my boss gave me the opportunity to attend a conference- so sunday i got up early and made the trip to rochester ny for HighEdWebDev05, an annual conference specifically tailored for web developers working in higher education. that’s me! i was sent up alone so it was a little nerve racking at first, considering i can be slightly socially introverted around people i don’t know… oddly enough, being around 300 or so people from around the country who do the same thing as you proves for easy conversation. go figure!

i’ve just finished my first full day of presentation tracks, and it’s been interesting and a little overwhelming. i will be blogging my impressions and notes from the keynote and tracks i attended separately- stay tuned for that- i will be focusing on the people experience here. i’ve spent my time with a small posse of like minded people from illinois, minnesota, and canada thus far, but i’ve talked to a variety of people between breaks and at meals - ‘networking’, as they call it.

we like to call it sharing war stories about our web dev lives. i suppose it should come as no surprise that we all have very similar experiences to share, but there’s something comforting about being surrounded by people who know exactly where i’m coming from and talking about outside my own office. usually i have blank expressions from friends and family… you know who you are!

but back to networking: we all love caffeine, we all find ourselves recently married by most standards, we all tend to be up at all hours of the night… learning and coding and referencing and surfing …and we all fall somewhere between what our job description says and what we actually do from day to day.

it seems as though it can rarely be helped that most web developers find themselves acting out different roles. many of the people i am talking to are somewhere in between, or have even switched between departments and functions ranging from technical support, design, coding, public relations and marketing- or some chimera made of all parts.

all of our institutions appear to be structured in slightly different ways based mostly on size and budget constraints, yet we all seem to inherently face the same struggles from day to day because of the different hats we get to try on. we’ve determined together, that even though our institutions could benefit greatly from actually recognizing the need for a true web development team, the problem also rests with the fact that our technical world is changing so quickly it’s hard for any organization to get a grip on focusing its own firepower properly.

and this just isn’t small talk- these notions are shining through in the presentations as well- all presented by other members of web development teams from universities across the country. the nice part about the conference is the presenters are coming to all the other presentations like those of us not presenting- so everyone, unlike most of our websites, is accessible. i’ve had a chance to show my work and discuss my challenges with the keynote speaker and every presenter thus far- open table discussions are going on everywhere, and everyone is late for everything because people can’t stop firing up discussions.

personally and professionally, this is rewarding in many ways. i mentioned that being surrounded by a group of people who think like i do outside of my office environment is unique. i’ve met people who’s work i’ve referenced, who told me they have referenced my recent work- in a real geeky way, this has been wild. “i stole your navigation code. i never thought i’d meet you” - “it’s ok, i stole your style sheet layout”. luckily there has been no fighting in the parking lot - we are actually walking away so full of new ideas and renewed vigor in our craft our heads are spinning.

the theme of the conference, building connections, truly does apply. we are all itching to get our ideas fired up - you can tell by all the laptops flipping open more and more as the conference progresses. people are blogging, coding, and developing without regards to space or time. conference newbie, geek excitement? sure. but it’s always nice to know you’re not the only insane person up to all hours of the night.

Filed under: Web Development