DOAG 2011 vs. Devoxx - Value and Attraction

Yesterday DOAG 2011 started in Nuremberg. I am with the German Oracle Users Group since some years and it is always a pleasure to contribute to this great conference. A little drawback is, that Devoxx is going on in parallel and I am really sad to see so many people over there in Belgium which I would have loved to meet. I guess, that is what happens if you have different conferences going on in a very short time frame: you have to make hard decisions about which one to attend. And even if I have spoken to Stephan and Fried about if there is any chance to align the two conferences, it seems as if this is not going to happen. So, here are my thoughts about which of both brings more value to you.

Being a regular reader of my blog you are interested in Java EE, Oracle Middleware (WebLogic or GlassFish) and probably some other products related to the former.

DOAG is about the Oracle Community

Picture of me, drawn by an artist
sitting at the Fujitsu booth. I love it :=)

DOAG likes to call themselves the "Oracle community". The conference is the annual get-together of Oracle users for 23 years now. Three days of knowledge, current information on using oracle solutions successfully, and the exchange of hands-on experience are the values which differentiate them from others. A very special focus lies on having mostly German content. Even if this changed over the last few years and you see more and more English speakers around, it's still a mostly German speaking event. They are supported by some of the German and European based Oracle ACEs and lot of the current information comes directly from Oracle speakers coming over from the HQ for this event. The Java related content is weak. Sorry to say, but I believe that the "Java Track" suffers from having big competition with Devoxx. Another point is, that nobody is expecting pure Java content at an Oracle products focused conference. There is a little (friendly) fight with the UK'OUG going on about who held's the biggest European Oracle conference. I personally believe that they are more or less equal in size (according to the numbers I have heard). I cannot comment on quality because I have never been to the UK'OUG conference.

Devoxx is about the Java Community
The Devoxx is "The Java™ Community Conference". Rebranded from former JavaPolis it's basically the conference of the Belgian JUG. With it's no1 speakers and topics it has become one of the main Java conferences around. The Devoxx conference is a special blend of many IT disciplines, ranging from Java to Scripting, FX to RIA, Agile to Enterprise, Security to Cloud and much more. Compared to others it might only have one real competitor which is JavaOne. Stephan is doing a splendid job attracting the right kind of speakers to have a real first class line-up. One big plus is the fact, that Google isn't preventing their guys from speaking there. Even if it is in Europe this is an English speaking conference.

DOAG vs. Devoxx
What is that all about? Oracle vs. Java ?? Probably. Two of the bigger European conferences with different focus areas make it hard to decide which one to attend for people being with one feet on each side. Writing this blog post was helpful for me to decide what my personal options are for next year. I would love to be in Belgium and meet again with the Java Community. But there is also this little red devil on my right shoulder telling me, that I should keep in touch with the latest in Oracle related developments. If you are in a similar situation, you are now waiting for a recommendation, right? Here it is: It's brief and short: Looking for Oracle products, come visit Germany. Looking for the best Java related content out there beside JavaOne? Visit Devoxx. If you have interest in both areas, you will have to make your own decision and try to focus on the part that is most valuable to you.