FAQ for Participants
- First and foremost: It's free, you get fed, you learn a lot, and you don't get hassled by recruiters, but you MUST register. Registration is for two reasons: first, so that our sponsors know how many people are coming to these events. The only thing any sponsor gets is a "thank you" and a count, not your name or anything else. Second, so that we can limit attendance to 30 people to ensure a quality event.
New for 2016: Each event has it's own registration page at Meetup.com. Please use the registration link on the "Upcoming Schedule" tab.
- What do people do at a Code Retreat -- See Corey Haines' definition of a Code Retreat. When the session is designated as a standard "Code Retreat", it will follow this definition: new pairing every hour, any-language, any-stack, any-approach, and always non-trivial practice exercises ("Katas") often-but-not-always Conway's Game of Life problem.
"Learn a new tool on a problem you know. Learn a new problem on a tool you know."
- What should I bring to a code retreat or coding dojo? Your laptop (don't forget your charger), preferably with a working development environment. A working development environment may be as simple as textedit and the ability to use the command line to compile/run, or using your browser with TryJasmine, SimplyScala, or Cyber-Dojo. OTOH, if you have VIM, Eclipse, or RubyMine, or whatever, bring that. There's an assumption here; that you know how to use the development environment at least passably. If not, chances are good that someone here will, but don't count on it.
- Is the format always the same, a Standard Code Retreat Format? No. To keep things interesting, other formats will be used as well, e.g. a Legacy Code Retreat, a Fishbowl (aka Randori Kata where the problem-solving pair constantly evolves and is taking Baby Steps), and occasionally a craftsman Jeopardy session or Kata Battle (ala SCNA). What there won't be is any talking heads or presenters. These events are always more about doing than talking about doing.
- When do these events take place? Every month, on the 2nd Saturday of the month, all day from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Crazy, right? Not so much. When you see how much learning you experience at one of these, you'll see why it's worth getting out of bed.
Note: 16 people showed up in snow storm for the December 2013 workshop. On average, slightly more than half the attendees are returning attendees.
- Where are these events? Always the same place; the Forge, downstairs at 1327 Jones Dr, Ann Arbor (same building as the Tech Brewery).
- How/where do I find out the type of an upcoming event? See the "Upcoming Schedule" tab. Starting in 2016 we've started using Meetup.com for registration (RSVP). Registration is used so we can let the folks paying the bill how many people to buy lunch for.
- How do I notify someone if I'm not going to make it after I've registered? Easy, just use meetup.com to un-RSVP. This actually helps us not to over-order the catered food. If event registrations are full, cancellations open up slots for others.
Otherwise (e.g. the last minute: the car died, the cat died, whatever), please drop me a line at bogghead [at] gmail [dot] com. One reason for setting up a monthly series of events is because, well sometimes life happens.
- Who is this We? Right now it's me and some very savvy co-conspirators:
