Last Saturday I attended BathCamp near Bath and Tues through Thursday I attended Software Architect 2009 in London. I loved both conferences yet they are so very different. Hence (in a blokey way) I thought it would be interesting to summarise and compare.
I was an invited speaker for Software Architect (my sessions) and proposed and had a session accepted on the day at BathCamp.
| | BathCamp | Software Architect | Comment |
| Price | £20 | £1000ish | |
| Location | A field behind a pub near Bath! Many folks camped overnight. | Royal College of Physicians in London | Both great venues for totally different reasons |
| Number of days | 1.5 (On a weekend) | 3 (Weekdays) | |
| Number of tracks | 3 | 5 | |
| Attendees | 50+ | 200ish | |
| Sessions | Pretty much on anything “geeky”. From “Kung Fu for IT people” to “365 days in the life of a rubber duck” | Architecture and development, typically but not exclusively on .NET | BathCamp sessions were great fun but at times difficult to find “code stuff”. Quality was variable. SA delivered high quality sessions throughout. |
| Learning style | Listen and Talk | Listen lots and ask a little | |
| Organiser | The attendees | Bearpark (VSJ publisher) | |
| Attendees | A real mix. Developers, contractors/freelancers, web designers, scientists, publishers etc. Majority of dev types were PHP and Apple.
Average age… hmmm… under 30 | Architects and developers, majority .NET. Average age is over 30. | Both are small enough to “recognise everyone” by the end. |
| Speakers | The attendees are the speakers! You propose sessions on the day | Lots of well respected names in the industry | SA attracts some of the best speakers – entertaining and knowledgeable. |
| Agenda | Made up on the day | Published in advance | SA gives predictability and high quality. But BathCamp gave some great surprises and treats |
| Food | Attendees made it! (you made your own sandwiches from the stuff provided) | Standard conference food – nice shepherds pie! | The hacked lunch at Bathcamp was a great idea |
| Evening | Band, BBQ etc | “Standard” free drinks reception | Bathcamp wins on this one by a long way. Very social. |
| Giveaways | A tin cup and a chair! | Nice bag with sponsor bits | Tin cup rocks! |
| Fun | 10/10 | 7/10 | |
| Content | 6/10 | 10/10 | |
| Relevance to job | 2/10 | 10/10 | |
| Recommend? | Darn right! | Absolutely! | |
Which to me proves that there is room for both extremes. I also think there is room to do a hybrid - and no doubt they exist! www.microsoft.com
And finally, some piccies.
BathCamp
Software Architect
