CodeMash

CodeMash was a last minute thing for me this year. I wasn’t speaking so there wasn’t this long nervous/anxious/excited rollercoaster of emotion I’ve had for months leading up to it as I’ve had in the past. It just sort of snuck up on me.

I’m grateful that I wasn’t speaking. A personal discovery lately is that I need to spend less time speaking and more time listening. (Maybe another post soon)…

I almost didn’t go. I scrambled to get my ticket and found someone nice enough to sell me one for a discount the Monday before the conference. I also didn’t have a room. I debated driving there each morning and back each night. I belong to an awesome community though and had a few people offer up a couch in their room. When I arrived, an old buddy of mine from LeanDog offered up the extra bed he’d had in his room. I’m grateful for that :)

I only attended a handful of talks. That’s usually the case. I personally feel like I get more out of the conversations outside of the talks. The open spaces, break-out sessions, or random conversations I have with old and new friends — these are what I get the most out of so these are usually where I spend most of my time. I find there’s more of a personal story here and I’m able to get feedback faster.

The talks I did attend were wonderfully done and I definitely took a lot away from them. To every speaker who put the time into preparing their talk, and every person supporting them along the way — thank you!

I have quite a few lessons learned from CodeMash. I need to meditate on those for a while and I’m hoping they make it into a few future posts. I think a few exciting new things are going to come out of some of the discussions I had with old friends, and I’m definitely looking forward to these this year.

I’m glad I ended up going. I belong to an awesome community. I’m grateful that this community is so open and so giving. That openness has allowed me to grow in some amazing ways.

To everyone in that community, everyone at CodeMash — thank you. To anyone feeling like they aren’t in this community: anyone who hasn’t attended a meetup, a conference, anyone who’s never been to CodeMash — we’re a community with arms wide open. Feel free to join the next meetup, conference, coderetreat, or random get together. If you’re shy and feel like you won’t know anyone if you go — hit me up on Twitter and I’ll be sure we hang out so you know at least one person :)

Trust me — it’ll make you and everyone you interact with better in the end.

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