Thread: any c courses in the UK?

Originally Posted by David_Baratheon

I just think its a better use of my time than going out to the night clubs and getting hangovers. I went to a course last weekend and found it really great and Im trying to find similar things
[...]
Im basicly interested in any gatherings related to programming in the UK

Sort of tangential, but you might be interested in the (multiday) hacker cons that go on here and in Europe. Never been myself (yet), but they do sound like fun; you can probably combine a "better use of your time" with a hangover.

WRT to C: It's too general, and too fundamental historically. Nobody is going to be organizing "improve your C knowledge" conferences anywhere. It would be like doing a weekend on advanced calculus -- if you want to learn calculus, go to a library or a university. Conferences are much more specific and usually introduce relatively new technology with at least some of the original developers, whereas C is older than you are. That context is very different than promoting "check out the latest NET extension", etc. Those things are great too -- I've done that, and if you are prepared, I think it is a good opportunity to talk to people at the top of a pyramid. If not, just using them to learn the basics only seems worthwhile to me if your employer says, "Here's a ticket, we want your opinion on these people". Otherwise, honestly, as has been said, the idea that you are going to learn more that way (vs. spending the weekend on your own with a book) is fallacious.

Another suggestion would be to check out local computer or hacker clubs/organizations in your area. Again, not something I have experience with, but they are the ones behind a lot of public events. You would probably be amazed at the scope and membership in major urban areas. If you've enjoyed getting together with other programmers and learned stuff in a formal setting -- that's probably a great place to start.

Originally Posted by David_Baratheon

ACCU 2012 - Event Summary | Online Registration by Cvent

These are the sorts of things im looking for

£595? Including things like "intro to new C++11 features" and "the art of JVM garbage collecting"? You cannot learn anything of significance on these kinds of (very general) topics watching someone speak for 90 minutes that you couldn't do for free on your own this evening. Honestly. If you are independently wealthy and just looking for something to do, I guess why not? However, I fail to see how that is not essentially a waste of time. I think this is where we get the English term "twit", no offence, lol. 90% of the people there got tickets from an employer and are enjoying a paid weekend. Anything of value that is going on is, as you say, "out of your league", and saying "I am willing to do it anyway" is just STUPID. It's exactly like saying, "I am not a doctor, but I'd like to learn surgery by hanging out." Come on man.

I honestly hate to see people waste their money like this. I don't see your purpose at all. Do you want to put these courses on your CV? Do you want to talk to other programmers? Do you want to stock up on free hotel items? Do you want to get into managing programmers having never written a line of code yourself? I don't get it.

If you want to learn, and do it in a social environment, find your uni's computer science or electronic engineering groups. They will organise events via the student union, usually, and are perfect for exactly what you suggest - a few people, hanging around, knocking out code and learning from each other. The thing about computer programmers is that they work collaboratively any time they like. That's why you have source code management systems, online forums, etc. They don't need conferences to meet and do so because they spend half their lives digging through other people's code and asking them questions about it. They can create projects whenever they feel like it, attract like-minded people from all over the world, and contribute to and learn from each other all the time. The people you collaborate with can be in the next room or the next continent and if you're a programmer, setting up the tools to make such collaboration happen is a Friday afternoon job.

If you want to find other programmers to talk to, they won't be at those conferences, because those conferences are no good for them. You'll be in a room full of people who won't understand why you're there either. And the vicious cycle begins - there are no conferences like that because nobody goes to them because they aren't worth running because nobody would go to them.

Honestly? You'd see more code and people who will help you at your local LAN party (do people still have those?) or gaming event.

Please don't waste your money on worthless corporate events organised with the sole purpose of taking a company's money to give them a worthless piece of paper to make them feel happier about accounting for staff training for those staff they don't know HOW to train. You won't see a programmer at them unless that programmer is being paid to be there. That, in a nutshell, explains just how worthwhile they'll be to an outsider.

in terms of why I want to go, I like to go to other cities once in a while, relax in a hotel, attend something interesting that I cna put on my CV and maybe learn a few things and make some contacts, that type of thing. Im sure the conference im thinking of going to, the accu one will be interesting.

