getting an admin console that does what is needed without access via api
licensing model (for example ‘only last two macOS supported’)
just a few examples. There are reports for those in the community forum (search fields in 18 yesterday), but I am no longer able to find those in the salesforce software (I had to cancel the whole ‘following’ because of Mr./Mrs migration.user)
I got extremly good memories when meeting fmi staff personally in the past - but in the last couple of years, it was marketing stuff only, left me ‘deeply unimpressed’…
Further on, even when getting answers I would never have gotten without speaking directly to those people, for getting more details I was kept asking via the local representants - boom… that was the end
So, I would keep it like this: Hey folks, there is a devcon coming up. If You can, join!
(but noting more)
Well, as far as venue goes, the Gaylord hotels are among the best. Last year at the one in Dallas, there was an even larger convention going on at the same time. The venue is plenty large enough. I believe the other convention had 5k+ gamers.
I never joined a devcon in the US. A couple of years ago, fmi joined the conferences in Europe (with more technical staff) - the contacts have been as I joined as a speaker, therefore more than 3 years ago.
I’ve not been to any of the European conferences, so I don’t have anything to say about that.
I have been to the US DevCon, and I was a speaker last year. Being that FMI is based in the US, that also allows for more representation from the engineering and Product Management teams. Many under-the-hood sessions. And plenty of FMI staff to talk to about the things you run into in FileMaker.
Will those things change you mentioned? Probably not right away. The production cycle simply doesn’t move that fast. However, a few things happen as you have those conversations:
FMI gets to hear directly from it’s customer base about the things that are important to them. This is vital. It allows them to ask questions, and pose thoughts you maybe haven’t thought of.
You will get a really good sense that FileMaker is listening. And that they understand the problems being faced. And that they will add your thoughts and concerns into the conversations they have with the engineering team.
You will also get a sense that, sometimes, your request just isn’t as easy as you think it is. Story about this below.
One of the things that has always been an annoyance for me, is how button bars don’t work the same for copy/pasting styles in the inspector. I had a few conversations with the PM about it. Some interchanges through a mutual friend with the PM also. And the PM went straight to one of the engineers to talk to him about it. They started working on it. And in early testing, it was there. The feature had been extended to work with button bars. But there were some unexpected behaviors, because button bars, to oversimplify it, are just a very different object.
Fast forward a little ways to FileMaker 18. That feature was pulled back out, because there were some complexities that required some more work to make it solid. But the work is being done. They do listen. And with some tasks there is a level of complexity that requires more time to work out.
Going to DevCon made me a better developer. That effect, was worth so much more than I paid to go. And I spent a lot of time sitting and talking with developers from Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, UK. I picked up more from those conversations than any sessions I attended. And don’t get me wrong, the sessions were great. They were innovative, forward thinking, and sufficiently technical. By far, money well spent on my own professional development.
a couple of years ago, I met Dominique Goupil personally and I mentioned the problem that we (fba) would like to sell fms advanced (was new at that time), but that it is hard without having a test-version… If memory serves well, only a few weeks later, we got test versions (with only 3 connections possible)
In fact the venue being in Florida this year was a big incentive for me. Being on the east coast, traveling is easier and more affordable. I wanted to meet peers. I was planning to attend until my forseen income dropped down to 20% of what it was supposed to be.
@DBtailor That sounds great. Let’s plan on meeting over there… PM me if that can fit somewhere in your schedule. If enough of us make it there, it would be nice to plan a dinner or something like that.
I used to go every two years ago or so. I used to get a LOT out of it and felt it was well worth it, though diminishing each time. The last I went to was around FM15, when I found I was spending more time wishing for something better to do while I skipped uninteresting session topics. Further, I was so disappointed in the product features we got in 16, 17, and now 18 – and the conference was so focused on Cloud and mobile and API and other peripherals I didn’t (and still don’t for the most part) care about that it became hard to justify the thousands of dollars I was spending each year on travel, conference fees, and time spent away from earning money.
I’ve always kept really busy with having work. But if I were looking for work, DevCon would definitely be worth the investment in meeting people and hearing about others needing help.
This year, I almost re-considered going to DevCon once the specific sessions were announced and when I started hearing rumors about some big announcements about the company, acquisitions, and how those would effect the product moving forward. In the end, though, I decided the $4000+ would be better spent on a well-needed family vacation this year. I’m getting too old to keep up with all the new technology anyhow
From this thread, even before deciding to attend or not it seemed everyone had their own opinion about the Devcon’s worth. My take away was that for everyone the return on investment calculation is different.
Just a bunch of quotes to showcase how answering that question really depends on what one expects out of it, compared to what they have to spend (time, money, missed opportunities). I could have said 'just go read the thread' but I felt like a roundup of quotes could be nice also, so here it is:
I have been to every US FileMaker DevCon except the first one. FM DevCon (new name Claris Engage) offers a good opportunity to talk with people in the FileMaker/Claris community from all over the world.
It is cool to see how many regional DevCons there are...
...and that Claris Engage Europe is in the works for Lisbon, Portugal 2020-10-26...28
Lisbon? Keep travel cost and travel time as high as possible for the majority of participants.
By the way, Claris no longer sends staff to European conferences for technical presentations. I’d call that Disengage Europe.
Local conferences are very important. Networking and some sessions are way cool. The fact that filemaker doesn’t join with tech staff is/was a pitty )-:
