Exploring the Intersection: software craftsmen and AI

On 11 September, Validate IT, Intercept and Arcady welcome you to an inspiring evening all about craftsmanship, AI and the future of software development.

Agenda

• 17:15 - Doors open 👋
• 17:30 - Welcome & Dinner 🍽️
• 18:15 - Pascal (Validate IT) – How AI experiments supports our decision-making
• 19:15 - René & Arian (Intercept) – AI Assistant Coding and Beyond
• 20:15 - Maarten (Arcady) – Cutting Dev Toil with GitHub Models and GitHub
• 21:00- Drinks and networking 🍺

Talk 1 - Pascal (Validate IT) – How AI experiments supports our decision-making
In this talk, I’ll walk you through our real-life experiments — the ones that failed, the ones that were “meh,” and the ones that actually worked at a corporate company. I’ll also share what we’re doing right now with rb2 | We Develop, a development company, to compare how AI is really impacting our development lifecycle.

Talk 2 - René & Arian (Intercept) – AI Assistant Coding and Beyond
How can you, as a craftsman, collaborate with AI? And what role does craftsmanship still play when AI takes on an ever-growing share of coding?

In this talk, we’ll explore AI Assistant Coding, and go beyond that by showing how AI can perform code reviews tailored to your own instructions. Finally, we’ll take a look at how AI is becoming increasingly capable of writing code autonomously based on your specifications.

Talk 3 - Maarten (Arcady) – Cutting Dev Toil with GitHub Models and GitHub
Tired of spending time on tasks that add little value? Think of situations like:

• A vague bug report that takes endless back-and-forth before you can even start fixing
• Release notes you have to manually compile from the backlog
• A pull request with dozens of file changes but no description

In this session we’ll show how GitHub Models and GitHub Actions can automate these scenarios, so developers can focus on what really matters: delivering value. Expect plenty of live demos — and, time permitting, even self-healing pipelines powered by GitHub Models. We’ll cover, GitHub Models vs. Copilot, Quick intro to GitHub Action, Prompt design patterns, GitHub Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Why you’ll want to be there:

• You will discover how AI is already changing the way we build software
• Enjoy lively discussions and the chance to ask your burning questions
• Swap ideas with people who are just as excited about coding and AI

📍 Location: Makersfabriek, Zwolle
🕠 Doors open: 17:30
🍽 Dinner included: Let us know your dietary requirements when you register
🎟 Availability is limited, don’t miss your chance

All talks in English, inclusive and accessible for everyone