Redgate Software holds 'Level Up' conference at Duxford where staff set the agenda

Leading Microsoft SQL Server tools vendor engaged team in training and development event

Redgate Software has sought to build on a year of record growth by hosting a training and development conference where the staff set the agenda.

Held at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, the Level Up Conference last month was designed to be both memorable and rewarding.

Jeff Foster, head of product engineering at the Cambridge Business Park-based firm, said: “Training sessions and conferences are too often only mildly interesting.

“While good, they sometimes don’t fit with what people need, or have a positive impact on the way they work. We wanted to give our developers, designers and managers the best chance for the learning to take root and give them the kind of knowledge they could take back to their teams.”

Software developers, UX designers and product managers shared their knowledge at the conference in a mix of workshops, open spaces and lectures to match individual learning styles.

The software firm, confirmed in 2017 as the leading Microsoft SQL Server tools vendor, held an ideas generation week, during which everyone was asked what knowledge they could share, what they wanted to learn and what problems the conference should tackle. Staff then voted on the hundreds of ideas contributed.

The conference featured 17 sessions, covering topics from building cross-platform apps to navigating the transition from developer to technical lead and ensuring developers are building code that is cloud-ready.

These sessions took place along three tracks themed around the objectives of the product and research divisions, which are to scale to match Redgate’s buoyant growth, achieve excellence with the right tools and practices and focus on the outcome of what the development work achieves.

“It resulted in a day that was informative yet enjoyable,” added Jeff Foster.

“The sessions reflected the challenges Redgate will face over the next year and, in just one day, we gave our product and research teams the knowledge they need, delivered in the way that suits them best. And as a bonus, it took place at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. We used a fantastic historical setting to prepare us for a bright future.”

Redgate, which is renowned for its relaxed and informal working environment has an expanding portfolio of data productivity software, which it describes as “ingeniously simple”.

More than 100,000 companies use products in the Redgate SQL Toolbelt, including 91 per cent of those in the Fortune 100.

After a challenging year in 2016, when it reorganised following five fairly ‘flat’ years, Redgate has confirmed that it achieved record growth in 2017.