BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/ REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:P1W SOURCE;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events.ics DESCRIPTION:North West Ruby User Group events BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20261025T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=10 TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-183 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260416T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260416T203000 DESCRIPTION:This month\, [Karl Batdavaa](https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-b atdavaa) presents an introduction to AI engineering.\n\nThe talk covers:\n \n- How LLMs work (transformers\, tokens\, context windows)\n- Embeddings for semantic search\n- Building a RAG pipeline that grounds AI answers in real business data\n\nNo prior AI experience needed.\n\n## About our speak er\n\nKarl is a software engineer working with applied AI. He has built AI -powered systems at a VC-backed hospitality startup.\n\n## Schedule\n\n- 6 :30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The talk starts\n- 8:00pm — We retire to The Crown & Kettle for refreshments and further Ruby chat\n\n## Registr ation\n\nIf you plan to attend\, be sure to [register](https://buytickets. at/nwrug/2165121) so we can plan for numbers.\n\n## Thanks to our sponsors \n\n[Fatsoma](https://www.fatsoma.com/) and [thoughtbot](https://thoughtbo t.com/) kindly sponsor NWRUG. Fatsoma cover the venue hire. thoughtbot cov ers the pizza and buys the first round of drinks afterwards ❤️ LOCATION:Colony\, One Silk Street\, 1 Silk Street\, Ancoats\, Manchester\, Manchester\, M4 6LZ\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: An introduction to AI engineering for developers who already know how to ship software URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/an-introduction-to-ai-engineering-fo r-developers-who-already-know-how-to-ship-software END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-182 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260319T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260319T203000 DESCRIPTION:This month\, [Rob Whittaker](https://ruby.social/@purinkle) wil l run a workshop: "Intro to Claude Code for Web Development."\n\nWe'll wor k in pairs on the NWRUG website itself. We'll add OpenGraph meta tags so e vent pages look better when shared on Bluesky and Mastodon. Experienced AI users will pair with newcomers. There are no passive slides. Everyone get s hands-on with Claude Code\, discussing prompts together before trying th em.\n\nBring a laptop with Ruby\, the Claude Code CLI\, and a GitHub accou nt. No prior AI tooling experience needed.\n\n## About our facilitator\n\n Rob (he/him) is a Development Director at thoughtbot and co-organiser of N WRUG. He uses Claude Code daily to manage his team\, write code\, and run projects.\n\n## Schedule\n\n- 6:30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The works hop starts\n- 8:00pm — We retire to The Crown & Kettle for refreshments and further Ruby chat\n\n## Registration\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register](https://buytickets.at/nwrug/2103565) so we can plan for numb ers.\n\n## Thanks to our sponsors\n\nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [Fatsoma ](https://www.fatsoma.com/) and [thoughtbot](https://thoughtbot.com/). Fat soma cover the venue hire. thoughtbot covers the pizza and buys the first round of drinks afterwards ❤️ LOCATION:Colony\, One Silk Street\, 1 Silk Street\, Ancoats\, Manchester\, Manchester\, M4 6LZ\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: Intro to Claude Code for Web Development URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/intro-to-claude-code-for-web-develop ment END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-181 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260219T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260219T203000 DESCRIPTION:This month\, Aji Slater will unlock the mysteries of the Enigma machine using object-oriented programming:\n\n> After the last carrier pi geon but before digital encryption\, there was the Enigma machine. An inge nious piece of pre-atomic age technology encoded German military secrets d uring World War II\, baffling code-breakers with mere rotors and switches\ , without elliptic curves or private keys.\n> \n> Delve into object-orient ed programming and bring the Enigma machine back to life with an emulator built in Ruby. Unravel the secrets of this nigh-unbreakable cipher device\ , witness OO principles unlock its mysteries\, discover the power and vers atility of the patterns we use as developers and how they mirror the Enigm a's inner workings.\n\n## About our speaker\n\nAji (they/them) is a Senior Developer at thoughtbot\, co-host of The Bike Shed podcast\, invested but beginner ukulele player\, and might not be Banksy.