dotCSS conf and dotJS conf in Paris, Dec 4-6, 2019

I have worked as a frontend developer since 2014 but I have not attended any programming conference before. Since I joined Dynabyte at the beginning of 2019, I had been very looking forward to attend this JSconf in Paris. Today, I want to share my fantastic experience with you!

Both dotCSS conf and dotJS conf have a long history. dotCSS was the 6th edition this time and dotJS was the 8th edition. As you probably know, transport strikes were planned in Paris from the 5 th of December but regardless, the organiser and staffs did an amazing job and I could go to the conference from the city center and come back to hotel without any problem.

What I like about dotCSS and dotJS in Paris

This is a list of what I liked about this conference.

1. Know what are happening now for CSS and Javascript world
2. See the real face and meet the real people who are behind the language or the frameworks/libraries which we are using everyday
3. Meet other developers from all over the world, share thoughts and become friends

What are happening now for CSS and Javascript world

Something interesting or new topics about CSS:
CSS custom property, Styled System, Variable Fonts, CSS Houdini and CSS variables

Something Interesting or new topics about Javascript:
React Testing Library, Svelte, TypeScript, Rust and Deno

These days I myself do not work much with CSS and I could catch up with what are happening with CSS. And as for Javascript, I use React at work but it is good to know what kind of Javascript frameworks are used by other developers. I have not heard about Deno before, which is created by Ryan Dahl, creator of Node.js!

Most of the talks are on the web now and you can find them here. I particularly enjoyed Evan You – State of components and Hakim el Hattab – What breaking interfaces taught me about building better interfaces.

Meet other developers from all over the world

The chairman of the conference, Christophe Porteneuve, (he was also a speaker in 2016) encouraged us at the beginning of conference and also during the conference that we should talk to new people (who was sitting next to me) and make a new friend.
There was even a big board in front of the meeting hall that says “Make friends, be respectful each other and do not rush for food” (We had a plenty of French sweets and snacks for everyone during breaks such as cheese pie, apple pie, macarons, Éclair, cakes, etc.) I listened to him and tried to talk to some stranger programmers during every breaks. It was challenging but fun!

Conclusion

First of all, it was very nice to have an occasion to look at myself objectively. Sometimes we have very busy days at work and probably tight deadlines and sometimes we forget how fun to develop something creative.

Attending this conference gave me a lot of positive energy by knowing and feeling that we have so many colleagues from all over the world. People who made a fantastic presentation spend their free time and they look like a hero and very cool at the stage!

Thank you so much, Dynabyte for giving me such a wonderful experience!