Software Craftsmanship McHenry County: A Historical Retrospective

August 2026 · SCMC, McHenry, Chicago, Community, User Groups, History, TDD, Clean Code · View Markdown

Between 2009 and 2015, Chicagoland experienced a remarkable developer renaissance. While downtown Chicago hosted major tech meetups and burgeoning startups, a parallel community movement took root 50 miles northwest in suburban Illinois: Software Craftsmanship McHenry County (SCMC), also known as SCMcHenry.

Founded in late 2009 to solve geographic isolation for suburban engineers, remote workers, and daily commuters, SCMC grew into an 800+ member community. It served as a hands-on laboratory where developers practiced Test-Driven Development (TDD), refactoring, polyglot architecture, and clean code principles.

Here is the definitive historical retrospective of SCMC—its origins, educational mechanics, recorded archives, and enduring legacy.

The Commute Problem & The Founding (Late 2009)

In 2009, software developers living in McHenry, Lake, and northern Kane counties faced a distinct challenge. Downtown Chicago hosted vibrant technology groups like Chicago ALT.NET and ChicagoRuby, but attending an evening meeting meant a 50-to-60-mile drive or Metra commute back into the city after working hours.

On December 28, 2009, Mike Hall organized the first meeting of what was initially called the McHenry Cloud Developer’s Group. The group’s goal was simple: create an accessible, zero-pressure space for local developers to share technical knowledge and collaborate.

The earliest meetings were roving and informal—held in public library meeting rooms, coffee shops (Panera Bread), and local bars. Initial sessions focused on early cloud infrastructure, featuring presentations on Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services (presented by Ryan Gerry in March 2010).

Rebranding to SCMC & The Follett Sponsorship (2010–2011)

After six months of cloud-focused topics, the organizers realized the local community needed broader, hands-on engineering topics: object-oriented design, refactoring, automated testing, and dynamic language runtimes.

In mid-2010, the group rebranded to Software Craftsmanship McHenry County (SCMC) and established its web presence at mchenry.softwarecraftsmanship.org.

To support the growing community, Follett Software Company in Woodstock/McHenry, IL provided a permanent meeting home with projector facilities and guest Wi-Fi. Additional corporate support for food and beverages came from 8th Light and Groupon. Transitioning meeting coordination to Meetup.com resulted in a ~50% surge in discoverability and member attendance.

The Recorded Canon & Keynotes (2011–2013)

The “360 Learning” Educational Model

In September 2012, SCMC published its core educational philosophy, known as “360 Learning”:

  1. Multi-Directional Growth: Learning at a user group is not a one-way lecture; the speaker, the audience, and the facilitator all learn simultaneously.
  2. Active Facilitation: The group leader actively reads the room. If an audience appears overwhelmed by dense material, the facilitator interjects with clarifying questions or requests live code demonstrations.
  3. Empathy & Rescue: If a presenter encounters IDE crashes or live demo failures, the facilitator steps in to take the spotlight off the speaker, giving them space to recover.
  4. Breaking the Fourth Wall: Presenters are encouraged to ask the room for assistance, turning presentations into collaborative problem-solving sessions.

Leadership Continuity, Active Meetings & Modern Archives

After running SCMC for two years, Mike Hall handed off primary leadership to Ryan Gerry (supported by Mike Roselli). In his GOTO Conference oral history interview, Ryan discussed managing user group topic backlogs, fostering local developer community, and expanding into morning coffee-shop co-working sessions.

Today, Software Craftsmanship McHenry County continues to be an active, thriving developer community, hosting regular technical meetings, hands-on sessions, and peer networking:

By bridging suburban isolation with unvarnished engineering practice, SCMC remains a landmark example of how grass-roots developer communities endure and shape software craftsmanship culture.