A couple of weeks ago I got the chance to finally visit and be a part of a software development conference. I'd seen a lot of lectures from a lot of different conferences and naturally I'd always wanted to visit one myself, but they typically aren't exactly easy to get to for someone living in the North of England. A few months ago, one of the organisers, Fejiro Gospel, reached out to me about attending the Developer's Up North Conference based in Hull — the very first one they'd ever run. When looking into them I saw that they were looking for volunteers. Thinking it would be a great opportunity, I quickly put myself down for it and was accepted.

On the day, the conference went swimmingly. I got to listen to some very interesting talks and meet some new people, though I did have to leave a little earlier than planned due to a personal matter.

My role as a volunteer was to help with guiding the attendees, ensuring that they were aware when the next talk was about to begin and encouraging them to be seated front and center. This was pretty easy overall. The attendees were very accomodating but it's not like I was expecting it to be like the time I was a scare actore for a night club one Halloween.

I think one of the talks that stood out to me distinctintly was by Jack Franklin called 'Building Chrome DevTools in the AI era'. Having been working as a solo developer for the past year and a half, I haven't had much time to experience how AI is being used in the industry, so it was certainly interesting to hear how it's being used and to hear a professional give their thoughts on how it should be used and considered. Naturally I've always been aware to be thorough when it comes to checking the code that an AI agent develops and to ensure nothing secret is given away. Jack discussed how it was being used not just with an actual business product but also in his personal projects. It was great to hear.

A big benefit of attending these conferences is getting to talk to other developers and sharing our projects with each other. There were a few I got to show my website Act Reel to and discuss how it was developed.

Looking back, it's a bit strange it took me this long to get to one of these in person, having watched so many talks online over the years. If you're a developer in the North and you've been on the fence about going to one of these, I'd say just do it — and if you're weighing up whether to volunteer, do that too. It's a great way in, and you end up seeing the conference from a different angle than you would just sitting in the audience.

I'd like to thank Fejiro once again for introducing me to DUNC and also to Amaka N. for hosting and doing such a great job. It was a pleasure to be a part of.