Rapid Prototyping our Digital Future, Better Retrospectives, & Junior Developers
On the 8th August Rick will be hosting the next event for The Web Meetup.
The goal of The Web Meetup is to promote collaboration and a better understanding of the disciplines associated with working on The Web. It’s through an understanding of how to improve communicate and realising where our different roles and skills overlap that we can produce better quality applications and websites, and make our work more enjoyable.
Thanks to our sponsors Zendesk, Loud&Clear, All Squares, and RateMyAgent there will be lots to eat and drink; we have great presenters lined up; and there will plenty of opportunity to network and socialise at the event and at the Mitre Tavern afterwards.
Agenda
- 18:00 — Doors open, food arrives
- 18:45 — Presentations
- 20:00 — Finish drinks at Zendesk and head to the Mitre Tavern
The Presentations
Rapid prototyping our Digital Future
Sun Ju Choi & Jakub Kozakiewicz
Over the last few decades, the onset of mass digitisation throughout the technological world has created many examples of disruption. Some of this has led to the extinction of products, services and companies and it’s also been responsible for the complete restructuring of multiple industries. Because of this, digital technology and the pace at which it is advancing can be scary.
It doesn’t need to be.
Advancements in digital technology present never-ending opportunity for improvement; improvements in how we run our organisations, improvements in peoples’ lives and improvements in the environment. Aurecon’s Digital team is here to use technology to drive positive change in the built environment.
Aurecon’s Digital team has a single focus, on understanding and utilising digital innovation. We actively explore emerging trends and technologies, but ultimately it is about applying technology differently, in a way that has a meaningful impact. We do so through rapid prototyping, adopting an agile methodology and a fail fast approach.
Through Sun & Jakub’s presentation you will get an understanding of the process for delivering prototypes, and some recent examples of their work.
Sun is a developer at Aurecon, bringing ideas to life to design a better future. Sun is working closely with the Digital Futures team to develop solutions using emerging digital technologies, and is a passionate advocate for agile, data, the Internet of Things and design thinking.
Jakub recently joined Aurecon’s digital team as a web developer and designer. His day to day consists of delivering web based prototypes and investigating emerging technological trends, such as cloud computing, Internet of Things, data visualisation and data analytics. He is passionate about web development and good design, Jakub is using his skills to combine the two disciplines to help the business develop products which are accessible and easy to use.
When is a Retro not a Retro
Gretchen Pitt
Ever come out of a Retro and thought ‘what was the point of that?’ Or have gone into a Retro and someone has asked ‘What actions did we do from the last one?’ only to realise there were no actions.
Retrospectives are so important as we learn and grow, but if there is no definable outcomes then why should we do them?
Gretchen will explore how we can make a retro better, offer some different styles and hopefully make people think why retros are so important.
Gretchen Pitt is an experienced Agilist having worked within Agile teams for the last 9 years in the titles of QA Engineer, Business Analyst and Product Owner. She enjoys facilitating meetings, training others and also presenting. Her customer service background has served her well in the world of software development with the ability to guide team members back to the customers’ needs.
Gretchen’s other interests include health and nutrition, world events, and cats. She has a very broad knowledge of different topics and is always open to learning.
Helping junior developers help you
LJ Kenward & Luke Mesiti
Unsure of how to onboard junior developers? Not sure if you have the recourses to accomodate them? Don’t think you need them?? Whether it’s bootcampers, uni grads, or self-taughters, there are an increasing amount of enthusiastic junior developers wanting to work with you. However, making sure you have the appropriate program in place to support them is key to their success in your team. This talk will outline practical steps that you can take to make this happen. You’ll hear about why it’s important to have juniors in your team, how you can help get them up to speed, and ways product owners and managers can help facilitate their onboarding process.
From mining truck driver to bootcamp graduate LJ’s journey into software has been much less traditional than most. LJ is currently working as a graduate developer at Xero and last year earned a spot on the Catalyst Startup (https://twitter.com/Catalyst_au) trip. LJ is an energetic member of the Melbourne meetup community, both as attendee and facilitator. She runs the Free Code Camp Melbourne meetup and co-organises Junior Developers Melbourne meetup events.
With a background in IT administration Luke sidestepped into software 3 years ago. After completing a bootcamp in his hometown Sydney he migrated south and began his new career in Melbourne. Luke is currently a developer at Xero and a co-organiser of Junior Developer Melbourne meetups. He has a keen interest in softwares ability to bring people together and be an instrument for change in the community.
