To SwiftConf and Back

Aleko Konstantinov created To Chicago and Back in 1894, describing his journey from Bulgaria to the United States near the end of the 19th century. It’s a memoir, a travel guide, a journey through the New World with all it’s enormity and grandeur. The hight of artistic merit and acclaim, it brought it’s writer renown and notability.

And while I doubt my Swiftconf experience will make any ripples in the literary world, it was a worthy trip filled with wonderful first impressions, kindred spirits, rain, a magnificent gothic cathedral and a bridge full of locks.

Jason Silva characterizes humans as “infovores”, meaning we literally eat information. We crave the catharsis that comes with the acquiring of new knowledge. Being in the same room as 80 people sharing the same passion, same hunger for erudition is like temple services for a religious person — breaking apart the chains of labels, age, race and prejudice and creating a variable congregation of shared mentality and understanding.

This is my thank you note, my love letter to a great experience, my solemn farewell, my until next time, my keep in touch, my goodbye.

I will try to be brief, to recreate the inspiring atmosphere that the Seven Principles guys managed to build, the camaraderie and edification.

As an avid fan of the passing of time I’ve always marveled at how much one person can accomplish in 24 hours. People often complain about the complexity of modern life, how hurried everything is, how there is never enough time, how 24 hours are quite insufficient.

For me, 24 hours are what you make of them. They can be a boring, sluggish mush you wade through or an incredible journey you won’t soon forget.

In 24 hours we laugh an average of 15 times.

In 24 hours a mayfly lives it’s entire life.

In 24 hours Earth will be hit by lightning more than 8.6 million times.

In 24 hours I packed my bags, traveled 442 kilometers to my country’s capital and flew another 1400 kilometers north to Frankfurt Airport.

This morning I ate my breakfast in a small cafe at Terminal 2 of Sofia’s airport. My dinner was a leisurely stroll down a crowded street, overlooking one of the most renowned monuments of German Catholicism.

24 hours are enough, as long as you know how to use them.

Oh? And fried potatoes, or Pommes frites as they are known over there, wrapped snuggly in a paper blanket, steaming hot, salty and crunchy?

Take my yay as job satisfaction ^-^.

I mean, any job worth doing sends you to places like this, right?

Day two began with rain. Stormy clouds gathering to form a dome around the city of Cologne, barely letting in any light from the sun. Expected. Cologne is quite a far way up north. But after sweating in 28 degrees in Varna, waking up to 15 degrees drizzles is not my idea of fun.

Thankfully the cold and damp are juxtaposed by the warmth and friendliness that greets us at the doors of Seven Principles, the German based software company responsible for this gathering of Apple lovers.

Because let’s face it, we’re just a bunch of Apple addicted sheeple. Isn’t that right, Merriam-Webster?

Taking the elevator up to the fifth floor opens up a long, narrow hallway. I feel like a leprechaun at the end of a rainbow, skipping ahead to my bag of treasure.

Well, we didn’t get gold, but we did get a nice little tumbler for our trouble, as well as a comfy new blazer.

Smart move to offer the gifts up front. Proves the whole “turns the frown upside down” mentality and all. Maybe we should have shared a bag of gifts with the sun, get it to shine some more… Alas, the day stays rainy and wet.

Curling up with a nice cup of coffee, hot tea or a soft drink, developers from all walks of life (or, you know, mostly from Germany, but there were Bulgarians there, too, hello?) filled the room, anticipation running like electricity through the crowd. Greetings are heard, old friends reuniting to once again sink into the depths of this healthy conference (what was that about an apple a day?)

The keynote speaker is Jeff Watkins (@jeffwatkins).

“Hand crafting bugs in iOS software from beautiful Bainbridge island.” Or so his Twitter account says. It’s a delight listening to his cleverly scripted examples as he hilariously narrates a story about how you never hire a dog to create cat food. Nope, no William Plums here (the dog in the picture above, Creative Director of BounceeBalls). Vote for Felix Mausworrier (VP of Marketing in ChewCat, also, you know, a cat).

Voice passionate and full of conviction, Jeff takes the high road and votes for equality, fairness and supporting the minorities. He gives voice to those who won’t speak up for themselves and explains the why and how of the software industry’s struggle to accept women and people of color.

Stop discriminating.

Stop whitewashing.

Enjoy people, conviviality and communication.

These are the lessons we got to learn from Jeff.

Second on the podium is Manu Rink (@codePrincess). One of the four girls present at this year’s Swiftconf.

With an attendee list about 80 people long, that means a 1 to 20 ratio of girls vs boys.

