CUSEC: The Canadian University Software Engineering Conference

CUSEC, the Canadian University Software Engineering Conference , takes place next week in Montreal, from Thursday, January 22nd through Saturday, January 24th. It’s the only software development conference I’m aware of that’s specifically aimed at students, and like the best conferences I’ve attended, it’s put together by computer science and software engineering students who are passionate about software.

They’ve managed to snag some big names to speak; past guests include Tim Bray, Dave “Pragmatic Programmer” Thomas, Kent “Extreme Programming” Beck, Zed Shaw, Jeff “Coding Horror” Atwood and Kathy “Creating Passionate Users” Sierra. This year, they’ve got an interesting set of speakers, including Leah Culver , former lead developer of Pownce and now working at Six Apart, and Richard M. Stallman , founder of the Free Software Foundation.

Here’s the abstract for my presentation, which takes place on Friday at 4:30:

Squeezeboxes, Start-Ups and Selling Out: A Tech Evangelist's Story

You'll spend anywhere from a third to half (or more) of your waking life at work, so why not enjoy it? That's the philosophy of Microsoft Developer Evangelist Joey deVilla, who's had fun while paying the rent. He'll talk about his career path, which includes coding in cafes, getting hired through your blog, learning Python at Burning Man, messy office romances, go-go dancing, leading an office coup against his manager, interviewing at a porn company and using his accordion to make a Microsoft Vice President run away in fear. There will be stories, career advice and yes, a rock and roll accordion number or two.

I’ll be flying into Montreal Thursday afternoon, so the first event I’ll be able to catch is the pub night at BENELUX at 9 that evening. If you’re attending – and it’s dirt cheap at the early-bird price of CAD$60 – I’d love to meet you! As the guy carrying a red accordion, I’ll be quite easy to spot, and I’d be more than happy to chat.