Wednesday, 19 July 2006 2:07 PM
geoffa
Behind The Scenes At TechEd #4 - Andrew Coates
No set of interviews would be complete with Andrew Coates. Of all the DPEs that I've seen present in some way, Andy and Chuck Sterling would have to be my favourites. It's up to you to decide why though - presentation skills, knowledge, or (most likely) looks? To be fair, I haven't seen all the DPEs present, so some of them might be even better...
Anyway, for this issue of Behind the Scenes at TechEd, Andrew decided to not only participate, but go for the record with respect to the number of links embedded in his answers. I don't know though - I'm still waiting to get the answers back from a couple of the track owners, so let's see if he can keep the trophy right to the end :)
- Who are you, and what do you do when you aren't doing things for TechEd?
My name's Andrew Coates - I'm a reformed Civil Engineer and social Hockey player. I've got the best job in the world, working for Frank as a Developer Evangelist.
- What's the secret location of this year's party?
This year there will be no ... oh, hang on, it's supposed to be a secret.
- What track(s) are you running? What sort of things do they cover?
I'm running the Developer Tools track. There's a bunch of great stuff to cover this year, so much so that it gets hard to decide what to leave out. There are sessions on VSTS (including the new edition for Database Professionals), TFS, mobile development, upgrading, VSTO, C++, C#, VB.NET, Security, Performance, LINQ and more.
- What else are you involved with this year?
My big thing at TechEd this year (other than organising the Dev Tools track) is the special Developer Area that we'll have in the expo hall. Modelled on the wildly successful Technical Learning Centres at this year's US TechEd, this will be the place for developers to hang out while at the venue. All of the developer speakers will be available for informal chats, there'll be connectivity (both wired and wireless) and a bunch of our great partners showing off products and services that cater directly to the developers. In addition there'll be a Dev'garten and a special project in which anyone will be able to be involved (more on this later ...)
- No really, you can tell me. Where's the party going to be?
Ah OK ... no wait - you can't fool me.
- Why should I go to your track(s) and not a different one?
I think you should go to all of them :). However if your multi-tasking skills are not as advanced as Glav's and you haven't yet got the multi-threaded USB implant, then the Dev Tools track should definitely be on your list. There are presentations from some of the industry's leading people in a wide range of interesting topics.
- If I couldn't make it to TechEd this year, is there any way I'd be able to get my hands on some of the information presented on your track?
Lots of the links in my answer to Q4 will help, and there's some great info on blogs.
- Why should I even go to TechEd at all?
I think you three guys (plus Mitch and Bill) have done a great job of answering this.
- How many TechEds have you been to before? Which one was the best?
3 in Australia, 2 in New Zealand and one in the USA. I'd have to say that my first one in Australia (Sydney, 1994) was the best -- Dan Weinstein gave a Visual FoxPro session!
- Why is this years going to be the best one yet?
The technical content will be top-notch, Hands-On labs sensational, the developer area inspiring and the party ... well let's just say the party will be one to remember.
- There's a lot of new stuff coming out in the next 12 months - Vista, Office, .Net 3.0, Expressions, and more. Which one are you looking forward to the most?
I'm looking forward to all of them. The great ting about developing on the Microsoft stack with Microsoft tools is the integrated experience you get for all of these bits. It makes software development a guilty pleasure.
- And finally, let's say I couldn't make it to TechEd this year, but I could make it to the party. Where would I need to go? ;)
Dave's already answered this for you ...
For those who were paying attention, you may have noticed Andy's reference to 'a special project' in his answer to Question 4. Never fear, I'll be harassing him constantly to try and get the scoop on the TechTalkBlog as to what he's talking about. Wish me luck :)