When wrapping up the VIm talk @trevmex mentioned that people share their dotFiles on github. This blew my mind. I can sit in front of anyones desk and start using their eclipse and immediately be productive. The secret to VIm is the years of refactoring the configuration and shortcuts, known as the dotFiles. You probably couldn’t even execute a mapped command on my machine since I map the leader based on my keyboard....
Every year Philly’s BarCarmp gets better. Last year I met great people and learned new tactics from my peers. This year I enjoyed a number of roundtable discussions where we taught each other and had my core paradigms challenged. (of couse still met great people, but that is implied) The day opened last night with a fantastic hosted party @indyhall. It had a vibe that reminded me of my college days where the future was bright and everyone you talked to has excitement around what they were doing....
After spending a day immersed in the utopian community of http://www.barcampphilly.org/ I came home to dystopian reality of dog owners in my local park. Basically Cianfrani park is a nice little community park that has been overrun by rude dog owners recently. I love dogs, having raised three. My dogs didn’t need a leash and I walked them daily off-leash, so I understand these people. The contrast in the community is striking....
Sometimes the answer really isn’t that hard. We were recently having a lunch conversation and talking about how to get involved in the local tech community. Kevin simply stated “Just show up”. It was a stunningly simple answer. To people that have had the great experience of being involved in the Philly tech scene this seems obvious. As a Gen ‘X’er that moved around the east coast during the dotCom days let me say this is an unual and fantastic community....