This May, I had the exciting opportunity to attend TechEd! I haven’t been to a conference in a while and forgot how motivational these events can be. I learned so much about new Microsoft products, tips and tricks with existing products, and best of all, the direction I would like to take my career. Below are the top 10 things I learned or at least the top 10 things that stuck with me a week after the conference was over

1. If you are not using Social Media, you are loosing out on all the fun!
   
   

   I resurrected by Twitter account while attending TechEd. The best sessions were the ones that allowed questions and conducted conversations through Twitter. I am not one to stand up and ask a question in front of a large group, but I was comfortable posing them through Twitter. Also, holding conversations using Twitter throughout the session made it feel like you were attending a session with a bunch of friends. Almost like you were whispering comments to a friend sitting next to you. My Twitter Id: techieforlife

2. Task Parallel Library is a powerful tool.
   
   

   It makes it much easier to manage Threads, but it is important that you learn how to use it correctly or it can cause problems in your program. I was using it on a project prior to TechEd and I learned that I was using it incorrectly, so I wasn’t seeing the benefits. More on that later in a different post.

3. All .Net developers should have Visual Studio Ultimate.
   
   

   I use Ultimate at work and I am not using even 1/2 of the available features. Debugging, code analysis, testing, various productivity increases are all benefits of Ultimate.

4. There are a ton of keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio that can make development much quicker. I will create another blog post with some of my favorite as I begin to force myself to use them more.




5. You can eat anything you want as long as you walk or exercise it off.
   
   

   This has nothing to do with technology or Microsoft, but it was an important lesson. The walking involved to get from point to point at Tech Ed was ridiculous! They also fed you all kinds of snacks and goodies. Everything panned out in the end when I realized that I didn’t gain any weight as a result of my bad eating habits. Most likely because I walked anywhere between 15,000 and 18,000 steps per day!

6. Various techniques that will make my code cleaner and less error prone.
   
   
   • Ensure you are using Lambda Expressions. It may take time to get use to, but it is a powerful tool.
   • Use method arguments when possible. This will limit the amount of times the object type is used.
   • Use generic collections over arrays. I was already doing this but good to hear that it was recommended.
   • Optional and named parameters over overloading.
   • Try to use generic constraints as opposed to explicit cast operations.

   
   

7. There is career progression for Software Engineers!
   
   

   There was a good deal of talk about architecture as a career opportunity. However, it was also noted multiple times that technical architect is not the only way up. There are plenty of people who move up as software engineers, you just have to find the right positions. I have decided after this conference, to focus on what I love which is software development. I will continue to display my ability as a technical leader, whenever possible, and the rest will come. I do not need to go the management route, as I had done previously, to build a solid career.

8. Create a blog. Everyone is doing it!
   
   

   I was motivated to create this blog after tech ed. There is a load of information that I learn on a daily basis. A blog will be a great place for me to not only share this information with others, but to store for my own reference.

9. Power Shell is for developers.
   
   

   Every .Net developer should embrace using Power Shell. It can be used to make life a bit easier and can speed up development time (it can really save time for any Windows user). I will post more details on this in a later post.

10. Participate in a Local User Group.
    
    
    I came away from the conference feeling that I should make more of an effort to participate in the development community, including local user group meetings. Additionally, I should take the time to attend at least one conference a year, even if I have to cover the cost myself. It is important as a learning opportunity and as a motivational driver to interact and spend time with people who are in similar situations.