Programming contest @I T.A.K.E Unconference

May 05, 2017 by Madalina Botez in  Announcements

As for every I TAKE Unconference edition, we want to give a chance to the software crafters from the audience to showcase their skills and learn more in the process. And because we appreciate passion, we offer a prize to those who convince a jury of well-known international developers that they are the most skilled in the room.

This contest is not meant to be easy. It will require you to practice beforehand, so please read the instructions carefully.

It will also require you to register before the event.

Mechanics

  • IMPORTANT: Register to the contest latest one day before I TAKE Unconference by sending an email to steliana.moraru@mozaicworks.com 
  • On the first day of the event, after lunch, you have max 15′ to do a performing kata in front of the jury.
  • The winner will be announced at the end of the second day

Constraints

To simplify the jury’s decision, the performing kata has to conform to the following constraints:

  • Only the following programming languages are accepted: Java, C, C++, C#, Python, Visual Basic .NET, PHP, Javascript, Swift or Ruby
  • Only solo contestants are accepted. Sorry, no pair programming this time
  • The kata has to showcase refactoring skills.
  • The kata has to last max. 15′

How we will judge

The jury will judge your refactoring skills.

The ideal kata looks like this – you will get maximum point if you:

  • clearly state the smells you see in the code
  • pick one of the smells
  • clearly state your plan to fix the smell
  • fix it in small, safe steps
  • run tests after each step to prove you didn’t break anything
  • commit after each step with a clear message explaining why you made the change
  • fix as many smells as possible within the time constraint

You will loose points if you:

  • make big or unsafe changes to the code
  • break the behaviour after changing the code
  • don’t improve the code a lot
  • don’t improve the design by the end of the kata (hint: we judge design using SOLID principles and the four elements of simple design)

Recommendations

To help you, we’ve thought out what we would do if we participated to such a contest. Here’s what we recommend.

1) Use one of the following codebases for the kata:

2)  Practice beforehand on the structure we presented for the ideal kata. Ideally find someone to practice with.

3) Watch other people refactoring. YouTube has many videos on the topic, including using the recommended code bases.

Glossary

A programming kata is a repeatable exercise used to practice specific skills.
Performing kata means doing a kata in front of an audience.
Refactoring means changing the internal structure of the code without changing its behaviour.

Impact Mapping | Patrick Baumgartner

Feb 15, 2017
Enjoy the following series of interviews with the speakers, top-notch software crafters from across Europe, joining  I T.A.K.E Unconference, Bucharest, 11-12 May. Discover the lessons learned and what drives them to challenge the known path in their field.

 

Patrick Baumgartner works as a Software Craftsman and passionate Agilista at 42talents. His biggest goal is to improve everyone’s workplace in IT. At #itakeunconf, he will run an Impact Mapping workshop.

 

speaker-badge-professional-status-patrick-baumgartner

#1. Share with us 5 things from your experience that helped you grow & become the professional you are today

  • having a mentor who supports you is great and helps you to challenge your ideas and decisions
  • being curious helps you to continuously learn new things
  • teaching others helps you to get better on the topic and you learn how to explain things to others
  • meeting continuously new people to create new ideas and get inspiration
  • having enough rest so that your brain has time for recreation

#2. What challenges will the participants find solutions to during your session at I T.A.K.E Unconference 2017?

[ctt template=”12″ link=”A831F” via=”no” ]With Impact Mapping you will learn an excellent strategic planning technique that helps you to look at your challenges from different angles[/ctt]
If someone wants to have something solved, he often has already a concrete idea in mind and tells you how to implement it.
With changing the focus and looking at the Why, Who, How and the What your final solution might be entirely different compared to the initial suggestion. You will realize that you can use this technique for nearly everything.

#3. Recommend for the participants 3 sources you find inspiration from and would help them better understand you

  • Learn from and with others, by getting involved in local / international practitioners communities. For example,  we run in Zurich a monthly Software Craftsmanship Meetup with very diverse topics
  • Attend conferences to get inspired by the talks and workshops, as well as the discussions with participants and other speakers.
  • Take time for yourself, relax, free your mind and new ideas and thoughts will pop up automatically!

ITAKE_2017

Want to join Patrick, +30 international speakers and ~300 software crafters from around Europe?

Register now for I T.A.K.E Unconference 2017!

Online 7th edition of I TAKE Unconference

Mar 11, 2020

Bringing good news for the tech community: the I T.A.K.E. Unconference comes back with the 7th edition on the 7th of April 2020.

With so many events canceled this Spring, we’ve decided the time came to innovate and change the format once more in order to answer to today’s needs and challenges.

As firm believers in continuous improvement, we plan to overcome the barriers that might restrict learning in this period. How we plan to do that? By going online and bringing you international speakers and top-notch practitioners in the comfort of your own office or home.

How is the 7th edition of I TAKE Unconference special?

  • Focus is placed upon new innovative approaches to modular architecture
  • Brings together international speakers and top-notch professionals from Europe, the USA and all over the world
  • The sessions include practical examples with the latest techniques applied in various environments, programming languages & technologies
  • Fast-paced, dynamic learning atmosphere
  • Overcoming travel challenges of this Spring

We invite you to discover more on Modular Architecture in the Age of Cloud Computing – this edition’s topic.

Want to be part of this not-to-miss event? You are welcome to join our group of supporters and partners and bring innovation one step further. Just let us know and we can make it happen.

Let’s continue sharing knowledge by preserving the feeling of a community of peers who learn together.

Crafted Design with Sandro Mancuso

Feb 19, 2015

Sandro Mancuso, the initiator of the London Software Craftsmanship Community, wondered how to structure the code so that it reveals not only the architecture but also its features. In this talk, he shows how to better organize namespaces and domain entities, something he called Interaction Driven Design.

Enjoy his presentation @ I T.A.K.E. Unconference 2014 edition. Curious about 2015 edition?

Check out more about I T.A.K.E. Unconference 2015 or see directly the Schedule.

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