Global Day of Code Retreat

What is Global Day of Code Retreat?

It is a structured day of pair programming with many other programmers in your local area.

How does it benefit participants?

Pair programming is a great way of working with other programmers as a: teacher, student, or peers of any level.

At the same time, the code retreat provides a structured way to learn new programming styles in a hands-on way but in a relaxed environment. All types of programmers are welcomed: the solo programmer to ones that just work in pairs.

It’s important to note that the code retreat is open to programmers of all programming languages, styles, and development environments. If you code professionally, you can participate.

Why participate?

With the normal 9-5 routine of programming, it is too easy to get ‘stuck’ in a certain grind. Code retreat is a great way to get out of that grind for just a little bit. At the same time, meet others who are similar to you, but different.

At a code retreat, you will see how others approach similar problems and constraints, while also showing others your approach.

Finally, code retreats are a great way to meet other programmers in your local area because you get to work with them hands on.

Where to find one?

The authoritative place to get info is the code retreat website: http://coderetreat.org

This year’s Global Day of Code Retreat is: Saturday, October 22, 2016 and in many cities all over the world. The code retreat day is slightly different each year. Past years have been in December, last year was November, this year in October.

Participating in one is very cool as there will be a live stream link between your code retreat and other code retreats around the world.

My experience

I really enjoyed my code retreat experience. I’ve been to a few and even helped organize one as well. It’s very rewarding as a participant and as an organizer.

As a participant, I did most of my pair programming in Ruby. I just have so much fun in Ruby. Even though I work in Ruby all day, from that code retreat, I first learned to replace this line of code:

array.inject(0) { |sum, a| sum += a }

with just:

array.inject(&:+)

It really blew my mind to have the short syntax and see the benefits.

At the same code retreat, I also taught a vim user the basics of emacs without saying a word. Now that vim user is a hard core spacemacs user!

As an organizer, I had a lot of fun setting up a code retreat for other programmers. The ‘no pizza’ for lunch rule is really important! Also helping other pairs work together is very rewarding.

From both, I’ve also made some great programmer friends in NYC, outside of my usual work and Meetup group friends. I have found code retreats a great way to meet and work with other programmers.

Overall

If you have a chance, attend the next code retreat. I have really enjoyed my experiences because I have made new friends, taught emacs others, and learned new programming syntax.

Go forth and code (retreat)