Infoshare 
was held on 8th-9th of May 2019 at Amber Expo, in Gdańsk, Poland. CodiLime could not miss such an exciting opportunity to share its experience and knowledge with the CEE tech community, so more than 20 of our Warsaw- and Gdansk-based employees attended. We became a Golden Sponsor of the conference and had our own stand. We also gave a tech talk on developing cloud native applications (more details below). It was a fruitful gathering full of interesting tech discussions and insights. Read our story to learn more about the conference.
A few facts about the Infoshare
- It’s the biggest tech conference in Central and Eastern Europe, gathering 6000+ attendees, 200+ speakers and 500+ startups.
- The conference was well organized and focused on the use of new technologies and current trends in software development, building IT startups and marketing.
- The main aim of the conference was to gather in one place developers, startup representatives, investors, executives, innovation leaders and marketing and media specialists interested in tech and in exchanging views, experiences and opinions.
- Since the range of topics discussed was very large (software development, marketing trends, recruitment of IT employees, mobile apps, etc.) and the tech talks short, Infoshare was more about seeing what others are doing and finding new sources of inspiration and insight than about gaining in-depth knowledge.
Technical presentations that grabbed our attention
- It could be heaven or it could be hell by Venkat Subramaniam: In his very well-prepared presentation, Subramanian explained why it is worth knowing more programming languages and how to find a rational approach to programming multilingualism. The author illustrated his presentation with examples of code created live. Anyone who has ever tried to live code knows how stressful it can be, so our kudos are the more sincere for a job well done.
- What is Quantum Computing Anyways? by Ram Dušić Hren (IBM) - this was a very good presentation, especially for the uninitiated. Hren discussed the problems facing quantum computing as well as how they may be solved down the road. He also presented the state of the development of IBM Q, the world’s most advanced quantum computing initiative for science and business purposes. The speaker was well prepared - good job!
- From Operations to Site Reliability in Five Easy Steps by Todd Palino - a good talk about introducing SRE, including its main benefits and drawbacks. This presentation was especially interesting from CodiLime’s perspective and DevOps culture.
- Three myths of cybersecurity, by Piotr Konieczny of niebezpiecznik.pl , a company dedicated to security in everyday Internet use. The presentation was short, but took into account the problems (online payments, web camera in devices etc.) that affect the average Internet user.
- Unleash the power of your data - data-driven transformation of your company, by Wojtek Ptak (Freshmail) - a well-documented presentation about the data-driven approach in IT projects and companies. Of particular intrigue was the author suggestion that that there will be no difference between programmers and data scientists in the future. Every programmer will analyze data using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques that, in turn, will become part of the standard programmer’s toolset.
- Blockchain - will we maintain confidence in this technology? - a panel discussion on a technology that has attracted considerable attention and is considered a potential breakthrough in many industries. The panelists (among others Piotr Rutkowski from the Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs and Grzegorz Pawlicki, Head of Innovation at PKO Bank Polski) discussed potential future developments of blockchain technology and their consequences, blockchain use in private and public sector, and a definition of trust in today’s internet.
- Last but not least, CodiLime’s Senior DevOps Engineer Wojciech Urbański gave his talk: 12 Factor Apps - the steps between using cloud and being cloud native. Wojtek enthusiastically and with great ease presented guidelines for designing cloud-native apps. The rules were based on examples of difficult deployments and also included the errors to avoid. We are very proud that, thanks to Wojtek, CodiLime played an active role in the conference and shared our experience with other people from the tech community.
Marketing presentations we liked the most
- Even though we are a tech company, we also attended marketing presentations. Three of them stood out: Learn to Speak, Market and Sell Human: #H2H by Bryan Kramer, Marketing in the zero-click times - why you should not put all your eggs in one basket by Paweł Tkaczyk and Make Human Great Again. About emotions in marketing by Tomasz Manikowski. All three presentations addressed similar subjects, which, in this era of AI and ubiquitous technologies, take on new importance and meaning: how to stay in touch with humans in the professional sphere, how to maintain a personalized approach with a full range of emotions. Bryan Kramer put it nicely, saying that today simplicity, empathy, imperfection (admitting to mistakes) and emotions are the factors that matter the most. Each of the presentations was a show of sorts, during which the authors told their stories and didn’t shy away from showing their emotions. The slides were based on short, simple and eye-catching catchwords which served as a perfect summary for the story being told by the speakers. All three speakers are a good example to follow when it comes to putting together a perfect presentation aiming at conquering the passions and minds of the audience.
HR perspective
- CodiLime’s stand was full of positive vibes and was visited by countless attendees. This gave us the opportunity to conduct fruitful discussions and strike up new relationships.
- Even though the conference was not a typical job fair, it was a great occasion for us to present ourselves and answer questions, especially regarding our open positions in Gdańsk.
Summary
Infoshare was a resounding success and well worth attending if you’re looking to keep up with the latest technology developments. See you next year!
