Is tech conference worth it?
attending TEQnation (Netherlands)
So, last month I attended my first multi-track developer conference in the Netherlands (TEQnation). Running on about ~10 years now, this conference has multi-tracks. So, there should be something you like.
30+ speakers, 20+ partners, and ~700 attendees who paid ~200€ for a ticket gathered together in an old factory in Utrecht (De Fabrique). While the ticket was a bit pricey, the service at the venue made up for it. I had to take a train and a free shuttle bus from the train station to the venue.
All information regarding the event could be found from the NLJug app (Netherlands Java User Group). What is TEQnation, Who are the partners, Facts&Figures, Highlights, Map, Speakers, and Sessions.
Since multiple sessions were happening at the same time, I needed to choose based on my interests. There were 2 keynotes, one from Erik Meijer (Senior Director of Engineering @ Facebook) on Automind: Enterprise-Grade AI Assistants Done Right.
He had a looooot if slides and basically skipped most of them (due to time). The biggest takeaway was we will have “prompt once, run anywhere” soon. This means less developer needs, but more how to efficiently ask for what you want.
Another interesting topic was Nationale Nederlanden (insurance company) using chatGPT in production. They used it in the Dutch language for Automated Call Logging. When a customer calls and asks questions Speech-To-Text works and after the call ends (~5 min on avg) there will be a summary note within 10 seconds at 6 cents cost. Isn’t that amazing?
At ~4 million calls per year, the system has 86% success and mostly little fixes by human operators. Up next is email classification, entity extraction (from text), and real-time knowledge push…
The next one was about writing maintainable code in a large organization. Senior Java Developer from Rabobank talked about code reduction and reusability by creating a Library, Starter, and Microservices. Also, the important thing is that somebody has to own it.
If you use something the second time copy/paste it. But if you use it the third time make it a library :D (read Team topologies — enabling teams)
The second keynote was also about AI: deepfakes (threats of misusing AI). 3 guys from TNG live-demoed face-swapping, shit-posting, audio fake and fake detection. Social media bot is generating 47% of the content?
In short, it is getting extremely hard to detect deepfakes and especially this year (lots of elections) it might influence a lot on public sentiment.
I also joined one more talk Practical GenAI by AI researcher at a Norwegian university. It was ok at best and the main message was using genAI to simplify or ease our life. Not my best decision.
However, the session about secure software was much better. 2 guys from OWASP and Rabobank kind of did a role-play by explaining DevSecOps, Supply chain attacks, Software Bill-of-Materials (SBOM), and best practices.
Specify package version (x.y.z) and don’t use “latest”. Use SBOM so life is easier in the future :)
The last session I joined was about Software Architecture but (you guessed it) with the help of AI. In this case, ChatGPT and Gemini to discuss about software product and its requirements, what technology to use, what are the pros/cons of them etc.
I talk with ChatGPT or Copilot all the time now. They are my new “Google”.
This is an interesting tool ArchUnit to test software architecture. Java and C#
That was it. A full day of listening to engineers, eating/drinking “free” food (ice-cream too), and small entertainment. By the way, if you want to work for Dutch government (IT sector) you need to have a B2 level of the Dutch language.
Overall, not bad. Interesting talks, good venue and better service. Watch the aftermovie #TEQnation2024
