This weekend, Austin was host to the Texas Linux Fest. Though it did not receive the same attendance as ROT Rally, it still had a couple hundred people walk through the convention center to hear about all new things Linux. Here are a few of my takeaways from the convention
- Soooo much to learn: While most of the first day seemed to be a rehash of things that I already learned, the second day was the complete opposite of that. In every talk that people had, there was a new piece of technology or general practice that was essential to getting the presentation, and I simply had not used it. It is a positive that I understood a lot of the basics, but sometimes it can be frustrating that I have so much to learn. At least it's easier to learn now.
- I am underutilizing Grep and append: There was a short session on the benefits of pipe, grep, and append over the weekend. While I had used all of them, it is not a daily thing for me. It was interesting and encouraging to see it used in action so well. I will have to start practicing with that more.
- DevOps was not as well-represented as one would expect: Don't get me wrong. There were plenty of companies there that were DevOpsy at the conference, but I am speaking more about the people there. I don't know if what that means, but it would appear that a lot of the Linux community still has a long way to go before fully embracing the DevOps cultural movement. That being said, Linux in itself was just a movement 20 years ago, and look what it has become since.
- Interviewing can be a good thing: one of the best presentations of the weekend (and in recent memory), was the one by Cory Quinn on how to sell yourself during an interview. As a former recruiter, it was all very solid advice. In terms of presentation delivery, that was one of the best live I have ever seen. I will be providing a link as soon as I can get one to the video.
- There were a lot more women there than the average conference: It may be more about the events that I have been attending in the last year, but there was a much larger female group represented at the convention than I am used to seeing. It would be a welcome sight to have more included in future events, maybe to at accurate demographic levels. I will have to talk about it.