For the last year I’ve been involved with the organization of Coding Dojo meetings in Florianopolis/Brazil. This kind of “coding meetings” started in France and spread to Finland, United States ( Pittsburgh and Houston), United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and Sweden.
The sessions are basically about solving a programming challenges using Pair Programming and Test-Driven Development. Everyone is welcome since there’s no skill prerequisites for attendees. The main goal is simple: improve coding skills through practice.
Apparently today when it comes to Agile, there’s a huge gap between the software Industry and Academia. I thought it was just in Brazil, but it seems that there’s too much students out there finishing their degrees without even heard about it. Well, the Coding Dojo doesn’t fill this gap, but it seems to be right at the middle: it’s a simple way to learn about some agile concepts and it can benefit both Industry and Academia.
Today I’m not living in Florianopolis anymore but I’m helping my friends there to keep the sessions running. New people are asking me about the next meetings and in the last weeks I heard about at least more 2 possible Dojos (one more in France and other in Sweden). I think it’s just the beginning for the Coding Dojo Global.