I had a great time at SC 23. What follows is a series of stray thoughts, some related but others entirely standalone. In a way, that captures the vibe of the six-day event as well as a more coherent narrative might.
Seeing people I know through industry or have met through different venues and getting to connect to talk HPC, all in one place, was really exciting.
The free coffee and muffins were also exciting, although I could always do with more coffee. 🙂
I really let myself become a pack rat, since this was my first SC. I wanted to grab as much as I could, so I bought merch at the store as well as a lot of swag and stickers. A number of institutions brought booklets and brochures as well. A few of the items I took were things I would not have if this hadn’t been my first SC, but it was – so I splurged.
We had some great conversations with peers and some vendors about how different systems can be deployed into our HPC environments. In particular we have some systems coming up that will be suited to expanding our work into quantum computing.
I attended several technical workshops. One about memory and energy I found especially interesting, but there was a wide range of topics catering to a mix of HPC specialties.
I appreciated the emphasis that the conference put on this year’s slogan, “I am HPC”, emphasizing the human element of our work. Some of that is diversity and inclusion. Some is developing the workforce. Some involves the networking you get to do at any well-organized trade show. The slogan was a useful lens to consider.
CU Research Computing actually participated in SC. We supplied some hardware (from our retired Summit cluster) for the IndySCC, an event linked to the SC’s annual Student Cluster Competition. It was legitimately a challenging project, but it came together in the end and we’re proud to have played our part.
Outside the convention itself, I also got to spend some time in Denver. A coworker of mine lives in the area and had a recommendation, so we went to a few different spots near the convention center to eat. There were plenty of options for a range of different tastes, including some great vegetarian food that I appreciated.
Finally, SC turned out to be a great bonding opportunity for the team: we were all in place, with a common purpose and common vocabulary. We had a booth for RMACC that acted as our home base for some stretches of time. I feel better connected to my teammates because of the experience.
SC 24 is in Atlanta, Georgia, and I am certainly interested in participating again.
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