CocoaLove 2015 Notes

This weekend was the second annual CocoaLove event here in Philadelphia.

A conference about people, not tech. CocoaLove highlights the iOS/Mac community’s passions, challenges, and triumphs.

From all accounts, people had a great time. My very heartfelt “thank you” to the speakers, attendees and organizers for making it such a blast.

Some of my own takeaways and notes:

• Just Do It! and more specifically, don’t let your high taste of quality hold you hostage from creating and shipping. Get it out in the world and improve it over time.
• Don’t let the negativity of the web infect you. Be positive; be constructive.
• Make time to help people out. Mentor them, teach them, guide them. It’s probably the most import work you’ll ever do.
• Embrace today; do what you love; don’t settle.
• Don’t let other people define your life’s scope. Poke life.
• The world is in desperate need of good managers. Managers need not be robots; the best managers can have a huge impact on their team and the product.
• Don’t let imposter syndrome or other people hold you back.
• Humanizing the customer support experience is extremely important. These people are calling out for help, treat them right.
• The developer ecosystem is forever changing. Even today the wheels are in motion and a few years from now it’ll be different. Be prepared for change.
• Embrace side projects. Start tons of things. Experiment. Do things outside your comfort zone.

While we wait for this years talks to be edited and published, consider stopping by the 2014 video collection. In particular I recommend Joe Cieplinski – The Back of the Fence.