UC Tech
The first (and only) full day of UC Tech ended up being more focused on the soft skills of technology and project management than the technical side. Not sure if that's because of the sessions I chose, or if that was the overriding theme of this year's UC Tech in general. While I deeply appreciate the emphasis on soft skills and project management, things felt a little out of balance, with only one session of the many I did today feeling like it was attempting to dive into the technical decisions of their project. Even the Microsoft presentation on AI implementation, AI vulnerability, AI governance, and actually discussing approaches into implementing proper security didn't get into the latter til a bit too late in the presentation.
The vendor exhibit hall, vendor parties, and the UC Tech Awards ceremony also all fit into the one full day. The former was a bit odd, crammed in the decidedly small UC Merced gym, but at least it felt full enough to have some vibe going. The posters were also scattered around the edges of the gym, not in their own hall, but given how small the scale was, that probably got the more attention than they would have otherwise.
The Microsoft party at least had real food (tacos) and an assortment of beer, held in a converted old movie theater (The Mainzer) that had been converted to a restaurant/game room/bar/still a movie theater. Met some new people, both vendors as well as from UCOP and UC Davis, and honestly should have stayed here if food was the goal. Instead, trekked down to the Merced Theatre for the UC Tech Awards Ceremony, which I missed most of, in favor of grazing on their picked-over charcuterie board. Was worth it to meet more people tho, and it wasn't too awful outside on my evening run an hour later.