What are some of the best conferences you've been to for your own professional development? I have a $5000 a year professional development budget but I don't know how to spend it.
I'd look for a balance of "tools I need to understand today" skills (e.g. advanced training in whatever programming language you use), "forward-looking stuff" (e.g. MIT futurology conference), and something for the intersection of your spiritual/creative self (such as the Grace Hopper Conference or the Business Innovation Factory).
Go where you have an industry in, get introduced to others and build your network. A conference is short lived but a single good contact can make your career.
If you have an inclination to try out remote work for 2-4 weeks and think your company would go for it, we've had several people successfully use their prof. development budget for Hacker Paradise.
We're like an extended unconference that pops up in different cities around the world, and more fun / in-depth if you can get away for a bit. We do weekly talks and other workshops for professional development, and you get to connect with people from the local tech scene as well as those from around the world.
Both Reasons to: (https://reasons.to) and beyond tellerrand (https://beyondtellerrand.com/) are very much about broadening you horizons. These conferences cover a wide range of design- and technology-related subjects from down-to-earth pragmatic
matters like particular JavaScript or CSS techniques, to more conceptual design topics, typography, social issues related to design and more artistic endeavours like calligraphy, generative art or even performance art.
All of these very different aspects often have surprising and delightful ways of connecting with each other and inspiring ideas.
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[ 1.6 ms ] story [ 31.9 ms ] threadThat'd use up $5000, depending on travel costs.
We're like an extended unconference that pops up in different cities around the world, and more fun / in-depth if you can get away for a bit. We do weekly talks and other workshops for professional development, and you get to connect with people from the local tech scene as well as those from around the world.
https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa17
Excellent training for system administrators.
Both Reasons to: (https://reasons.to) and beyond tellerrand (https://beyondtellerrand.com/) are very much about broadening you horizons. These conferences cover a wide range of design- and technology-related subjects from down-to-earth pragmatic matters like particular JavaScript or CSS techniques, to more conceptual design topics, typography, social issues related to design and more artistic endeavours like calligraphy, generative art or even performance art.
All of these very different aspects often have surprising and delightful ways of connecting with each other and inspiring ideas.