Next Friday, 7 October 2011, Microsoft in Cleveland is hosting a free one-day event focused on the basics of Software Engineering. There are a handful of seats left before the event sells out. You can learn more and RSVP for Software Engineering 101 here (until tickets run out). The event is being held at the Microsoft office here:

Microsoft Corporation\

6050 Oak Tree Blvd
Independence, OH 44131

Last year, the event sold out (well, “sold” is misleading, since it’s free), and it’s on track to do so this year as well. Here’s some more information, from the event’s home page:

This is a one-day, FREE event designed to improve your software development skills. Rather than focusing on introductions to new technologies or tools, this conference will help you get better at your craft. The morning sessions will focus on fundamental principles, patterns, and practices of software development, and the afternoon will be spent on practical exercises that put these fundamentals into action. While the sessions will mostly make use of .NET and Visual Studio, these topics apply to any language or platform.

If possible, bring your own laptop for use in the hands on sessions, with your choice of development and testing tools installed. We will have prepared material for Visual Studio 2008/2010 and C#, but other environments are welcome. If you cannot bring a laptop, don’t worry – we’ll be pairing together so as long as half the attendees have laptops, it will be fine.

Some of the topics that will be covered include NuGet, Mercurial, software testing, refactoring, object oriented principles, and advanced testing with mock objects. I will be presenting on applying SOLID principles to improve the design of existing code. The event is being sponsored by NimblePros, HudsonSC, Microsoft, and Pluralsight.