Hey Friend, Get Your Ass Back Outside & Economic Tips for Doing So
- Allison Higgins
- Nov 3
- 8 min read
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.” - African Proverb
At last, I am back home in Atlanta after a 4 week 8+ conference blitz through the southeast United States. From all over Georgia, to Raleigh, NC, to Jackson, MS, and back, I have presented, prototyped, volunteered and networked with thousands of technologists across conferences, happy hours, and more.
Before I nerd out about who I met, what I learned, and built, I wanted to express that I recognize the immense privilege of being able to travel and network during this time, so I wanted to share not just my learnings, but also economic tips that helped me with this massive blitz as well.
Economic Tech Conference Travel Tips
Find a Friend - Statistically speaking, you probably are not the only person in your area attending a popular tech event. Try to connect with other attendees and ask to coordinate travel and accommodations with them. Reach out to your network first. (Shout out to my conference blitz co-star, Calypso Hernandez)
Volunteer - As a conference volunteer, you are almost guaranteed free tickets, possibly some swag, and behind the scenes/first to know access. Spare a hand and save yourself registration fees.
Find Scholarships - Look for conference scholarships through networks, discord groups, and more. Specifically check for community partner organizations that may have tickets or discount codes for them.
Submit a CFP/Presentation - If available, submit a presentation for the conference. This usually includes conference access at minimum, but some events also provide travel and accommodation for speakers. Additionally, being a speaker provides almost behind the scenes/first to know access.
Just Ask - Don’t be afraid to just ask. A cold email explaining your situation, why you want to attend a conference and what you expect to learn, with a copy of your resume can go very very far.
Day 1
Atlanta, GA
AI Agents Live + Labs with Google
My Thoughts: What an exceptional to kick off to this tech conference blitz! In a hands-on lab with Google's Agent Developer Kit, I created a Megan Thee Stallion themed search agent which returned responses in her signature Houston accent. Additionally, I attended demos on some of Googles other AI offerings including Vertex, and cloud specific AI tools. I also met some Google software apprentices and helped get them more connected to the Atlanta tech community and opportunities for growth and development.
Day 3
Athens, GA
Athens Indie Con
My Thoughts: For this to have been the inaugural event, I am beyond impressed and thrilled at the efforts of my friend Eugene Willis. He brought together creatives, entrepreneurs, and technologists like me to discuss impactful topics like branding, using AI in the creative process, and building a future in the thriving Athens music scene. We have big plans for next year, and I can’t wait to see this vision expand.
Day 7
Atlanta, GA
AI for Engineering Teams Workshop hosted by ThisDot Labs
My Thoughts: This hands-on workshop focused on leveraging Claude to enhance developer productivity with planning software architecture, and running key development and testing workflows. Attendees also received an extensive review of GitHub’s codespaces, a tool which I have started using in my own developer processes to help manage pull requests. We received instructions and examples of improved prompt engineering for cleaner and more maintainable code. These learnings have translated into a decreased development timeline for me, while also allowing me time to focus on important details that my apps need.
Day 8
Marietta, GA
Atlanta Developer’s Conference 2025
My Thoughts: At the Atlanta Developer’s Conference 2025, I presented a talk on Object Oriented Programming, specifically as it relates to languages most common in web and frontend development. I covered object oriented principles in languages such as Javascript, Golang, Rust, and Python. In addition to presenting, it was great to catch up with my friends in the Atlanta tech community and see what they have been building and learning. The fact that this close knit and affordable conference takes place at Kennesaw State University, specifically in the engineering department always adds an extra level of charm.
Days 9 - 12
Raleigh, NC
All Things Open 2025
My Thoughts: As a previous attendee of All Things Open, my hopes were incredibly high for my return as a volunteer.With more experience this time, I was also more strategic in how I navigated the conference schedule. Two primary examples include:
Waiting for crowds to move in opposite directions so that I could make real connections with company representatives at booths.
Making time to have 1:1 conversations with all levels and types of tech professionals to get their takes on the job market, hiring, and how the macroeconomy is impacting us all.
What made my first ATO experience so special, the warmth and helpfulness of my fellow attendees and the volunteers, I tried to bring to volunteer duties. As a room monitor, I got to make connections with several speakers as I helped them prepare for their sessions. We exchanged insights, jokes, LinkedIn profile, and business information before and after their presentations.
One of these many conversations, with a lead engineer (and now mentor) at Amazon truly opened my eyes. Receiving his insights on the industry, my plans, and how they have been changed since the end of my last full-time role, reminded me of what is truly important and galvanized me in new ways. As we encountered different community organizers, my conference blitz co-star and I made new plans to serve the Atlanta tech community and how we can expand the impact of our meetup, 75 South Devs.
