DevIgnition

We're all about Developers!

Returns Nov 7, 2024!

DevIgnition is a fun and informal community event run for and by the DC software development community. We feature a full day of interesting presentations from excellent speakers on a wide variety of technical topics.

Come discover how the best minds use the latest technologies to build solutions. Network with other DC area software developers, and discuss the newest emerging trends and techniques.

Our scope of talks focus on the interests of the DC area's software developer community, including Systems Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Native, Cloud Computing, Data Analysis, Data Collection, Data Discovery, Data Workflow, Data Management, Data Science, Data Visualization, DevOps, Application Frameworks, Generative AI, Human Skills, Large Language Models, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, Methodologies and Best Practices, Process Management, Open Source Software, Programming Languages, Search, Security, Software Testing and Quality Assurance, Tools, Trends and Techniques, UI/UX and Design, and many Other Technologies.

Tickets!

Tickets are available now. Get yours before they are all gone!

Including Foojay Day!

This year we're proud to partner with the Friends of the OpenJDK in association with the DC Java Users Group. This year's DevIgnition will feature numerous Java related talks in addition to a diverse collection of technical talks.

DevIgnition Conference
DevIgnition Conference
DevIgnition Conference

2024 Schedule

8:30 AM
Registration
9:30 AM
Brian ChildressThriving in a Connected World: Building, Growing, and Supporting a Distributed Tech Organization — Room 126

In the wake of a global shift towards remote work, managing distributed teams has become a critical skill for tech leaders. As the CTO of a growing organization, this talk will unravel the journey of building and nurturing a globally dispersed workforce.

Snehal PatelAmazon Athena - Serverless Data Analysis and Reporting using SQL — Room 125

An overview of Amazon Athena, a cost effective way to quickly and easily analyze existing data using standard SQL without any upfront cost or commitment for resources. Amazon Athena requires little to no knowledge about Amazon Web Services which makes it a go to tool for anyone who wants to analyze data quickly. For experienced developers, it allows the creation of an automated workflow to analyze large amounts of data without the need for complex or time consuming infrastructure setup.

10:00 AM
Pratik PatelCloud Cost Optimization for Java Developers — Room 126

Cloud usage has been soaring over the last few years, and now developers are starting to get pressure to reduce cloud spend. In this session, we’ll discuss how to optimize your cloud utilization, and hence how much your team spends, on cloud infrastructure. We’ll discuss these topics with a specific focus on Java applications:

Architecture of your application PaaS, CaaS, Cloud Functions or Kube? JVM ramp-up & optimization time Headroom for variable load Over provision or elastic compute?

Jessica GarsonIntroduction to OpenTelemetry with Python — Room 125

OpenTelemetry (OTel) is a comprehensive suite of APIs, libraries, and tools designed to collect, generate, and export telemetry data, including metrics, logs, and traces, from software applications. This talk will cover concepts related to OTel and show you how to integrate it into your application.

10:30 AM
Break
11:00 AM
Rodrigo Graciano and Chandra Gunturvoid main() — Room 126

There are many changes in the Java language aiming to reduce boilerplate and make the language more straightforward and attractive to new developers. This talk will cover recent features by live refactoring a Java 8 application to the most recent Java version with all of its new feature offerings and performance enhancements. You will learn the benefits and applicability of new features while writing a more readable code.

Tyler BenfieldWrite Once, Stream Everywhere: Transforming Your Data into Events — Room 125

On this episode of “things you didn’t know your database could do”, we’re going to power real-time features from data you already capture. By the end of this talk, you’ll understand the benefits of change data capture and see how to put it into practice to power all your event-driven workflows.

11:30 AM
ThĂ©o LebrunCraft your own Generative AI Chatbot with Amazon Bedrock — Room 126

Dive deep into the fascinating world of Artificial Intelligence and learn how to craft your very own Generative AI Chatbot using the powerful capabilities of Amazon Bedrock.

Your Chatbot will be able to answer questions based on your own documents. Whether you’re a data scientist, data engineer, or business analyst, this session is for you!

By the end of this session, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of the tools and techniques required to build a Generative AI Chatbot on Amazon. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or someone just starting their AI journey, this talk equips you with the skills to unleash your creativity and innovation in the realm of Artificial Intelligence.

Ed MacDonaldIntroduction to Kubernetes — Room 125

I won't deny that Kubernetes is very complex, but at it's core… it's just a huge machine that converges to whatever state you tell it to converge to. A great first step in learning about Kubernetes is learning how applications run on it – or, to put it another way: learning how to tell Kubernetes the state you wish your application's resources to converge to.

This talk will give an overview of Deployments, ReplicaSets, StatefulSets, Pods, Services, and LoadBalancers – i.e.: the "nouns" ("Manifests" in Kubernetes lingo) you use when describing your application to Kubernetes.

12:10 PM
Lunch Break
1:30 PM
Baruch SadogurskyDevOps Reframed: Embracing the Path to Developer Productivity Engineering — Room 126

As we have successfully integrated DevOps practices into our software development processes, it’s time to reframe our approach and embrace Developer Productivity Engineering (DPE). DPE focuses on optimizing workflows, automating mundane tasks, and providing real-time feedback to developers, offering a natural progression from the DevOps methodology. In this engaging and informative talk, we’ll delve into how DPE reframes the foundations laid by DevOps, further enhancing collaboration, tooling, and data-driven insights to improve the overall development process. Discover why mastering DPE is essential for all engineering roles, including Platform and Site Reliability Engineers, as it aligns with core principles such as reducing toil, promoting automation, and implementing observability. Explore how DPE empowers teams to proactively identify and address potential issues, ultimately leading to increased system reliability, improved user experiences, and a more enjoyable and rewarding work environment for engineers. Learn practical tips and insights that will help you harness the power of DPE and level up your game in the ever-evolving world of software development, all while keeping the journey light and engaging. Join us as we reframe the DevOps landscape and uncover the critical importance of embracing DPE as the next step in our software development evolution, ensuring continued success and growth in the dynamic software development landscape.

