Children at Technical Conferences Part II

Nearly 10 years ago I wrote a blog post about having my son tag along at various conferences I was speaking at. So much has changed in the past ten years and thankfully I’ve been able to bring my entire family along on various other trips.

I was reminded by a Facebook memory about a trip to SQL Saturday Tampa where my daughters were able to meet Paul, Kimberly, and Jonathan for the first time just over 9 years ago.

My career with SQL Server has been an amazing journey so far. I reread parts of my 10 year old blog post and this comment really stood out to me, “I urge any of you that have kids to let them tag along with you to a technical conference. My son has grown and developed so much from being involved in my technical community. He has friends all over the world now and can’t wait until he can start working in technology.”

Fast forward to current day and my son is studying Mechanical Engineering at GA Tech. The most recent SQL event he attended with me was Data Saturday Atlanta on October 1st 2022. He had some other GA Tech students attend with him and they were all inspired by the speakers and seeing how data is being utilized across various organizations.

So many of my friends in this community have had an impact on my son and overall family. Riley has been able to tag along with me to Curacao, Costa Rica, Washington DC, Atlanta GA, New York, Nashville TN and numerous diving trips with #SQLScuba friends.

I have no doubt that my sons exposure to my data professional friends and their families have had a direct impact on him socially and professionally. Exposure to such talented people to see as role models, getting to make friends with my friends kids, and just the overall experience of seeing other parts of the country and world have had a profound impact.

My community has stepped up yet again by helping to mentor him at GA Tech (Thanks Anna), and all the encouragement and excitement everyone showed him at Data Saturday Atlanta.

If you have the opportunity to take your child to a technical conference, don’t hesitate to get them exposed to the Data Community. I’ve seen so many others doing the same. For me, it has been nothing but positive.

This has been great for my daughters too. We’ve made several trips down to Florida, Washington DC, New York, Chicago, and others.