F8 Facebook 2014: Registration is Open for Developer Conference on April 30

Don’t be discouraged just because the conference is being held in San Francisco and you are in Zambia. It is actually possible to attend the F8 Facebook 2014 Developer Conference via live stream. Please note that you will need super fast and reliable internet on this day in order to participate. For those who don’t get in, Facebook will make a live stream of the keynotes and afternoon sessions available on the F8 homepage.

Opposed to a first-come, first-served system, the application process is “designed to ensure that we have a diverse mix of attendees at the event who represent the Facebook and Parse global developer ecosystem,” according to Facebook. In total, about 1,500 tickets will be available for the event, which will cost $495 each.

If you have the money or can find a sponsor to assist you with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we say go for it! The conference registration costs just under K3,000 at approximately K2,970.

Developers will get to choose from four tracks. The Build track is for those who want to create cross-platform apps with Facebook and Parse tools. Grow is for those who want to learn more about using Facebook to increase the number of users for their apps and the Monetize track will focus on monetization. There will also be a “Hacker Way” track for developers who want to know more about how the engineers at Facebook, Parse and Instagram work and the open-source tools they have developed.

At the last F8 in September 2011, Facebook unveiled Timeline and the Open Graph platform. “This year, we’re going back to our roots and having a pure developer conference.” Facebook explained.

Apparently, since Facebook acquired Parse, its developer ecosystem has become more diverse than ever before — and Parse developers aren’t necessarily fully wedded to Facebook’s own developer tools either. The conference this year will feature tracks that will focus on both groups of developers.

“…building a hit app and finding people who will love it is really hard. Turning that app into a money making venture is even harder. Helping developers solve these problem is why we’re doing an F8.” said Ilya Sukhar, CEO of Parse which Facebook acquired last year. 

You definitely don’t want to miss out any of the four tracks that will cover getting started guides, technical best practices, infrastructure strategies, engineering deep dives, and advertising tips for making your app or game highly successful. Monetizing apps is a big challenge anywhere, most especially in emerging markets such as ours because developers are often times lost about where to even begin making money.