Days 17 - 21
Jackson MS
MagnoliaJS + Hackathon
My Thoughts: This conference was my first time traveling to Jackson, MS, in addition to being one of the few times I attended as a non-speaker or non-volunteer during the conference blitz. Leading up to my departure from Atlanta, I had heard so many good things about the organizers, and I was excited for another round of southern hospitality. Day 1 of the conference included a hackathon, where we were asked to build an application using at least ten components from one of the sponsor's Kendo-UI react library. After taking some time to think about what to build with only a few hours left, I decided on a data structures and algorithms study app that allowed users to test their knowledge through short quizzes. When all hope seemed lost due to a file reading error, I was reminded of the power of Claude. With Claude’s assistance, I got a small proof of concept working before the competition deadline. Aside from some user experience bugs, I was proud of the feedback I received. I made the brave decision to take my idea to the next level and add some polish. You can test out AlgoAstra here . Later, I will write a fuller post later about this app and my building process. The following days were full of exciting presentations, covering everything from community, to design, to Typescript and tons of great networking. My biggest hope is to return as a presenter in the future.
Day 22
Atlanta, GA
ReImagining AI Summit & The AI Challenge: From Idea to Demo in 2 Hours
My Thoughts: Two conferences in one day is enough to drive anyone mad, but for me, these two events pushed me to new levels of innovation. I arrived at ATDC in Midtown early already germinating with ideas for the challenge. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stay in one place the entire time, so I made plans and connections to keep me up to date when it was time to head to the next event. Although I didn’t formally enter the AI challenge, I still wanted to challenge myself to build out an idea. This idea, SafeMind AI, was inspired by the recent news coverage of parents and guardians suing generative AI companies for failing to implement guard rails that led to tragic results. In SafeMind, I imagined a tool, similar to an age verifier for certain sites and channels, that can be used across generative AI platforms, to alert parents and mental health crisis counselors of a youth thinking of or planning self harm. This decision would come based on analysis of conversation logs for certain topics and phrasing. While I was not able to get SafeMind fully implemented for the challenge, I have a pretty strong base to build from including scaffolding and project set up that I can start building from.
For part 2 of my day, I traveled a little over two miles away, for the ReImagining AI Summit hosted by blackcomputeHER. I arrived in time to hear presentations on improving the user experience through AI integrations, how AI is shaping society, and had the opportunity to network with fellow AI academics over lunch. When the future of AI is imagined, it often doesn’t include rooms and people like this, which is why I salute the organizers for their hard work making the summit a reality.
Day 25
Atlanta, GA
Securing React Apps, AI, and Engineering Leadership
My Thoughts: This meetup is the ultimate microcosm of Atlanta tech. From senior engineering leaders, to entrepreneurs, to students, to individual contributors of all levels, there is truly no telling who you will meet and network with at this meetup. This month, we got to hear from Neal Gamradt, a principal engineer, in a fireside chat on career growth and becoming a technical decision maker at scale. I also had time to catch up with and congratulate other friends in my network about their new roles, missions, and upcoming speaking engagements.
Day 28
Atlanta, GA
Google DevFest Atlanta 2025: The Legacy of Innovation - Building the Future with AI
My Thoughts: What a spooktacular day of learning, networking, and serving the community. I was so excited to see and support my friends speaking at Google’s DevFest in Atlanta. Dressed in my spookiest threads, I arrived excited for the AI workshops and ready for my next encounter with Google’s Agent Development Kit. After my friend Martin Roja’s presentation,“Stop Fighting Your AI: Engineering Prompts That Actually Work”, we had a mini hacking session where I received some critical deployment help and insights. As I networked throughout the event, I mentioned my latest community service efforts, an open source web app to help Atlanta’s needy families and those impacted by the government shutdown to find food. After returning to my desk and adding a few finishing touches, I published the app officially just a few hours short of the deadline by which the benefits would no longer be funded.
In conclusion, the main message I want you to take from this post is"Hey Friend, Get Your Ass Back Outside". I know that there are many, many reasons to not want to: from an unforgiving job market, to travel affordability, to the various pressures of modern life. I hear you and I see you. However I raise you this question: If you aren't outside talking to people about what you are learning, building, or envisioning as a goal, who else is going to do it? This year and it's economy has knocked the wind out of many sails, including my own. Getting back outside, into my community, around fellow builders, entrepreneurs, and students, and has more than made up for it. If you're still struggling to believe me, take a peek at my Github 💜
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