Zarar Siddiqi's Blog

JavaOne vs. TSS Java Symposium

The people I work for have rewarded my countless hours of hard labor by approving my application to go to TheServerSide.com's Java Symposium. This comes a year after I attended JavaOne in San Francisco. So why did I choose TSS Java Symposium over Java One? I'm sure you give a rats ass about my opinion but here it comes anyways.

JavaOne is too big: It's f***ing huge! There's like 10,000 people there and although you might argue that the size of people attending is proportional to the quality of the presentations, you're wrong. I did attend a couple nice sessions last year but there were more than a few crappy ones (Spring Web Flow, Composite Applications etc.) which tells me (keeping proportions in mind) that there are many crappy ones. The rooms are huge which takes away from the learning environment that it should be; it feels like a first year chemistry class rather than a conference where you're supposed to quickly pick up stuff while having some fun at the same time.

The Commercialism: Everyone's trying to sell you something and as soon as you tell them you don't have any purchasing power in your company, they throw sharp pointed objects at you. I talked to the guy from Terracotta last year for about 15 minutes asking him all kinds of questions and at the end he asked me what I did at my company and when I said I was a measly developer, he gave me one of those I-can't-believe-I-wasted-20-f***ing-minutes-on-this-guy look.

Bad Food: Just horrible and awful. I was scared to touch it, let alone eat it. But when I finally mustered up the courage to eat it, I regretted it after two bites. I threw the sandwich away and gave my warm soda to what appeared to be a homeless developer.

Repetition: There were around four different sessions on Java Persistence API which covered the same subject matter. I made the mistake of attending two of them only to realize they're talking about the exact same thing, they just labeled the sessions differently just so everybody on the expert group had their crack at impressing the bored audience how they copied Hibernate.

Bad Party: Any party where the ratio of men to women is 6:1 is never going to be good but you can make up for it by actually providing accessible food and drink. When you shove 10,000 people in one big room and setup 4 stations where you can get drinks and food from, your appetite will force you to exit the premises and the lack of women will only motivate you to do so quickly. I scampered off to the Marriot nearby and admired San Francisco from towering heights. Also, chugging T-Shirts out of a cannon is not entertainment.

Long lines at sessions: Again, the size issue. The Gestapo regime that is the event staff forces you to lineup before every session and swipe your conference card. The lineups are long and painful and if you're in the line, you'll often here more than a few people muttering "I don't believe this shit". Don't believe me? Ask anyone who attended last year.

Spam after you come back: Here's a tip to anyone attending this year, give a fake phone and email address in your JavaOne registration form. You'll thank me as you're laughing at your friends for having to deal with daily spam and intruding phone calls imploring you to buy some product from Quest Software and pay for training courses from Sun. These people have a knack of bothering you during lunch hour which is a double whammy. Every moment you're in the pavilion, somebody's begging to swipe your conference card like they were get paid by the swipe. They probably are.

No Networking Opportunities: Aside from the BOF's which you may or may not be interested in, there are really no parties or events that will allow you to network with other people. Given how most IT folks are socially inward and scared of light, the task of networking at JavaOne is a little tough. The best time I had last year was at the Geronimo party, although I've never even used Geronimo, I sure enjoyed the free food and drinks provided by IBM etc. Side note: Again, aside from the waitresses, no women at this party either. I actually exchanged a few business cards with some fine folk; more of these events would only help JavaOne.

Now I've never been to TSS Java Symposium before but from what I can gather from the session descriptions, they seem to cater more to my line of work: enterprise development. I read some horror stories about TSS last year but it's time I take a look and judge for myself.

Since I write about other stuff besides just Java, I primarily use a wordpress blog: arsenalist.com. I'll be talking and reviewing the sessions at TSS Java Symposium over there. If anybody cares.

Comments

• 
  thanks for the warning ;)

  I attended JavaOne once many years ago, and i loved the experience that time, like seeing and hearing the lumiaries and personal heroes eg. Bill Joy.

  An enduring memory of that trip is walking back to the hotel with my friend engrossed a technical discussion when a pan-handler on the street asked "Spare a quarter for me Sir?" I was so engrossed in my conversation i ignored him, and then when i walked past heard him finish off with, " ...you ol' fat motherf*cker." because i was very overweight at the time. It was a good chuckle actually, and funnily enough, a fond memory!
  
