This year, I attended the LaidOffCamp event in Miami. A truly tech event, it was started in a pretty ad-hoc way through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. It's since grown into a truly worldwide event in which IT people of all shapes and skills come together to network, interface, and talk geek.
The buzz was about two things: how the economy was changing the face of tech and development and how Florida was planning to get into the venture capital game with a $250 million tech fund.
Feelings over that latter point were pretty mixed, though it's generally agreed that in the end, $250 million is barely a drop in the bucket as far as VC goes. Especially with the state's plans to split that up into smaller chunks for investment.
All that aside, though, the event itself was great. As with any event of this type, LaidOffCamp was full of characters, unusual sights, and a multitude of odd and bizarre people. The personal and professional networking opportunities were huge.
At one point, standing in a crowd moving toward the lunch line, I
heard a small group on my left putting together plans for their new
fantasy role-playing group while to my right, I heard three or four
people talking about collaborating on a small web development project. Welcome to tech.
One of the Miami event's organizers, Rick
Tuttle, says, "LaidOffCamp Miami was a blast. We have over 200
attendees who came looking to find job opportunities and learn new
skills and the presenters did not disappoint. It was like having
community barn-raising in the technological age where people from all
walks of life came together to share and contribute."
He's right on that one.
LaidOffCamp
wasn't just for the unemployed or the employer looking for new
prospects either. As Jessie Figueroa, an attendee, put it:
"LaidOffCamp was not only a unique way for unemployed, employed, and
freelancers to come together to exchange knowledge and learn but to
connect with helpful, friendly members in a society where collaboration
is extremely important in order to be successful."
That pretty
much sums it up right there. While
Florida's attempt at boosting the IT workplace by getting into VC is a
nice gesture, events like LaidOffCamp are much more useful and
profitable for the tech community in the long run. Building those
friendships and networking business relationships has a greater impact
on the IT community as a whole, in the end.
Of course, what
could have made LaidOffCamp even better would be if you actually got
laid while at what one person called "GetLaidCamp Miami." I guess
there are other types of networking to be had at these events too.
