The First of its Kind in Mauritius
Developers Conference 2015 is the first event in Mauritius, maybe even in the Indian Ocean which is organised as a "classic" conference. Yes, there have been various vendor-specific bootcamps in the past but never anything like this.
"From craftsmen - For craftsmen"
This year's conference is first time organised by the Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community (MSCC) in partnership with a number of local and international companies. Although the MSCC was founded back in 2013 it quickly became clear that our tropical island has a certain lack of informational and technical events. During some monthly meetups we spoke about this situation and that it would be very interesting and delightful to organise such an event.
Also, the monthly meetings of the MSCC are usually topic-centered and most amazingly we had solid technical information and good presenters - even though none is a professional trainer - during the last couple of month. The Developers Conference is just the consequent development of this process - our thirst for more information in the world of modern IT.
Mauritius has been branded "Cyber Island" in the Indian Ocean... Opinions in those matters vary but with this conference we strive to improve the general attribution of our island. Mauritius has great political stability and economical advantages for foreign investors, and the most precious resource Mauritius has to offer is people's knowledge.
The ICT sector in Mauritius is growing since years and maturing as the fourth pillar of our economy. With its geographical position Mauritius is also welcome as a business and knowledge hub between Africa and Asia.
Welcome to the first ever Developers Conference in Mauritius!
Extras & Specialties - It's not all about sessions
Apart from the technical sessions and presentations during the day the conference is going to be complemented with additional activities of different types. Our venues provide lots of space for some extra fun...
Stroll around and get some inspiration from our side activities. Socialise with other attendees offline and seize the opportunity to get some ideas for DIY projects from others.
Global Azure Bootcamp Again!
In April of 2013 we held the first Global Windows Azure Bootcamp at more than 90 locations around the globe! In March 2014 we topped that with 136 locations!
This year we are again doing a one day deep dive class to help thousands of people get up to speed on developing Cloud Computing Applications for Azure.
In addition to this great learning opportunity we will have another set of hands on labs.
Hack-a-thon - Programming is a lifestyle
Tired of listening and talking? Let the source code fly!
The Developers Conference is a great chance to show your programming skills. Team up with other developers and solve a variety of challenging tasks. There will be different categories of competitions and we will organise different prices for the winners and runner-ups.
A hack-a-thon is not only fun but also a solid way to put your skills on the table. Be part of it...
Touch-typing Contest - Show us your keyboard skills
Working with computers is bound to typing your source code, specifications or any kind of documentation via keyboard since decades. New alternatives like speech recognition are still in their early phase of development and practical use. Which leads us ultimately to the following questions:
Do you know about touch-typing or speedtyping? How good are your skills?
Show us and other participants your impressive speedtyping skills and compete among each other in various competitions and races. The typing speed is usually measured in words-per-minute (WPM), and a word is standardized to five characters or keystrokes.
Ubuntu 15.04 - Celebrating Vivid Vervet
The next version of Ubuntu is highly anticipated with its continuous development towards an unified user experience on the desktop, on the server, in the cloud, or on the mobile platform. Welcome the Internet of Things (IoT).
Mark Shuttleworth introduced the new version Ubuntu and its foray into the mobile space some months back:
"This is a time when every electronic thing can be an Internet thing, and that’s a chance for us to bring our platform, with its security and its long term support, to a vast and important field. In a world where almost any device can be smart, and also subverted, our shared efforts to make trusted and trustworthy systems might find fertile ground."
Bring your laptop or USB pendrives to receive a copy of the latest incarnation of Ubuntu, and step into a world of open source.
DIY projects - Raspberry Pi, Arduino, any...
You are more of a hardware geek? You like to pull up your sleeves and get cracking with single-board computers (SBC) like the Raspberry Pi, the Arduino, or other models? Then the maker space will be the right place to demo your Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects to the rest of the audience.
Learn the latest trends about small hardware projects and get some inspiration from others.
Networking - Communication and exchange with others
Communication with your environment is an essential part of everyone's life. And it doesn't matter whether you are actually living in a rural area in the middle of nowhere, within the pulsating heart of a big city, or in my case on a wonderful island in the Indian Ocean. The ability to exchange your thoughts, your experience and your worries with another person helps you to get different points of view and new ideas on how to resolve an issue you might be confronted with.
Take the chance to exchange with other attendees in the reception area or on the balcony. Have some interesting conversations about software development, latest information gained during one of the presentations and let others know about your ups & downs in your projects.
Also, join the Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community and be part of the local IT community.
The MSCC is a community for those who care and are proud of what they do. For those developers, regardless how experienced they are, who want to improve and master their craft.
It is a community for those who believe that being average is just not good enough.