In the wake of this retrospect, that talk about equality reverberates through the days at Swiftconf, corporeally confirming the dreadful statistic.

C’mon girls, we can so totally hash it out with the boys.

See it’s @codePrincess that takes the stage. Technical evangelist at Microsoft, she-nerd and macfangirl. Self professed, I’m sure.

Funny, honest and bubbling with energy, she delves deep into Swift waters, forsaking the lifejacket to paddle through the sea of Swift types.

Next up is David Hoang (@davidhoang).

Flying all the way in from San Francisco, David “lives in the minestrone of physical + digital.” Working at One Medical, a company whose mission is to provide healthcare for everyone who needs it, David is a designer who wants to share his opinion and encourage designers and programmers to collaborate, to understand and inspire each other.

He does an empathy session with us, asking the audience to raise a hand if what he says has happened to them. His critique is from a birds eye view, as one who is both designer and developer, invested in building the relationship between programmers and artists who want to code. He talks about computational design or how engineering can help solve design problems. He doesn’t delve into the question of whether or not designers should code. He leaves that up to them.

What he wants to show is how designers teaming up with programmers can lead to successful problem solving and the satisfaction of clients.

Seeing as his lecture is the one before lunch, our host Manuel Molina(who’s a Belgian person living in Germany spearheading an English conference) lets us out like schoolchildren with a lunch bell, inviting us to eat and drink and satiate ourselves.

I will not be coerced to show you pictures of that particular meal, just take the gif at face value :D

After getting some tasty food to fill our bellies we’re ready to conquer the afternoon dose of speakers.

First up is Nikolas Burk (@nikolasburk), iOS developer learning and education about GraphQL and Apollo. Also an author @ Ray Wenderlich.

With a running commentary on the importance of well maintained backend architectures to insure the most stable mobile apps, Nikolas runs us through a well written and simple example on the usage of Apollo and GraphQL as it will look from the prism of an iOS developer (and we are fickle little bees, aren’t we?)

In contrast to REST, GraphQL allows programmers to make precise requests and only get what they need by exposing a single node for the client to use.

It’s a neat trick that creates a stable bridge between the client UI and the backend. Overtaking the comfort and ease of practice of REST for iOS developers is a difficult job and GraphQL still has ways to go. But it is a viable replacement, a revolutionary way to expose data in APIs.

Last speaker of day one in James Majors (@noizetoys).

Now, I will admit I didn’t have any expectations for this lecture. How could recording music help you with writing code?

Placed that foot right in my mouth.

Turns out coding interconnects with music, art and technology mixing together to create magic.

Now, James is a career changer. And he thinks being a programmer is like having a superpower — you understand and create things other people can’t even imagine.

I don’t disagree. To be honest, however, if I were picky (which I totally am), I’d take flying as a superpower. Alas, I’m stuck with programming.

Hmm, imagine a cape of ones and zeroes…

Swift Woman…. Java Man…

Nope. Move on, vigilantes. Find your own crimefighting ways.

The lecture is a thrill, gratifying and unexpected, like you’ve just plucked a random piece of chocolate only to find out it’s your favorite on the first bite.

All in all, the day is spend with identically minded people, good food, fine humor, 8 bit music breaks that sound like a Mario Cart OST reject and lots of fun.

By the time the last applauses fade, we’re all exhausted but satisfied, our minds crowded with facts and ideas.

Inspired, we enjoy a nice dinner before letting blissful sleep take us under, dreaming of floating types and musical closures.

Third day in Cologne, second at Swiftconf. We start it up with doughnuts, croissants and coffee, followed by a short chat with StuFF mc (@StuFFmc).Inspired by last year’s “jumping picture” we know lunch is the hour, the roof outside the lecture hall the place. Can’t wait to be a part of the tradition.

And yet there are things to do before that, people to hear, technologies to learn.

Kicking things off is Jessica Lascar (@jexyla), a product designer from London, and her talk on developing-designers and designing-developers. Or, should developers design and designers code?

Following in David’s footsteps Jessica waxes poetic about the power of working together, of designers acquiring a technical eye for detail and developers learning to let design happen in parallel to their work.

I’ve been dabbling with design for some time now and I always thought it was weird for me, as a developer, to want to design. Jessica’s talk is uplifting, stimulating and encouraging. I know now that my interest is well received, innovative and futuristic in it’s pursuit of creating a me that’s more well rounded, verbose and multi-skillful.

This is the future. The lines between backend, frontend, designing… They’re all blurring together, paving the path for a new generation of multitalented, multidimensional, well rounded technical experts spearheading the technological revolution, Nikola Telsas and Henry Fords and Da Vincis of the 21st century.

