ACCU London is Back!

ACCU London started in 2007, and that feels like an age ago now. I understand that after being passed from organiser to organiser if finally fizzled out around COVID. But now it’s back in the very capable hands of Oana May.

In a basement studio near Old Street Station, about forty of us gathered for an excellent talk from a previous CTO at Monzo, and some 121 advice sessions from experts. I certainly enjoyed being an ‘expert’ and the four people I spoke to had some interesting and engaging questions, not all of which I could answer!

How Engineering Skills Actually Improve in 2026

Meri Williams explored how software engineers develop their skills and why experience alone doesn't necessarily make someone a good teacher. Using the four stages of competence, from unconscious incompetence through to unconscious competence, Meri explained how experienced engineers often struggle to articulate why they do things a particular way. What has become second nature to them can be difficult to explain to someone still learning.

For senior engineers, the message was clear: being good at engineering is no longer enough. They need to learn how to teach, understand deliberate practice and explain the reasoning behind their decisions rather than hiding behind "best practice". Managers have a responsibility to create environments where this learning can happen. Both groups also need to embrace AI, while maintaining a healthy scepticism, checking sources and documentation, and using evaluations to improve both people and AI agents. Meri also emphasised the importance of platform engineering in providing the guardrails needed to support this change.

The talk closed with a particularly appropriate analogy for the changes AI is bringing to software engineering: "You can't hold back the ocean, but you can learn to surf." Rather than resisting change, engineers and managers need to adapt, continue learning and help others develop alongside them.

ACCU London is back with a bang and I, personally, can’t wait for the next one in February 2027.

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Paul Grenyer

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