I am going to go to something, and it goes great on my CV in the interests section, and I think I would find the topics interesting too.

You guys have to understand that I TOTALLY understand where your coming from, but you guys need to see where Im coming from too. I have been attending things before now, and will continue attending things for the reasons stated above, enjoyment, networking, learning the latest developments in the industry, CV and employability improvements etc. So Im already intent on going somewhere and have some money saved up for a nice relaxing trip somewhere around march/april.

My question to you is, baring in mind what ive just said, if you feel that there is somewhere else i can get more benefit, where is it? If I like these types of conferences then telling me not to attend any isnt helpful, you need to provide me an alternative where in your oppinion I can get better experience, knowledge etc.

It puts me in the programmer frame of mind too so most likely Id take a minilaptop and code book with me too and do some code in the evenings as when i attend these sorts of events it also fuels my enthusiasm, compared to a depressing local meeting of a few people.

If I find some benefit in it, no need to knock it, we're all different and I do see where your coming from but for me personally as an individual, it builds up my enthusiasm for my studies (enthusiasm can be the difference between a pass and fail), it gives me an opportunity to relax and enjoy myself, I generally do learn somthing, meet like minded people and benefit from their experience and advice, it lets me fill up the interests section of my CV etc, so I feel the benefit. I understand not everyone will and we are all different at the end of the day. I do agree its not a substitute for Uni classes, books oinlines tutorials etc so this is only one aspect of my programming development but I do find it hard to motivate myself sometimes to do my studies and that generally leads to sloppy assignment work. I guess its just each to his own.

I would like to know if there is another event which would benefit me more though but is in the same style and format.

p.s. if there was a conference on calculus I probabily would go to it lol


pps my uni doesnt have any groups for me to attend unfortunately, I wish their was something. Nor do I know of any hacker groups etc in Sheffield.

If anyone knows of anything like this, please do let me know as I think it soudns like a fun way to learn and build up your enthusiasm if your studying it together and doing fun projects etc.

I managed to get onto a research project with the uni which invovled prgramming with I squared C so thats a step up from where im at now so those type of things are good too. im also up for any online collaborations. I find teh more I get into something the stronger my progress is so am up for any type of programming collaboration/events/meetings/groups etc

I think I'm in the wrong business. Two grand per candidate for a week's work on beginner C? And their other courses start at four grand for similarly worthless courses. No wonder they only do them once a month - they can retire for the rest of the year.

Nobody's knocking your interest to learn. What we saying is that you might as well just buy a hotel suite and do the same in there, or attend a cybercafe - you'll get the same price, or the same number of knowledgeable people, and the same content out of the same amount of time. Hell, for those prices, you could hire established programmers to give you one-to-one tuition. There's wanting to learn, and there's throwing money away, and I'm aghast that someone would want to give these people that amount of money (or even close to it) for the little return you'll get.

And, rubbish, that your uni doesn't have groups for that. Go ask the IT department or a handful of the students over there. It may not be "official" but that's basically all they do all day long. And if there truly ISN'T one, use your funds to start one. That, to me, would be far more impressive than throwing your money away on courses. If I saw those courses on your CV, I'd not be impressed - I'd be questioning who you conned into paying those courses for you. Seriously. Those types of courses, as you can tell, have a bad reputation among programmers for being "become-an-expert-in-5-days" courses. You putting them on your CV would just make me question how well you knew your subject at all, and how well you understand how little they do for you and how much they cost.

I'll just go and cry, because that course costs more than entire ROOMS of IT equipment that I've specified in the past, and would cover me writing almost any amount of actual, working, business-critical code as part of my everyday job - and you want to give it to a "trainer" who's knocked up an "intro to C" course and lives off running it twice a year.