Software Engineering & Tech Quality - Manchester Tech Festival

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Software Engineering & Tech Quality

[31.10.2023 | 8:30am - 5:30pm]

Technology is arguably one of the top most industries where continuous learning and professional development remains essential to career growth. As an industry, we never stand still.

Our Software Engineering and Tech Quality conference held at the impressive People’s History Museum is a deliberately curated day aimed at mid to senior level software development professionals interested at staying the top of their game. We welcome Testers, Engineers, Product Owners, Heads of Engineering, CTO’s, Founders, and anyone interested in cutting-edge concepts and ideas that are circulating in the industry.

There will be exclusive networking opportunities for those with passes to the day, and a full buffet lunch provided to keep you engaged with the learning!

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The Agenda

Download the agenda for this year’s Software Engineering & Tech Quality day using the link below!

SPEAKERS

Discover our lineup of thought and tech leaders. Click on the speakers below to explore this years talks.

Purchase your pass

Secure your spot at our Software & Engineering & Q&A day! Purchase your festival pass now and be a part of an unforgettable experience that promises to inspire, educate, and connect you with leading experts from Manchester’s tech scene and beyond..

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VENUE

People's history museum

Left Bank, Spinningfields Manchester, M3 3ER

People’s History Museum is the national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present, and future.

Evening Social

Our evening social offers the perfect setting to forge new connections, exchange insights, and build valuable relationships within the tech community. With a vibrant atmosphere, delicious refreshments, and opportunities to engage with industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and like-minded enthusiasts, this evening social is the ideal platform to relax, unwind, and expand your professional network.

Join us for an evening of networking and drinks straight after the conference at:

Banyan Bar & Kitchen, Spinningfields, Vantage Point, Manchester M3 3PL

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Iris WInter

Head of Engineering, xDesign

As the Head of Engineering at xDesign, Iris leads the frontend capability while steering cross-functional teams towards delivering comprehensive digital solutions. With a rich background in software engineering, she employs a multidisciplinary approach to solve complex technical challenges.

Iris is deeply invested in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the tech community. Outside of her professional endeavours, she delves into the study of psychology, gaining insights that enrich both her leadership skills and her understanding of team dynamics

Talk Overview

Ghosts in the Shell: The Illusion of Sentience in AI

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, artificial intelligence has become the cornerstone of innovation, solving problems, and enhancing our lives in ways previously thought unimaginable. But how far have we come in truly creating a sentient being? Are we standing on the cusp of achieving self-aware AI, or are these just elaborate “ghosts in the shell”?

This thought-provoking talk aims to unravel the enigma of AI’s illusion of sentience. We’ll explore the complexities of what makes AI like ChatGPT appear so convincingly ‘alive,’ from its ability to hold a conversation to its capacity for contextual understanding. However, we’ll also turn the spotlight on ourselves, examining the human fascination for creating ‘life’ and what our pursuit for increasingly human-like AI reveals about our own psychological landscape.

Our journey will delve into the ethics and implications of pursuing increasingly sentient AI. Are we walking into an ethical minefield, or is this the inevitable next step in human advancement? As we unpack the technological nuances and psychological implications, this talk will seek to spark not just understanding but also critical thought.

The session promises to be more than just an exploration of the technology itself but will serve as an examination of our own humanity. What do our attempts at creating ‘sentient’ machines say about our aspirations, fears, and ethical quandaries? Is AI the next frontier for understanding consciousness, or are we simply projecting our own sentience onto lines of code?

Aimed at both tech aficionados and the psychologically curious, this talk will engage you in a discussion that is as haunting as it is enlightening. As Halloween looms, we may find that the most intriguing ghosts are the ones lurking in our algorithms and our minds.

Join us for a talk that aims to blend the worlds of psychology and artificial intelligence, offering a unique lens through which to view both fields, suitable for Halloween and far beyond.

David Williams

Software Engineering Manager at Spike

My biggest focus in life is to be the best husband and father I can be for my wife and two amazing kids, aged 8 and 6. As an an award-winning international conference speaker I love to travel far and wide to share my experiences. I’m a STEM Ambassador and also a Mental Health First Aid practitioner, also because I like to help people.

During my 20 years in the field of engineering, quality and testing I’ve been an individual contributor at various levels up to Lead, and I have many years under my belt as a manager, head of testing and also as a cross-functional engineering manager. Most recently I have taken a role as a Managing Consultant, helping to transform retail businesses.

Talk Overview

The Value of Change

Change is the cornerstone of businesses, of teams, and of individuals. But with information being potentially infinite, how do we efficiently optimise that gathering process, and focus on the most important information we need to Enable Change?

We look at one key variable within the information – VALUE! How often do you look at the “Value” of your work? Do you evaluate the Value of what you are doing, before, during, and (importantly!) after you do it? Do you understand your Value to your business, your department, your team, your career and even to your daily life?

By sharing my own experiences and anecdotes from a 20 year career in engineering, testing, quality and leadership, I will paint high-level pictures of some of the responsibilities I had, for you to map to your own experiences and spot the (often hidden!) opportunities to generate Value to effect change.
Come and listen to the strategies that I have used as an employee that helped me understand the context and scope of my work and team, which then helped me to start understanding how I could generate Value in that role, and how I used that to drive my career growth and enable my own career changes.

Key takeaways

Understand different roles and responsibilities, and have ideas on generating Value to enable change in them.
Use the concept of Value to better structure your role and responsibilities on the impact you can make, and change you can enable.
Track the Value of your daily work (I’ve helped 3 people to get promoted using these ideas)
Talk confidently about Value and impact using your own examples