Almost Las Vegas

The last 24 hours have been somewhat bizarre (or at least, more bizarre than normal, which is saying something). For those who don’t know, I work in the daytime as a professional software and web developer for a systems integrator. This means I help design and build the computer systems used in big companies - the same ones their staff blame for everything, and you in turn complain bitterly about whenever you want to make an insurance claim, get a loan, find out why a payment hasn’t gone through, and so on. Deep in the innards of corporate computer systems you typically find a few common things - among them commonly called a “workflow engine”, or “business process management engine”. It’s the automated work of genius that funnels (for example) your request for a loan from a lowly clerk up to a financial controller based on where you live, your credit rating, and which way the wind is blowing that day. I have the dubious distinction of being regarded as something of an expert with one of the leading systems used to invent such chicanery. The company behind the toolset I am claimed to know is having a conference for all the people around the world in Las Vegas in October. I got invited. Not only did I get invited, they offered to pay my hotel and food bills (they obviously had no idea how much I can eat). All the company had to cover was my flights. There was talk of me presenting the work I have been doing to the assembled community. This afternoon was spent going back and forth, talking to my bosses, talking to America, and trying to figure out if I could make it happen or not. For a few reasons I’m not going to get into here, it turns out I won’t be jumping on a plane in mid October to visit Las Vegas after all. I’ll admit it would have been fun, but in a way I’m relieved. There’s always a sense of “the emperor’s new clothes” when stepping out in front of fellow professionals. I know most of my fears are completely irrational - given the experience my colleagues and I carry, and the breadth of our knowledge within our fields of expertise, we often engender more fear in those we meet than perhaps we experience ourselves. I guess the “fear” is always that somebody will ask a question that you do not know the answer to. Of course most of the people you meet are hoping that they will not be made to look too stupid by you (and indeed, that’s half the struggle when meeting new people - trying to figure out their level inside the introductions so you don’t either patronise them, or fly completely over their head). Anyway. Las Vegas will have to wait. If only I could find a conference with enough benefit to attend in San Francisco, where my cousin lives.