LGTM Berlin July
Details
At LGTM Berlin, we're discussing the human side of LLM coding – how AI tools affect the way we build software, how we collaborate and how we feel about the transformation of our craft. We'll also mingle & have fun!
This month's speaker lineup:
• Retrocomputing and AI (Hans Hübner)
Working with old computers is fun, and their simplcity makes them quite accessible to LLM based coding agents. I had quite some fun with Claude Code helping me to finish some projects in that space and am going talk about them in this talk.
About the speaker: Hans has been a professional programmer for some 40 years and wore a couple leadership hats as well. His favorite programming language is XSLT, with Common Lisp being a close second. In his free time, he likes tinkering with old computers and making them do things that they'd never been done before.
• Shift Up (Thomas Übermeier)
As AI absorbs routine coding, the value of software work moves up the stack: from producing the artifact toward judgment about what to build and what "good" looks like in a given domain. This talk looks at how that shift changes the developer role, what it asks of people who currently identify primarily as builders, and which skills are worth practicing now.
About the speaker: Thomas has 25+ years in software engineering, including past roles as VP and Head of Engineering. Through his consultancy Ingenire, he now works as an interim engineering manager, fractional CTO, and advisor to startups.
• Regression to the Mean: How AI is quietly making your team fragile (Steven Langbroek).
LLM coding tools pull everyone's work toward the same patterns, making non-linear thinkers the scarcest people in the room — exactly the people hiring filters out. This talk asks why we're selecting harder for conformity right as it stops being valuable, and what we might do about it.
About the speaker: Steven "helps good people, usually software engineers & their managers, do good work, by creating systems in which they can succeed. He's typically the person asking uncomfortable questions about what we're actually trying to achieve here."
*Note: Are you interested in giving a presentation (20 minutes max) in one of the next meetups? Topics can include anything from tools to thoughts to feelings. Let me (Paulus) know at pesterhazy@gmail.com*