RSE by accident: From CodeRefinery to Nordic-RSE and beyond

CodeRefinery (https://coderefinery.org/) workshops aim to equip researchers with practical, good-enough practices for research software development. Participants learn about tools and habits that can be immediately applied to their work. These workshops do more than just teach version control or testing: For some, attending a workshop is the first step toward discovering the Research Software Engineering (RSE) community. What starts as a technical workshop can become a journey of community, shared purpose, and even leadership. In this talk we explore how CodeRefinery serves as a gateway to better research software and a broader ecosystem of collaboration, including the Nordic-RSE (https://nordic-rse.org/) community. It reflects on how these spaces enable learning across disciplines and institutions, and how each workshop has the potential to spark new connections and activities. While targeting primarily researchers, these workshops are open to all. We believe that their impact grows when people learn together. Anyone can bring their own classroom to facilitate collaborative learning without the need to organize your own workshop.