Devoxx 2024 was a significant gathering for developers looking to expand their knowledge, share experiences, and stay updated on the latest trends in technology. At benerail, we believe that continuous learning is essential for both personal and professional growth. This event was a great chance to soak up knowledge, chat with industry leaders, and check out the latest tech trends in our field. All the more reason to send 8 of our coworkers on a three-day Devoxx getaway.
Devoxx can be described as a nice mix between entertaining and professional. Our senior developer, Gert Van Der Voorde, mentioned, “Everyone was interested, and the atmosphere was amicable.” Kobe Dupont added, “It always felt like you were part of a bigger, happy family of nerds.” The many goodies, candies and ‘awesome sauce’ we scored probably helped.
AI: a major focus
One of the most exciting aspects of Devoxx was the rapid advancements in AI technology, not to mention the overabundance of AI-generated images. The practicalities of LLMs were discussed, especially. How do we build our own, for example? Food for thought!
Jens Van Den Akkerveken was blown away by the simplicity of the technology used during the Apollo moon missions, saying, “The fact that astronauts relied on a computer with only seven commands and no memory was mind-blowing.”
exploring Java
Our technology is built on Java, so we mostly attended sessions on new features and frameworks. Other notable trends included garbage collection algorithms, concurrency, memory management, and using GraalVM for native compilation. These sessions provided valuable insights into the future of software development and the potential applications of these technologies.
Victor Rentea’s talk about the Top REST API Design Pitfalls was unmissable for Michael Branders. We learned what to do—and more importantly, what not to do—in our modern APIs like moove_api and osdm_api. The highlight of the three days was probably Josh Long’s talk “Bootiful Spring Boot.” This talk was a brief demonstration of the newest features in Spring Boot and Java. But we guess the real highlight was bonding with Josh Long over some hard-earned margaritas.
takeaways and next steps
Our coworkers left Devoxx with a wealth of knowledge and new ideas to bring back to their projects. Key learnings included best practices for AI and RAG, insights into virtual threads, and the importance of staying updated with the latest Java features. Jens shared, “I will remember best practices for AI and RAG to optimise results.” Kobe expressed eagerness to try virtual threads and set up a proof-of-concept with native compilation.
Devoxx proved to be an invaluable experience for our team, offering a perfect blend of learning, inspiration, and entertainment. The event showcased the latest trends and innovations in the tech world and provided a platform for meaningful connections and community building. We look forward to attending Devoxx again next year and continuing to grow and innovate together. Or, as Segher says it succinctly: “It was an awesome experience!”
join us at devoxx 2025
Want to join benerail at Devoxx next year? We are always looking for a Java Developer.