Monday
First thing on Monday I had a meeting, which I don’t want to say any more about yet, but will do soon! It’s good news, so stay tuned.
After that I had a trip to Scarborough to see my friend Will and his father-in-law, Gareth. I started building some software for Will’s company, Wheeliams, last year, streamlining some HR processes and providing a centralised dashboard for production management. Will and Gareth (who work with Will) have created a comprehensive spec for the next stage of the project, so we were discussing that.
Back home to crack on with a number of small tasks. I also had a meeting with Giles and Nicola to discuss ongoing SEO and social media support for Choice Mortages. Things have been going quite well, with a the new website producing a steady stream of enquiries and raising the profile of the business locally, regionally and nationally. All good.
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning I met with Lois at Hetty & Betty’s in Whitby to discuss a new project. We talked through the ins and outs and I wrote up a quote. Hopefully it’ll go ahead, in the not too distant future. I always enjoy hearing about other people’s businesses, their successes and their pain points. It’s so beneficial to go and see a business in the flesh, talk to staff, have a look around their premises and get a true understanding of their operations.
Much of the rest of Tuesday was dedicated to writing up quotes. The Growth Hub has some funding available, which is great!
Tidied my desk, packed my bag and got ready to leave for Berlin. Had a pretty good drive down to Luton.
Wednesday
Caught my early flight to Berlin and found my way across town to register for WeAreDevelopers. Picked up my pass and also met my brother Tom, who was attending the conference with me.
After making our way to our accommodation I did a couple of hours work before heading out across town to see some sights.
We ended the night at BRLO, enjoying Wales v France in the Womens Euros, drinking great beer and eating tasty food.
Thursday
On Thursday Tom and I caught the train across town to attend the WeAreDevelopers World Congress.
I took very few photos, but just imagine 2 absolutely massive exhibition halls along with multiple stages and smaller spaces packed with developers from around the globe. As for vendors, all the big names were there including people like Google and Microsoft, as well as smaller start-ups.
In the afternoon we headed back to the apartment to catch up with some work and have some down time before the main event of Thursday, the CODE100 Finals!
CODE100 is a live coding competition. I saw it at WeAreDevelopers in 2024 and didn’t for a minute imagine I’d end up part of the event myself. However, back in the autumn I completed a few challenges set by Chris Heilmann as part of WeAreDevelopers Live.
Long story short, I ended up in the finals but got knocked out in the first round, which was a series of 5 ‘pseudo code’ multiple choice questions. This whittled 19 of us down to 8, who went on to tackle a pair programming challenge, more pseudo code questions and a final ‘codedown’ between two developers, all live on stage. I made the local headlines.
Afterwards we got some food and beer here:
Friday
We had a wander through the city, taking in a few more sights:
And we got some more food. This time, from Frittenwerk in Alexanderplatz. What a place! Amazing chips (fries, pommes, pomme frites) with an array of amazing toppings to choose from. Frittenwerk isn’t available in the UK, but don’t be surprised if you see one popping up somewhere soon – seems like a great concept.
I headed back to the Congress for the last couple of hours. Caught some good talks on AI ethics, which feels like it’s quickly becoming the ‘website accessibility’ issue of the AI era. Everyone knows AI is prone to bias and even antisemitic outbursts. But not many developers seem interested in asking the right questions – these talks attracted very small audiences, which was a shame. I’m going to write more about that as a separate post.
Took the train back across Berlin. Now I’m sat in the airport waiting for my flight home.
Summary? A great trip to a great city. Not sure I’ll make the effort next year, primarily because I reckon it’d be good to support some more local events. But never say never.
Tschüss!
