facebook page. If you can see yourself in any of them, please do tag yourself! We’ve got a whole load more community events coming up over the next few months. You can keep on top of our community schedule by visiting our Community Events page on the DevExpress website. If there is an event in your area that you would like to see DevExpress support, please do get in contact with me and let me know how we can help you. Posted Feb 28 2011, 07:12 AM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper … Squared!

  … That’s a lot of developer! If you are a UK developer you are probably well-versed in the DDD events. Dotted throughout the year and hosted in Reading, Bristol and Glasgow, a DDD ticket, to the tech industry, is fast becoming what the hottest Manolo Blahnik strappy Summer sandal is to fashionistas across the globe. Since these events get bigger every time they are held, and reserving a seat gets equally harder every time, I want to forewarn you about an upcoming DDD event near you. DDD Scotland – May 7th 2011 With capacity limited to 200, you need to be quick off the mark to get your hands on a ticket for this event! Held in the state-of-the-art facilities at Glasgow Caledonian University, this event offers 4 tracks led by leading speakers from the UK developer community and beyond. This year, DevExpress friend and user Kendall Miller has submitted a few sessions to delight the UK community! If you want to get involved with DDD Scotland, head over to the website and register your vote for the sessions you’d like to see on the agenda. You’ll find all sort of topics, from cutting edge technologies to how to manage your manager. There’s something for everyone. And if you might want to vote for one of Gary’s session, then I’m sure he wouldn’t mind either Don’t forget to bookmark it! Registration will open on March 14th, and if you want to get just one of those 200 places, you’ll need to be fast! DDD South West – June 11th 2011 DDD South West, home of the quintessentially English “cream tea”, will open its doors again on Saturday June 11th for what we hope will be another beautifully sunny event. Hosted by the University of the West England, you can expect a splendidly-organised conference with some terrific content and great conversations. If you fancy having a go at speaking, DDD South West has opened its call for speakers. The opportunity will remain open until March 22nd. Go on, have a go. Getting involved with the community is a great way to share your talent as a developer and explore other topics you’ve never considered before, courtesy of other terribly interesting folk. Registration will open for DDD South West on April 12th. REMEMBER: Places at these events are limited. Be sure to plan early if you intend to join us there.   As with all the DDD events, DDD Scotland and DDD South West are totally free to attend. It is the generosity of sponsors and supporters who bring you your food, drinks and prizes throughout these events. So what’re you waiting for? We’ll be there. Will you? Posted Feb 15 2011, 06:24 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• Help South Florida Code Camp Celebrate 7 Years!

  This weekend will see South Florida Code Camp open up its doors for its seventh annual event! The buzz is that they expect a whopping 800+ attendees! That is pretty incredible going for a free, community-driven event. Brought to you by Florida .NET User Group, it just goes to show that there are people out in the community who are committed to bringing great events and great content to their local developers. Florida is clearly no exception. This year, Seth and Woody will be heading cross-country from California, to speak at South Florida Code Camp. Seth will present on Functional C#, and Woody has been handed Gary’s torch and will present on Technical Debt. Both great speakers, both great sessions. The entire day is devoted to fantastic content and bringing together the local developer community. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – get thee to a community event near you! You get free training, free networking time, free food … did I mention the whole thing is free? Furthermore, the co-ordinators have got passes for free car-parking. If you are near Nova Southeaster University in Fort Lauderdale this weekend, there is still time to register. Head over to the South Florida Code Camp website and sign up for this great event. See you in Florida! Posted Feb 10 2011, 06:16 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• BASTA! Spring 2011 – Win with DevExpress!

