AI, Rust, and Resilience: Key Software Trends Seen by the QCon San Francisco 2024 Program Committee

QCon San Francisco Conference Overview

• The QCon San Francisco programming committee has been working on the conference coming up in November, which will feature talks about the latest innovations and software trends 12s.
• The committee discusses trends in software development to decide what goes into the QCon conference, covering various aspects such as architecture, design, AI, ML, culture, and methods 35s.
• The committee members include Quaja, co-founder at Momento; Sua, senior staff engineer at Monzo Bank; HL, leading the ML platform team at Zuck; Aaron Doyle, staff engineer at Lob; and Thomas Betts, application architect at Blackb 1m43s.
• QCon San Francisco is a curated conference where the program committee decides on the themes and finds track hosts to create a mini-conference on one topic 2m9s.
• The conference has 12 tracks, with two dedicated to AI and machine learning, and several talks on other tracks related to the subject 2m45s.

AI and ML Tracks

• The AI and ML tracks focus on generative AI in production and advancements, covering the adoption of Gen AI technology in companies and its development over the last two years 3m14s.
• The committee chose to focus on these areas because Gen AI is a significant trend in software development, with many companies trying to figure out how to adopt these technologies 3m28s.
• The Gen Technologies track at QCon San Francisco 2024 aims to bring knowledge and experience from various companies around the world that have successfully implemented this technology and built products on top of it, with a focus on best practices, learnings, pitfalls, and use cases 3m35s.
• Sessions in this track include how to bring Gen for employee productivities, how to deploy MLM models into the Enterprise, and use cases from companies like Pinterest that integrate Gen into search 4m12s.
• The field of Gen Technologies is evolving rapidly, with advancements in AI agents being a particularly exciting development, and a session is dedicated to learning about AI agents and how to integrate them into products 4m30s.
• The AI and ML for Software Engineers track is focused on foundational insights and best practices for getting started with machine learning, including predictive models, recommended systems at scale, and evaluating and assessing MLM models 5m11s.
• This track also aims to bring sessions from industry experts who have experience with machine learning and can share their knowledge and pitfalls with the audience, which is mostly senior engineers and above 6m13s.

Embracing Shift Left in Data Architecture

• Another track, Embracing Shift Left in Data Architecture, is related to AI and focuses on integrating machine learning and big data models into products, rather than treating them as an afterthought 6m36s.
• This track explores how to support use cases that require more integrated data architecture, including traditional batch processing, stream processing, reliability, resilience, and autoscaling 6m54s.

AI's Impact on Teams and Organizations

• AI and machine learning are becoming core components of systems, and their integration is changing the landscape of how work is done, impacting all aspects of the job, including how teams function and how individuals approach their work 7m11s.
• The Soot Technical Resilience track focuses on how to integrate AI into teams and adapt to the changes it brings, including how to use AI to enable faster work and better job performance 7m35s.
• The track also covers how managers can leverage AI tools and how the entire organization is affected by the changes AI brings 7m59s.

Path to Principal Engineer and Beyond

• The Path to Principal Engineer and Beyond track is not specifically focused on AI, but rather on how to become a better individual contributor and team member, maximizing productivity for oneself and the broader company 8m29s.
• This track includes topics such as building a personal brand, increasing influence, and understanding the biology of the brain to improve influence, as well as the importance of "soft skills" or "power skills" in becoming a better engineer 8m40s.
• The term "soft skills" is seen as outdated, and some prefer the term "power skills" because it emphasizes the importance of these skills in enabling engineers to perform higher-level tasks 10m13s.

Programming Languages and Paradigms

• The conference also features tracks on programming languages and paradigms, highlighting current language trends 10m37s.
• Rust is a trend that everybody seems to be talking about, and it's finally getting to a place where we're seeing massive adoption at larger enterprises, making it ready to take on production 10m44s.
• A track for Rust in production was created to inspire folks with real-world use cases and how people are using it in production, including talks about the philosophies of Rust and its adoption in larger enterprises 10m46s.
• The track is not a Rust evangelism track, but rather a showcase of inspiring ways where people have taken it to production, along with objective rationale as to why you should and shouldn't take it to production in your stack 11m38s.
• The decision to use Rust in production is another "it depends" situation, and it may make sense for some, but not for others 11m56s.
• The programming languages and paradigms track aims to shift the narrative from showcasing new things in programming languages to focusing on the world of software engineering for how most people do it on a daily basis 12m12s.
• The track includes talks about programming languages, finding and identifying bugs within program languages, and statically finding bugs with typing 12m39s.
• Jake's talk from Stripe introduces sbet into their big code base to help find bugs with typing in Ruby, and Paul's take on platform engineering explores the blurring of lines between writing defensive code and putting layers of defense elsewhere 12m49s.

Additional Tracks and Topics

• The track also includes talks on Pickle, a new configuration language recently open-sourced by Apple, and Closure, which is used for Datomic at Newbank 13m43s.
• The QCon San Francisco 2024 Program Committee chose 12 tracks for the conference, focusing on the big themes of the year, and some topics like platform engineering and SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) were not included as separate tracks 14m15s.
• Despite not having a dedicated platform engineering or SRE track, there are multiple talks across various tracks that would be of interest to platform engineers and SREs, such as those in the Hardware Architectures and Rust tracks 15m1s.
• The committee ensured that at any given time slot, there would be something relevant for SREs or platform engineers, making it a common job family for the audience 15m27s.
• The Hardware Architectures track covers topics like CPU-based fine-tuning, systems-level things, and deploying in production, which would be of interest to SREs and platform engineers 15m45s.
• The Rust track also covers systems-level topics, deploying in production, and fine-tuning, making it relevant for SREs and platform engineers 15m57s.
• Not having a dedicated SRE track allows for intermingling with other parts of the community and attendees, providing a better experience for SREs 16m11s.
• The Architectural Evolution track has talks about why companies made certain shifts, which is relevant to platform engineers and SREs 16m35s.
• The conference exposes attendees to various topics, and some platform engineers have found value in tracks like People and Processes, which was not initially expected 17m0s.

