Over the last year or so I have tried to make a better effort at getting more involved with the developer community.  Although I have been developing software professionally for 10 years, and I have done a fairly good job of keeping my skills updated, I had been amiss in keeping up with other professionals outside of my usual crowd.  I’ve been going to the Cincinnati .NET User Group (CINNUG) meetings, but on Saturday I went to my first event – the Central Ohio Day of .NET (CODODN).  I didn’t fully know what to expect of CODODN. I knew that there would be presentations on various topics, much like we have at CINNUG.  And I did expect to run into people that I knew.  Other than that, I had no expectations.

First off, it was great to see a lot of guys from our GA Sullivan days – Mike Wood, Mike Levy, Nino, Ben, Dave, Tim, Parag, and Keith.  A couple of those guys I hadn’t seen since I had left Avanade – and I was thrilled to be able to catch up with them!  Working with those guys and others from GAS still remains one of my fondest professional memories.  I do work with a couple of the guys with my current employer, but it isn’t quite the same as it was at GAS.

What struck me most about the event is how many passionate and intelligent people there are in the community.  Sure, I attended a couple of talks that I felt weren’t that great and didn’t offer me very much new information.  However, it was still awesome to see other people who were there during their own time on a beautiful day just to learn and meet other people who share their interest in .NET and associated technologies.  That is probably what I got most out of the event.  Sure, I do usually learn a new thing or two from presented topics; but in all honesty I can read around blogs or other technical sites to get that information.  But, meeting with people who have actual real-life experience on different projects and companies than where I have worked is what I gain most from CINNUG and now CODODN.  It was, dare I say it, the “professional networking” that made it a worthwhile.  I hope to attend more of these events in the future!