Ask me about SoCraTes! (Or not, but I’ll tell you anyways)
(This post has originally been published on LinkedIn and has been cross-posted here for conservation and accessibility. It has been auto-translated from German and human-reviewed.)
What do great conversations, board games, amazing food, and sessions in the sauna and pool have in common?
Spot on: You’ll find all of that—and so much more—at the SoCraTes Conference.
For a good ten years now, the SoCraTes conference has been the permanent fixture in my calendar. And for the past few years, I’ve had the incredible honor and responsibility of helping to co-organize the event myself.
It’s far more than just a conference — it’s a vibrant, community-driven (un)conference entirely dedicated to “Software Craft.” Thanks to the Open Space format, the attendees actually build a large part of the agenda together, and that’s exactly what makes it so special.
A few of my personal highlights from recent years:
- From Developer to Manager and back again
- Code Ownership as a liability
- Working in tech and managing a healthy lifestyle
- How being a parent changes you and your work
- Security and architecture as card and board games
- Whenever Lisi Hocke talks about security
- Whenever Tobias Goeschel talks about DDD
- Frank Sons’ architecture katas
But what truly defines SoCraTes is the people — and the absolute openness and kindness with which everyone discusses, shares, and learns here. It feels like being surrounded by 200 of the brightest minds in our community, and you can take away something incredibly valuable from literally every single conversation.
I already know that the next five days will fuel me with enough motivation, ideas, and enthusiasm to last for months.
Never been to SoCraTes or an unconference before? Feel free to ask me about it — I’d love to tell you why it’s worth it. Or drop a comment and let me know what’s (still) holding you back.