Code and win a cool gadget: Programming Contest

May 16, 2016 by Madalina Botez in Announcements

I T.A.K.E Unconference 2016 is right ahead of us: almost 300 software crafters from Europe will challenge, change & improve the world of software craftsmanship.

This year edition offers the convergence of a technical-centric event combined with an audience of international top-notch participants, networking opportunities & a space where new ideas spark.

Are you up to a challenge?

But wait…this is not all. We’ve prepared for you a set of challenges that will put your coding skills to test. Join the programming contest, show your coding skills in a competition with software crafters across Europe & get the chance to win one of the cool prizes we have prepared: a Samsung Galaxy S7 (offered by Mozaic Works) or a Samsung Gear Smartwatch (offered by MozaicLabs).

HOW THE PROGRAMMING CONTEST WORKS?

Well, this is simple. We try to automate the process as much as possible. For the moment the instructions are as simple as:

Register for THE contest on May 19 (the link to register will be communicated in the morning of 19th May)
Solve the challenges
Submit the solutions until May 20, 2 pm

Really cool: you can use ANY of the following programming languages: Java, C#, PHP, C++.

WHO WILL REVIEW YOUR CODE?

The Jury is built of Software Craftsman Fellows from Europe – names soon to be announced. They will grade each challenge you took. There will be just a few challenges, and taking all of them may lead you to the highest score. So the more you solve the closer to win.

Don’t miss the Programming Contest as well as many other hands-on sessions at I T.A.K.E. Unconference, 19-20 May, Bucharest.

16 years of legacy code with mob programming and Lego | Joe Wright

Feb 13, 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.

Joe Wright, Senior Developer, Coach & Architect, helps people deliver software that’s well designed, fully tested and released early. You will learn from his case study at #itakeunconf about how a team can go from individuals to a mob.

speaker-badge-professional-status-joe-wright

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

# Make time for deep work

Set a few hour blocks aside each week that you will dedicate to improving yourself or creating something each week. As a parent, I’ve had to start doing this by getting up early to grab two hours each day. During this time you can learn a skill, practice coding, write a book or make a podcast. It’s far too easy to let distractions rule your life. Make time to do something you are proud of.

# Become a facilitator

I think everyone is terrified of public speaking. It’s an unnatural thing to do. Our ancestors learned this behavior as a survival instinct – if lots of carnivores are looking at you then you are probably the dinner. Time to run.

Getting over this is an important step that enables you to have all sorts of life experiences. Speaking at conferences, leading workshops and meeting interesting new people. The way I beat the fear was by volunteering to co-organise a well-attended meetup. Each month I would have to get up in front of a room of my peers and say some boilerplate about welcome and the agenda. But just that act of getting up and speaking was enough to dull the fear over time. I’ve not been made into dinner yet.

As well as building yourself up as a speaker, it helps improve your network of people. People like speaking to the host at an event and it gives you an easy opportunity to learn about those people, then take a mental note when you might want to get into contact with them in the future.

# Ask for help

Don’t feel you have to figure everything out yourself or read up online. Reach out and ask people for help.

As you spend more time in your career you meet more people – and one day you’ll have a question you’d love to ask them. It’s even easier now with social media and video conferencing. People will give you 30 minutes of time online or meet you over coffee to give you their advice if they think you’ve got an interesting question to answer.

I always have a list of three things I want advice on. You never know who you are going to meet.

# Improve in more than one dimension

At first, newly minted developers want to get projects released and in users hands. During this, you try to get better at creating software that can be changed to meet their needs. Eventually, newer technology comes out, which promises to solve the problem of getting code out quicker and is easier to change.

It’s quite easy to fall into the trap of just learning technology stacks. This can be rewarding, but that’s not the only way to improve as a developer and meet people’s needs.

Seek out opportunities to see the world from the other functions in software. If you tester goes on holiday then volunteer to stand in for them. If you have an ops team then ask to pair on making the release process smoother. Facilitate a retrospective for another team. Run a usability session with real world users to see how your product is used. Stepping into another roles shoes helps build empathy, which will allow you to work better with others people in the future.

