RE: COMMON Update... - the closing event

Joe- 

I like your entire comment. Pretty much summed up what
I had been sitting here trying to put words too (while
debugging an RPG program :o) ) 

My trouble, like that of alot of attendees, was
conflicting scheduling. I had to pick and choose. My
classes seemed overall to be split between JAVA and
WDSc with fillers thrown in. If one were to try and
track the sessions I chose, I am sure they would still
be sitting there with "HUH?!?" looks on their faces.

To minimize the risk of losing week long attendees
(ie: The my sessions are done, back to work folks),
maybe M, T a.m., W a.m.,  and Th could be the
"either/or" tracks that concentrate on set skills
(JAVA, RPG, WDsc, etc) all day with T and W
afternoons/evenings (after lunch) being the
"explore/curiosity" fillers, EXPO and tourist play
time.

Some of the WDSc's I attended (mainly Monday) were
simply filler before or between the JAVA (which
started on Tuesday). Some of the either/or conflicted
with curiosities that I had wanted to partake in, so
essentially WDSc/CODE Design (which our office is
still wavering on...we are suspicious of things touted
as the be all end all) won out by default.

As the week went on, I found myself getting
increasingly agitated at the scheduling because more
and more the "curiosities" conflicted with the "Trying
to follow this track."

I would have liked some "tourist play time" that
sessions were not the victim of, I was honestly
bordering on information overload a few times and
needed to go back to my room to just chill out and
have a few quiet moments to absorb what had been
coming at me fast and furious.

Personally, I think my experience at COMMON could have
been enhanced (and my agitation level thus lowered by
knowing for sure I was attending the "right" sessions)
by being able to sit down with a profesional someone
in the know to discuss my current skills, what my
office is aiming for in developing/improving my
skills, and then deciding on a course of action as far
as the Tracks go.

JenR

--- Joe Pluta <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> > From: michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > 
> > Have different tracks based on skills rather than
> > technologies...entry level programmer or mid-level
> manager or RPG
> > professional transitioning to Java...
> 
> I don't know if I'd go so far as to have tracks
> based on skill levels;
> with the number of different technologies, you'd
> have quite a variety:
> RPG guy who needs to learn CGI in a hurry, network
> guy being pressed
> into Java programming, web guy with a little Java
> who needs to learn
> RPG, newbie programmer how needs to know all about
> ILE, long-time RPG
> programmer who has to learn about WDSC, the list
> goes on.
> 
> However, I think it would be great if the conference
> coordinators sat
> down with a list of those potential people and their
> skill sets, and
> then tried to create a "suggested" course of
> education for each of them.
> This would help identify possible conflicts between
> classes.  These
> suggested courses could serve as a base for people
> trying to map their
> conference.
> 
> Joe
> 
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