i went to Gophercon a couple times via work, or they paid for the conference ticket at least
it was cool but a struggle to deal with the jetlag + early conference talks
and a nice excuse to go to america, although i have no ties to denver it was nice to visit there too
current job situation doesn’t seem to allow for this kind of thing at all :c
it’s a shame they are trying to make you work during the conference. i think a lot of employers don’t realize how effective schmoozing at conferences is for recruiting etc.