Broadening Perspectives and Learning

• The importance of broadening one's perspective and horizon in software development is emphasized, as it allows individuals to meet people with different roles and interests, creating a fantastic crossover of ideas and knowledge 17m38s.
• Attending conferences is a great way to enhance one's knowledge base, and it's recommended to sit in on tracks that are outside of one's daily work to learn something new and applicable 17m54s.
• For example, an SRE (Site Reliability Engineer) could benefit from attending tracks on fundamental machine learning or socio-technical resilience, which could provide a fresh perspective and new insights 18m12s.
• The idea of combining different roles and perspectives, such as DevOps and MLOps, is seen as a positive trend, as it brings together people with different viewpoints to solve problems and achieve better results 18m33s.

Inclusive User Interfaces

• The concept of inclusive UIs (User Interfaces) is becoming increasingly important, as it's not just about making the web more accessible, but also about making other UIs, such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and voice-controlled UIs, inclusive and accessible to people with limited capabilities 19m31s.
• The trend of inclusive UIs is important to discuss, as it's an area that requires more attention and resources, and it's essential to make these UIs accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities 19m33s.
• The need for inclusive user interfaces is becoming increasingly important, as users may have a subpar experience or be unable to access certain experiences at all if they are not designed with inclusivity in mind 20m25s.
• Engineers, not just designers, need to think outside the box to achieve goals and provide alternative ways for users to interact with products 20m45s.
• Innovative solutions are being developed to address these issues, making it a great fit for the QCon conference 21m8s.
• QCon and InfoQ focus on innovator and early adopter trends, such as inclusive UI in virtual reality, which didn't exist four years ago 21m13s.
• Attending sessions on these topics can help engineers think about how to handle specific use cases and make products more inclusive 21m38s.
• It's not just designers who need to solve the problem of inclusivity, engineers also need to be involved 21m55s.
• The conference track on inclusive user interfaces will provide valuable insights for anyone working on user-facing interfaces, regardless of their specific work 22m3s.

QCon Community and Unconference Sessions

• Two recommended activities at QCon are attending tracks and talks outside of one's area of expertise to broaden horizons and learn about new domains, and meeting people from other areas to spark conversations and connections 22m20s.
• The QCon community is inclusive, and attending unconference sessions can provide opportunities to meet like-minded individuals and have meaningful conversations 23m17s.
• The unconference sessions are run in a way that encourages inclusivity and allows attendees to be heard, and can even lead to new friendships and connections 23m37s.
• The QCon San Francisco 2024 conference offers attendees the opportunity to interact with practitioners who work on software development day in and day out, allowing for questions and discussions over three days 23m49s.
• The unconference format is beneficial for introverts, as it provides a structured environment for productive conversations, allowing participants to share ideas and learn from each other 24m47s.
• Unconferences involve a time-boxed conversation with a small amount of structure, where participants can put up topics and engage in moderated discussions 25m5s.
• This format makes it easier for introverts to participate, as they can put up a sticky note on the board with a topic they'd like to discuss, and see if others have similar interests 25m19s.

Practitioners and Architectural Evolution

• The conference features practitioners, not just experts, allowing attendees to learn from others who are doing the same job 25m35s.
• The architectural evolution track at the conference focuses on getting back to basics, discussing the pendulum swing between different architectural approaches, such as monoliths, microservices, and serverless 26m15s.
• This track explores areas where people are trending backwards in time but forward in productivity, informing their unique architectural approach rather than becoming zealots about a particular philosophy 26m46s.

Hardware Architectures Track

• The QCon San Francisco 2024 conference includes a track on hardware architectures, emphasizing the importance for engineers to be aware of hardware developments to optimize performance, especially with the increasing demands of large AI models. 27m0s
• The conference features speakers from major CPU manufacturers like AMD and Intel, as well as companies like Geico, who have successfully optimized applications to run efficiently on current hardware architectures. 28m9s
• A keynote at the conference will discuss the use of newer hardware types in terrestrial computing and space missions, highlighting the shift from traditional, specialized space hardware to more innovative architectures, as seen in NASA's latest missions. 28m46s
• The keynote will also address the theme of taking risks with new hardware technologies and the scientific advancements that result from such endeavors. 29m46s
• The conference aims to provide thought-provoking insights into hardware and software challenges, encouraging attendees to relate these insights to their own work and decision-making processes. 29m53s

Additional Tracks and Keynotes

• The QCon San Francisco 2024 conference will feature various tracks, including one on architectures that attendees have always wondered about, which is expected to be a fascinating and educational experience for software engineers 31m13s.
• The conference will also include a track on Rust in production, which has some really interesting talks, and another on socio-technical resilience, which is an area where attendees can broaden their horizons and learn more about 32m9s.
• The QCon San Francisco 2024 program committee is excited about the conference, which will cover key software trends, including AI, and will feature talks from engineers working on software who will share their experiences and solutions to complex problems 31m2s.
• One of the talks that is expected to be interesting is about GitHub's networking stack and how they make their IDE super performant, even when running in the cloud 30m28s.
• The conference will also feature a keynote on novel and complex problems in interesting contexts, which will provide attendees with insights into how these problems were approached and solved 31m31s.
• The QCon San Francisco 2024 conference is expected to be a great learning experience for software engineers, with many interesting talks and sessions to choose from, and registration is now open 32m58s.