Getting leads from conferences

Yakov Fain: Yes, in some cases, although it may not be immediate: it may happen in a year or even two. Somebody might send me a message saying, "Two years ago you were doing a so-and-so presentation and we spoke for a minute." I may or may not remember that guy, but that presentation and short conversation could turn into a project.

You have to do a lot of talks and not only at conferences. I also organized the Java User Group (JUG) in Princeton, New Jersey. From that JUG, I got some consulting projects.

Geertjan Wielenga: Have the topics of your talks changed in the last few years?

Yakov Fain: They have changed substantially. For many years, I was doing mainly Java and everything related to Java. It was as if I could only speak one language. I can actually speak English, Russian, and Ukrainian. That has opened up information streams, along with entertainment, movies, articles, news, and audio books; it's great.

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