*Written by William Nix

I had the great opportunity to shadow my dad (and boss) at my first UGM. I had a fantastic time and really learned a lot about HeavyBid and HCSS. Let me start off with a few of the initial surprises.

1. A spirit of camaraderie was pervasive
2. A plethora of classes for all levels of estimators. They had classes on everything!
3. Meals are more for networking than for food.
4. Food was also great.

Not only were the estimators polite to each other, but they went out of their way to help those who had specific questions during classes and during meals. In the more advanced classes estimators actively participated (except the 8 am class, but that can’t be helped) in providing answers and asking meaningful questions.
Every meal was full of industry conversation in one shape or form. HCSS members also sit down and share the same meals, meaning you can pick the brain of dev team members and project leads while you have lunch!
It was a great few days and they passed quicker than I expected. If you haven’t already look into going to a UGM. From the many people I bumped into, I can fairly say that if you go once, you’ll find it valuable enough that you’ll most likely end up going again.

Did I mention that the food was excellent?