Looking Back at First Round of 2023 GOTO Conferences
Over the past months, three notable conferences - GOTO Aarhus, GOTO Chicago and GOTO Amsterdam - brought together industry experts, developers and technology enthusiasts to share knowledge, discuss emerging technologies and explore best practices in software development. Read this piece we put together to find out what were the key takeaways.
AI, cybersecurity and developer productivity - the key themes outlined at our conferences so far
In the fast-paced world of software development, staying updated with the latest trends, techniques and tools is crucial. Over the past months, three notable conferences - GOTO Aarhus, GOTO Chicago and GOTO Amsterdam - brought together industry experts, developers and technology enthusiasts to share knowledge, discuss emerging technologies and explore best practices in software development. Read this short piece we put together to find out what were the key takeaways and highlights from these conferences, including some of the top-rated talks that left attendees inspired and informed.
Top rated talks from the three conferences
The conference set the stage for thrilling conversations and eye-opening sessions. Here, we unveil three of the most electrifying talks that stole the spotlight:
Lessons From Billions of Breached Records - Troy Hunt at GOTO Aarhus
Online security expert Troy Hunt created Have I Been Pwned? — a service that tracks stolen data across the internet, and is used by numerous national governments, security services and law enforcement. Troy demonstrated a visual summary of the scale of the leaked information out there. Attendees learnt about how something known as “the mosaic effect” can increase the risks we all face online.
Large Language Models: Friend, Foe, or Otherwise - Alex Castrounis at GOTO Chicago
In a jaw-dropping talk, Alex unraveled the untapped potential of AI in software testing. Attendees marveled at the possibilities AI brings to detecting intricate bugs, enhancing code quality and revolutionizing the testing process. His real-world examples and practical tips left everyone spellbound, inspiring them to embark on a new frontier of testing.
Developing and Maintaining Your Own Brain - Erik Scherder at GOTO Amsterdam
Professor in neuropsychology, Erik Scherder showed that while healthy aging starts when you are young, you can positively influence your brain at any age. Erik's appeal was: be curious, challenge yourself and make an effort. Among a slew of tips to increase productivity, Erik emphasized that our brain is important in everything we do – from talking to remembering small details of events and even sleeping. As a result, one of the key ways to minimize mental laziness and improve our attention span is to reduce time spent scrolling on smartphones.
Get a glimpse of the mood throughout the conferences
The images captured the vibrant atmosphere, engaging sessions, bustling networking sessions and state-of-the-art partner booths.
Witness the groundbreaking moments in the collective enthusiasm of the software development community. You can now view the images from GOTO Aarhus, GOTO Chicago and GOTO Amsterdam on our Flickr account.
Other highlights
Emerging Technologies Showcase
Each GOTO conference had an area dedicated to showcasing emerging technologies and innovative solutions which are made to help developers and engineers to make their tooling stronger. Our partners included future facing technologies in their booths as well as competitions. The list included incumbents such as ING, Trifork, Red Hat, LEGO, Forte Group, AWS as well as startups and scaleups including Contrast Security, Openkoda, Veracode and Netic. While the list is longer, the common thread was the immense potential impact on software development each of them have.
Interactive Workshops and Hands-On masterclasses
GOTO believes in helping attendees deepen their skills and gain practical experience. Our masterclasses and interactive workshop sessions provided attendees with the opportunity to deepen their skills, gain practical experience and dive into the nitty-gritty of emerging technologies.
Panel discussions and AMA sessions
At all three conferences, there were discussions, panels and AMAs that sparked thought-provoking conversations and encouraged attendees to consider different perspectives. Some of the top rated ones:
Web3 Beyond Blockchains with Blane Sims, CJ Montano, Federico Kattan and Jason Teutsch
This panel discussion dived into a new generation of infrastructure that uses consensus, verification and transparency to solve some of the biggest shortcomings in enterprise computing. The audience learnt about the future of serverless, the convergence of composable web and large-scale AI with Web3 as the common denominator.
AMA with Matt Turner
DevOps leader, architect and engineer, Matt Turner answered a slew of questions from our audience about progressive delivery, containers and orchestration, service meshes, linux systems administration, infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD.
How to build the currency of the future? with John Davies, Lars Hupel, Olivier Rikken and Stefan Tilkov
Before you think this was about just cryptocurrencies, the discussion spanned from digital cash, anonymity and privacy issues when using digital cash, challenges for volatile economies, the transition to digital currency on the horizontal industries like security companies and whether a decentralized currency would be an answer for the rising inflation.
Networking and Community Building
Our conferences are invaluable for networking and fostering connections within the software development community. The three conferences were brimming with ‘the GOTO spirit’ where attendees got out of their comfort zone and made meaningful connections - during sessions, roundtables as well as the social events planned especially for the attendees.
While Chicago saw people putting their feet up at the welcome reception and the conference party, software enthusiasts danced to the tunes of Sam Aaron in Aarhus. Amsterdam on the other hand saw the software-themed rock band The Linebreakers steal the show.
Keynote Addresses
We couldn’t be more proud to have welcomed industry leaders and visionaries who provided thought-provoking insights and set the tone for the conference by outlining the key trends and challenges facing the industry. For instance, one can tell the key topic that dominated GOTO Chicago after Alex Castrounis, professor of AI for Northwestern University's Kellogg / McCormick MBAi program, gave the opening keynote around leveraging large language models instead of viewing it as an obstacle.
At GOTO Aarhus, James Lewis explored actionable ways to adopt the key metrics from Accelerate, team structures from Team Topologies and Microservices in an effort to improve the flow of value to our users. The audience was caught by surprise with what today’s teams see as the defaults for software engineering and how to make it work better in 2023.
Lastly, Dr. Anita Sengupta was nothing short of extraordinary when she revealed the developments at her electric aviation company Hydroplane, where she and her team are developing a bespoke hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for single engine aircraft.
Other notable keynotes focussed on bug bounty hunting and ethical hacking, helping children learn coding through tools such as Sonic Pi, influencing decisions through interventions on the environment and fostering resilience in systems to guide our security chaos engineering transformation.
Coming up...
Lots more in store as we at GOTO will continue in our aim to spread knowledge and bring the best of the best in the software industry together. Take a look at our upcoming events and book your spot.
GOTO Copenhagen - After a fantastic gathering last autumn, we're returning to Nordhavn! We'll host a fantastic lineup of high quality speakers and masterclass trainers along with plenty of opportunities for networking with our community of developers.
GOTO AI Days Chicago 2023 - The AI conference covering AI in business as well as the technical side. We're excited to bring together the most coveted minds in the AI and software development industry for a three-day event packed with informative talks and opportunities to network. Join us in Chicago for an immersive experience that brings together AI/ML enthusiasts, engineers and leaders.
GOTO EDA Day - EDA Day is focused on Event-Driven Architecture (EDA), which is a method of building applications using loosely coupled microservices that communicate through events. It promotes the idea of decoupling systems and reacting to events rather than directly calling each other. Come to Nashville this fall and gain a comprehensive understanding of EDA, including its benefits, implementation strategies, and real-world applications.
GOTO London - We're returning to CodeNode this November! GOTO London is set to help you build better interpersonal relationships, create successful products and learn from the ones who are paving the future of software. Meet speakers like Felienne Hermans, James Lewis and Daniel Bryant and a host of others. Have you booked yet?