Looking forward to SecondConf

I'm very much looking forward to attending the first instance of SecondConf in a few weeks, a self-proclaimed "three-day, Chicago-style, single-track conference". While it's obvious that SecondConf is inspired by, and meaning to continue in the tradition of, the now-defunct C4 conference, I'm looking forward to it on its own merits.

C4 was a pivotal institution for me, as I attended the first iteration in 2006 and, two weeks later, quit my job and struck out on my own. This was largely inspired by the people I met at C4, now-friends who were a lot like me and doing what I wanted to do -- work on their own. While I can't praise Wolf enough for assembling such an awesome slate of sessions, the most value for me came from the self-selecting attendee list for C4. I went back for three more years as a way to see and hang out with some of the best Cocoa developers in the world.

The reasons I'm going to SecondConf are threefold: first, this continued face-to-face interaction with many from the Apple development arena; second, to support this nascent conference; and third, because I just plain like going to Chicago in the fall to hang out with Cocoa devs. Old habits die hard, I guess!

Much like Wolf, I still have hesitations about Apple's direction. You may have noticed the conspicuous absence of my own iPhone and iPad apps in the App Store. While I do work on a lot of iOS projects with clients, I choose to stay in the technology space out of a desire to improve my Cocoa programming capabilities most of all and not out of any love for Apple's policies on the actual commercial side of the App Store. So while I fully understand the reasons for the demise of C4, I was ready to accept it as a passing thing. I'm ready to give SecondConf a chance, however, in the same space and see what it's got for us.

Are you going to SecondConf? Leave a comment if you'd like and maybe we can meet up! See you in Chicago!