I love sharing my experience with the development community, speaking at various conferences & meetups, as listed below:
2024 May 28-29 - JPrime Sofia, Bulgaria
Will AI coding assistants, like GitHub Copilot, replace developers?
This was the burning question I explored during my presentation at the jPrime conference in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The verdict? While Gen AI won’t replace developers, it will transform our roles significantly. Future developers’ jobs will be less about coding and more about architecting innovative software solutions.
Key Takeaways
- Error-Proneness of AI: Given the error-proneness of AI coding assistants when generating new code or refactoring existing code, established software engineering practices like unit tests and code reviews are more relevant than ever. Only software development organizations that apply these practices can safely adopt AI coding assistants!
- AI for Code Understanding: All the hype around AI coding assistants is about how they make it easier to write code. However, software developers spend considerably more time reading code, especially for legacy applications. Therefore, using AI coding assistants to understand code can help us speed up software development.
- New Development Paradigm: Integrating large language models (LLMs) with conventional software applications is a new software development paradigm that enables us to build innovative solutions that were previously impossible. Start exploring this new paradigm today!
2023 Nov 10 - Open Conf Athens, Greece
It’s time to rethink software development to save our planet.
Did you know that devices (such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops) have a higher environmental footprint than data centers?
We can all make a difference by developing software applications that support older operating systems and require minimal computing resources. These actions will help users keep their devices longer, thus reducing their environmental impact.
Watch my presentation from Open Conf and join the movement towards a greener future!
2023 Oct 19 - BaselOne, Basel, Switzerland
Did you know that software applications’ greenhouse gas emissions surpassed those of the aviation industry? As our reliance on technology continues to grow worldwide, so does the environmental impact of software applications.
But as software developers, we have the power to make a positive impact in the fight against climate change.
In my presentation, I revisited established development practices and provided practical guidelines for developers and architects to measure and reduce software applications’ environmental footprints.
2022 Jun 13-15 - GOTO Amsterdam, Netherlands
Thought that your software applications do not have any impact on the environment? Guess again! Your applications run on servers that consume electricity, commonly generated by burning coal/oil/gas, producing carbon dioxide (CO2), the main driver of climate change.
On 13 June 2022, I spoke at GOTO Amsterdam in a room full of software engineers aspiring to help fight climate change, presenting practical guidelines on building software applications with reduced carbon emissions.
2021 Nov 19-20 - Devoxx Ukraine
On 20 November 2021, I was invited to a conference panel at Devoxx Ukraine, contributing to the discussion on how to engineer a sustainable world.
When designing software, we consider quality attributes such as reliability, scalability, and maintainability. Sustainability is the newest “-ility” for software applications. We must remember to include sustainability in our discussions, helping minimize the environmental impact of our software applications.
2020 Jun 10-12 - DevTalks Reimagined, Bucharest/Romania
On 10 June 2020 I delivered a presentation at Dev<Talks/> Reimagined with the topic of “How to Improve the Quality of Your Application (I Wish I’d Known This Earlier!)”:
Dev<Talks/> Reimagined was initially planned as a physical conference in Bucharest/Romania, but due to Covid-19, it took place as a virtual conference. I especially enjoyed the live Q&A session after my presentation, as it added the much needed touch of interaction & fun that is a characteristic of physical conferences. You can watch my Q&A session here:
2019 Dec 10-12 - Java2Days, Sofia/Bulgaria
I was honored to participate at 2 different panels at Java2Days 2019, discussing with fellow experts about software application security & privacy. Here are my key suggestions on how to build secure apps:
- Treat your source code as if it were “open source”. (Would you save usernames/passwords in your code if everyone could see them?)
- Enhance your CI to run a static source code analysis for each commit, to promptly identify bad coding practices that may lead to security vulnerabilities.
- Use a tool that finds all the dependencies of your application (i.e. the 3rd party libraries being used) and checks them for known security vulnerabilities.
Additionally, I gave a presentation with the subject of: “How to Improve the Quality of Your Application (I Wish I’d Known This Earlier!)”, providing 5 practical steps that every developer can apply in their daily work to significantly reduce bugs:
2019 Sep 16-19 - Oracle Code One, San Francisco/USA
I first heard about JavaOne many years ago, when I started my career as a software developer. Every year, the most talented software professionals from all over the world would meet in San Francisco (USA) to discuss regarding the advancements in Java technologies, being the first ones to learn about all the trends that transform our industry. Since then, I have always been dreaming of attending this unique conference, but it somehow seemed like a distant dream… until the day that I was invited as a speaker to Oracle Code One conference (the successor of JavaOne since 2018).
On 16th September 2019 I gave a presentation about “How to Improve the Quality of Your Application (I Wish I’d Known This Earlier!)”, sharing all the lessons that I had learned while working as a software engineer for a big, complex enterprise application, discussing which techniques worked and which ones failed, providing actual examples and metrics from that application.
My presentation at Oracle Code One was evaluated by conference participants as:
- Content: 5/5
- Speaker: 5/5
Here are some of the comments that I received:
- “Excellent session”
- “Very useful insights”
- “Well thought out and meticulously presented. I work with a lot of legacy code so I got a lot of practical advice from this speaker!”
Oracle Code One 2019 was an amazing conference! It was the greatest celebration of the software development community: everyone was enthusiastic to participate, eager to exchange ideas & share their knowledge, with the discussions in the hallways being never-ending. Overall, it was a great opportunity for me to meet colleagues from all over the world, learn what they are doing and feel inspired.
2019 Feb 23 - Javantura v6, Zagreb/Croatia
On 23rd February 2019 I gave a talk at Javantura (=Java Adventure!), an international conference with more than 300 participants & 35 speakers, on “How to Improve the Quality of Your Application”, where I provided practical advice to software developers on how to tackle quality issues:
Here is the video recording from my presentation at Javantura v6 - 2019:
My presentation was assessed by conference participants as:
- 43,75% Excellent,
- 25% Very Good,
- 25% Good,
- 6,25% Fair,
- 0% Poor.
2019 Feb 20 - Java Hellenic User Group (JHUG), Athens/Greece
This is a presentation (in Greek) that I gave to our local Java meetup, where I shared my experience on how to improve the quality of a software application:
2019 Feb 01 - Java Meetup, Thessaloniki/Greece
On 1st February 2019 I was invited to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Java Meetup in Thessaloniki/Greece, by giving a presentation on how to effectively deal with quality issues in software applications:
2017 Nov 07 - Java Meetup, Thessaloniki/Greece
How can your applications benefit from Java 9? Here are photos from my presentation to the Java meetup in Thessaloniki/Greece.
2017 Oct 20 - Java Hellenic User Group (JHUG), Athens/Greece
This is my first presentation (in Greek) to the Java meetup in Athens/Greece, presenting how your software applications can benefit from the newly introduced Java 9: