CodeMash 2026 - Day 1
January 13, 2026Tags: careers
Today is the first day of CodeMash 2026. This is a day of 4-hour workshops as well as some KidzMash sessions. Since I’ve got time this year, I decided to go check out some sessions.
Mad Scientist Sharks v 2.0
When I heard that Barry Tarlton and Brendan Barth were coming back with this workshop again this year, I was excited. A shark robot with a laser?! Let’s go! 🦈
It started with installing Thonny to use MicroPython to program a Raspberry Pi Pico WH while grabbing parts to start building the robot. I don’t play with electronics often, but every now and then, there’s a session that really calls me - despite some struggles. I wished I had my husband’s new headgear for working with electronics - complete with light and magnifier. It’s harder for me to work with those boards in the first place but even harder in low lighting. I ended up using the flashlight and camera zoom on my cellphone to read some of the pins.
I eventually did get my shark put together and mostly working - though I had my forwards and backwards flipped, my lefts and rights flipped, and my power switch inverted. But - no magic smoke! 💥
They have apps for iPhone, Android, and web-driven, talking to the robots using Bluetooth. It was such a neat experience! And yes, there are lasers:
Thankfully, Barry and Brendan had some awesome assistants in the lab, and they floated throughout the lab while we worked.
This was such a fun experience!
Mob Programming
In the afternoon, I caught a workshop with Chris Pipito and Joel Tosi on mob programming or ensemble programming. They ran it with:
- 1 driver, 1 navigator, the rest silent
- 1 driver, 2 navigators, the rest could talk amongst themselves but needed to focus on the problem at hand
- 1 driver, as many navigators as the team saw fit
It’s hard in that first round. The group of strangers I ended up work with turned out to be great at wanting to help and communicate. We stayed quiet like we were supposed to, but it sucks when you see your teammates struggle and can’t really help.
In round 2, it got a little better. There was a hiccup where us non-navigators were coming up with the algorithm to solve our problem with constraints. The worst constraint we had was “no conditionals”. So we had to get tricky.
By round 3, we were collaborating, scrapping our original code, scrapping our 2nd round code, and working on building out our algorithm.
While we didn’t finish the kata, we learned a lot from working together. One of the things we honed in on was the psychological safety that we found in our team. None of us had worked together before. Only 2 of us knew each other, but had never worked together. We were able to form a group where everyone was contributing, and we weren’t afraid to try things and let failing tests help us find our way. We were able to work on code in a language that might not have been familiar with some.
Also, I have to give a shout-out to Steven Diamante. He coached the team early on how the driver and navigator roles work, as well as offering tips and tricks along the way. If you’re looking for a technical coach who can help your team with TDD and working together as a team, he’s great!
Evening Adventures
After the sessions, I caught dinner with my husband and my sons. Kev is in the makerspace this week, and our boys are around as well. While we went out for dinner, we met up with some of our friends who joined us. Afterwards, I hung out with the boys for a bit. Then, the messages started, and I went off to meet with some other friends.
Apparently, psychological safety is the underlying theme with my crew. We were talking about some adventures we’re dealing with and how we haven’t found the right people to talk with. However, once we found each other, we were able to talk just fine. Sometimes, we just have to be at the right event to get everybody together in-person and chat. I love my CodeMash family for that.
Conclusion
It’s my first day of CodeMash 2026. It’s been great to see old friends and make new ones. The workshops I caught today were fantastic for engagement and learning.
Tomorrow, I’m not catching a workshop in the morning. However, I will be presenting my EventStorming session! Come play on Wednesday, January 14 at 1:00pm in Salon H! Hope to see you there!