Announcing: Pablo’s Days of TDD in Austin, TX


Los Techies(.com), its president, Pablo El Burro, and our sponsors are pleased to announce “Pablo’s Days of TDD” (PDoTDD).  PDoTDD is a day-and-a-half event of workshops, discussion, practice, and training around automated unit testing, specifically the practice of Test-Driven Development (TDD).  Experienced practitioners of TDD will be conducting workshops, labs, and discussions around the practice of TDD in the hopes that its practice will bring value to the developer community in general.

We’ll also be giving away a few prizes including a full copies of Windows Vista Ultimate, Office 2007 Ultimate, Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition, FOUR copies of JetBrains’ ReSharper product!

**NOTE**: Please check back as this page may be updated. There are a few things in the works that you may find interesting (more prizes, possibly an evening event on Friday night, and a few other interesting things!)

What

Pablo’s Days of TDD – Workshops, Labs, and Discussions around the practice of TDD.  NOTE: Space is limited, so please sign up using the link at the bottom (please read through all the stuff, too 🙂 ). We’re doing this as a first-come, first-serve basis, so the sooner you register the better.

We’ve set up a Google Code project + wiki where we’re trying to prepare all the materials and such. Feel free to peruse and, if you want, join the project and help us out!

The plan is to have Workshops and Labs for novice- to intermediate-level practitioners.  For intermediate- to advanced-level practitioners, there will be at least one room dedicated to open/free-form discussions. We’ve asked Jeremy Miller (The ShadeTree Developer, and friend of the Los Techies crew) if he can help lead a discussion or two on some advanced testing practices.

When

Friday October 3rd, 2008 from 2PM-5PM and Saturday, October 4th, 2008 from 9AM to 5PM.

Where

Austin, TX Microsoft Technology Center 

Stonebridge Plaza—Building One
9606 North Mopac, Suite 200
Austin, TX 78759
(512) 795-5300

Live Maps

Google Maps

How Much?

FREE, Thanks to our sponsors!

Who should attend?

.NET developers of all levels of experience.  Most of the workshops and labs will be geared towards the novice.  Some of the discussions will be targeted for experienced practitioners wishing to gain deeper insight.

This will be primarily a .NET/C#-based event, but people who use other platforms and frameworks are welcome to attend and share their insights and hopefully take away some as well.

What should I bring?

Yourself, of course. Also you may want to bring a laptop with CDROM and/or USB support as we will likely have some digital handouts.  The venue may not have Internet access (I’m checking on this to be sure), so please do not plan on that.

Who will be presenting and Assisting?

Most of the Austin/San Antonio Los Techies Crew and a few others.  Namely (subject to change): Jimmy Bogard, Eric Hexter, Ray Houston, Joe Ocampo, Jason Meridth, Jeremy Miller, Chad Myers, John Teague, Gregory Long, and others.

Why? 

Because we feel that TDD and related practices have brought a lot of value to our software products and to our employers. We feel that we should try to share this success with the community as a whole in an effort to advance the state of the art and increase the quality of software products in general.

Who’s sponsoring this?

In no particular order (we thank all of our sponsors equally!)

Microsoft

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Microsoft is graciously providing the facilities and the free software for giveaways, logistical support, as well as advice, suggestions, and guidance.

 

The Rand Group, LLC

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The Rand Group, LLC will be providing dinner during the Friday night festivities.

 

Shiftwise

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Shiftwise will be providing breakfast and beverages on Saturday morning and has provided some additional support and assistance in getting this event off the ground.

 

TekSystems

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TekSystems will be providing lunch and beverages on Saturday and possibly a few other things.

 

JetBrains

JetBrains will be donating 4 ReSharper licenses to be given away at the event.

 

TOPAZ Technologies, Inc.

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TOPAZ Technologies is donating resources and material for the labs.

 

All of our sponsors have been very gracious and supportive. It’s my first time lining up sponsors like this and I was greatly pleased to see just how enthusiastic they were to support the community. It’s clear to me that they see more than just dollars in the community, they see a long term investment in everyone’s future.

We’re lining up a few other sponsors whose names and logos we’ll post here as we finish up the details with them. So please check back!

How do I sign up?

We’ve set up a registration site over at WuFoo.com:   http://pablosdaysoftdd.wufoo.com/forms/pablos-days-of-tdd-registration-form/

Please fill out the form to let us know which days you plan on attending so we can plan accordingly. Thanks!

LosTechies welcomes new member: Joshua Flanagan