SAP CodeJam Liverpool – OpenUI5

What? The first SAP CodeJam in Liverpool, UK

Where? Liverpool Open Labs

When? Saturday 20th September 2014 9:00am – 4:00pm

How? Register over on Eventbrite

Some time ago, I posted this to my personal blog space here on SCN.  Not surprisingly, the general theme of the answers was for me to pull my finger out and get something sorted.  Well, just 12 months(!) later I’ve finally done just that.  With help from DJ Adams I am now excited to announce that the first SAP CodeJam in Liverpool will be on the topic of OpenUI5.

What is a CodeJam?

For those that don’t know, SAP CodeJams are free events where like-minded people can get together in a room and hack, play & meddle with an SAP technology.  It’s all about sharing knowledge, networking and generally having fun learning from other developers about a specific technology.  Given the massive and ever-increasing interest in UI5, this will be our chosen technology.

Now, if anyone follows my posts you will have (hopefully) read my “Reaching Out” series.  One of the things that struck me in DJ’s original post and inspired me was the whole concept of bursting out of the SAP bubble.  So, to pick up on this, DJ and I are hoping that this CodeJam will bridge the gap between the SAP and non SAP worlds.  We want people who don’t know the first thing about SAP to be a part of the day; we want to share our experience; we want to learn from them; ultimately we want to have a room full of web developers of all backgrounds and skillsets to come together, hack, share war stories and maybe eat pizza.  OpenUI5 is the first (IMHO) technology out of the SAP world that really allows us to attempt this so I’m hoping it is a massive success.  I have seen a few other UI5 CodeJams have achieved some progress on this front, so lets hope we can be successful too!

Want to know a bit more about OpenUI5 first?  Check out this great post by Andreas Kunz – What is OpenUI5 / SAPUI5 ?

Rough Agenda:

• 9:00am – meet, greet, coffee and stuff
• 9:30am – commence hacking
• 4:00pm – complete hacking
• 4:01pm – retire to a local public house/restaurant/coffee shop to debrief

What more do you want? 🙂

The venue has a decent size room but of course, places will be limited.  The team from SAP CodeJam will have the event page up and published imminently but I wanted to start publicising this as soon as possible.

Make a Weekend of it?

I’m hoping people will be happy to travel to Liverpool and maybe stay over for a night (or two?!)  Take a look at my BIF post for a bit of information about Liverpool and some ideas of other things to do there.  As it seems beertasting is often a favourable after-event for SAP get togethers in the UK, why not tie up the CodeJam with a trip to “Liverpool St George’s Hall Beer Festival September 2014” on the Saturday?  St George’s Hall is an amazing building slap bang in the centre of Liverpool and with the addition of beer, what isn’t to love?

Hotels/Travel

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is ~10.5km away from the venue and Liverpool Lime Street train station is only a short walk – you can get from London to Liverpool by train in just over 2 hours.  The Liverpool Open Labs venue itself is also close-by to many of the city centre hotels – I won’t make recommendations as there are lots to choose from, at all levels of budget and comfort!  (If anyone has any questions about travel/accommodation then please ask and I’ll try to help.)

Here is a Google Map that shows a few key places – The Open Labs, Liverpool Airport, Liverpool Lime Street Station & the end of the M62 Motorway coming into Liverpool.  I’m hoping people can find there way from this!

Please, please share this with your friends, colleagues and anyone you know who may be interested in hacking an Open Source JavaScript UI Library.

Update 22.08.2014 – date changed to a Saturday so hopefully more people can attend!