Instep Young Leaders breakfast
This month Cucumber hosted the Instep Young Leaders Breakfast giving an insider’s look at software development, with the aim of inspiring students to pursue further study and careers in Computer Science. As a new member of the Cucumber team the timing of this event was perfect in providing me an opportunity to learn more about one of Cucumbers core services.
Starting bright and early with a shared breakfast, our guests were introduced to the Cucumber team, their roles, and how they came to a career in technology. Technical Lead and Scrum Master, Matias Iacono, followed with a short introduction to software development management frameworks focusing on the collaborative methodology of agile and its application in a real world setting. Matias illustrated scrum and the roles and responsibilities of a software development team further through a game called “The Big Ugly Bird”. After a run down on the rules, design brief, and timeframes, the students were divided into teams. Any initial shyness from the students evaporated when the Lego bricks appeared and they began to tackle the task of building the ultimate Big Ugly Bird.
Throughout the game the Scrum Master introduced new design features requiring teams to review their progress, add new features, and adjust their design. With a little guidance from Nick, Logan, Rebecca and Nathan, and by focusing on problem-solving and collaborative skills, the students worked together to overcome each hurdle they were presented with… and there were plenty. The repeated process of adapting their designs resulted in robust conversations between the competing teams and some challenging questions for the Cucumber ‘Task Masters'. It was clear the game was succeeding in illustrating how to confront real life development challenges as a team.
As the morning progressed it was great to see the students becoming earnestly engaged in the process, producing great results with creative solutions. The presentation highlighted to me that it doesn’t matter if it’s a software or Lego problem, it’s about people working together, combining their ideas and skills toward the shared goal of creating great solutions. I look forward to working as part of this inspiring team with a passion for people and technology.