  

  Posted by: evanx on March 07, 2007 at 01:25 AM

• JavaOne vs. TSS Java Symposium

  em

  Posted by: tarunkumarmohanty on March 07, 2007 at 01:41 AM

• I've been to JavaOne for several years and actually enjoy it, even with the flaws. But figured I'd pass on my experiences/opinions (standard disclaimer about rat's nether regions) to those who haven't been yet. I think JavaOne is worth going to, so here it goes:

  Yes it's big. But that's how I meet new people. It's not just neat to hear about the great things going on with Java, but also just to interact with all the fascinating folks there. Besides, you think it's crowded now...you should have seen it at its peak attendance!!

  There are some bad and repetitive sessions...so get up and go to your second choice. Also, don't hang out in the same track and you'll get more variety. If nothing else, I go to the pavilion and try to weasel more junk out of vendors. ;)

  Definitely some of the marketing drones in the booths are jerks. Some are pretty cool and you can learn about stuff, even if you're a lowly developer like you (and me!).

  The food can be nasty but some is pretty tasty. Of course, it helps to think cheetos and beer make up the perfect breakfast. I usually get the sandwich bag and take it to a session and save my taste buds for the great San Francisco food away from the Moscone.

  Last year's party's food setup was pathetic. It took forever to get food. But again, talk to folks in line. If nothing else, you can complain about the line. And yes, if you want to meet girls, forget it. There are charming women there, but they're not there to meet you or me, but to learn about Java.

  I think shooting out T-shirts with various weapons of minor destruction is way cool. But, then again, I'm easily entertained. I'm disappointed that Gosling was sick and couldn't set it up this year. (I am glad he's better though.)

  The popular sessions' lines are awful. Yes, some of the staff are evil incarnate. But some are really nice and the rest are just bored. I didn't like using the card either. I hope they change that little procedure.

  Some of the follow-up sales attempts can be a nuisance. But that's the price you've got to pay if you wanted a really cool t-shirt.

  I networked in line and at breakfast/lunch. Now, I'm not the most outgoing person in the world, but I've found that if I just ask folks where they're from and what they do, they have fascinating things to share. People love to talk about themselves. At JavaOne I go out of my way to chat with folks and sure, some think I'm a dork, but most are friendly. I'm not that wild about the parties for networking; they're usually noisy and after several beers, well, you know.

  I'd love to see a blog post about how the TSS conference compares to JavaOne. But I still find JavaOne fun, informative and most of the time, a real hoot.

  Posted by: mcdewey on March 07, 2007 at 07:34 AM

• mcdewey, thanks for your great response. I'll be sure to let you know how the Java Symposium went.

  Posted by: zarar on March 07, 2007 at 07:40 AM

• My only experience with JavaOne was the last year, and I enjoyed it too. It wasn't easy though, because I had to spend lots of time at the exhibition floor and I have to tell you, it isn't easy job to repeat the same story over and over again for several days in the row. Suddenly, I was one of those Terracotta guys, and even if it may seem like I or one of my colleagues gave some kind of look, surely it wasn't personal and might be just a sign how exhausted we all were. If you don't believe me, feel free to try it for your self. As of me, I would do that again, because JavaOne is really great opportunity to meet lots of people and even if it haven't brought me much profit, it was irreplaceable experience.

  PS: btw, you know, they have dating agencies to help meet women. Technical conferences are meant to meet technical people. :-)

  Posted by: euxx on March 07, 2007 at 08:51 PM

• euxx, touche.

  Posted by: zarar on March 07, 2007 at 09:34 PM

• Definitely some of the marketing drones in the booths are jerks. Some are pretty cool and you can learn about stuff, even if you're a lowly developer like you (and me!).

  Posted by: ronald45 on August 05, 2007 at 08:13 AM

• The popular sessions' lines are awful. Yes, some of the staff are evil incarnate. But some are really nice and the rest are just bored. I didn't like using the card either. I hope they change that little procedure.

  Posted by: ronald45 on August 05, 2007 at 08:14 AM

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