WeAreDevelopers World Congress 2023, the world’s flagship event for developers, took place on 27-28 July 2023 in Berlin, Germany. A group of enthusiastic Bitrockers attended the conference to get the latest trends in software development and connect with like-minded professionals in the industry. Before the event, they decided to arrive a few days early to fully immerse themselves in the vibrant city of Berlin.
Kicking off
The day before the conference, the group went to the venue for check-in, to receive their welcome backpacks, and for some members to attend a workshop.
The workshop, led by Misko Hevery, the creator of AngularJS and an agile coach at Google, was informative and engaging. The group was so impressed that they decided to rebuild their personal website from scratch to incorporate some of the new and exciting features they learned about.
During the workshop, the group had the opportunity to implement a project to gather data from their GitHub account, using authentication and CRUD operations. They used Qwik, a new framework focused on speed and performance. Although they were initially upset when the framework criticized React, which they are big fans of, they were still impressed with Qwik and plan to use it in their upcoming projects.
After kicking off the workshop with excitement, the group rested well, ready to face the challenges and novelties the conference would bring.
The first day
Upon arriving at the conference, the group was amazed by the number of people from all over the world waiting to be allowed in. The attendees included journalists, entrepreneurs, sponsors, developers, and speakers, all eagerly waiting for the event to begin.
The conference started with a remarkable opening speech by Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He discussed the birth of the web and presented his vision for web 3.0 with Solid, a specification that allows people to store their data securely in decentralized data stores called pods. This specification aims to provide people with control over all their data and easy implementation for a single SSO, an authentication system and universal APIs. Shortly after this speech, the group joined another talk that proposed a different solution to the same problem using typical Web5 tools.
After these two different views on the same topic, the group attended a talk by John Romero, the original creator of Wolfenstein and DoomHe shared the story of the development of his games, including the difficulties and some funny anecdotes.
The group then attended a talk on CSS Houdini. It is a set of low-level APIs that extend CSS by giving developers direct access to the CSS Object Model. Although the group was initially impressed, they learned that the most substantial APIs, such as the worklets for layouts and animations, have not been integrated and probably never will be.
The conference also showcased a talk called “You click, you lose: a practical look at VSCode’s security“. This talk highlighted how hackers are targeting developers and the risks of compromising a developer’s tools. It also explored the security of Visual Studio Code’s security and its vulnerabilities through real-world examples.
The day ended with a talk by Jakub Oleksy, Vice president of Software Engineering at Github, who discussed the opportunities in the open-source community and the tools available to improve daily work. The main message that emerged from the talk was to recognize the work of others and contact them to show appreciation.
No party no fun
The event organizers arranged various activities to keep the attendees engaged and entertained.
Attendees participated in quizzes that tested their tech knowledge in a fun and interactive way during the day. As the sun began to set, the atmosphere shifted to a more festive one, and a Karaoke session brought out the hidden talents of many developers.
The excitement grew as the night progressed with the final round of the Code100 competition, where young developers showcased their programming skills.
The DJ set curated by Sam Feldt, a popular disc jockey from the Netherlands, was the perfect way to conclude a long day with the right party vibes.
The second day
After the first day and the night party, the group was excited to immerse themselves in the technology world once again.
The event featured many speeches and seminars, but it was impossible to attend all of them, so the group decided to spend some time walking around the stands and talking with people. They realized that meeting people and confronting new problems made them feel like they are part of something bigger to make a significant contribution to the evolution of technology.
Later, another talk caught the group’s attention: “Lies we Tell Ourselves as Developers“, which focused on TypeScript and its type-checking system. Stefan Baumgartner, author of popular books about Javascript and Typescript languages, presented some problems that developers can encounter and how to solve them. The central idea of the talk was that developers’ task is not just writing code but also making decisions, building architecture, and evaluating trade-offs between different solutions.
One of the talks that stood out was “The Quantum Leap: Redefining Computing and Its Applications“, presented by Tomislav Tipurić, Chief Technology Officer at Nephos. This talk explored the potential of quantum computing, which can perform complex calculations in parallel and solve problems that are beyond the reach of classical computers. These revolutionary machines can perform complex calculations in parallel, unleashing their immense processing power in just a fraction of the time. The potential of quantum computing is huge and the group is still curious about what it could do for the future.
Afterward, they attended “React from Another Dimension“, a talk by Dan Abramov, the co-author of Redux and one of the key figures behind React. In this captivating session, he took the audience on a journey beyond the conventional realm of React, exploring new paradigms and pushing the boundaries of what this popular library can achieve. The talk began with an overview of React’s evolution over the years, showcasing how the library has evolved and adapted to meet the ever-changing needs of modern web development. The true essence of the talk lay in its exploration of the uncharted territories of React, imagining what could have happened if JS and React would have been implemented as server-side languages instead of client-side ones.
The closing keynote took all attendees on a journey from the MS-DOS era to the frontiers of generative AI and quantum computing. It summarized all the main takeaways from the conference, emphasizing the progress made by technology as well as encouraging the audience to continue embracing innovation and the collaborative spirit of the developer community.
Goodbye WeAreDevelopers…for now!
The group of Bitrockers had an amazing time at the WeAreDevelopers World Congress 2023 in Berlin. The event was not just another developer conference; it was a unique and amazing experience that celebrated developers and provided a platform for knowledge sharing, networking, and fun. They recognized that sharing is an important part of their job and during their time in Berlin took advantage of every possible moment to do so. They are eager to keep growing their skills as developers and are already looking forward to attending next year’s edition!
Author: Erik Fazio, Frontend Web Developer at Bitrock
