Tag Archives: thoughtworks

Event: Computational Science Symposium – 1-day conference on CS for Science from ThoughtWorks’

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This year, ThoughtWorks’ Engineering for Research arm is organizing the first Computational Science and Engineering Symposium. The forum will host scientists and researchers from across scientific disciplines, alongside engineers and technologists to discuss and design solutions for computation challenges. We see this as the beginning of a computational-science community building exercise in Indian context.

The Symposium will delve into the three important trends that are disrupting the field of computational science: Data Deluge, Artificial Intelligence, and Complex Modeling and Simulation.

Agenda

8.00 AM – 9.00 AM Registration and Breakfast
9.00 AM – 9.30 AM Welcome Note, E4R Vision and TWI Commitment Sameer Soman, Managing Director, ThoughtWorks India; Harshal Hayatnagarkar, Computer Scientist, ThoughtWorks India
9.30 AM – 9.45 AM Opening Keynote Dr.Raghunath Mashelkar, National Research Professor, Chairman, National Innovation Foundatin and President, Global Research Alliance
9.45 AM – 10.30 AM Computational Astronomy and Astrophysics: Challenges and Opportunities Dr. Yashwant Gupta, Centre Director – National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune
10.30 AM – 10.45 AM Tea Break
10.45 AM – 11.30 AM Data-driven scientific discovery (4th Paradigm of Science) Dr. Vidyadhar Mudkavi, Director – Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, 4th Paradigm Institute, Bengaluru
11.35 AM – 12.20 PM Large-volume and Long-term Data Management Dr. Aparna N, Group Head – Data Centre, National Remote Sensing Centre
12.20 PM – 1.15 PM Lunch Break
1.15 PM – 2.00 PM A small boy and a hammer: Case studies in Data-Intensive science Dr. Mihir Arjunwadkar, Director – Centre for Modeling and Simulation, University of Pune
2.05 PM – 2.50 PM Trends in Data Storage & Analytics Dr. Milind Bhandarkar, Founder CEO of Ampool Inc.
2.50 PM – 3.05 PM Tea Break
3.05 PM – 4.05 PM Breakout sessions 3 tracks: Data Engineering (Dr Neeraj Gupta & Milind Bhandarkar), Data Science + Artifical InteIligence (Dr. Abhijit Kulkarni & Devangana Khokhar), Modeling and Simulation (TBD)
4.05 PM – 4.35 PM Vote of Thanks Unmesh Joshi, Head of Technology, ThoughtWorks India
4.35 PM – 5.30 PM Open Forum Q & A and Networking

Event Details

The event is in Pune, on Saturday, 24th March, from 8am to 5:30pm, Thoughtworks office, Yerawada, Pune.

The event is free, but by invitation only. To request an invitation register here.

Scala University: A free continuous learning initiative for the Scala Programming Language by ThoughtWorks Pune

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Scala University is an initiative of Scala practitioners from Pune – who want to drive continuous learning/teaching of Scala in the form of free public workshops. It was started by developers at ThoughtWorks who are passionate Scala users for many years. As of now, Scala University is specifically interested in helping communities in and around cities where ThoughtWorks has offices.

How did it start?

The people who started Scala University felt that they have benefitted a great deal from the open source Scala Language, the wonderful Scala community, and from other free and open resources around the web, for example, like Coursera courses on Scala and Reactive programming. They felt that they should give back to the community, and that is why “Scala University”

As a first step, they conducted a 4-day Scala Workshop in Pune on 20-23 June 2014. The event was “free” for all those who could clear a coding test. The response was overwhelming:

  • It got 350 registrations
  • 95 of them submitted the coding assignments
  • 30 candidates were selected after code review
  • 29 of them confirmed and attended all 4 days of the training!
  • Along with them, 10 ThoughtWorkers also attended, taking the total batch size to 40
  • Apart from developers there were 5 Quality Analysts and 1 Project Manager
  • The experience level varied widely: from 1st year engineering grads to people with 12+ years of experience.

The workshop also generated huge amount of goodwill in the local community. Enthused with the success, they conducted the 2nd workshop in Gurgaon on 24-27 July. The numbers were similar (around 25 people including 6 ThoughtWorkers attended). The 3rd workshop is scheduled in Chennai on 4-7 Sep. Workshops in Hyderabad, Singapore and Bangalore are being considered. You can keep track of list of all events conducted so far.

