Overview
Last week I attended a conference called SCaLE 20x – the 20th Annual Southern California Linux Expo. SCaLE is the largest community-run open-source and free software conference in North America. It is held annually in the greater Los Angeles area, and this year’s event was in Pasadena which is conveniently 15 minutes from where I live.
This was my first in-person conference since 2019 and my first Linux industry conference since joining Red Hat in February 2022. In the past, I’ve attended many Drupal conferences and camps going back to DrupalCon Denver 2012. It was comforting to see a few familiar faces from that Open Source community at this event. Even several vendors in the Exhibit Hall were familiar from DrupalCons.
I attended several informative sessions, and even though some of the information was way over my head, I left feeling more knowledgeable about the ins and outs of Open Source and Linux than when I arrived. Mission accomplished, right?!
Here are links to the sessions I attended, most of which are YouTube links to the presentation recordings.
- How to Build a Custom Collaboration Stack with Open Source Software (description)
- Welcome to the Cookie Factory! An Illustrated Intro to Kubernetes (description)
- Keynote: Arun Gupta – Fostering an Open Source Culture (video)
- RESF: An Approach to Stable Community Driven Open Source Stewardship (video)
- Learning From the Big Failures To Improve FOSS Advocacy and Adoption (video)
- Mastodon and the Fediverse (video)
- Lessons in Open Project Management (video)
- What’s new in 2023? Accessibility is a moving target (video)
Besides learning more about Open Source and Linux in general from the sessions, I also connected with several industry peers in the hallways and at exhibit booths learning the ins and outs of the Linux community. It was fascinating to see how Red Hat is a disruptive force in the Linux community and decisions that RH makes causes ripples effects throughout the rest of the community.
Below are some images from the conference to serve as my event scrapbook so to speak.
Pasadena Area
When in or near Los Angeles, be careful which door you walk through. You might end up dancing with the stars.
SCaLE20x had a very Steampunk theme this year.
Since I was only a couple of blocks away, I dipped over to Amara for lunch on Thursday.
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 5 6](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6.png?resize=828%2C630&ssl=1)
People
The best part of conferences is seeing old friends and making new ones.
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 6 4 1](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/4-1.png?resize=828%2C1087&ssl=1)
Meeting Shawn Powers’ head
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 7 5](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/5.png?resize=828%2C630&ssl=1)
Red Hat Exhibit Booth Team
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 8 3](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3.png?resize=828%2C630&ssl=1)
Most Intriguing Sessions
Fostering an Open Source Culture
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 9 6 1](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/6-1.png?resize=828%2C1087&ssl=1)
Learning From the Big Failures To Improve FOSS Advocacy and Adoption
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 10 7](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/7.png?resize=828%2C1087&ssl=1)
Lessons in Open Project Management
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 11 10](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/10.png?resize=828%2C1087&ssl=1)
Getting Stuff Done
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 12 3 1](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3-1.png?resize=828%2C1087&ssl=1)
Conference Swag
Chocolate Computer!
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 13 2](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2.png?resize=828%2C630&ssl=1)
Red Hats and stickers!
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 14 5 1](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/5-1.png?resize=828%2C1087&ssl=1)
Some prized takeaways
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 15 11](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/11.png?resize=828%2C1087&ssl=1)
I won a raffle prize!
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 16 8](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/8.png?resize=828%2C1087&ssl=1)
And it glows in the dark!
![SCaLE20x Linux Conference 17 1](https://i0.wp.com/robmcbryde.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1.png?resize=828%2C630&ssl=1)
See you next year, SCaLE!
If you were at SCaLE20x, leave a comment and let me know what your favorite takeaways were from the conference! Or what was your favorite piece of swag. 🕹️🔋🍫