Google I/O Registration now open | Hacker News Reader

Google I/O Registration now open

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29 pointsfredkelly15 comments

Registration is only open for two days so I figured I should post it here. I've never gone and I missed out on I/O last yeah so let's see if I can get in this time around.

I've always wanted to go, but struggle to rationalise spending $900/ticket - can anyone who's attended help me justify it? :)

Google has given out hardware worth more than that every single year. That being said.. they might not this year :)

Last year was two half-baked watches, and the (pretty awesome) Cardboard headset. I wouldn't recommend expecting an equivalent value in hardware.

I've never been, but you will likely get free stuff. In 2013 everyone attendee got a Chromebook Pixel (and the new Pixel was just announced). The free stuff alone may justify the ticket price.

http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/05/15/google-is-giving-a-f...

While that's absolutely true, they make no assurances on that, so if you spend $900 and get nothing... Too bad.

If you're attending in hopes of giveaways, you shouldn't go.

You can get invites into new APIs, services, etc. So it is an opportunity to jump on a departing bandwagon earlier.

On the other hand, maybe it is a better idea to just steer clear of experimental Google APIs, services, etc and just use their core product - search and advertisements. Think Google Code...

I think its worth it, disregarding the hardware giveaways, because the networking opportunity and the relationships that you can build in the conference is worth more than the money.

Worst comes worst, you can consider this as visiting some festival like Mardi gras of Google :P

I've been every year. By far, the biggest value is in having the largest concentration of Googlers you'll likely ever encounter as an outsider. For instance, if you're a web developer, you can ask deep questions from people on App Engine, Chrome, and Material Design all within 50 feet of one another. The ability to ask in-person about the internals of an App Engine Pipeline, or get a Chromie to pull up a secret profiling screen to help kill some jank on your Chrome Experiment is why you pay $900 to show up.

(It used to be a lot more affordable, but when people started presuming that they'd seed expensive hardware every year, demand went through the roof.)

If you can get your company to pay for it, go. If you can't, but you are heavily reliant on Google APIs (Android, Chrome, AppEngine, Geo, etc.), you should probably still go. If you work with primarily open tech and are just curious about attending (or if you just want random free shit), it probably isn't worth it.

Thank you - that's really helpful.

Happy to help. =)

Did you get a pre-registration offer this year? I've been every year too, but it seems like they've given up completely with their I/ON program now :-(

I think the writing was on the wall last year when they dropped the I/ON brand and just invited us as "trusted partners".

I've been there for the last 2 years, but this year I decided to ask my company for a flight to pycon instead.

For an Android developer, there are a lot of great talks at I/O, and you have the opportunity to meet the complete Android team and ask them questions.

But last year they reduced the event from three days to just two, and the first day starts with a 3 hour sales pitch for the press.

I met some interesting people there. One of them is working with me now, so that trip was definitely worth it. But I like to experience conferences like short educational trips where I learn new things with other people, and I think 5 days with the Python community will be more fun than another Google show.

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