Back from Vancouver PHP Conference 2007

Looks like I just missed a winter storm that is currently pounding the Greater Toronto Area (Milton is on the outskirts of the GTA) so I may actually be snowed in tomorrow. Good thing I can work from home when necessary.

I had a good time in Vancouver at the conference, although I really wished I could’ve stayed for the second day. I want to thank Shane, Audrey, Peter and all the other organizers for giving me first-class treatment (Audrey, I still owe you that drink). My talk was really well-attended (much to my surprise as I was up against Ilia and Derek) and I was far less nervous about it than I was when I gave this talk.

I have to thank some of the following speakers:

  • Andrei for putting up with me, trying to push me to eat that enormous plate of nachos, and for pointing me in the direction of the Xbox Media Center
  • Sean for straightening out some issues surrounding getting paid for a magazine article
  • Paul for being in good spirits despite being deathly ill (and being cool about me grabbing a menu from you like an idiot)

I’ll be seeing most of these same people in Chicago at php|tek, so that’s yet another reason to look forward to the middle of May. Anyhow, I managed to make a screencast of my talk and chopped it down to size for the blog. Hope you enjoy it!

3 Responses to this post.

  1. Derek Martin's Gravatar

    Posted by Derek Martin on 14.02.07 at 12:06 am

    I’m about 5 minutes into this video, and it has already become completely apparent to me just exactly how miserable you were at your last job (where we worked together). You are *right on* in this screencast, and I don’t just mean correct… I mean happy & interested. Kickass :) And you got a good round of applause, too!

    Also, I remember when that girl said she would have been done if she hadn’t had to write the stupid f’ing tests ;)

  2. Chris Hartjes's Gravatar

    Posted by Chris Hartjes on 14.02.07 at 12:06 am

    Hey Derek,

    You never realize how badly a job has ground you down until you leave it and rediscover your internal passion for programming.

  3. Aaron Morand's Gravatar

    Posted by Aaron Morand on 14.02.07 at 12:06 am

    lol, 120 hours of overtime to fix unmaintainable code!! Oh man, those were the days! I’m glad I’m out of there too.

    I’m missing programming now though. I don’t get to do enough as an admin.

    I remember when that same girl said that her code was 100% perfect because she tested the snot out of it. I think that code stopped wasting QA’s time 6 months later and they got to the main problems in her code after that.

    Good job Chris!

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