… feels like coming home
When I arrived on Wednesday afternoon, I wasn’t in a good shape. I had a headache and I was tired after an exhausting last few weeks. I had even doubted the wisdom of attending SoCraTes in this state, but since I had very much been looking forward to coming back to Soltau, I resolved to make the best of the situation.
Thanks to railway construction works, I travelled via Uelzen this year. At the train station there, I met one of the wonderful volunteer organizers (Martin Dürrmeier) that make the magic of SoCraTes possible and two of the trainers (Ruth Malan and Avraham Poupko) who were also on their way to the unconference. In true SoCraTes spirit, all three were very approachable and we successfully completed the rest of the journey together, despite Deutsche Bahn’s best efforts to throw us off the track.
At dinner, I was amazed that several folks still recognized me from last year, even though I had not hosted any sessions myself. One of the things that makes SoCraTes special is that it truly feels like coming home – beginning with your second visit!
On Thursday, I attended two workshops and took a much needed break during the third workshop slot which I used to write a letter by hand. As the World Café is one of my personal highlights, I was careful to not empty my social battery too early. This year, the questions for the World Café were rather personal, but most of the participants felt safe enough to answer them, so it was a great opportunity to get to know some of the other participants.
… is so much more than just technical sessions!
On Friday and Saturday, I joined many different sessions on a wide range of topics. This year, I focused more on technical topics such as IT security (Lisi Hocke, Christoph Menzel), writing a simple game in Haskell (Peter Bozsoky), or property-based testing (Patrick Drechsler).
I also attended a few psychological sessions that covered topics such as introducing TDD to an organization or attracting underrepresented groups to conferences (Katrin Rabow).
On Sunday, I jumped over my own shadow and attended my first code retreat. While I know the theory of TDD and the game of life kata, I had never done either before. Chris Welcz – whom I paired with in the first round – proved to be a wonderful and patient teacher for both (thanks so much!).
However, this is only part of the story. There was also a crafting session on Friday in which I knitted while others crocheted or learned the basics of sashiko. While crafting, we were visited by several quilters that we shared the hotel with this year. On Saturday, some of us returned the visit and were rewarded with a presentation of stunningly intricate quilts made and presented by the quilting group.
Additionally, I took two long solitary walks in the forest. There, I harvested blueberries and later figured out a way to wash them in my hotel room without creating a mess. I wrote another letter. I got myself a glitter “tattoo” because it made a six-year old happy to decorate us adults with those. I pulled countless faces to entertain babies and young children who attended SoCraTes with their parents (there’s childcare!). I drew Bob the Builder on a kudo card for a four-year old. Others were doing complicated jigsaw puzzles in a quiet hallway, getting their nails done, or simply enjoying the hotel’s many facilities.
On Sunday evening, we had a lot of fun vibe coding a multi-player tic-tac-toe web app with Chris Welcz (though we weren’t quite successful at doing nothing but vibe coding and helped the AI along some). As always, I had many lovely conversations during meals, breaks, and while waiting for my train in the hotel lobby on Monday.
By taking breaks and not joining in the late evening sessions (dancing, karaoke, and much more), I managed to free myself of my headache and to leave Soltau less tired than I arrived. The comfortable hotel with its very attentive staff, plenty of healthy food as well as the clean air and the nature surrounding the hotel certainly helped a lot with that, but the freedom to do whatever works best for you at SoCraTes and the lack of any social pressure to do things you do not want to do is what makes it a truly special conference to attend. No one will frown at you for needing to take a break or some quiet or alone time, making SoCraTes a truly inclusive place for introverts and neurodivergent folks.