Attending International Conferences, one of the perks of being your own Boss

Once upon a time, I was a full-time employee of a big multi-national. I spent 11 years in that company, 10 of them managing groups of test engineers, developers, and quality assurance (process) engineers.

We had a “conference budget” which allowed a small percentage of employees to attend international conferences every year. I was a nice boss, and always tried to send my staff to the international ones, like STAREast and STARWest, EuroSTAR, and the like, while I went to the local ones.

One day I woke up!

Last June, I attended the Better Software Conference in Las Vegas, and I kicked myself all the way home. What an idiot I was. Attending good international conferences was something I should always have allowed myself to do, at least sometimes. But then, there was that dratted conference budget …

So, one of the nice things about being independent, is that I only have to ask 2 people permission to go to International conferences:

1. My husband, David, who always says ”of course, and while you’re about it, why don’t you add a few days and do some sightseeing and shopping” (David is THE world’s best shopper, bar none. I had to drag him away from the shops in Venice, so that we could go and see some historical sights !!)
2. My daughter’s nanny …

Which is why it may look to you like I’m spending all my time going to conferences.

I’m not, it’s just that 2 conferences in a row, one week (SEETest 2008 in Sofia, Bulgaria) after the other (SIGiST Israel 2008 in Tel Aviv), both with their international speakers, was too much not to take advantage of. [It also didn't hurt that the SIGiST conference was free, since I was a speaker, and my plane ticket and hotel to Sofia were being paid for, since I was also attending an ISTQB workshop ].

So, if you have the chance, take it, and attend as many GOOD International Conferences as you can.

Coming next, some posts about SEETest 2008.

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Related posts:

1. 1st International Jewish Bloggers Convention
2. Who’s going to SIGiST 2008?
3. Tutorial Days (i) at SIGiST 2008