Kansas City Developer Conference

At SC-B, we actively support professional development for our staff, which can include things like professional certifications, ongoing education, and conferences. Several members of our software development and sysadmin teams attended the Kansas City Developer Conference in July 2019. The three-day event is close enough to be drivable, but far enough to be a minor adventure.

The intrepid travelers outside the hotel

The main conference floor before the action starts

The conference itself consists of one day of four or eight hour seminars that explore topics in depth and two days of hour-long sessions. There are de-facto tracks for those interested in specific topics, such as DevOps, testing, or various programming practices. Our guys all picked sessions across multiple disciplines.

By its very nature, there aren't a lot of thrilling pictures of the conference itself. Don't be fooled by the rest - we actually did go to the sessions*!

Dale Wilch's Man Cave Wednesday Night Swap Meet & Flea Market has already become something of a KCDC tradition for our team. Unfortunately nobody bought a nifty hat like last year.

Practicing the Atlas Stones in an old limestone mine

*OK, we confess. We skipped out on the last set of sessions to head west to Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas. The old guys from the 70s loved it, and the young guy got smartened up.

Evel (Stop what you are doing and visit the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka. NOW!!!)

On the way back to KC, we stopped in Lawrence to check out Massachusetts Street. Papa Keno's Pizza gets a big thumb's up, but nobody wants to see pictures of us eating.

Hasil Adkins would love Mass Street Soda too

The conference was great and the trip was great, but after four days, we were all ready to go home. So ready, we didn't even stop at the Sliced Bread mural in Chillicothe, MO. After a quick meal in Pittsfield, IL, we held a solemn ceremony at the unexpectedly ornate Pike County Courthouse to hand the keys over to a fresh driver.