Tech Nottingham September 2019 - Working Smart

This month we have a fun jam-packed event with talks from Matthew Walton and Lex Lofthouse. Plus we've got free food and drinks provided at the event thanks to our sponsors, Capital One, Cordius, Experian and MHR.

Everyone is welcome and there are no tickets required. Just turn up - it's free!

Full details here: https://www.technottingham.com/events/tech-nottingham-september-2019

**Six Months Later: Building Software For Your Future Self**
-by Matthew Walton-

Are you writing code? Is it clear, concise and self-explanatory? Is it maintainable? Is it easy to get up and running? Do your colleagues understand it? Will your future self understand it after another six months of working on five other projects? Will a future stranger understand it in two years after the entire team have rotated and nobody is left who’s ever worked on it?

We’ll take a trip through some code and situations inspired by actual events and consider how we can ensure our code is fit for our colleagues and our future selves.

**About Matthew**
Matthew Walton graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2003, swore never to get a job working with networks and promptly ended up writing some very high-performance network routing and analysis software for his first two jobs. After some diversions in desktop, web and consultancy work Matthew is now a Senior Developer at Commify, where he works on the core messaging platform and APIs.

**Don’t Set Yourself On Fire To Keep Others Warm**
-by Lex Lofthouse-

Am I doing enough? Am I even doing it right? How can I do it better? What the hell is Imposter Syndrome and why do I have it? What’s a Work/Life Balance? Huh, now I’m having a breakdown...

After putting her career first for the best part of a decade and then having a minor breakdown, Lex Lofthouse was compelled to make herself a number one priority.

In her talk Lex will discuss Imposter Syndrome and how she learned to fail correctly. We’ll discuss negative feedback and how to deal with it, toxic environments, burnout and ‘crunch’. Plus we’ll finally figure out that work/life balance thing once and for all.

**About Lex**
Alexandra ‘Lex’ Lofthouse is currently a Senior Designer at Nzime – a digital agency in Nottingham City Centre. Her love for digital design started at an early age, when her Dad taught her how to use Photoshop in her early teens. She went on to study Graphic Design at Robert Gordon’s University in her home city of Aberdeen. After moving down to Nottingham for an internship, she’s never left!

In her spare time she loves playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game and going to many of the gigs that Nottingham’s great music scene has to offer.

**Win Stuff At Tech Nottingham!**

This month to celebrate our theme of working smarter in software we’re giving away a copy of The Pragmatic Programmer - the seminal book to help you create better software and rediscover the joy of coding.

We'll also be giving away a 1 year subscription to a JetBrains product of your choice, including Resharper, IntelliJ and PHPStorm.

You know the drill: attend and tweet on the #TechNott hashtag to be in with a chance!

Full details here: https://www.technottingham.com/events/tech-nottingham-september-2019