I recently came across this thing called a “coderetreat” that Corey Haines puts on. The gist is that it’s a free full-day event where a small group of dedicated-but-busy software developers can come together and work on honing the skill or art of writing software, away from the usual pressures of business.

I thought it sounded awesome. I have yet to attend a developer event that was comprised primarily of the attendees coding, with the possible exception of some codemash sessions.

Then I saw something about a “Global Day of Coderetreat” — coderetreats organized to occur all around the world on the same day: December 3rd.

And I noticed that Indianapolis was not on the list.

That simply won’t do.

So I’m happy to announce that Indianapolis is going to participate in the Global Day of Coderetreat! My employer Interactive Intelligence (I contend it’s the best place to work in the midwest) has agreed to sponsor the entire event by providing a great space to meet and a free catered lunch! Check out these pics of our offices and in-house cafe on facebook.

You’re probably asking,

“Okay, so what’s a coderetreat anyway?”

I’ll talk about what ours is on December 3rd. I’ve opened it up to 26 people. (I said it was a small group…) You can see more information on the structure here, but the gist is that there is some meet & greet time at the start, an intro, then 5 to 6 sessions (with a long lunch in the middle) of dividing up into pairs and tackling a problem (same problem all day). After each session, we delete all our code, switch pairs, and start over again, but working to grow our designs, and explore alternatives and practices like TDD. This is language agnostic, we just try to make sure each pair knows the same language (regardless of proficiency level.) Then there’s a wrap-up and whoever wants heads out for a beer.

And did I mention it’s all free?

Sound good to you?

Yes? Me too!

See below for ticket info. I want to point out something first, though. With only 26 slots, I want to avoid it filling up quickly with people who won’t show up. So I’m charging $5 to attend. If you attend, you will get a full refund, or you can opt to donate your $5 to the Interactive Intelligence Foundation – a great not-for-profit that helps at-risk youth, especially with technology education.

You can get a ticket at http://coderetreatindy.eventbrite.com/

Any questions? Tweet to me at @aaronlerch or email me at aaronlerch at gmail

Hope to see you on the 3rd!!

1. Matt De Leon Says:
   November 12th, 2011 at 1:02 pm

   Hey Aaron, what are some examples of problems that may be tackled that weekend? I might just join up!

2. aaron Says:
   November 12th, 2011 at 3:10 pm

   Hey Matt! Hope to see you there!

   The problem that we’ll tackle all day long (it’s the same problem, we just iteratively redesign and improve) is Conway’s Game of Life. You can see more information here:

   http://coderetreat.com/gol.html