I flew into SFO on Sunday and caught a cab (~$55) to the Hyatt Regency (I splurged for a balcony / bay view room - $295/night conference rate). The hotel is really top shelf - and the venue was an excellent choice. The 7-11 and Starbucks across the street allowed me to refuel with moderate expenses for some additional refreshments.
The conference spanned three days (Mon-Wed) - with two days of tutorials on Thur-Fri.
Several familiar faces were speaking this year - but many/most were new.
LinkedIn and Netflix - as well as Google and Facebook - had some of the most interesting presentations.
I enjoyed meeting Bruce Schneier after his keynote:
https://qconsf.com/keynote/Bruce-Schneier
Some of my favorite sessions included:
Jafar Husain
Asynchronous Programming at Netflix
https://qconsf.com/presentation/asynchronous-programming-netflix-0
Neha Narkhede
Samza in LinkedIn: How LinkedIn Processes Billions of Events Everyday in Real-time
https://qconsf.com/presentation/samza-linkedin-how-linkedin-processes-billions-events-everyday-real-time
NOTE: Neha is a true standout at this year's QCon - she is an established professional - with solid accomplishments - but she is still early in her arc of success - she is definitely someone that will have even bigger successes in her future. A definite rising star...
Aaron Gardner
Etsy Search: How we index and query 26 million one-of-a-kind items
https://qconsf.com/presentation/etsy-search-how-we-index-and-query-26-million-one-kind-items
Jeff Lindsay
Real-world Docker: Past, Present, and Future
https://qconsf.com/presentation/real-world-docker-past-present-and-future
Randy Shoup
Concurrency at Large-Scale: The Evolution to Reactive Microservices
https://qconsf.com/presentation/concurrency-large-scale-evolution-reactive-microservices
I met Randy at a previous QCon some years ago - and have sat in on one of Java One presentations at Oracle World. He is a top shelf speaker - always informative, thought provoking, and entertaining. My one suggestion to anyone that ever has a chance to work for him: Immediately quit whatever else you are doing and go work with this guy. You will gain an invaluable education and the depth of your experience and knowledge will be magnified far beyond your imagination.
Sean Taylor
Putting the Magic in Data Science @ Facebook
https://qconsf.com/presentation/putting-magic-data-science-facebook
One of the most informative sessions for me this year...
Lin Qiao
Gobblin: A Framework for Solving Big Data Ingestion Problem
https://qconsf.com/presentation/gobblin-framework-solving-big-data-ingestion-problem
Another rising star to watch for in the future...
Julien Le Dem
Efficient Data Storage for Analytics with Parquet 2.0
https://qconsf.com/presentation/efficient-data-storage-analytics-parquet-20-0
The hotel offered a town car service to the airport ($65) - which was a bit of an extravagance and indulgence on my part - a welcome reward for the last few years of multi-year client engagements.
Overall, it was a good trip - just the tonic I was seeking for inspiration, insight, and motivation.
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