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Oh Hello Ana

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A love letter to the community-led events

Oh Hello Ana

I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for community-led events in the front-end community, and I am forever grateful for that. However, I am heartbroken by the current state of the events.

Many community-led events have recently been cancelled due to low ticket sales, which feeds a gigantic gap of events left by the pandemic. I remember we had to cancel the in-person London CSS and IndieWebCamp London at the very last minute back in 2020, and it was incredibly stressful to disappoint attendees and speakers.

It is obvious that in-person events have either not returned or are maybe a little less frequent than before the pandemic. But that was a public health event—having to cancel events due to financial strain sounds incredibly painful, and I know it is the current stress of many event organisers.

When I moved to the UK in 2015, I struggled a lot. I was already struggling with feeling too much of a junior developer. I felt alone and missed my friends. I also thought that the front-end community was my co-workers who happened to be bullies and whatever the Twitter timeline showed me. I hated myself and this career, but I genuinely had absolutely no other skill that could match the salary I desperately needed.

My friend Paul joined the company I was working at and recommended events for me to attend. Nearly 10 years later, Paul and I still attend conferences together. At the time, he raved about FFConf. I got a ticket, and my life changed.

I couldn't believe it - there were actually conferences and meet-ups that encouraged you as you are and welcomed you even with all your lack of knowledge. At the time, I always thought I didn't belong at any meet-up or conference. The few I had attended so far always made me feel less than. But for the first time ever, I… had a great time. The following year, we attended All Day Hey! and then State of the Browser. By 2018, I was incredibly motivated and engaged in the front-end community, and I had organised my own events, such as Codebar Monthlies, Homebrew Website Clubs, and LondonCSS.

I have so many feel-good memories of events and talks I saw.

Jeremy's talk at ViewSource that made me work on this blog.

I remember Jo's talk about perfectionism, Impostor Syndrome and Anxiety. It was the quick therapy lesson I didn't know I needed then. All because of a community-led event called TODO London.

Charlie's talk at FFConf, which mentioned "CV-driven development", explained my frustration with modern front-end tools.

Tim's talk unlocked something in me: you can learn by building useless things.

I cried during Suz's talk. I, too, have that passion.

Beaming with a smile because all I want is to be as cool as Ruth.

Feeling avenged by Heydon's talks.

Dreaming to be as bright as Michelle.

Karaoke parties after events.

Conversations with people and realising that I was finally surrounded by people who cared about making a usable web.

Seeing my "buddies from the internet" at least once a year.

Meeting my "buddies from the internet" for the first time when we attend the same event.

And many more...

It is 2024, and I am so grateful to have given talks at the events that inspired me. But I am also grieving the loss of other events I deeply loved, like TODO London, and recently having conferences like Front be cancelled. Every little meet-up in London and conference contributed to who I am as a person and a professional.

I agree with Marc: the things I said above can happen at corporate events. But damn… small community-driven events are that little 3rd space for someone like me… who made their hobby their career and now doesn't know where to hang out.

I love you all and miss you.

This said, I have some news: I'm going to start a new small free meet-up in south west London. Hopefully, this will attract people who live in the area and work from home. I hope to share more news soon.

I want it all but, it is impossible

Oh Hello Ana

I want to read all the newsletters I subscribed to.

I want to read everything in the ten web dev community slacks I joined.

I want to read everything on the seven Discord servers I am on.

I want to read every blog post in the hundreds of feeds I follow.

I want to read every toot of the people I follow on Mastodon.

I want to find more people to follow.

I want to ensure I didn’t miss your cool and happy announcement.

I want to attend your conference/meet-up virtually.

I want to watch your livestream and support you.

I want to view the videos in the archive of this conference that I missed in person.

I want to listen to that audiobook that I’ve had for months.

I want to listen to your podcast.

But I need to work and live life outside of consumption and entertainment.

And then worry that I am behind.

Then, I worry that I must apply the latest knowledge and wisdom, but I probably have missed it.

And worry that pals could think that I ignored them.

I want it all, but it is impossible.

I am not a good interviewer and probably neither are you

Oh Hello Ana

I cringe whenever I look back to the days I was the interviewer for roles at the companies I worked for. When I was just starting out my career at a company with hundreds of developers, I remember thinking and feeling that being the developer picked to interview someone meant that “you made it.” This is a true testament to how deeply insecure I was.

I am not a good interviewee either, as I shared before, but the good thing is that I never felt like I needed to use my rare experiences as the interviewer as a power trip. I was just happy to be there! To be included! I “made it”! They consider me “smart enough” now. But I really did suck at it.

It’s been over seven years since I last interviewed someone, and I remember the dread of looking up “front-end interview questions” beforehand. I was looking at them and remembering how much I hated them all. I remember how I hated those questions when they were asked me when I was the one looking for a job. Yet, I wasn’t confident enough to create a whole new process. I only had similar experiences. At most, I was just really keen not to have someone write code in front of me because I knew that was complete torture. Just after the last time I interviewed someone, one particular memory was, “I’m not smart enough to be doing this”. “Who the fuck do I think I am?”.

Obviously, I wasn’t just spitting random front-end questions out. I remember trying to ask how a task could be tackled on a high level, but honestly, I don’t remember much.

So many people have shared how the interview process is broken and how it sucks. I completely agree. I have no brilliant ideas of what to share to improve it.

I know that like myself many years ago, most of us are probably repeating what others have done to us, and that means we all suck at being interviewers.

Speaking at WebExpo!

Oh Hello Ana

Flyer with my photo and details of the event.

I'm over the moon to share that I am one of the speakers for this year's WebExpo! It will be my first time attending WebExpo. I was impressed with how keen the organising team was on the community and the attendees' experience.

It will also be my first time at a multi-track conference, and the speakers list is so good! I know it will be difficult for me to choose what to attend.

Since I gave this talk at the State of the Browser and FFConf, I've been working on new experiments and sharing the things I've learned.

Tickets are still available; you should get them before they increase the price!

See you there?