For us as developers, a software conference is always an important and exciting event. In a time-frame of just a couple of days, you get bombarded with countless new concepts, tools, and ideas. Also, you get to talk to like-minded people from all walks of life, who come to meet each other and to talk shop.
Naturally, joining our physically nearest conferences has become a regularity. Along with the Droidcon in Turin, in the last years, we were always represented at App Builders. Technically, this year's edition would have seen a new edition just focussing on iOS development, but due to the current situation, the entire event had to be reinvented.
For us, this means that there will be no trip to Lugano, so no sunbathing at the lake, no drinks with our fellow developers, and also none of the amazing Italian espresso.
Sounds a bit depressing, but we're trying to see the positive aspects: In the new online edition on Hopin, developers from all over the world are gathering – from California and Poland all the way to Australia. Since the presentations were pre-recorded, the videos are available to re-watch directly after the talk, and the presenters are free to answer questions in the chat or share further information for everyone. There are group discussions in Zoom-like video chats, which one can watch or get involved in at any time. There is even a networking-feature similar to Chat Roulette where you get paired up with another conference member, which makes socializing perhaps even a bit easier than at a "real" conference.