Courtney YatteauAI-Powered Gamification for the Web — Room 125

Developers will explore AI tools that introduce intelligent, interactive gamification features to web applications. Through live demos, you will learn how to incorporate AI-driven elements like dynamic storytelling and real-time sentiment analysis for gameplay adjustments. Simple examples will demonstrate how AI can be integrated with minimal setup, enhancing user engagement and providing adaptive game mechanics for richer player experiences.

2:00 PM
Ryan CuprakJakarta EE 11 and Beyond — Room 126
This session explores the current state and future of Jakarta EE - the technology platform formerly known as Java EE. We will include a high level feature tour of the current version - Jakarta EE 11. We will also discuss how the community can contribute to Jakarta EE.
Nick GeraceSkyrim Saved My Codebase And Can Save Yours Too — Room 125

Codebases are living, breathing things. Writing supple software is essential to their health and longevity. Inspired by Bethesda Games Studio's methodology in developing the acclaimed video game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, this talk dives into how to set yourself, your team, your organization and (optionally) external contributors up for success when maintaining software.

This adventurous talk will dive into the intricacies of domain-driven design, library structures and experiences in the battlefield (remember, we're in a dangerous fantasy land) of multi-language codebases with over 180,000 lines of code. It will touch on the separation between deployment and development strategy, how that interplays with artifact production and service design, and how you can make everyone more productive in your codebase.

How should we handle feature branches? Can we perform large refactors? How do we make handling tech debt easier or reducing it altogether? Can we onboard new people into this codebase? Can we introduce new technologies or phase out old ones? This talk aims to tackle all of these questions and more.

Grab your sword and shield and learn about how you can save your codebase too!

2:30 PM
Break
3:00 PM
Sujith PaulSupercharge Your Java Development Experience with Open Source Tools — Room 126

Even though it is almost 30 years old, the Java ecosystem has continued to stay relevant by adapting to the ever changing technology landscape. However the day to day development experience can still feel antiquated and limiting. In this talk, we will take a look at a few open source tools - JBang, SDKMAN, jgitver and JReleaser - that are making a difference. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned developer, these tools will simplify your end-to-end workflow by taking care of aspects ranging from installing and managing JDKs to versioning and releasing your applications.

Amanvir ParharTaming LLMs with Structured Outputs — Room 125

Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have revolutionized the way we interact with AI, but, as developers, harnessing their power for practical applications can be challenging.

LLMs generate text in formats that are arbitrary and unpredictable, and simply modifying the prompt to ask the model to respond in a specific format does not guarantee that the resulting output will match the schema you provided.

However, structured outputs offer a way to get data from an LLM in a deterministic manner. This one amazing feature, which OpenAI introduced to its GPT models this summer, opens up a plethora of possibilities for devs.

In this talk, I'll cover the basics of how structured outputs work and showcase several innovative demos that use structured outputs to leverage LLMs in unique ways.

3:30 PM
Vikas GroverSupercharging Business with Generative AI: Boosting Accuracy with Dynamic Information Retrieval — Room 126

In this 30-minute session, explore how combining Generative AI with dynamic information retrieval can transform business outcomes by enhancing the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated content. We’ll introduce key AI techniques, focusing on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), a powerful approach that enables generative models to pull in the most relevant information from external sources. You’ll see how this improves practical applications in customer service, document processing, and more. A live demo will highlight how businesses can leverage RAG to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Ideal for leaders and professionals aiming to maximize the value of AI in their organizations

Ameer SamiTatakai - The power of persistence in your development career — Room 125

Learn how persistence can transform your development skills! In this talk, discover why remembering that humans created software empowers you to overcome challenges. We’ll explore key habits that instill the FIGHT you need to tackle any task, turning obstacles into opportunities for growth.

2024 Speakers

Baruch Sadogursky

DevOps Reframed: Embracing the Path to Developer Productivity Engineering

Ameer Sami

Tatakai - The power of persistence in your development career

Jessica Garson

Introduction to OpenTelemetry with Python

Rodrigo Graciano

void main()

Brian Childress

Thriving in a Connected World: Building, Growing, and Supporting a Distributed Tech Organization

Pratik Patel

Cloud Cost Optimization for Java Developers

Ryan Cuprak

Jakarta EE 11 and Beyond

Tyler Benfield

Write Once, Stream Everywhere: Transforming Your Data into Events

Courtney Yatteau

AI-Powered Gamification for the Web

Vikas Grover

Supercharging Business with Generative AI: Boosting Accuracy with Dynamic Information Retrieval

Chandra Guntur

void main()

Snehal Patel

Amazon Athena - Serverless Data Analysis and Reporting using SQL

Ed MacDonald

Introduction to Kubernetes

Nick Gerace

Skyrim Saved My Codebase And Can Save Yours Too

Sujith Paul

Supercharge Your Java Development Experience with Open Source Tools

Amanvir Parhar

Taming LLMs with Structured Outputs

NOTE: Our speaker list is subject to change. We are still confirming and announcing speakers.

Sponsors