Why we go to Euruko and why you should go as well

Dawid Lenkiewicz -

EuRuKo is the annual European Ruby conference, launched for the first time in Karlsruhe (Germany) in 2003. The first four editions were organized in Germany. Since 2007 it's moved from city to city across Europe. At the end of each event, people vote for the next edition's host city.

In 2010, EuRuKo was organized in Kraków, Poland. It was my first time at this conference.

I still remember two things from the conference:

Firstly all these famous people who I knew only from their Github nicknames were talking to me from the stage:

  • Matz - the creator of ruby.
  • Sven Fuchs - responsible for rails i18n project!
  • Mislav Marohnić - whose pagination plugin, will_paginate, was being used at this time in 95% of rails projects.
  • Yehuda Katz - who was showing his new kid Bundler

You were able to understand more from their way of thinking. From their way of writing code. Even more, you were able to chat face to face with them during the breaks or after-parties. All lecturers, organizers, and attendees were so open and friendly, creating a great atmosphere.

The second memorable thing during my first EuRuKo was that it was the first time I met my co-workers face to face. I was a remote junior rails developer at Ragnarson and it was my first occasion to meet almost the entire company. Playing poker till 3am in the hostel room was an amazing opportunity to meet each other and build connections between us. People stopped being just a nickname or avatar on the internet. They became REAL PEOPLE, FRIENDS to me.

Both of these things are still relevant in 2016.

We have great speakers again. We will see on this year's stage Ruby world rock stars like Matz, José Valim, André Arko or Nick Sutterer. They will talk about interesting subjects like modern single page apps, the way sprockets work or about the future of Ruby (and how to become a core member). All of this in a friendly, open atmosphere and at a very good price. It is still a conference organized by the community, not a commercial project. By people, for people.

It will again be a good opportunity to meet my co-workers. I work at Ragnarson as a remote developer again. In company we only have a few occasions every year to meet each other. One of those opportunities is the conferences, especially if they have such a good atmosphere and not so expensive tickets, like EuRuKo or wroc_love.rb.

It is also a great occasion to meet folks I used to work with in the past. Or people I met at previous conferences. Some people have a habit of meeting each other once a year - during EuRuKo :)

The interesting lineup and the opportunity for good company and community integration are strong reasons to go to EuRuKo. But there is one more reason. A private reason. An individual goal for all of us at Ragnarson.

Before I started this article, I asked my friends from Ragnarson "why do you go to EuRuKo?". Almost all of them talked about the interesting line up, good atmosphere, and opportunities for good integration. But they all say something more. Something unique for each person. Something that connects the conference with their private life, their hobbies, and their goals.

Mandaryn connects the conference with the Swing Festival. Oskar has good memories from Sofia. His Aikido organization has its headquarters there so it will be a great opportunity to meet his friends again. Wijet has a tradition to be on all EuRuKos and has been since 2008. Marcin wants to visit the picturesque Rila mountains. Krzysztof has a goal to visit a abroad Ruby conference this year. And for me, it will be a first step in my operation "Winter is not coming" - to spend this autumn and winter in warm, sunny places.

It is a great gift if you can connect you professional and private life. If your work helps you achieve your goals from other areas. If you can make a business and have pleasure at the same time.

So, what is your personal and unique reason for going to EuRuKo?