CCC is very different to DEF CON, and I wouldn't say it's a "hackers" vs "industry" split either, because BlackHat is the more industry focused conference in the US, DEF CON has traditionally been the one for the hackers.

I think the differences between CCC and DEF CON are roughly:

- CCC is much more political, more about making statements about privacy, etc. There are often journalists there, and there's much more of a balance between political/cultural/privacy issues, and the tech side of hacking.

- CCC is based in the European hacker counter-culture which is quite different to the US hacker counter-culture.

- CCC is a bit more community focused, being very low-budget, accessible ticket prices, more hostels than hotels, etc.

CCC is better than Defcon. It's actual hackers, not the Infosec Industry.

Defcon used to be better than defcon. It's just what happens to communities sometimes, especially the ones with too much freedom and money.

Sadly, it's around Christmas an I have a definitive veto from wife and kids.

The good news: you can watch practically all sessions on youtube: https://youtube.com/user/mediacccde/playlists

While this is nice if you are just interested in some of the talks it's not really a substitute for being there, meeting people and taking in the atmosphere (for me at least. There's a lot of things you don't see in the streams, like the venue, the tents and all the small cool things in the assembly area.

I have been once a few years ago. Some of it is certainly enjoyable, like meeting people you know from the Internet or wouldn't have meet otherwise. And overall the organizers are doing a good job. But it feels like a lot people go year after year no matter what, in a bad way. Thousands of similar people talking about the same things year after year. Add to that the cost and logistics of it all, and don't feel much of a need of going again.

So I might be worth it for people who haven't experienced that sort of thing. But otherwise I would recommend watching online with some friends and travelling someplace else for new experiences.

Do people go to cons for talks?

That varies from convention to convention. There's a whole spectrum from networking/social conventions to mostly talk and info focused conventions.

Christmas in Germany!

Do you have a link to the summer school? That sounds super interesting.

Seems like he's referring to this: https://summerschool-croatia.cs.ru.nl/2019/