Three Lessons Learned -- A DeveloperWeek Recap
DeveloperWeek in San Francisco saw more than 2,000 developers and technologists get together and learn about the hottest APIs, platforms, hosting solutions, and other cool technologies. The underlying themes of learning and growth came through the three tracks, Headquarter Activities, Dev University, and Week Activities. Here are three lessons we learned at DeveloperWeek, so you can make the most of your time spent at your next developer event.
Headquarter Activities
Lesson #1: Look for vendors who have substance, not just flash
DeveloperWeek Headquarters were abuzz with energy. Tables of startups and other tech companies were available to educate attendees about their developer tools. Recruiters staffed other tables in the demo pit, eager to talk with the attendees as they trickled in. At shows like this, take a few seconds to absorb the energy, because there will be more vendors than you have time to speak with. Don’t be shy; go ahead and ask a fellow attendee which vendors are worth visiting and why.
We walked around and talked with many startups, including Digital Ocean (who gave out Starbucks Coffee!) and the Parse team from Facebook. The Egnyte booth featured experts on their API, which allows developers to:
- Access files stored in Egnyte
- Securely store files in the cloud
- Create links to files and folders
- Provision users
- Generate audit reports
As an early developer on Egnyte’s platform, the Kloudless team spoke with developers interested in learning more about using the Egnyte API. To see what we’ve built, get Kloudless -- it’s a free download!
Dev University
Lesson #2: Get out of your comfort zone to learn something new.
The Egnyte team gave a presentation, "Dev Checklist: Developing for the Secret Sauce." Often, developers focus on building cool, consumer apps. Why not build cool enterprise apps that generate revenue and enable your company to grow?
The enterprise appreciates cool apps as much as consumers do, as evidenced by the strength of the Bring Your Own Device and Consumerization of IT trends.
To build a cool enterprise app, you must understand how to approach the enterprise. Egnyte laid out an easy to follow framework:
- Define the problem.
- Map and create a possible solution.
- Communicate how this solution creates value for stakeholders and customers.
Following this framework will enable developers to get revenue to keep on building!
Of course, showing is more powerful than telling, so the Kloudless team took the opportunity to show what we've built using Egnyte's API.
Week Activities
Lesson #3: Plan, plan, plan so you can get to all the activities you want!
With a hackathon, product challenges, challenge tracks, tech startup open houses, and an interactive hiring mixer, your calendar can get filled FAST!
Pick and choose which activities you want to participate in, to ensure enough time and energy for full engagement. The logistics require good planning, since the week's worth of summits, meetups, and parties were all over SOMA.
Interested in learning more? The next hackathon for Kloudless and Egnyte is the AEC Hackathon for the architecture, engineering and construction industry. This event runs from Friday, March 15 through Sunday, March 17 at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park. More information and registration details are available at aechackathon.com.
Eliot Sun is the CEO and co-founder of Kloudless, the best way to add your favorite cloud storage services to your email inbox. A serial entrepreneur, Eliot can be found eating his way around the Bay Area while making it easy for people to work in the cloud and on mobile.