And then things get real. Up until this point, all lectures walk a fine balanced line between technical expertise and subjective opinions. No place for that in this one. This one is all logic and equations and calculations.

This one is all about the math.

Hold the Lattice is an unusual name for the lecture given by TJ Usiyan (@griotspeak). Creating a web of requirements and dealing with Swift checks; math and the principles of programming. Magmas and semigroups and monoids, oh my…

For a moment there, I’m not in Kansas anymore.

I’ve never hid my distaste for math. Not math itself, pre se, math is too logical and sensical to have room for subjectivity. But the deliverance of math and a teacher’s disinterest can have lasting consequences. For example, my utter inadequacy when it comes to the intricate hallways of the mathematical maze.

TJ delivered a lecture filled with patterns and passion. His search for edification and his enthusiasm and eagerness are infectious.

He poses insightful questions on the nature of sets and playgrounds, engages the audience in the discussion and shares his curiosity about musical patterns and the correlation between them and coding.

People always think programmers are great mathematicians. After Swiftconf, I’m starting to wonder just how many are great musicians, too?

Oh, IBM. Telling us to burn our servers down. I’m really hoping no one took the advice seriously…

But yeah, James Thomas(@thomasj) from IBM is here to introduce Serverless Swift and of course, that means turning our back on everything we hold dear.

I wonder if one can get jail time for abetting arson? Probably…

According to James, servers kill productivity. Introducing OpenWhisk with a quick example, he sets forth a new mountain of ideas and possibilities for using the cloud as a utility and placing all of our trust in Swift.

Interesting concept filled with promise and intrigue.

I’m still iffy on the whole fiery part, though? Am I allowed to start fires at work? I remain ambiguous.

Now for the fun part. If someone had told me years ago I’d be creating and running virtual realities on my phone, that mini supercomputer I just casually carry around in my pocket, I’d think them bats in the belfry.

With iOS 11 and ARKit, however, the world just opened up a plethora of choices, a cornucopia of possibilities.

Hugues Bernet-Rollande (@rompelstilchen) talks about all the nuances of ARKit, giving simple examples and creating a virtual reality right there, on stage, in no more time than it would take him to make a spinach quiche. Though I really don’t know if the guy can cook, so maybe 45 minute are indeed not enough.

I digress.

It’s at this time that we get to see the fondly named “jumping” picture.

It’s fun taking that, working out the complicated mechanisms of getting 80 people to jump at the same time (wait, on the count of three or after three…) But it works and it’s done. Proudly presenting Swiftconf class of ’17. Congratulations.

Last, but most certainly not least there is Gianluca Tranchedone (@gtranchedone) and his server-side swift.

Giving us a brief overview of the Swift’s power as a server-side language, Gianluca’s lecture is in direct conflict with James Thomas’s serverless architecture.

Contrary though they may be, it’s nice to see such a variety of concepts urging you to think carefully before picking our poison, whether it’s with or without a server.

Seeing as most apps nowadays connect to the internet for concurrency and seem merely like a frontend for the backend, the idea of reusable developers and reusable code, which is convenient for development on and off the device itself, is a refreshing and welcomed change of pace.

As we express our appreciation for Gianluca’s speech, the hall is a little emptier. With trains and planes to catch, the end of Swiftconf is near.

The speakers line in front of the audience, receiving the last of our applauses as well as a deserved photo shoot. The Seven Principles team is also called front and center next to receive their due credit for all the hard work and dedication to this exciting venture.

With all the excitement and anticipation of the trip itself, the end comes abruptly, like a punch to the gut. One wouldn’t think two days are enough to get comfortable with something, but with amiable atmosphere and good conversation it’s quite easy.

The ending, however, is not, and much like a hard workout, you’re left happy, but tired.

Two days, ten lectures and multiple friends later, we leave Germany a little wiser and a little sadder, but more inspired than ever. We bid farewell to our new friends, Twitter account heavy with new followers, bags heavy with mementoes and camera filled with pictures.

Looking into the sky, sun bright and clouds like cotton candy woven from wisps, I see a new beginning, a chance to change the world, to create, invent, innovate.

P.S.: I want to extend a huge ‘Thank you’ to DevLabs for being the incredible team that they are. For caring enough to allow us to expand our knowledge and worldview, to take us and lift us higher, to give us opportunities and enjoy it when we take them. So, accept this article and the joy, optimism and enthusiasm I hope I expressed through it as my sincerest gratitude.

P.P.S You can watch this year’s @SwiftConf here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP_LVkKUucIusib7FFQ4Q1Q