\n\n## Schedule\n\n- 6: 30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The talk starts\n- 8:00pm — We retire t o The Crown & Kettle for refreshments and further Ruby chat\n\n## Registra tion\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register](https://buytickets.at/ nwrug/2024176) so we can plan for numbers.\n\n## Thanks to our sponsors\n\ nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [Fatsoma](https://www.fatsoma.com/) who cove r the venue hire and the pizza on the night and [thoughtbot](https://thoug htbot.com) who buy the first round of drinks afterwards ❤️ LOCATION:Colony\, One Silk Street\, 1 Silk Street\, Ancoats\, Manchester\, Manchester\, M4 6LZ\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: The Unbreakable Code Whose Breaking Won WWII URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/the-unbreakable-code-whose-breaking- won-wwII END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-180 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260115T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260115T203000 DESCRIPTION:This month\, [Will Jessop](https://willj.net) will give us his opinion on the current state of AI and how it affects us:\n\n> It's been i mpossible to miss the rise of AI over the last few years\, and the impact it's had on programming as an activity and career. In this talk I will dis cuss why I think AI is here to stay\, what that ultimately means for peopl e like us who consider ourselves to be programmers\, and what\, if anythin g\, we can do to insulate ourselves from any negative consequences this wi ll have for the industry.\n\n## About our speaker\n\nWill has worked in te ch for over 25 years and is the ex-CTO of Impactive\, now principal engine er (performance\, scaling and architecture) at ActBlue/Impactive.\n\n## Sc hedule\n\n- 6:30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The talk starts\n- 8:00pm — We retire to The Crown & Kettle for refreshments and further Ruby chat \n\n## Registration\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register](https:/ /buytickets.at/nwrug/2010445) so we can plan for numbers.\n\n## Thanks to our sponsors\n\nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [Fatsoma](https://www.fatsoma .com/) who cover the venue hire and the pizza on the night and [thoughtbot ](https://thoughtbot.com) who buy the first round of drinks afterwards ❤️ LOCATION:Colony\, One Silk Street\, 1 Silk Street\, Ancoats\, Manchester\, Manchester\, M4 6LZ\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: AI Is Going to Take Your Job (And What\, If Anything\, You C an Do About It) URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/ai-is-going-to-take-your-job END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-179 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251218T193000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251218T213000 DESCRIPTION:As the year winds down and the holiday cheer increases\, it’s time for the annual NWRUG festive social! We’re swapping the usual talk s and code for cosy chats\, good company\, and a drink of whatever tickles your fancy.\n\n- **Where?** The Crown & Kettle\, Oldham Road\, Manchester \n- **When?** Thursday\, 18 December from 7.30pm\n\nThe Crown & Kettle off ers a great selection of drinks\, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic. Whethe r you’re into Ruby\, stouts\, or something else\, there will be somethin g for you. If you’re more into chats than pints\, don’t worry. Our soc ials are as much about connecting with the community as the drinks.\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register](https://buytickets.at/nwrug/19657 55) so we can plan for numbers. Feel free to bring any burning Ruby questi ons or enjoy the festive vibes. Christmas jumpers are optional but always encouraged.\n\nWe can’t wait to see you there for a relaxed end-of-year gathering. If we miss you this month\, we hope you have a wonderful holida y season\, and we’ll see you for more Ruby goodness in 2026. Cheers!\n\n ## Thanks to our sponsors\n\nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [thoughtbot](htt ps://thoughtbot.com) who will buy the first round of drinks ❤️ LOCATION:The Crown & Kettle\, 2 Oldham Road\, Manchester\, M4 5FE\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: Festive Social URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/festive-social-2025 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-178 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251120T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251120T203000 DESCRIPTION:This month\, [Darren "Daz" Jones](https://daz.codes) will be gi ve us a guided tour of their declarative alternative to Stimulus:\n\n> Sti mulus has been a core part of Rails for nearly four years\, transforming h ow we use JavaScript in our applications. But as great as it is\, Stimulus controllers can sometimes feel clunky and awkward to work with. But what if we could do better?