2026 Sessions - SoCraTesUK/socrates-uk GitHub Wiki
SoCraTes UK 2026 Sessions
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Fri 19th June
| time | Wisteria | Orchid | Crimson Birch | Yellow Birch | Other Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:15-10:15 | Opening | ||||
| 10:30-11:30 | Harness EngineeringGetting coding agent to not produce slop and giving software crafters hope for the future | Agent-Driven Refactoring(How do I describe what I want?) | Event Sourcing | How can the way we work support democracy | Help make cyber-dogo betterGarden outside Wisteria |
| 11:45-12:45 | Your IDE/Test Suite/Security Scanner/Design System/Language Server Will steal your SSH key, unless ... | Experience team FLOW | Open-sourcing company projects(Best practices, risks?)Pull session | How do you learn new things fast? | |
| 12:45-14:15LUNCH | Who is not here? | ||||
| 14:15-15:15 | 47 (kotlin) Refactoringsin45 Minutes | Capture the Flag Together(Beginner's edition) #security | Long Crafters Meet with outdoors!more open spaces! | Walk and Talksomething about the physicality of crafting software and/or lack ofMeet in coffee area | |
| 15:30-16:30 | How do we defend Democracy and fight Fascism | Sustainable Vibe Coding | How to get better at Public Speaking(and communication) | TDD GAME | Co-working / Body doublingGet that pesky little task of your mindItalian Garden |
| 16:45-17:45 | TDD with AICase StudiesExamples from a,b,c | From code review to pairingInterventions/Experiements to shorten lead time | How the way we talk and change the way we work | The handbell gameMake music and have funNo musical knowledge needed! | |
| 18:00-19:00 | Closing |
Extra curricular
- Chocolate Shooter
- The Cherwell Singers - The Long Day Closes
- Let's practice interviewing for a new job
Harnessing AI by E
(Nick)
- a dog on a lead is a weak harness, it can go anywhere. A carriage and harness on a horse is a good harness, it mostly goes forward maybe veering left or right but always in a scoped direction
- llm context grows and grows. Md files can help you build harnesses. But if the harness gets too big, even after refining it regularly, you can have subagents that each have their own different harness and then you can avoid amassing too much in a single context. Also break things down into small pieces - it was always good advice, it still is
how to learn new things fast by Nick
(Nick)
- prompt for the session: news article! Quantum computing has gotten better and means we need to change how we think about some approaches to programming - your boss wants you to look at this - how do you approach it? (I.e. how do you start learning on an unfamiliar topic or unknown domain)
- things I learnt from people:
- A - a first step of just thinking and writing what questions you have and need to answer to understand it is a good starting point. To make sure you dont go down a rabbit hole, if researching an answer leads to more questions, write these questions down and come back to them later
- W - finding people that know about this area on linkedin and following them could be useful. Researchers are very approachable so if the topic is a niche research thing, ask and they will probably be very happy to share their knowledge. Rss feeds are algorithm free, I should build one for myself!
- V - researching by using different LLMs gives a different and more rounded set of responses
The way we talk changes the way we work
Led by E, notes here by Nick The name of the session is also the name of a book E had recently started reading. The book talks about how people complaining at a workplace can be reconsidered to show underlying commitments and beliefs people have abiut how they work. And by following this process of analysing the complaint and considering where it comes from we can make progress towards real solutions.
- What is your commitment?
- How are you responsible for this commitment not being achieved at work?
- What are the competing priorities - could include 'i dont want to be seen as the person always challenging things' or 'i want to feel part of the group', not just mechanical calendarisable things
- What are the assumptions your making in any of 1-3. (I recognised that an assumption that will be very common for people is 'i am unique in my experience and recognition of this problem'. If something is a problem for you, it is usually a problem for others too)
Capture the flag with L
Using Hackthebox we were accessibly introduced to sec testing and penetration testing and some of the core tools people use to do this. We managed to use sql injection to log in and find a secret on a user's account.
Sat 20th June
| time | Wisteria | Orchid | Crimson Birch | Yellow Birch | Other Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:15-10:15 | Opening | ||||
| 10:30-11:30 | SoCraTes UK 2027Want to help organise?Come find out more ! | JitterTravelEvent Sourcing + LLM | |||
| 11:45-12:45 | Heat pumps and electrificationA homeowner's experienceTech's role in the Green Revolution | Create a Board/Card Game for Event Sourcing | "What I wish I new before I started contracting"(pull session) | Make a (mostly) deterministic Red-Green-Refactor harness with pi.dev | |
| 12:45-14:15LUNCH | 1. How can I , as a Programmer be the product owner2. 2d puzzle still needs solving | ||||
| 14:15-15:15 | Load Testing | FLOWboard game | Ethics of AI UsageJust because we can does not mean we should | ||
| 15:30-16:30 | The SoCraTes SongCome help us perfect and perform! | Interactions with Security FolksGone Well and Gone Badly#experience-exchange | Forget about ForgettingS R S | ||
| 16:45-17:45 | "He was more than Hero,He was a UNION man" | The ultimate AI/homelab/assitant etcWhat does it like like/do? | TDD Game | ||
| 18:00-19:00 | Closing |
Sun 21st June
- Morning Walkies
- Morning Run
- Walk
- Watch A play drums on a very hot day