Practically AI: Applied AI for Software Engineers Manchester

Practically AI is a new Manchester meetup for professional software engineers, engineering leaders, and software-engineering-adjacent professionals (platform, SRE/DevOps, product) who want to ship AI in production. We’ll focus on applied, production-ready workflows: AI-assisted coding (Claude Code, Copilot), AI-driven dev environments and orchestration (MCP servers, CrewAI, LangGraph, PydanticAI), automated testing and CI/CD with AI, AI-powered ops/observability, and infrastructure automation. Expect concrete demos, reusable code, and practical patterns you can put to work the next day.

We are building a friendly AI practitioner community in Manchester—and we’re actively looking for speakers. If you’ve got a talk, demo, or war story on these topics, get in touch and let’s get you on the schedule.

Duncan Tait : My Experience With Claude Code

AI coding assistants are no longer a novelty—they’re becoming a core part of how we work. In this session, Duncan Tait from Matillion shares his first-hand experience with Claude Code, and how it has reshaped his daily workflow as a professional developer.

Rather than just showing “what it can do,” Duncan will talk through how Claude Code has changed his mindset and approach to engineering tasks—where it saves time, where it sparks creativity, and where it’s helped strip out some of the more frustrating parts of building software. Expect to see not just shortcuts, but deeper lessons in rethinking strategies, habits, and even philosophies of software development.

By the end of the session, you’ll come away with concrete ideas for how to use Claude Code to ease the grind of coding, debugging, and exploring new designs. Duncan will share practical workflows you can adopt tomorrow, while also pointing towards what the next few months of AI-assisted coding could mean for engineering teams.

Who Should Attend:

Software engineers curious about weaving AI into their daily workflow, tech leads evaluating coding assistants, and anyone who wants to spend less time wrestling with repetitive coding tasks and more time building.

Why It’s Worth Attending:

You’ll see what happens when AI coding tools become more than just autocomplete—when they actually start changing how you think and work as an engineer. Plus, you’ll connect with peers in Manchester who are exploring the same shift in day-to-day practice.

Agenda:

18:30 – Doors, pizza & mingling
18:50 – Introductions
19:00 – Duncan Tait: My Experience With Claude Code
19:40 – Q&A
19:50 – Open social & refreshments
20:30 – Close

Venue:

Matillion, Two New Bailey St, Stanley St, Salford M3 5GS

Entry:

Upon arrival at Matillion, please check in at reception and you’ll be directed to the meetup.