Handmade Boston

The first Handmade conference where speakers become instructors and the audience students. Aug 3-4, 2023.

District Hall Boston

Aug 3-4, 2023

75 Northern Ave
Boston, MA 02210

Restoring Mentorship culture

Mentor-apprentice relationships don’t seem to stick around in the software industry. We aim to change that.

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Exclusive Masterclasses

Competent engineers will teach you a subject-matter they love and level up your programming skills.

Take-Home ASSIGNMENTs

For a limited time our instructors will support you as you work through the assignments they’ve created.

2023 Instructors

Learn The Way of The Kaze

The legendary Kaze Emanuar is famous for playing fire with Nintendo’s IP. Handmade Boston is 100% indie so we’ll take the risk and welcome his teachings with open arms.

Step Up Your Creative Game

Freya Holmér‘s deep expertise in tech art and math allows her to create stunning visuals and products. Join our math influencer and shader sorceress in a brand new masterclass.

Appraise The Classics

Jasper is renowned in the industry for breaking down large systems and understanding the ingenuity of creative work. Now it’s your turn to do the same!

Master Arenas

Ryan Fleury is among the few who’s cracked the code to write programs in C while virtually eliminating all memory errors. Come learn that superpower with us.

Enter Demoscene

Andreas Fredriksson, Lead Engine Programmer at Insomniac Games, will show you the way of the demoscene and what you can learn from this increasingly lost art.

Mārtiņš Možeiko

Martins is an engineer at Epic Games / RAD Game Tools, and a famous figure in the Handmade community. The majority of all technical questions are answered by him – often called a true programming wizard.

What does it take to troubleshoot issues like Martins?

The Path To Raylib

raylib became the second most popular repository on GitHub. This open-source library has received large grants, awards, and critical acclaim across the industry.

Ramón Santamaría now wishes to share his battle scars in the hopes you’ll adopt the tips & tricks used to ship Handmade software.

“This is awesome! I’m super excited for the conference in Boston. I’ll make sure to fly over this time! Thanks for all the effort you’re putting into this.”

Lucas Tadeu Teixeira

Engineer, Stripe Inc.

We’re Hiring More Instructors!

Handmade Boston is looking for systems programmers that can teach our audience a valuable skill.

Reasonable Compensation

As a small business we can’t pay corporate rates but we still offer a decent amount for your time.

No Hand-Holding

Once we agree on what you’ll be teaching it’s off to the races. You’ll be granted autonomy never-before-seen in other conferences.

Travel And Lodging Covered

If attending physically, Handmade Cities will cover the costs of flying you to Boston along with a hotel at the heart of the city.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this conference for beginners?

No, Handmade Boston is not for beginner programmers. It’s a conference for developers who are already capable of low-level programming and are looking to push past their comfort zone.

As a rule of thumb, you should have zero issues with the first 25 episodes of Handmade Hero.

How will instructors teach their subject?

They each have their own style! Every instructor has a couple of hours to offer their masterclass. They may interact with you as if you’re a student, but you’re not required to do anything you’re not comfortable with.

By the end of the masterclass you’ll receive take-home assignments designed by the instructor themselves.

Do I need to bring any hardware?

Default expectation should be yes: a laptop with a fully-charged battery. That said, it’s not a strong requirement.

The masterclass is very much like a university lecture: professors interact with students and maybe they ask them to do a thing or two as a demonstration, but that’s about it.

The take-home assignments are where you’ll do any serious programming; our speakers will be available online to help you work through them (for a limited but reasonable period of time.)

I'm not interested in X or Y subject.

That’s understandable! Unfortunately we’re a single-track conference which means we all participate under the same set of instructors.

We encourage you to attend anyway, because there might be specific techniques you can make great use of in other areas.

How do we receive help with the assignments?

Before the conference begins you’ll be invited to a private forums site. You can post on the forums to receive help from instructors and fellow audience members.

Instructor support is officially available for a limited (but reasonable) period of time so everyone can complete their assignments.

Is this a hybrid event?

Yes! Just like Handmade Seattle, Boston has a physical track and an online one. Unlike Seattle, however, we won’t be live-streaming the event. We will record and make it available shortly after.

If you’re attending online you will still participate in real-time: most instructors will attend in person, but a select few are teaching virtually. In those cases online attendees will unlock masterclass recordings and take-home exercises immediately.

What's the conference schedule?

We’re smack in the middle of creating one. We are adding more instructors along with a schedule over the coming weeks and months. This is why early-bird sales are cheaper: there’s an element of uncertainty for you as an attendee. That said, we have a track record of delivering solid Handmade conferences (since 2019) and we ask that you trust us once again.

Can an instructor become my mentor?

That’s up to you and the instructor, but now you’re getting it! Our ultimate goal is for instructors to connect with one or more audience members, to the point that a mentor-apprentice relationship is formed beyond the confines of this conference.

It’s not something we can force though, only encourage. We hope to hear success stories.

Handmade Boston Awaits

A conference designed from the ground up to foster mentorships.