I've just returned from another exciting Australian Tech-Ed (held at the Sydney Convention Centre) and now feel the urge to start a blog. Some of you may wonder “What on earth at Tech-Ed would inspire you to start a blog”, well, it’s simple, what a lab attendee said to me while fulfilling my role as a Technical Learning Guide (TLG) for the hands-on-labs, but I’ll talk more about this later. Firstly, let me tell you about what I got up too at Tech-Ed.
My week kicked off with a brilliant 2 day Vista Deep Dive Workshop run by Corey Hynes (MVP MCT) where I learnt the ins and outs of Vista Deployment, Management and Security. What I learnt was(is) invaluable to my role as a Chief Solutions Architect as there are a number of issues that need to be addressed when looking at rolling out software for the Vista platform. I urge all developers to seriously consider doing a Vista workshop, and by Vista workshop I mean not one run by the marketing arm of MS, but one that delves into the heart and soul of the Vista environment. Once again Corey, thanks for an excellent workshop.
Tuesday was the opening night where I networked with fellow attendees and caught up with those I met at last years Tech-Ed and put names to faces of those people I have chatted with on newsgroups and MSN (Cheers Mr. Farley). The only disappointment with Tuesday night was being told by the Mobility and Messaging group that the only Windows Mobile 5.0 Developer Resource Kit’s they had in stock was the one in the display cabinet and I couldn’t have it. Not very good guys!
Wednesday was a pretty full on day as I was suffering from alcohol related stress. Despite my handicap, I managed to attend some great sessions on "Team Foundation Server" and "SQL Server 2005 Service Broker". This was also my first day of TLGing which turned out to be a hoot. I didn’t attend the Expert dinner as the thought of more networking and alcohol (key factor) started to raise my blood pressure. Besides, I needed to study for the “70-549 PRO: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework” exam I had scheduled for 8am after being talked into doing it by Rob Farley during my Deep Dive session.
Thursday morning came quicker than expected, especially considering that I only got about an hour’s study in and then fell asleep. Anyway, I rocked up at the testing centre at 7:45 like a good little boy only to be confronted by two burley security guards who said that I couldn’t gain access to the Tech-Ed venue ‘till 9am. After arguing for 10mins and explaining that my exam was at 8am, they escorted me to the PearsonVue testing centre. Well, I waited and waited then at 8:25am some lovely Vue ladies rocked up surprised to see me there. They were even more surprised when they confirmed from the booking system that my exam was indeed at 8am! Anyway, to cut a long story short, no one could open the doors and I eventually got in at about 8:50am and left 42mins later with a cheesy smile on my face after passing my exam with a score of 840. Not bad for 60mins of study!
Thursday was going to be exciting as I was scheduled to do “Sharing Assets Between the .NET Compact Framework (Windows Mobile) and the .NET Framework (Desktop Windows) PLUS Developing Applications That Work on Both Pocket PC and Smartphone” and “Jumpstarting Mobile Development with Patterns and Practices for Mobile Client” in the morning and then 3 hours of TLGing in the afternoon. And best of all, this was the night of the infamous closing Tech-Ed party.
Well, the party was crap and it was the first one I’d not got severe alcohol poisoning from in 5 years. I wasn’t the only one who thought it was crap with most agreeing with me. Too crowded and ridiculous queues to get anything to eat and drink. I suppose that’s what you get for booking a night club that holds 800-1000 for a crowd of 3400. There was however one person who liked the night and gladly reminded me that that’s not what Tech-Ed is about. Yeah right :-)
This is where I tell you the bit about why I was inspired to start a blog. At the end of my Thursday TLG session, a happy .Net newbie approached me to thank me for my help with his questions. Sensing that he was still a little confused about .Net I decided to sit down with him and create a simple Web Service that monitored a directory for XML files to process. We then got to discussing how .Net makes it very easy to create Smart Client and Windows Mobile applications. Anyway, 2 hours later, we called it quits as the closing party was about to start and we wanted to go back to our hotel rooms and make ourselves sexy. Prior to parting ways, the newbie asked if I had a blog as I was great at explaining things and obviously had knowledge that should be shared with others. ‘Nough said and here we are.
Friday. The last day. Feeling exhausted and drained, I was starting to wonder whether I was capable of absorbing anymore knowledge and consuming anymore food and alcohol. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I was.
First up was 3 hours of TLGing (which sort of made me happy that I wasn’t hung-over) and then two sessions on Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals. The rest of the time was spent saying goodbye to friends, buying my O2 Atom Exec Windows Mobile device (blog to follow) and attending a 2 hour SQL Server User Group Meeting being run by the Sydney SQL Server UG with presentations by Don Vilen (SQL Server Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation) and Siva Harinath (Test Lead Analysis Services Performance Team). Great UG guy’s.
It was then off to the pub with friends for a few drinks and then back to their apartment where we played cards and drank some snaps and wine ‘till 2am.
Well, that brings me to the end of my first blog. Little bit longer than I expected and I guarantee that future ones won’t be quite as long. Anyway, to all those I met at Tech-Ed (especially Kyle, Corey, Shaun, Laird, Warren, Tom, Peter, Jake and Rob) thanks for making Tech-Ed 2006 a great experience. See you all next year.
