| CFP closes at | February 23, 2025 16:53 UTC |
| (Local) |
Monki Gras 2025 is in London March 27th 28th 2025.
This is a conference about sustaining the craft of software development, at a pivotal time in the industry. Open source is under attack. AI potentially threatens some jobs. Employers are determined to get the upper hand in relationships with software developers again. This is a conference about sustaining craft in the face of that. With amazing craft beer, natural wine, artisan alcohol free beverages and great food.
We’re going to examine the trends surrounding our changing industry, how to sustain our craft, and take advantage of automation without being sidelined or undermined by it.
Open source is under attack in a way it hasn’t since it first began to remake the industry. Relicensing to proprietary licenses after building a community and customer base is all the rage. So what does that mean for open source communities? For maintainers? What is the role of the open source Foundation? We’re super interested in talks from open source maintainers.
AI is being positioned by some companies to replace developers, designers and ops people altogether, which is obviously not great. What skills are going to be more relevant going forward? What tools are you using to make you more productive. What are new crafts and skills? Maybe you have a view on whether users will choose to avoid AI altogether - the economics are by no means certain, with frontier model providers burning through cash at a frightening rate.
Tech vendors are determined to get back in the driving seat after a long “golden era” for developers influence and power. What does this mean for learning, and maintaining decent jobs in the industry? How to manage people effectively? What does it mean for the craft we take so much pride in? We’re always interested in learning about sociotechnical systems.
At Monki Gras we love talks that go meta. You might want to teach people about the history of the Luddites, about William Morris, or spindle makers in the East End of London. We want talks that folks won’t find anywhere else. Sustaining Software Development Craft is a big topic after all. Historical allusions, stories, personal or historical, always work really well with our community.
Don’t be afraid to propose a talk about the dark side of the era, but by the same token, if you’re super positive about the future of software craft in the age of AI then please jump in. Perhaps you’ve made one of those open source relicensing decisions and want to explain why. That would make a great talk.
For would be speakers our main advice is straightforward: “be good.” One of the things all our conferences have in common is the uniform excellence of our speakers. Talks at RedMonk events are not only creative and compelling, they are prepared, rehearsed and engaging. That doesn’t mean you have to be an experienced speaker. We especially welcome first time speaker proposals, and we’re more than happy to help with coaching before the fact if you would find that helpful.
As for topics, that’s up to you. There are only two rules:
-
Go meta - try and find ways that one discipline informs another.
-
No product pitches, sponsor or otherwise.
From there, we’re open. In a perfect world, you’ll make the attendees think about the world they’re a part of and their role in it.
Be interesting, be insightful, be original.
CFP Description
At Monki Gras we love talks that go meta. You might want to teach people about the history of the Luddites, about William Morris, or spindle makers in the East End of London. We want talks that folks won’t find anywhere else. Sustaining Software Development Craft is a big topic after all. Historical allusions, stories, personal or historical, always work really well with our community.
It’s an intimate, community-oriented event, by design. It likely won’t be more than 175 people. Over the course of two days we expect people to get to know each other. Attendees really come from all parts of the industry: folks that are looking for the first role as a software developer, serial startup founders, CTOs of big database companies, deep tech and infra people, folks that just want to learn about tech frontiers. It’s a mixed bag for sure, and that makes it fun. Don’t be afraid to pitch something technical, or to go high level.
Don’t be afraid to propose a talk about the dark side of the era, but by the same token, if you’re super positive about the future of software craft in the age of AI then please jump in. Perhaps you’ve made one of those open source relicensing decisions and want to explain why. That would make a great talk.
For would be speakers our main advice is straightforward: “be good.” One of the things all our conferences have in common is the uniform excellence of our speakers. Talks at RedMonk events are not only creative and compelling, they are prepared, rehearsed and engaging. That doesn’t mean you have to be an experienced speaker. We especially welcome first time speaker proposals, and we’re more than happy to help with coaching before the fact if you would find that helpful.
As for topics, that’s up to you. Open source, AI impacts, Skills gaps, teaching and learning platforms, the importance of mentorship or documentation - anything about sustaining the craft.
There are only two rules:
-
Go meta - try and find ways that one discipline informs another.
-
No product pitches, sponsor or otherwise.
From there, we’re open. In a perfect world, you’ll make the attendees think about the world they’re a part of and their role in it.
Be interesting, be insightful, be original.
Attendees (1)