\n>\n> In this talk\, I’ll share how I set out to improve the developer experience by creating Helium — a tiny declarative JavaScript library that does everything a Stimulus controller can do\, bu t directly in your views using simple data attributes (think Tailwind for JS).\n>\n> I’ll demonstrate how it works\, show some real-world examples \, and rework a few common Stimulus controllers to highlight the cleaner\, more expressive syntax Helium offers and hopefully show that it might be time to ditch Stimulus...\n\n## About our speaker\n\nDaz is a Rails develo per for Yozu\, a development company based in Liverpool. Before this he ta ught Maths and Computing while pursuing web development as a hobby. He has written numerous articles for SitePoint and 3 books: Jump Start Sinatra\, JavaScript Novice to Ninja and Learn to Code with JavaScript.\n\n## Sched ule\n\n- 6:30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The talk starts\n- 8:00pm — We retire somewhere else for refreshments and further Ruby chat\n\n## Regi stration\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register](https://buytickets .at/nwrug/1927303) so we can plan for numbers.\n\n## Thanks to our sponsor s\n\nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [Fatsoma](https://www.fatsoma.com/) who cover the venue hire and the pizza on the night and [thoughtbot](https://t houghtbot.com) who buy the first round of drinks afterwards ❤️ LOCATION:Colony\, One Silk Street\, 1 Silk Street\, Ancoats\, Manchester\, Manchester\, M4 6LZ\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: Beyond Stimulus: Simplifying JavaScript in Rails with Helium URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/beyond-stimulus-simplifying-javascri pt-in-rails-with-helium END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-177 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251016T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251016T203000 DESCRIPTION:This month\, Ryan Townsend will be sharing stories about how he started\, scaled\, and liquidated a Rails-based startup that at its peak reached £5M ARR:\n\n> Ryan has been building with Rails since before Git existed—originally checking the framework out of SVN back in 2005. After overcoming organisational resistance on adopting Rails\, he built and sca led his previous business to calmly handle hundreds of millions in yearly revenue through successive Black Fridays. He’ll run us through his succe sses and failures before taking a brief look at why he feels Rails is pois ed for success in the future.\n\n## About our speaker\n\nWith over 20 year s of experience in tech\, including 10 years as a full-time CTO\, Ryan Tow nsend is a passionate leader and distinguished software engineer. He publi shes video content under ‘Lessons of a CTO’ and runs TWNSND\, his Frac tional CTO consultancy\, though he’s currently on the lookout for Direct or of Engineering-type roles!\n\n## Schedule\n\n- 6:30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The talk starts\n- 8:00pm — We retire somewhere else for refr eshments and further Ruby chat\n\n## Registration\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register](https://buytickets.at/nwrug/1867760) so we can plan for numbers.\n\n## Thanks to our sponsors\n\nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [Fatsoma](https://www.fatsoma.com/) who cover the venue hire and the pizz a on the night and [thoughtbot](https://thoughtbot.com) who buy the first round of drinks afterwards ❤️ LOCATION:Colony\, One Silk Street\, 1 Silk Street\, Ancoats\, Manchester\, Manchester\, M4 6LZ\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: Millions on Rails: A Two-Decade Retrospective on Scaling Wit h Rails URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/millions-on-rails END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-176 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250918T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250918T203000 DESCRIPTION:\nThis month Steven Harrison will be give us a guided tour of H otwire Native:\n\n> I've often seen the requirement of a native applicatio n used as a reason to only use Rails as an API. But with Hotwire Native\, we can bring the speed and productivity of full-stack Rails to mobile deve lopment. In this session\, we’ll look at how Hotwire Native works\, some unique advantages of building apps this way\, and what’s coming next fo r the framework.\n\n\n## About our speaker\n\nSteven Harrison is a lead de veloper at Yozu\, full-stack Rails advocate and owner of a dog called Ruby .\n\n## Schedule\n\n- 6:30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The talk start s\n- 8:00pm — We retire somewhere else for refreshments and further Ruby chat\n\n## Registration\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register](ht tps://buytickets.at/nwrug/1862169) so we can plan for numbers.