Codebits'09

When I was accepted into Codebits'08, I was pretty excited. But circunstances forced me to refrain myself from taking a train to Lisboa, and remain there for three days. I regretted not being able to participate, as judging by the news and blog posts from those who were there, it was awesome.

And I'll tell you this about Codebits'09: it was awesome.


That's the short description. Here's the longest:

- It was easy to use the public transportation to get to Cordoaria, so it's a good location.

- I was stunned when I received my welcome pack at the reception. I had to sit down on the SAPO Campus stand (where my college partners and teachers were at), and look through all the free loot:
A bag for laptops; stickers; a flyer about Sapo's developers network; a t-shirt; a USB laptop light from Microsoft; a pack from PT Inovação with essential goodies like a toothbrush and toothpaste, earplugs and a sleep mask. These last two items were extremely useful.
Later, we could collect more stickers from the stands, and I saw a certain someone distributing Apple related keychains;

- Plenty of space, you could easily find a place for you to settle down and turn on your laptop. Also, BEAN BAGS!

- I really enjoyed the sessions I participated in, from ps's "Hacking the Demoscene" to Pond's, and even the spontaneous one about the recruitment process at SAPO. I like when companies are this open and share their recruitment experiences, instead of staying at the top and not even bothering to look down;

- Pizza for breakfast, Pizza for lunch, Pizza for dinner.
Yeah, I can't see pizza in front of me for the next months.
But we had good alternatives, like salads, fruits, chocolates and cereal bars. Red bull, of course, along with other beverages.
Also, knowing there were microwaves around, I brought popcorn snacks. The ladies from the bar were nice enough to put the snacks on the microwaves for three minutes. I'll tell you: popcorns are the best to forget about pizza;


- I saw @vd and @armandoalves, who I had already meet at OFFF; I saw the responsible behind the apple keychains distribution, @pedroaniceto , and I greeted @pedrocs, who had no idea who I was until I told him I was responsible for the bastardization of Pond's prototype logo. I don't know, maybe he didn't expect this half-artsie half-geek breed to be short and chubby. Or maybe he was waiting for a dark blue cat on a blue background.

- I didn't participate in any projects. I was going to, but circunstances dictated otherwise, and I was still tempted into entering in another project, but they didn't convince me (sorry guys). Instead, I tried to keep up with some college homework for the thesis. I didn't do as much as I would have liked to (Twitter + #codebits = Best distraction ever), but it helped me to get out of the feeling "OMG, I have so much to do for college and I'm here having fun ;_;"

- Pornophonique's concert was <3

- The Quiz contest was highly amusing, especially the tricky questions. Like the one about the end of the world according to the Unix calendar.

- Say what you want about Microsoft, but I do like their multitouch surface, and the giant multi touch screen they had at their stand. Their Bing Maps Beta is looking good too.
I was also surprised to see more familiar folks from PT Inovação than I was expecting. Those 3D TV screens you saw there? I had seen them already where I work :D

- There were flipchart boards, and then there were flipchart /b/oards.

- We were called for a special surprise on the mainstage. And we're rickroll'd. Bravo.


Now, there were some low points as well:


- It was extremely cold at night. Now, there was nothing the staff from Codebits (Coldbits) could do, of course, it's an old and large building. But unless we had brought our own supply of blankets, it was complicated to try to rest in the sleeping areas, because we're right next to an open door. The sleeping areas should be isolated with something during the day, to avoid the cold breezes. That would help.

- I was kinda disappointed with the board games. I went for a round of Settlers of Catan, and I found too slow and boring. Ey, I trust they're great entertainment, but not for me. I was expecting more roleplay, less strategy games.

- I couldn't stay to watch the remaining project presentations, but few managed to appeal me. I know people complained about lack of a jury, when the audience was clearly more appealed by the silly projects, and not the useful ones, but I expected more from the presentations. You have 90 seconds, be clear and precise, just say what's your project about, and show it to the audience in case it's working, don't do anything else.


Suggestions for next year's edition? Besides the isolated sleeping areas, I don't know what else I can suggest. It's a free event after all.


Until next year, where I'll propose my own project, or if nobody is interested, I'll participate in something.