Phil Wylie

August 2023 – Meetup

It’s been an incredible journey since we reconvened earlier this year. The enthusiasm and involvement continue to exceed our expectations. In August, we had another laid back social event at The Coffee Bar & Kitchen. Thanks to Andy and the team for the great venue, food, and drinks.

Natasha led an engaging open discussion session that touched on a range of topics. From AI to the potential metamorphosis of Stoke-on-Trent into a ‘Silicon Stoke’—the conversations were as dynamic as the topics themselves.

We want to take a moment to thank everyone who participated in August’s meetup—long-time attendees and newcomers alike. To those who joined us for the first time, we extend a warm welcome, and we’re glad to have you with us. Your enthusiasm, knowledge sharing, and engagement are integral to what makes our meetup special.

Turning to the future, we’re setting our sights on September’s meetup. We’re excited to share that we’re exploring a potential new venue. While details are still in the works, we’re optimistic about the potential it holds. Keep an eye on the Meetup page for updates; any venue changes will be communicated via email.

As always, our mission remains to foster a space where design, development, and technology enthusiasts can come together to exchange ideas, insights, and inspiration. If you share our passion and want to be a part of our community, whether as a sponsor, speaker, or attendee, we’d love to hear from you.

Mark your calendars for the next meetup, set for September 14th. Whether it’s your first meetup or you’re a regular, RSVP now to reserve your spot. We can’t wait to see you there!

July 2023 – Relaunch Event

It’s been quite a journey since our last gathering in February 2020. We missed the lively discussion, the insights shared, and the connections made. We’re excited to be back!

To kick things off, our first meetup was a social gathering aimed at gauging interest and planning for the future. It was great to see old friends and meet new members of the community.

Thanks to Andy and the team at The Coffee Bar & Kitchen for providing an excellent venue, delicious food and drink.

Though it took a moment to recall the name and format, I’d like to thank Trevor for hosting our interpretation of Lean Coffee—a somewhat structured discussion session with the agenda decided by consensus. From AI to soup flavours and what, exactly, is soup? The session is a chance for everyone to contribute, sparking engaging and thought-provoking discussion—and always entertains.

We also want to express our gratitude to each and every one of you who has been a part of the Staffs Web Meetup community in the past or has recently joined. Your enthusiasm, expertise, and willingness to share has always been the foundation of this group.

We are actively seeking sponsors and speakers to support and contribute to our little community. If you are passionate about design, development, and technology, and would like to get involved, we would love to hear from you.

Please do join us 10th August for the next meetup. RSVP on Meetup to secure your spot. We look forward to seeing you there!

February 2020 – Lightning Talks

Thanks for coming along to the February edition of Staffs Web Meetup.

A massive thank you to our sponsors – My Clever Group, Dataflexnet, Codeweavers, VesselsValue and Kanuka Digital.

Talks

Free yourself and your data

Paul Boocock — Software Engineer, Snowplow Analytics

Our world is becoming ever more data driven, we’re collecting data from more sources than ever and whilst data tools are becoming more sophisticated, working with and deriving insightful meaning from our data is still the greatest challenge of all.

Developers track the data they have available to them, analysts work with that data to try and find insights but there is often a disconnect between a developers world and an analysts world, leaving both parties feeling unsatisfied.

During this talk we’ll look at how we can bridge that gap and help communicate meaning and intention in the data we track, whilst still maintaining the flexibility to evolve your data structures as your business needs change. We’ll also dive into what standards and open source technologies we can utilise to help us roll this out across an organisation.

January 2020 – Lightning Talks

Thanks for coming along to the January edition of Staffs Web Meetup.

A massive thank you to our sponsors – My Clever Group, Dataflexnet, Codeweavers, VesselsValue and Kanuka Digital.

Talks

WebAssembly Interface Types

Greg Mayes — Developer, VesselsValue

The Future of Interoperability. Most examples of WebAssembly tend to be focused on running it within a browser and interfacing with JavaScript. What if WebAssembly could be executed anywhere, in almost any language? WebAssembly Interface Types aim to help with that momentous undertaking. This talk will provide a brief introduction to WebAssembly and interface description languages (IDL), before then moving on to the problem that WebAssembly Interface Types attempts to solve.

Using Cats to Purfect Your Software Architecture

Andy Clarke

What have cats got to tell us about Software Architecture? Well, most people are roughly familiar with cats, their boundaries and their input/output mechanisms. It turns out it’s very easy to see when a use case has gone wrong when using a cat. We’ll take a look at some typical cat use cases and see what lessons we can take back to software architecture.

Join me for an irreverent look at Coupling and Cohesion, Aggregate Roots and the Point of Highest Abstraction … all using the medium of cats.

November 2019 – Design Patterns & Development Do’s and Don’ts

Thanks for coming along to the November edition of Staffs Web Meetup.

A massive thank you to our sponsors – My Clever Group, Dataflexnet, Codeweavers, VesselsValue and Kanuka Digital.

Talks

The Who, What, When, Where and Why of Design Patterns

Dan Parkin

There comes a time on our journey as developers where we first encounter design patterns, and this naturally comes along with many questions.
In this talk, we’ll look at the who, what, when, where and why of design patterns; Who made them? What are they? When should you use them? Where did they come from? Why should you learn them?

Along the way, we’ll look at some of the principles that underpin them, the pros and cons of patterns and the danger of being “pattern happy”.

Do’s and Don’ts of Long-term Development Projects

Jon Baldie

What have cats got to tell us about Software Architecture? Well, most people are roThe web development industry is moving faster than ever, but more developers are finding that an old truth still applies: The biggest difficulties we face in the workplace aren’t necessarily due to the work itself, but from our interactions with other people. Jonathan will use a classic case study from the tech industry to show how social intelligence can make our working lives both less stressful and more rewarding, especially in long-term development projects.