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Why would a non-developer go to a developers’ hack weekend?

… (or my weekend at Over the Air 13)

Over the Air is an annual event where developers come together (and sleep over) at Bletchley Park to talk, hack and tinker with all that is interesting in mobile web development…and some.

So why would a non-developer go to a developers’ hack weekend?

>Because they said imposters were allowed. That was a nice start.

>Because personally I feel that all project leads

  • should be interested in setting up and running better projects
  • should care what developers are into and where they have concerns, right now
  • should care about the sanity of developers

With that I mind I chose my speakers and this is what I learned…

>There is a diversity of devices globally you never dreamed of, reaching almost every price point

Designing for diversity @stephanierieger

http://www.slideshare.net/yiibu/designing-for-diversity-how-to-stop-worrying-and-embrace-the-android-revolution

>Because you only have 1 second (or 1000 milliseconds if you are a developer) performance really matters if you care about your product and your users

CSS and the Critical Path @patrickhamann

https://speakerdeck.com/patrickhamann/css-and-the-critical-path

>Because creating for the web really is complicated you mustchoose what you set out to create very carefully – for the good of product and people

Do as little as possible @lyzadanger

http://alistapart.com/column/do-as-little-as-possible#!

>Being a bad programmer can make you talk a hell of a load of sense – and be very entertaining

Programming is terrible @tef

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csyL9EC0S0c&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DcsyL9EC0S0c&app=desktop

Obviously I took on a little more detail than that. I was exposed to new ideas and understood things I never would if I had just opened a book or searched online.

It makes such a difference to see and listen to real people.

Yeah I picked my sessions but the pitch of the talks was very open. It’s not hard to understand what troubles people, inspires people or what people feel they have to share for the good of their community.

I wouldn’t have missed it.

If you get the chance in 2014 you really should go http://overtheair.org