> Do people actually get value out of conferences?
In terms of skill development? Yes, although it's value you could get for free if you read the right blogs, keep involved in the community, and are a self-motivated person.
In terms of networking? Yes, although perhaps you could get that for free too, if you go to enough hackerspaces and meetups etc.
Ironically, a lot of the people I meet at conferences are the kind of driven, motivated, outgoing people who are well suited to getting those benefits for free. But not all of them!
I certainly derive value from going to conferences.
Re:The Unemployable Programmer
by djKianoosh on Monday August 03, 2015 @11:51AM
(#9996935)
I think you'll get more value from local Meetups and the very few non-marketing conferences out there. If it's a tech company putting on a conference, expect a lot of marketing. Conferences like Strangeloop and the no-fluff ones are usually better.
Other than that, books and screencasts seem to be a good way to spend that training budget as well. But there's a ton of videos online available for free too.
Of course, they all require time. Which is money. :)
Do people actually get value out of conferences? Those always seem more like cash grabs and marketing events than actual training value-adds.