Rob Fitzpatrick
ProgressTalk.com Sponsor
Another PUG Challenge is in the books. Special thanks to the executive committee, and to all the speakers, sponsors (especially Progress Software), organizers, and volunteers who made it possible and made it a great success.
This was my fifth one and I had a blast. It's great to meet up with old acquaintances, make new ones, talk shop with customers, partners, and consultants from all over the continent, and learn about what's coming soon in OpenEdge as well as the new things we can do in the versions we run today. It's also a heck of a lot of fun! This year I got to meet LarryD and TheMadDBA; it's always nice to put a face to a name.
The venue was new this year; the Radisson Downtown in Manchester, NH. It's a nice hotel, very reasonably priced, and it's large enough to accommodate the conference as the number of attendees grows year over year. There's also a very good selection of restaurants and excellent brew pubs within walking distance. I'd be happy to go back there next year.
For those who are in North America and haven't yet attended a PUG Challenge conference, I can't recommend it highly enough. For a few hundred dollars I attended two three-hour hands-on workshops, a keynote speech by Progress Software, and 16 hour-long breakout sessions on a variety of technical topics. That price also includes daily breakfast, lunch, coffee and refreshments between sessions, and evening mixers with food and drinks.
There are five simultaneous tracks in each time slot, so whether you're a developer, an architect, or a DBA, you can find tons of material that is valuable to you. And a lot of that material can't be found anywhere else. Even the docs and KB don't have the valuable nuggets of info you can get only at a technical conference, let alone the opportunity to speak directly with Progress engineers and architects. Progress is listening now more than ever and this is your chance to be heard.
I've spent money on my career development in various ways; bought books, attended seminars, read the docs and KB, done research and benchmarking, and attended instructor-led training. Attending OpenEdge conferences, especially PUG Challenge, has done more to enhance my knowledge and boost my career than all of those things combined. If you haven't attended one of these events, and you're on the fence about whether it would be worth the money and the time away from the office, I strongly encourage you to take the plunge. You'll be so glad that you did.
Can't wait until next year!
This was my fifth one and I had a blast. It's great to meet up with old acquaintances, make new ones, talk shop with customers, partners, and consultants from all over the continent, and learn about what's coming soon in OpenEdge as well as the new things we can do in the versions we run today. It's also a heck of a lot of fun! This year I got to meet LarryD and TheMadDBA; it's always nice to put a face to a name.
The venue was new this year; the Radisson Downtown in Manchester, NH. It's a nice hotel, very reasonably priced, and it's large enough to accommodate the conference as the number of attendees grows year over year. There's also a very good selection of restaurants and excellent brew pubs within walking distance. I'd be happy to go back there next year.
For those who are in North America and haven't yet attended a PUG Challenge conference, I can't recommend it highly enough. For a few hundred dollars I attended two three-hour hands-on workshops, a keynote speech by Progress Software, and 16 hour-long breakout sessions on a variety of technical topics. That price also includes daily breakfast, lunch, coffee and refreshments between sessions, and evening mixers with food and drinks.
There are five simultaneous tracks in each time slot, so whether you're a developer, an architect, or a DBA, you can find tons of material that is valuable to you. And a lot of that material can't be found anywhere else. Even the docs and KB don't have the valuable nuggets of info you can get only at a technical conference, let alone the opportunity to speak directly with Progress engineers and architects. Progress is listening now more than ever and this is your chance to be heard.
I've spent money on my career development in various ways; bought books, attended seminars, read the docs and KB, done research and benchmarking, and attended instructor-led training. Attending OpenEdge conferences, especially PUG Challenge, has done more to enhance my knowledge and boost my career than all of those things combined. If you haven't attended one of these events, and you're on the fence about whether it would be worth the money and the time away from the office, I strongly encourage you to take the plunge. You'll be so glad that you did.
Can't wait until next year!