Learn from my mistakes, so you can repeat them

I wrote my first line of code in 1889… wait, was it 1988? Not that it makes much difference; either way, it was last century. Over the years, I’ve mastered the fine art of writing code that resembles Florida: a swamp teeming with bugs and alligators. Join me in exploring my most glorious blunders so you can perfect them and scale them up using ChatGPT and CoPilot. Of course, you could always do the opposite of what I did, but where’s the fun in that?

A humorous take on 30 years of painful mistakes, and what others could learn from that.

Rethinking Software Engineering in the Age of AI

“The most dangerous phrase in our language is: We’ve always done it this way.” - Grace Hopper

Ever since the initial release of GPT-3.5, the world of software development has undergone a disruptive change like never before. Most of us have already adopted tools like GitHub Copilot - and if you haven’t, you really should - but did we stop and ask: is everything we learned about software engineering still true? Does TDD still make sense when we can generate huge chunks of code at once? What counts as continuous delivery? Shouldn’t we question everything right now?

I think we should, so in this talk, I’ll explore how Agile, DevOps, continuous delivery, and the broader processes of software development have evolved over the past 1-2 years since the advent of large language models. We’ll investigate how these tools have disrupted traditional workflows, the challenges they pose, and the new opportunities they create for engineering teams.

Sustaining the Engineering Culture in Hyper Growth

Why do new teams often repeat the old mistakes? In hyper growth phases, the valuable lessons of a core team can get lost, leading new hires into avoidable errors. Standardized 'How we work' training seldom translates into deep understanding, as true comprehension requires witnessing these practices in action. Moreover, rigid processes can stifle innovation, conserving ineffective practices and losing valuable ones.

In this session, I'll unveil the story behind an internal Bootcamp I developed at a previous company, crafted not just to familiarize new engineers with our systems but to deeply immerse them in our core practices and principles. This approach ensured the preservation of our culture's integrity even amidst rapid scaling. It's a story not just about growth but about growing correctly. Attendees, whether leaders in burgeoning startups or engineers in expanding teams, will gain practical strategies for nurturing a vibrant culture at every growth stage, without sacrificing innovation to standardized procedures.

Talks similar to this one were presented previously by me, but this is a new improved take on the topic.

The previous version was voted second best talk at Clean Code Days Munich 2017

I implemented Game of Life 100+ times! Let's explore the 3 most interesting takes...

Explore a mind bending feature of functional programming, how you can easily get started with GPU programming, and learn about under appreciated SQL features that you didn't know you need.

Having facilitated code retreats for years, I’ve witnessed a myriad of solutions to a single, seemingly straightforward problem: Conway’s Game of Life. While varying constraints often lead to different approaches, the most intriguing aspect lies in the valuable lessons these solutions impart, shaping our programming practices for years to come. Join me as we delve into three distinct implementations of this captivating problem. If you join me for this session, you'll have 3 new tools under your belt to write code that impress your colleagues.

Presented only once at Heapcon, Belgrade

How to sell a big refactor or rewrite to the business?

In the world of software development, dealing with legacy code is often a necessary evil, especially for successful, fast-growing companies. The design stamina hypothesis suggests that legacy code is a sign of success, not failure. But how do we tackle this challenge smartly? This talk delves into the often-misunderstood realm of large-scale refactoring and rewrites, presenting a nuanced approach that contrasts with the traditional 'never rewrite' dogma.

We'll delve into real-world case studies where companies have successfully navigated their technical debt, uncovering crucial insights. Specifically, we will identify two key properties of these successful rewrites that can make or break your efforts. Understanding these properties enables us to strategically manage technical debt without losing our competitive edge. This session is not just a theoretical discussion but a practical guide, concluding with a decision-making quadrant to help determine the most effective approach for your team's refactor or rewrite projects. Whether you're leading a team through growth or coaching developers on best practices, this talk will equip you with a deeper understanding and actionable insights into one of the most critical aspects of software development.

Resilient Microservices Against All Odds

Tired of firefighting when a downstream service throws a curveball? We were too, so we figured out a way to build microservices that expect the unexpected. In this talk, I'll share our journey from fragile systems to an architecture where resilience is the norm, not the exception.

Get an honest glimpse into our early microservices struggles – how our initial approaches led to chaos, and the breakthrough architectural pattern that changed everything.

This talk isn’t just a war story; it’s a blueprint for resilience. You'll walk away with a transformative pattern that you can immediately apply to your systems, turning potential disasters into manageable events.

Leading with Authenticity

If your decisions are not based on your values, your values will become a reflection of your decisions.

This talk is about the intricacies of making tough decisions. Decisions that carry significant weight and are often irreversible. It's a journey of confronting and making one of the hardest decisions of my personal life – a decision that profoundly impacted my professional leadership and delved deep into the realm of personal identity and values. This experience fundamentally changed how I approach decision-making.

The session transcends traditional leadership narratives. It’s about the power of personal authenticity, the strength in embracing vulnerability, and the significance of making tough, values-aligned choices. This talk is a tale of courage, resilience, and, most importantly, how to make decisions you'll never regret. And in case you wonder: I eventually decided to come out as trans...

This talk is based on this article: https://medium.com/lean-poker/what-transitioning-from-male-to-female-taught-me-about-leadership-e87573059958

Lean Poker: Master Short Lead Times

Under pressure to deliver more, faster? This Workshop Is for You!

Lean Poker isn't a traditional training; instead, it puts you and your team in the heart of the action, competing to create the best poker bot on the market. This dynamic, hands-on experience helps you explore the true value of agility, DevOps, and short lead times in a fast-paced environment, providing a level of understanding that traditional training can't match.

While coding, Ivett—the creator of Lean Poker, with over 15 years of experience in the software industry as both an engineer and a leader—will be there to spotlight growth opportunities and offer actionable advice to boost your team's effectiveness.

You Will Gain:
- Hands-on experience with deploying, seeking out immediate feedback, and iterating.
- The ability to quickly adopt to changing market demands and project requirements and with less stress.
- An understanding of your current most important growth opportunities.
- Actionable advice on how you can help your team deliver more impact and gain a competitive advantage.

This workshop is ideal for software engineers and engineering leaders feeling the burn of relentless demands, as well as agile or technical coaches seeking impactful ways to foster team development.

Lean Poker offers a holistic view, highlighting areas for personal and team growth and demonstrating what effective software development truly looks like. The over 100 events across 4 contents have already transformed the working style of thousands of engineers worldwide, showcasing the universal value and adaptability of this gamified approach to education.

Lean Poker isn't just about doing; it's about learning to do better, faster, and with less stress.

- Hands on workshop, and requires a minimum of 6 hours.
- This is what I do for a living, so I charge for this session, won’t run it for free. However I’m open to revenue sharing if you’d like to mitigate risk.