\n\n## Thank s to our sponsors\n\nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [Fatsoma](https://www .fatsoma.com/) who cover the venue hire and the pizza on the night ❤️ LOCATION:Friends’ Meeting House\, 6 Mount Street\, Manchester\, M2 5NS\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: Turbocharged Native Development URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/september-2025-turbocharged-native-d evelopment END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-175 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250821T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250821T203000 DESCRIPTION:We're back for another edition of Ruby in the North West\, AKA NWRUG. This month we have our very own [Rahoul](https://ruby.social/@rahou lb) (AKA Baz) explaining how to LLMs to your apps\, doing TDD and writing code with them. He'll get them to do project management like requirements documents and code review. All of that without hallucinations or wiping yo ur production database.\n\n## About our speaker\n\n[Rahoul](https://ruby.s ocial/@rahoulb) has been a Rubyist since Ruby 1.8.6. He's a keen Nottingha m Forest fan\, and\, according to his Ruby.social profile\, has hair and d ogs!\n\n## Schedule\n\n- 6:30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The talk st arts\n- 8:00pm — We retire somewhere else for refreshments and further R uby chat\n\n## Registration\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register] (https://buytickets.at/nwrug/1810479) so we can plan for numbers.\n\n## Th anks to our sponsor\n\nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [Fatsoma](https://w ww.fatsoma.com/) who cover the venue hire and the pizza on the night and [ thoughtbot](https://thoughtbot.com) who buy the first round of drinks afte rwards ❤️ LOCATION:Friends’ Meeting House\, 6 Mount Street\, Manchester\, M2 5NS\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: Software dev with LLMs\, Summer 25 update URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/software-dev-with-llms-summer-2025-u pdate END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-174 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250717T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250717T203000 DESCRIPTION:After last month's Brighton Ruby break we're back for another e dition of Ruby in the North West\, AKA NWRUG. This month we have our very own [Caius](https://ruby.social/@caius) explaining how being curious and c ontinuing to ask questions when something feels amiss can be a superpower. \n\n## About our speaker\n\n[Caius](https://ruby.social/@caius) is a techn ology wizard at the intersection of machines and code. \n\n## Schedule\n\n - 6:30pm — We gather\n- 7:00pm — The talk starts\n- 8:00pm — We r etire somewhere else for refreshments and further Ruby chat\n\n## Registra tion\n\nIf you plan to attend be sure to [register](https://www.tickettail or.com/events/nwrug/1779419) so we can plan for numbers.\n\n## Thanks to o ur sponsor\n\nNWRUG is kindly sponsored by [Fatsoma](https://www.fatsom a.com/) who cover the venue hire and the pizza on the night ❤️ LOCATION:Friends’ Meeting House\, 6 Mount Street\, Manchester\, M2 5NS\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: Tugging threads URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/tugging-threads-july-2025 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260418T171720Z UID:nwrug-event-173 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250515T183000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250515T203000 DESCRIPTION:Come join us for another NWRUG! Nearly 15 years ago\, Rails 3 w as born from the merger of Rails 2.x and Merb around the same time the boo k Rails AntiPatterns: Best Practice Ruby on Rails Refactoring was released .\n\nJoin Chad Pytel\, author of _Rails AntiPatterns_ and thoughtbot found er and CEO\, as he revisits key AntiPatterns from the book\, explores how their solutions hold up today\, and reflects on what’s changed (or hasn ’t!) in the Rails world since then.\n\n## Schedule\n\n- 6:30pm — doors open\; pizza is consumed\n- 7:00pm — demonstration begins\n- After — to the pub for more discussions\n\n## Registration\n\nPlease make sure you [register on Ticket Tailor](https://www.tickettailor.com/events/nwrug/169 4809) so we know how much pizza to order.\n\n## Sponsorship\n\nNWRUG is ki ndly sponsored by [Fatsoma](https://www.fatsoma.com/) who provide both the venue and the pizza on the night ❤️ LOCATION:Colony\, One Silk Street\, 1 Silk Street\, Ancoats\, Manchester\, Manchester\, M4 6LZ\, England SUMMARY:NWRUG: Rails AntiPatterns Revisited URL;VALUE=URI:https://nwrug.org/events/rails-antipatterns-revisited END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR