This was the 7th Chicago Code Camp and the first time in years that it took place in the city of Chicago. The multi-platform conference had been held in Grayslake, IL the past few years but returned to the city that bears its name as the Illinois Institute of Technology hosted this weekend's event.

About 350 attendees showed up to see talks covering languages, tools, DevOps, and soft skills.

I delivered 2 presentations: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Azure Mobile Services and Effective Data Visualization.

I was able to hear MVP Michael Blumenthal talk about Powershell; Matt Stratton describe the Chef tools;  Angela Dugan talk about fear and self-doubt among software developers; and some advice on project recovery from DevMynd CEO JC Grubbs.

The Chicago Code Camp was the first conference I attended in Illinois (back in 2011) and it remains a strong voice in the community. I love the fact that it has returned to the city. The high turnout is an indication of the strong developer community here in Chicago.

At least half a dozen of the conference organizers stopped me during the day to thank me for Microsoft's sponsorship of the event.