I am going to the last RailsConf in Philadelphia in a few weeks. In addition to attending, I am also going to be helping out behind the scenes as a Program Committee member.

This will only be my 2nd RailsConf, but I was invited to be part of the program committee along with 5 other developers. Even though I’ve been working with Ruby on Rails since 2012, I didn’t attend any conferences (or have any online presence for that matter) until 2022. But I’ve attended one conference per year since then.

Since I started attending conferences and participating more in the Rails community over the last of couple years, I’v been presented with this option to give conference talks. All of a sudden, there were opportunities available from different directions (a personal invitation to submit a talk to Rails World 2024, offer for CFP feedback from experienced speakers via the wnb.rb community, etc.).

That feels nice. But I haven’t pursued any speaking opportunities so far. I guess speaking at conferences hasn’t been on my bucket list of career goals. As I reflect on why, I can’t come up a good reason for me to give a conference talk (other than FOMO). Here are (what I think) some good reasons for giving a conference talk:

  1. To share something you’ve learned. Some hard-earned technical knowledge from experience that you want to pass on to others. Or express a point of view or an idea that is important to you.
  2. To become well known in the community so people come to you with business opportunities (clients, customers, employees).
  3. Because you enjoy it and it’s fun for you.

The way I see it, reason #1 I can definitely accomplish with my writing (blog/newsletter). And writing is certainly more appealing and enjoyable for me. For reason #2, I can sort of get that benefit from writing (but probably not as fully as being in front of people on a stage).

Until recently though, I didn’t realize that people speak at conferences because it’s fun! I remember talking to a speaker at Rails World about preparing their talk and speaking in general, and I distinctly remember them saying “speaking is fun”. Huh…I had assumed that they’d be nervous about it or dreading it. Interesting. This is what a family member said yesterday about a talk they gave at a medical conference: “I like being on stage”. Aha, that’s the difference! I have zero desire to be on any stage. I wasn’t born with that “performer” gene.

A life lesson that I’ve seen play out many times now: a type of work that’s appealing for one person can be draining for someone else. And what’s nerve-wracking for some can be fun and energizing for others. Some people are wired to find conference speaking fun and energizing. Speaking is their craft.

Though I do know that putting together a conference talk is a lot of work. In addition to tens of hours, speakers put in an enormous amount of energy into crafting their talks. In addition to the technical content, there’s the whole bit about creating slides, finding memes and pet pictures, timing jokes, and rehearsing the delivery over and over. For certain types of talks, where speakers have to put a lot of themselves into the talk, it requires a special kind of emotional energy too. I appreciate all of this effort and have learned so much (and been entertained) from watching many conference talk recordings. There are a handful that have had a broader impact on me than learning a specific programming thing.

Aside: Talks by Justin Searls are an example of these (The “salt” talk, aka 2017 RailsConf keynote is one that resonated with me, and I had the opportunity to thank him for it, 5 years later, at my first RailsConf in 2022.) Justin announced that he is retiring from conference speaking at the last Rails World. Makes sense. He has already offered so much in terms of teaching and sharing ideas (and he certainly doesn’t need to speak for reason #2 so unless it’s really fun for him, makes sense to not keep doing it).

There are a number of people that come to mind who seem to truly enjoy performing a talk. Tenderlove (aka Aaron Patterson) is one. I’m sure his talks take hours to prepare, but he certainly looks like he is having fun up on stage.

Most speakers, however, do conference talks for professional reasons. And I get that. I do realize the value of being visible in some way. You have to help people out - potential clients, employers, colleagues, hiring managers - by having some externally visible evidence of your work. So potential collaborators can get a sense of your technical skills as well as your communication abilities. Since I started writing, the blog and newsletter seem to be achieving at least some of that “street cred” for me hah. In unexpected ways, including the RailsConf program committee thing. (And yet I know there are many awesome “offline” programmers. I certainly wouldn’t rule out hiring someone because there are no conference talks, podcasts, or public github profiles to consume for them. Not everyone can justify time for extra activities).

It is nice that there are programmers who enjoy speaking and we get to learn from them at conferences. I certainly have fun with writing and will keep doing it (even if publishing sporadically) because I enjoy it. Maybe some day I will have a burning desire to share something that can only be justified doing so with me on a stage. So never say never. But it isn’t something I’m pursuing right now.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to 1-on-1 conversations at RailsConf. I do find casual conference chats with curious and thoughtful people energizing. And good luck to all the RailsConf speakers who are busy preparing their talks, hope you have fun! I didn’t know anything about what a conference Program Committee does before this experience, but it was interesting the see the CFP process of reviewing and selecting talks up close.

I am looking forward seeing some familiar faces and talking to new #rubyfriends in Philly soon (the location makes it a little extra special, as the conference venue is just a short distance from where it all started for me).