I’m on a plane (there’s a surprise) on my way back from  The Joy of Coding.  It’s the title that attracted me to this conference, and it was a great little one day event with awesome people like Dan North, Erik Meijer and Dick Wall presenting.  What I liked about the themes is they were broadly technology agnostic, pulling back to a level which made me remember why I’m a developer.  It inspired me to do more research and more thinking, and less panicking and trying to write code.  That might seem odd, as someone who goes to as many conferences as I do should get loads more research and thinking time than most developers living under the whip, but I seem to spend so much time bouncing from thing to thing I don’t get space to just sit and think, or to read things in any depth.

The conference organisers made it easy to focus on the bigger things - the venue was great, with a nice space for mingling with people but nooks and corners for doing work or for video conferences.  The hotel they chose was one of the best I’ve stayed at - the room had a sauna in it.  A sauna!  I spent the evening using every toiletry they provided, and moving between the sauna, the steam/shower cabinet and the jacuzzi bath.  I won’t pretend I did a lot of thinking, but it was a really awesome way to top of a crazy week, and I feel almost sane.

So if I’m going to leave you with one thing from my experience at the Joy of Coding, it’s to Stop.  Stop and think.  Stop and ask.  Stop and read.  What are you doing?  Why are you doing it?

And most of all, do you feel Joy when you’re coding?