  The Spring edition of BASTA! will be held in Darmstadt in Germany from the 21st through to the 25th February. While I get my geek on at the DevExpress booth and wow the locals with my incredible multilingual skills (as long as they ask me when my birthday is!), Gary will be presenting a session on Applied F#.  Not only that, but we’ll be teaming up with DevExpress friend, Oliver Sturm, to do some daily prize draws and product showcases. Be sure to stop by the DevExpress booth and ask us for details … both on the prize draws and our products! In addition to Gary and Oliver, BASTA! plays host to a number of excellent speakers including Ingo Rammer, Dominick Baier and Christian Weyer. The keynote session this Spring will be delivered by developer favourite, Billy Hollis, who will be discussing his idea of the Whole Brain Developer. There is still time to register for this event, so get your skates on and we’ll see you in Darmstadt! Posted Feb 09 2011, 06:55 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• DevExpress are visiting NYC Code Camp 5

  Next week, Gary and I will pack our wellington boots and head out to the Big Apple. NYC Code Camp is coming to town, and DevExpress are proud to be sponsoring this great community event. Led by some exceptionally dedicated community folk, NYC Code Camp is now in its 5th year and going strong. Microsoft Developer Evangelist, Rachel Appel, will be supporting the event and holding court at the Microsoft NYC offices on Saturday 19th February between 8am and 6pm. Under the watch of Rachel and the NYC Code Camp organisers, you will find a buffet of tech bounty to be had. Take a look at the current version of the speaker and session list and I dare you to tell me if there is nothing there that grabs you! This is a full-day of sessions, so you can expect to be provided with refreshments and what the team like to call “The Power Lunch” – pizzas and soda . NYC Code Camp 5 reached its capacity after just 27 hours of registration opening. Folks, I can’t tell you this often enough - community events are where it’s at! Don’t miss out! If you’d still like to try to attend, get your name onto the waitlist. We’d really like to see you there. If you’re going to be at NYC Code Camp, drop a note in the comments and let’s meet up! Posted Feb 08 2011, 06:04 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with no comments

• DevExpress, the perfect anniversary gift

  … I’m serious! Way back in November, when Gary, Rory and I were at TechEd Europe in Berlin, I wrote a post about the sporting achievements of one of our customers at the event. He had told us he’d had great sporting success while wearing his DevExpress t-shirt. Not long after, Adam Wilson dropped a comment on the post: I recently attended the Connection event in Las Vegas and visited your both. I inquired about your product and was ask if I wanted a shirt (I was really diggin’ the Eat Sleep Code t-shirts) And I was handed a shrink wrapped package. But after I got home and unwrapped it, I found that I didn't get the shirt I had wanted so badly. How can I get one of your shirts? After responding to Adam’s plight, we heard no more. Fast-forward to January 2011 and one Leticia Wilson contacted me via the DevExpress Community Site. Her husband, Adam, and she were approaching their anniversary and she dearly wanted to surprise him. “What with?” I hear you ask. Read on … His face was like a kid at Christmas as he unwrapped that shirt from your booth, smiling from ear to ear...then he saw it and his face just went blank with disappointment. It was so sad : ( I came across a forum where my husband commented and asked where he could receive an eat sleep code shirt, and you responded to him and asked him to email you...I would really like to make this happen for him and get him one of your t-shirts. I have researched the internet looking for these shirts, I have found numerous shirts like this one, but it is not the one! Being DevExpress’ chief warm fuzzy giver, my heartstrings were well and truly tugged. One priority mail package later – courtesy of our wonderful office assistant, Alena – and Leticia had her wish. She told me how she set the scene for the best anniversary gift, EVER! I decided to show him the initial email I sent you asking for your help. As he was reading it, he kept looking at me and saying "What, she answered me on the forum? How'd you find that?” Then I said "but I never heard back from her through e-mail”, not exactly a lie :), his smile went away and he said "Thank you so much for trying that was so cool of you". Then I said "but then before we left the doorbell rang…" and I handed him the box you sent and he opened it and was SO SO HAPPY! He kept going on and on about it, and immediately put it on and wore it. He plans on wearing it this Friday to work to surprise his co-worker...and let him know he too owns a DevExpress T. So there you have it. Not only is the DevExpress t-shirt a sporting necessity, it also makes the perfect anniversary gift…at least for this happy couple. Congratulations on your anniversary Adam and Leticia, from all of us at DevExpress! Posted Feb 02 2011, 05:36 PM by Rachel Hawley (DevExpress) with 3 comment(s)