The recent series of Day of .Net events have been a bit atypical of most other Microsoft related conferences/events - at least historically speaking.

The biggest difference I've seen? The decreasing number of "Hurray for the latest golden hammer handed down by our Redmond overlords" sessions.

Instead, most sessions have focused on practices, principles, and tooling decidedly not driven nor delivered by Microsoft. They come from a more organic source - a community of developers seeking to continuously improve ourselves and our craft.

What community?

Some members of the community might gather under the ALT.NET banner, others might not, but we are all part of the same evolving community.

We as a larger development community are not where we need to be, we can always do better. Heck, that's the entire premise of continuous improvement and one reason The Developer Exchange Program makes so much sense. But we are making progress.

Spreading the goodness

And its not just the big events like the recent ALT.NET Open Spaces event in Seattle that are helping to educate and push us forward. Many similar conversations are happening across the community - the Day of .Net events are a great example of that.

If you've never been to one before I'd encourage you to hit the next one in your area.

Not one coming to a town near you...? Organize one!

What if you've been out to an event or two? Why stop now? And next time bring a co-worker or friend and share the love.

To have any chance of educating and pushing this thing out of our echo chamber and into the mainstream we need to get folks involved. Bring someone along and maybe suggest a few sessions they could attend - ideally somewhere outside their comfort zone. Who knows, maybe something will stick!