How does it work?

The Scala deep-dive workshop currently covers language fundamentals with hands on assignments. The workshop is always planned around the weekend. So, each attendee (which include ThoughtWorkers) have to invest 2 working days, plus a full weekend for the workshop. People have suggested compressing the workshop to 3 days, but it needs at least 4 full days to give a complete perspective of the basic language.

Folks from local ThoughtWorks offices are critical for organizing and logistics. They also help with the code reviews. Reviewing so many code submission is the most difficult task.

The workshop is announced around 1 month in advance. Roughly 25% of those who register submit the code, and 30% of those who submit the code qualify for the workshop. The course turns out to be ‘intense and fun’ for smart developers.

What are the rewards?

Learning and teaching Scala is a joy which in itself is a big reward. But there are other good side effects of this initiative:

  • Building local community around Scala
  • Building internal Scala capability within ThoughWorks
  • Positively influencing hiring. Some attendees from the 1st workshop applied to ThoughtWorks, and ThoughtWorks ended up making 2 offers!
  • Companies in the local markets find out about the workshop with requests for doing a dedicated commercial training.
  • The workshop model has inspired similar trainings by other ThoughtWorkers. See Agile Dev Bootcamp w- hich is scheduled on 15-August.

Next steps

Scala University also wants to do this in other cities where ThoughtWorks has offices, and they want to do multiple batches at each location if there is enough interest. If you are are a ThoughtWorker interested in doing a batch of “Scala University” in your city, please get in touch. If you are a potential attendee, please let them know in which cities you would like to attend these workshops. Based on that data, they might also plan a workshop in cities where ThoughtWorks does not have a office (for example, Mumbai or Nagpur).

Many have requested workshops on advanced/focused topics. The following topics are being considered:

  • Reactive programming (futures, promises, streams and actors)
  • Tools (Sbt, Play, Akka)
  • Big data computing (Spark stack)

If you’re interested, let them know about your preferences

For more information, see the Scala University website or see the contact us page there.

vodQA Pune testing/QA event – 13th Oct

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vodQA Pune, to be held on October 13th in Pune, is an event for software testing and QA professionals.

In this edition of vodQA, the focus is on testing beyond the usual. The discussions will range from functional and cross-functional areas like Security, Usability, Scalability and Performance, to understanding testing practices within industries such as Manufacturing and Banking, among others.

The call for speakers. If you can give a talk (30 minutes), a workshop (60 minutes), or a quick lightening talk (5 minutes) in one of the above areas, you should apply. (Sorry, it appears that the call for speakers is now closed.)

For more details of vodQA, see the vodQA Pune 2012 page. (Note: although this page says that the last date for submitting a proposal has already passed, they are still accepting submissions.)

The event itself is free and open for anyone to attend. Register here. The event is on 13th October, from 9:30am to 4:30pm, at Thoughtwords, Panchshil Tech Park, Yerwada, Pune.

vodQA Nite: The testing spirit – event for QA professionals – 10th June

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What: vodQA Nite, an event for the software testing industry
When: Thursday, 10th June, 5:30pm
Where: ThoughtWorks Technologies, GF-01 and MZ-01, Tower C, Panchshil Tech Park, Yerwada. Map
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Register here

vodQA Nite: The testing spirit

Thoughtworks Pune presents vodQA Nite – THE TESTING SPIRIT! – an event for the software testing industry to strengthen the QA community by sharing and learning new practices and ideas.

‘vodQA Nite’ offers a unique opportunity to interact with people who are equally passionate about software testing and continuously strive to better the art. The format of ‘vodQA Nite’ is scheduled such that each speaker will have 10-12 minutes to present followed by a couple of minutes of “open” discussion with participants. The topics covered in this workshop will be appropriate for any level of testing experience.

Connect with like-minded peers, and gain insight from industry practitioners.

Please note : This is a free to attend event. Register as an attendee here.

Who should attend?

Quality analysts and testing aficionados who want to interact with the testing community. This is also relevant to those interested in the nuances of test automation and how testing works in an Agile environment.

If you have any queries, email vodQA-Pune@thoughtworks.com