CodeLand is Coming – Sept 23-24, 2021! 🌈

#codeland

I’m so excited to share that CodeLand, the tech industry’s friendliest conference for early-career programmers and their mentors, is taking place as a virtual conference for the second year in a row on September 23-24, 2021!

Keep reading for the background on this year’s event as well as some key dates and information...

2020 and the Road to a Virtual CodeLand

It would be an understatement to say that community gatherings have undergone a radical shift over the past year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many communities have gotten more creative and scrappy with the way they connect with one another. We’ve all been in the process of reimagining the way we think about community, connection, inspiration, and education. It’s an incredible thing to see.

The same has been true of CodeLand. What began as an in-person conference set to take place in New York City in July 2020 evolved into a globally distributed conference with virtual workshops and activities. Since CodeLand is, in many cases, the first tech conference our early-career attendees ever experience, we wanted to be especially sure that the conference would be a welcoming, and motivating experience for CodeNewbies to look back on for years to come.

Thanks to the collaboration between our organizers, speakers, workshop hosts, sponsors, and attendees, CodeLand 2020 was a fantastic and dynamic distributed event that anyone in the world could attend for free. So many of you shared that CodeLand 2020 was one of the best programming-related events you had ever attended, virtual or otherwise and that you left your screen for the day feeling re-energized and more connected to your peers.

So, despite all the complexities of 2020, it showed the CodeNewbie team that an incredible virtual CodeLand was not only possible, but incredibly well-suited to many of your needs.

With respect to the global nature of the DEV and CodeNewbie communities, and the varying states of the pandemic in different areas, we are thrilled to offer CodeLand 2021 as a virtual conference for the second year in a row!

CodeLand in 2021

We learned a lot from hosting our first virtual conference last year. Namely, that it’s difficult to transform an originally in-person gathering into a virtual event without carrying over some attributes and approaches that are more suited to classic, live conferences. That’s why we decided to structure CodeLand 2021 as virtual-first, adding in some additional features that complement this design best.

Here’s a basic overview of how CodeLand will look this year:

Location: Virtual-only, on CodeNewbie Community
Dates: Thu, Sep 23 and Fri, Sep 24
Times: Six hours per day – 4-10 PM UTC (check out World Time Buddy to convert to your local time zone).
Format: A mix of live keynotes, pre-recorded talks, and live speaker panels on both days.
Cost: Free access to all keynotes, talks, and panels. (note that registration will still be required to access talks, receive participation profile badges, and be fully immersed in the experience of CodeLand).

Changes from CodeLand 2020

Length: Instead of a 12-hour scheduled live stream, we are splitting the conference up between two days to better accommodate different time zones and daily schedules.
Free time to watch talks: You will be able to watch videos at your own pace during a dedicated block of time when no live programming is scheduled.
Interactive events: We’ll be incorporating more fun, community-focused events this year.

This overview is by no means comprehensive. Stay tuned for more updates on what the event will look like as we continue planning the event!

Upcoming dates

June 22, 2021 – CFP opens

July 20, 2021 – CFP closes

We'll continue to edit and add to this list as more important dates approach.

CFP stands for “Call-For-Proposals” — it’s an event/academic term for an open submission period for talks. If you would like to speak at CodeLand, you’ll want to submit your talk during our open CFP period

We will share information about our CFP on June 22 here on CodeNewbie Community.

Where to Get CodeLand 2021 Updates

Subscribe to the “CodeLand 2021 Updates” email list

If you would like to be placed on our mailing list for CodeLand 2021 updates, please fill out the form located here.

CodeNewbie Community

We will publish all important updates about CodeLand 2021 right here on CodeNewbie Community in dedicated posts. For example, when our CFP is open, we will share a post with all the information you’ll need to submit a talk. These individual update posts will be shared under a “CodeLand 2021 Updates” series, which you’ll be able to find via this post – so give this article a save! 🔖

DEV

Given the overlap between the DEV and CodeNewbie communities (and the fact that CodeLand took place on DEV last year!), we will be sharing CodeLand-related updates in a series of brief roundup posts on DEV. Depending on the week, these update posts might be jam-packed with info and upcoming deadlines, or they might only have one or two reminders.

codelandconf.com & @codelandconf on Twitter

If you attended CodeLand last year, you will probably recognize this site and Twitter handle! We’ll be publishing basic information about CodeLand on both platforms in the months leading up to the event (like the schedule and sponsorship info). Reminder that live CodeLand programming will be taking place right here on CodeNewbie Community, not on codelandconf.com.

Sponsorship

If your company is interested in sponsoring CodeLand 2021, please fill out the form located here. Once we receive your information, you will receive a copy of our sponsorship brochure via email.

Questions?

Feel free to drop any questions about CodeLand 2021 in the comments below – or reach out to us directly at hello@forem.com.

Next steps…

Register for accounts on DEV and CodeNewbie Community
Follow @codenewbies, @thepracticaldev, and @codelandconf on Twitter
If you have attended CodeLand in the past and would like to share a testimonial about your experience, simply comment below. We might reference your quote in future CodeLand promotion 😊
Stay tuned for future announcements – and start thinking about your talk if you plan to submit to our CFP later this month!
Sign up for future CodeLand 2021 email updates to be extra in-the-know.