WWDC 2008 - Day Five - Winding Down
June 13th, 2008 by Wyatt
Okay, now it feels like a library. I’ve been sitting at the same table with power and networking for about three hours now. I’ve just been working away on some iPhone software and having a good old time. I looked around just now to see that it’s really thinning out, now. The beanbag lounge I’m in at the moment has maybe twenty or thirty people in it. It normally holds over 100. People are making plans for dinner or rides to the airport. Here’s what five days of this stuff has done to me:
There are still a few, like me, that are writing code and trying to squeeze one last bright idea out of the time here. These conferences are a little like going to a Christian retreat. It’s great to remove all the distractions of daily life and just focus hard on one particular area. You feel productive and energized and capable of great things. The first timers will figure out that, when you get back to your real job, though, life is much messier. I suspect those hanging around here know all about how the return to real life disrupts that feeling and want to take advantage of a few more quiet hours. I get that.
Still, as much as I love writing software and as much as I love getting to rub shoulders with so much brainpower, I am not built for living in this environment for long. I would blame it on age, but I’ve been this way since college. Even there, I recognized the breed of student who could experiment and tinker on things until 4am and then still pass their classes. That wasn’t me. I respect those folks, but I’m not willing to neglect the rest of my life, which I would have to do, to live that way.
My wife and son are more important than these geek-outs. The family God has adopted me into is more important than becoming a high-performing social misfit that is admired by many, but friend to none. In short, I had fun, but I’m sure glad to be heading out.
Stef and David, I’m coming home.