Highlights from the 13th annual Monktoberfest – a RedMonk developer conference held in beautiful Portland, Maine. Monktoberfest looks at how technology influences the world around us, and how the world influences the way that technology is created – all while enjoying some of the best craft food and drink.

Transcript

[Music] It is the Monktoberfest and it is always a treat to hear all of the best stuff from the smartest folks in tech. I’m very happy to come all the way across the country to be here because, I mean, this is not a bad spot. It is my first Monktoberfest. I came because my boss couldn’t and that’s a win for me.

As a first-timer, I was  nervous and everyone has been very kind and just welcoming that it’s made me want to come again and be part of the annual crew here. I actually met a bunch of people that I only heard stories  of. That was quite amazing. John “Maddog” Hall. He’s an absolute legend.

You know, it’s matured a little bit over the years and it’s fun to sort of see all the people coming back. It just feels like  this, you know, awesome kind of friend group that we all sort of know each other and probably for a lot of us it’s our favorite time of the year.

The speakers are all like secret. The fun thing where Steve doesn’t ever announce the agenda in advance, you know, makes it so that every talk is sort of a fun surprise.

Oh man, it was so fitting the first talk was about roller derby.

My now friend Snatch McCracken looked me dead in the eye with like, I can only  describe now as the Gen Z stare and said, your plow stops are not effective. And it did break my heart a little bit. That came, I was like, oh yeah, this is right where last year left off.

I always know that these are going to be different talks and they’re not going to be your traditional tech talks and I might cry or like get emotionally attached to them.

So many of us struggle with taking care of ourselves. It’s very easy to take care of others. But as someone reminded me once, you can’t help anybody else if you don’t help yourself. Help.

This tech industry can be really jaded. It’s nice that there’s an event that’s so heartfelt and so authentic. I love it.
I hope it keeps going forever.

It kills me to say this because like, God damn it, I was using the M dash long, I mean, that God damn thing trained on my writing and your writing.

The best thing about Monktoberfest is that I never know what to expect. The smartest folks in the game. I love
learning from them and the energy is unbeatable.