SoCraTes UK

SoCraTes UK is a non-profit, international Software Crafters retreat for open-minded crafters who want to improve their craft and the software industry as a whole. Organised by a group of volunteers from the Software Crafters Community, the conference is an annual opportunity for curious and talented people to collaborate in a relaxed and beautiful setting. #SoCraTesUK #SoftwareCraft

SoCraTes UK 2026 was a fantastic event as always. Sadly this year we sold fewer tickets and had fewer sponsors than we hoped, and the upshot is that we finished this year’s event with a shortfall of £2,300. :( We've therefore started a crowdfunder to raise money to clear the remaining debt: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/socrates-uk-2026-crowdfunder We will be delighted to receive whatever you are able to share. No amount is too small! And if you can't donate money, then sharing this campaign also helps :) #SoCraTesUK

Wondering how to spend your training budget? Join us at @SoCraTes_UK@discuss.systems Training Day (June 18th near London) to meet @lisihocke@mastodon.social, with her session “Secure Development Lifecycle Applied - How to Make Things a Bit More Secure than Yesterday Every Day”.

Learn core security concepts like the CIA triad and defense in depth, and how to apply them to your everyday workflow without adding artificial gates. 🛡️💻

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About the speaker: @lisihocke@mastodon.social is a security engineer and specialized generalist who has been in tech since 2009. She is passionate about whole-team approaches to resilience and quality, and she’s committed to "learning in public" to pay forward what she's received from the community. In her free time, she’s a volleyball player and gamer. 🏐🎮 (2/3)

And that’s not all! Here’s the full programme (https://socratesuk.org/training_day.html) • @emilybache@sw-development-is.social - Controlling Legacy Code with Approval Tests • @lisihocke@mastodon.social - Secure development lifecycle • Gemma Cameron - Bringing User Stories to Life (@ruby_gem@mastodon.social) • @claresudbery@mastodon.social - TDD with LLMs/AI • Jon Jagger - TDD with Cyber-dojo • Duncan McGregor & @natpryce@mastodon.social - Mercilessly Refactoring AI Code • Tim Ottinger - Value Stream Mapping (@tottinge@techhub.social) (3/3) 🏁

Is your team working at maximum speed but struggling to deliver? Join us at @SoCraTes_UK@discuss.systems Training Day (June 18th near London) to meet @tottinge@techhub.social for his session on Value Stream Mapping. 📊

Learn to identify hidden waste and "10x" your delivery WITHOUT working harder, by adopting lean practices for agile development. 🚀

🎟️ Info: https://socratesuk.org/training_day.html

(1/3) 🧵 #Lean #Agile

@SoCraTes_Conf@mastodon.social yes, thanks! And we are first-come, first-served for tickets.

Full training day info here: https://socratesuk.org/training_day.html The main open space event costs £675. The training day (on the Thursday) is paid for separately, includes lunch on Thursday, and costs £375. An extra hotel night on Wed night is also available for £110. Tickets here: https://socratesuk.org/tickets.html

We’re very proud of this year’s training day, with content from world-renowned trainers:

• @emilybache - Controlling Legacy Code with Approval Tests
• @lisihocke - Secure development lifecycle
• Gemma Cameron - Bringing User Stories to Life (@ruby_gem)
• @claresudbery - Using TDD to get Better Results from LLMs/AI
• Jon Jagger - TDD with Cyber-dojo
• Duncan McGregor & @natpryce - I Suppose This is My Life Now - Mercilessly Refactoring AI Code
• Tim Ottinger - Value Stream Mapping (@tottinge)

It'd be fab to see you there.

The open space event is an opportunity for you to engage in discussion, hands on activities, games, and whatever else you fancy - because the content is entirely curated and generated by you and your SoCraTes friends. The theme is software crafting, and we'll also branch off to wherever our will and imagination takes us.

Here are some details: The event runs on Thurs 18th June (training day), and from Fri 19th to Sun 21st June (open space event), in a gorgeous countryside location at Milton Hill House in Oxfordshire. Tickets are fully inclusive, including a hotel room and three meals a day (and snacks!) and full access to the event itself. The venue has amazing grounds to relax and wander in and boast a gym, sauna, steam room, indoor pool and tennis court if you fancy.

Only six weeks to go now until SoCraTes UK 2026!

We’re very excited, and we’re now on a final push to sell as many tickets as possible. We’re a community not-for-profit event, and every sale makes a huge difference to us. So we really appreciate every individual who joins us, as well as anything people can do to help publicise the event.

How are your software crafting skills? Join us at @SoCraTes_UK@discuss.systems Training Day (June 18th near London) to meet @emilybache@sw-development-is.social for her session “Legacy Code - Characterization Testing with Approvals”. 🛠️

Learn to get control of existing code using Approval testing frameworks. Demos in Java, with exercises in Python, C#, and more!

🎟️ Full programme: https://socratesuk.org/training_day.html

(1/3) 🧵 #SoftwareCraft #Testing

What are you going to learn this year? Join us at @SoCraTes_UK@discuss.systems Training Day (June 18th near London) to meet @claresudbery@mastodon.social, with her session “Using TDD to get better results from LLMs/AI”.

How can you use an LLM to build reliable software? Is it even possible? If you combine tests and XP rigour with the efforts of an AI coding assistant, what you get is very powerful. This workshop will show you how—and the potential pitfalls. 🤖🧪

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