CUSEC 2007
Posted by Skrud at Saturday, January 20th 2007 at 12:00am
Of all the student conferences I’ve been to, CUSEC is repeatedly and consistently the best. I started with CUSEC 2004, immediately after my first semester of Computer Science at Concordia. I learned what “Software Engineering” meant. And I remember the epiphany I had during David L. Parnas’ keynote: “That’s what I want to do.” As soon as the conference was over I applied to transfer from Computer Science to Software Engineering; I love it, and I’ve gone to every CUSEC since.
This was my fourth CUSEC, and it’s every bit as amazing as it’s been in previous years.
I enjoyed every single seminar I attended this year, especially the ones by Greg Brill, Dave Thomas and Venkat Subramanian. The career fair was fun, though not as large as CUTC’s. The party at McKibbin’s was a blast, with the Infusion Development team joining in the fun and singing, and Nick Landry sticking around for the entire conference and all the rest of the parties.
In the inevitable comparison to CUTC on the conference circuit, CUSEC crushes the competition. I think CUSEC wins because of its specialization: it’s a software engineering conference, and as such it attracts students and speakers from a smaller, more targeted niche. CUTC is a technology conference, and has a more diverse range of topics under the technology umbrella. Most people who attended CUTC probably wouldn’t get much out of CUSEC, but those who are passionate and enthusiastic about software engineering, programming, computer science and all that geeky stuff will take away so much more from CUSEC.
The best part about CUSEC is the crowd. I feel empowered when I’m surrounded by so many like-minded, friendly, approachable and smart people. The speakers themselves mingle with the students at the banquet, in the bars, at the hotel parties. How many other places offer students the ability to have a beer with Ralph Johnson, Dave Thomas or Pete McBreen (even though I’m pretty sure he said he doesn’t drink)? These guys not only wrote some influential books, but changed the way software development is done!
CUSEC also leaves a lasting impression on the speakers. Kathy Sierra, who spoke last year, wrote about it on her blog. This year, I think it was Nick who said something like “This conference renewed my faith in the future generation of software engineers.” And the recruiters from Infusion who were at the career fair (the same people were at the career fair at CUTC) said that the students were “exactly the kind of people they’re looking for.”
Next year, I’d like to be one of the organizers.
You can see pictures from this year’s CUSEC on flickr by browsing the cusec2007 tag. Dave’s CUSEC pictures are particularly stunning.
Bah, Nick was just glad that I gave him his $50 back :P
I agree with you on every point. CUSEC was about a thousand times better than CUTC. I ended up missing a couple of the presentations since I was on the organizing committee, but what I did hear was great. The best part however were all the great people I met, worked with, and partied with. I’m actually sad that I won’t be there next year since I’ll be working.