If you tech stack isn’t challenging you then concentrate on improving your “soft skills”. Teach someone how it works. Figure out ways to promote and resolve conflict on your team. Fix the root causes of communication and process issues that slow you down.

# Find people that will challenge you

It can be hard to get feedback about how you are doing. Are your ideas valid? Often you can’t get this feedback in your workplace. Seek out a group of people or a person that is willing to challenge how you think.

For me, this is the Lean Agile space and my local code craftsmanship group.

Consider these people that challenge you your core group. The way you work should be consistent with the ideals of that group. So don’t ever worry about saying what you think at work, just make sure you stay true to the principles of your core group.

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

How can I reduce communication, approval, and tech debt issues from slowing down my team?
How can I measure and improve how a dev team spends their time?
How can I get started doing this at my work?

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

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport (book)
Facilitation advice – available here
The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox (book)

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

I T.A.K.E Unconference 2017 – IInd day slides & videos

May 22, 2017

And…it’s a wrap: 2 days of intense & complex program, 300 international participants, more than 35 sessions & more than 35 speakers from United States, Europe and Asia. During the 2nd day of the event, 15 speakers from 10 countries shared their knowledge on Machine Learning, IoT, Evolutionary Design, Documentation for Software Developers, Impact Mapping and more.

Videos are available here. Find below the presentations from day 2. The slides from day 1 are here.

Romeo Kienzler – Realtime- Cognitive IoT using DeepLearning and Online Learning on top of ApacheSpark Streaming and Spark enabled DL frameworks (keynote)

Dan Billing – Testing or Hacking: Real Advice on Effective Security Testing Strategies (keynote)

Eduards Sizovs – Beyond Software Craftsmanship (keynote)

Dan Serban – Introduction to Apache Spark

Jakob Holderbaum – Managing Shared Secrets with basic Unix tools

Florin Coros – Decide between In-Process or Inter-Processes Communication at Deploy Time

Peter Kofler – Brutal Coding Constraints

Joe Wright – Tackling 16 years of legacy code with mob programming and Lego

Alin Pandichi – Covariance and contravariance. Say what?!

Patrick Baumgartner – Impact Mapping Workshop

Liviu – Stefanita Baiu – Journey to Agilandia – a BA Travel Kit

More slides and videos from day 2 coming soon

Countdown to I T.A.K.E Unconference 2016

Feb 05, 2016

Great news! The final preparations for I T.A.K.E Unconference 2016 program are done!

Our team of reviewers finished the draft program. 100 proposals, from speakers from 20 countries, were received to the Call for Speakers. We are looking forward to let you know which of them will make it to the final program.

As a sneak peak, we can tell you that lots of live coding and exciting talks & workshops are in row. As we are finishing up the details about the 4th edition of I T.A.K.E Unconference, we invite you to have a look at the previous editions.

Here it is a selection of our favorite highlights:

I T.A.K.E Unconference has become a unique meeting place for top notch technology craftsmen. During a 2-day program, they get involved in talks and workshops that foster peer-learning and challenge the known paths.

A great line-up of keynotes speakers enables the inspiring and dynamic learning atmosphere.

We wrote code, talked code and presented code

Both the participants, and the speakers could join a technical Open Space, where they shared ideas and learnt from each other, engaging in professional conversations, Q&A sessions and live coding.

The participants, passionated coders, competed with their peers, taking a set of challenges that put their skills to the test. Gadgets like a drone or an iPad were the rewards for the winners.

Women speakers, as well as academic speakers enriched the I T.A.K.E Unconference participants’ experience with valuable insights and stories. Additionally, the women in IT campaign brought into the audience’s attention some of the most amazing ladies who made a contribution to the development of the tech field.

Happy we’ve had the chance to work with amazing speakers, participants, volunteers, partners, and sponsors. Looking forward to the next editions, too!

We would love to see you in I T.A.K.E Unconference 2016 top moments! Stay tuned for the program announcement and registration opening! If you would like to hear the news first, sign up here!