4.451e+10 or 4,451,000,000,000,000 possible ways to schedule sessions!

With so many sessions to choose from in the Dev Zone at Dreamforce 2014 it can be difficult to decide which sessions to commit to. While we all have different opinions and come to Dreamforce 2014 with different life experiences, I wanted to take the opportunity to give you my Dreamforce 2014 Developer Session Playlist.

Dreamforce Playlist These sessions are not the best of the best (that is yet to be determined), nor are they sessions that I have any personal stake in, but they are ones that I either will attend or wish that I could attend. Some are based on speaker prowess (S), other are based on topics that I want to learn more about (L), while still others are ones I think might be entertaining (E).

So here is what my Dreamforce 2014 Developer Session Playlist looks like:

(L) Hands-on Workshop: A Deeper Dive into Salesforce1 Application Development

I’m kicking this off with an epic 2.5 hour hands-on session for the hard rockin’ experienced Force.com Developer. This session, developed by Christophe Coenraets, affords you the time to build a real Salesforce1 app from the ground up using modern frameworks. At the end of this session you will have all the experience you need to do more than you may have thought you could.

(S) Architecting Engagement Apps

This session elevates the view from bits and bytes up to an architectural level allowing the attendee to view and understand how the pieces are combined and integrated for an engagement style application. This session is presented by one of my favorite evangelists, James Ward. James is what I call a professional evangelist in that he has a great ability to communicate sometimes complex and abstract ideas in understandable and humorous ways that even I can grok.

(L) Cinnamon – The Next Generation Integration Testing Tool for Salesforce

I love technical sessions that are given by engineers who are working on the product they are talking about. This is the case with this session. Not only are Ryoji Osawa, Yudi Nagata – members of salesforce.com R&D presenting, also Sanchit Dua – a QA specialist from Astrea IT Services is presenting. You will see a very cool new technology giving you the ability to test your web UIs written in Visualforce and Javascript backed by Apex!

(E) Demopalooza

If you need to give your little gray cells a bit of respite, this is a set of sessions that should prove both educational and enjoyable. Sit back and relax as app after app is demo’d on stage. These apps come from salesforce employees who have built apps that they are proud of[1]. This will be a mosh pit of various Salesforce1 apps!

(S) Estella’s Brilliant Bus: Closing the Digital Divide

The Dev Zone is not only about building the skills that advance your career, or answering trivia questions. In this session you will be inspired by the story of a 77 year old educator name Estella Pyfrom and her selfless journey to bring technology education to underserved youths. And the best part is that she will also tell us how we can channel our energy to do the same kind of thing.

(L) How to Build Awesome Implementations with the Salesforce1 Console

I’ve known about the Service Cloud’s Console capabilities for a few years now. But if you are like me, you didn’t really pay attention to it because “you aren’t building Service Cloud Apps”. That has all changed and there is now a Console SDK! This will be a great session to understand how that console technology is jumping the track and can be used for non-Service Cloud apps. This is one that I want to see how far the technology can be “mis-used” in unexpected ways.

(LS) Interactive Apex Debugging

Developer User Experience is one of my passions here atsalesforce.comand developer tools are at the heart of that experience. A few years ago we introduced the “playback debugger”. This year we are introducing an interactive debugger for Apex. While this may not have the glitz and shine of some other technology introductions this year, to me it’s one that I want to make sure I know how to use. As a bonus, the most knowledgeable Apex expert on the planet, Josh Kaplan, is presenting.

(ELS) Internet of Things Workbench: Hack Your World

If you’re a developer, a Salesforce Admin, or a maker of any kind, you gotta be down for an informative and entertaining Internet of Things session. Reid Carlberg will be distilling the key points that will be made on a continuous basis in the Connected Device Zone into a 40 minute session where you will learn about the great hacks that IoT folks are developing today. This is a bonus session in that hits all three of the key items that I look for in a session.

(E) How We Designed & Built Salesforce1

When I attend a vendor conference I like to hear about how that vendor does what they do. I like to feel like I’ve been invited into the garage to see and understand the work being done and “how it’s made”. This session provides that in the context of Salesforce1. We get to hear from the creators about how it was built and what problems had to be overcome. Really highlights the human nature of a service like Salesforce.

(L) Meet the Developers

Ever wanted to ask the creators of Salesforce Platform why something is the way it is? Ever wanted to make a suggestion directly to the people who make what you use every day? Well, this is the perfect forum. This session consists of a panel of 7 to 10salesforce.com Engineers, Product Managers and CTOs sitting on a stage answering your questions. Talk about access! It’s also a fixture session at Dreamforce, having been offered for 9 years running!

What will be your playlist?

That is my playlist for Dreamforce 2014. As with musical playlists, not all the music I love is in one playlist, and I have many playlists.