I am surprised that you were surprised by that… This is just my opinion and anecdotal feedback I have gotten from students I teach and new hires I have made that are new to the tech industry.

I have found that most people who are learning to code shy away from the existing coding ecosystem because it is not very inviting space towards those trying to get it… there have been plenty of stories regarding “imposter syndrome” and not feeling that you are not a “good enough” developer that keeps new developers away.

i also find that lots of conference are not really for people who are trying to learn to code and they are extremely cost prohibitive… furthermore if you dont live in a major urban area “ the west coast” there are not really many options for coding conferences.