I’ve been quiet on the writing front for a couple of weeks as I get up to speed with my new job. In the meantime, I wanted to share one of my leaving presents from my former crew and some software community highlights from this fantastic city.

In order to protect the innocent, I’ve had to do some minor editing to anonymize some of the content however my 2 favourite landmarks are still nice & clear as is some of the entertaining corporate commentary.

Credit to Stoots The Quartermaster and Squelch the Ship’s Artist/Brawler for this gem!

Treasure! – click for a full-size version

For anyone thinking of joining the local treasure quest, there’s a fantasic, forward-thinking software scene in Cambridge (UK). I’ve been up here for 7 years now and I’m still having a blast.

The team at Software East are busy putting on fantastic events and following the huge success last year, the second “Agile Cambridge” conference is happening in September with keynotes from David Anderson & Jurgen Appelo.

For those considering a career here; whilst not exhaustive, the Cambridge Network is a great place to start looking, and for an example of the kind of companies that make working in Cambridge special, take a look at these guys.

Meanwhile you can often find a large contingent of my former crew at The Portland Arms on a Friday Lunchtime. Every other Monday a few of us head down to The Old Spring for the now regular “Agile Cambridge Monday Meetup” and once a year the Cambridge Beer Festival becomes a regular lunchtime and evening haunt (and a recruiting/networking hub) for much of the city.

Of course there’s all the usual culture, architecture, students, music and everything else here but you can read about all that from the usual tourist guides.