Key Takeaways from QCon & InfoQ Dev Summits with a Look Ahead to 2025 Conferences

As we reflect on 2024, one thing is clear: senior developers, architects, and team leaders face challenges that benefit from real-world insights shared by other senior practitioners. This year, InfoQ Dev Summit Boston, InfoQ Dev Summit Munich, and the QCon conferences in London and San Francisco provided curated topics and talks from software practitioners working through demanding development challenges.

Key takeaways from QCon and InfoQ Dev Summits in 2024

The QCon conferences and InfoQ Dev Summits addressed emerging trends and priorities in software development and architecture challenges. Here are some of the key highlights and learnings:

Innovative approaches to architecture scalability and speed

• Scaling ML Systems: Netflix’s engineering team showcased how Maestro and Apache Iceberg reduce costs by up to 90% while enhancing data freshness. They streamlined workflows with minimal effort by capturing incremental changes and leveraging tools like IpCapture. (QCon San Francisco 2024)
• Rapid Product Launches: Meta’s Threads launch highlighted the power of reusing existing infrastructure and embracing rapid iteration. Delivered in five months using Instagram’s backend, Threads balanced speed and scalability, underscoring adaptability in competitive markets. (QCon London 2024)

Building ethical and efficient AI systems

• Responsible AI: Justin Sheety, Chief Architect @Akamai, emphasized that developers must focus on building AI systems that are helpful, honest, and harmless while avoiding overhyped claims and recognizing AI's limitations. Transparency, accountability, and minimizing harm are essential to creating ethical, impactful technology. (InfoQ Dev Summit Boston 2024)
• Generative AI in Practice: Techniques like Ray's GPU optimization, streaming execution, and speculative decoding for large language models improve cost efficiency and reduce latency, demonstrating the practical applications of generative AI. (QCon San Francisco 2024)

Enhancing Cloud security and serverless performance

• Cloud Security: Danielle Sudai, Security Operations Lead @Deliveroo, emphasized the importance of Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) in identifying misconfigurations and mitigating cybersecurity risks. Leveraging frameworks like NIST, ISO 27001, and GDPR helps organizations prioritize assets, enhance threat visibility, and strengthen their security posture. (InfoQ Dev Summit Munich 2024)
• High-Performance Serverless Computing: Talks emphasized how combining Rust with AWS Lambda delivers high-performance, scalable serverless applications. Best practices include modular Lambda designs, the AWS SDK, and automation with IaC tools. (QCon San Francisco 2024)

Scaling impact through Staff-Plus leadership

• Staff-Plus Leadership: Advancing to staff-plus roles requires broad organizational impact, strategic planning, and balancing technical work with leadership and mentorship. The focus should be on high-impact projects, clear expectations, and consistent alignment with organizational goals to drive growth. (InfoQ Dev Summit Boston 2024)
• Strategic Thinking for Staff+ Engineers: Shweta Saraf, Director of Platform Networking @Netflix, emphasized strategic thinking as essential for staff-plus engineers, focusing on diagnosing problems, guiding principles, and cohesive actions to drive long-term success, innovation, and alignment with organizational goals. (InfoQ Dev Summit Boston 2024)

"Some serious Staff Plus knowledge dropped by Thiago Ghisi at the InfoQ Dev Summit! Awesome stuff. This takeaways slide is a good jumping-off place, but the entire deck and presentation are worth catching!"

Daniel Bryant, News Manager @InfoQ, emeritus chair of QCon London, platform engineer, and head of product marketing @Syntasso

Securing AI: Enhancing DevSecOps and mitigating AI risks

• Proactive Cybersecurity: Michael Friedrich, Senior Developer Advocate @GitLab demonstrated how AI enhances DevSecOps by automating code generation, testing, and root cause analysis. To maximize its benefits, organizations should adopt AI iteratively, prioritize transparency, and implement strong guardrails to maintain security and efficiency across workflows. (QCon London 2024)
• AI Security Risks: Prompt injections, where attackers manipulate AI behavior or access sensitive data, remain a significant risk, explained Georg Dresler, Developer, Architect & Kotlin Enthusiast @RaySono. Combining prompt rules, adversarial detectors, and fine-tuned models can mitigate these threats, though no foolproof solution exists. (InfoQ Dev Summit Boston 2024)

Learnings shared by QCon and InfoQ Dev Summit attendees in 2024

This year's conferences helped senior developers, architects, and team leads explore how leading practitioners think and approach complex challenges by applying emerging trends and practices. Here are the key learnings shared by our attendees:

Strategic insights for modern software development

"Here are some key takeaways and highlights from [InfoQ Dev Summit Boston] conference as I eagerly anticipate their return next year:

Key Themes Discussed:

• Observability: You can’t fix or improve what you cannot measure.
• Security: Security is an integral part of software architecture.
• Artificial Intelligence: AI presents numerous opportunities for software developers. Embrace the results cautiously; AI can be a valuable ally.
• Software Architecture: Application/process modernization is a continuous process to prepare for future business growth. Reduce code debt through ongoing improvement.
• Strategy: Strategic thinking is crucial for collaboration and innovation, not limited to executive leaders - everyone should be a strategic thinker.

Recommended Reads:

• 'The New Kingmakers' by Stephen O’Grady
• 'Good Strategy Bad Strategy' by Richard Rumelt"

Mahesh A., Sr. Manager, Technical Architects @Synopsys Inc.

Lessons from NASA on calculated risk and innovation

"The opening keynote at #QConSF by Khawaja Shams (NASA, AWS, now Momento) really struck a chord!

• If you're good at course correcting, being wrong may be less costly than you think, whereas being slow is going to be expensive for sure' - Jeff Bezos
• Ultimate testing in prod'. When Khawaja Shams showed the Mars rover landing photo, he called it 'the ultimate testing in prod' - the entire room erupted in laughter. After all, there's no staging environment 225 million kilometers away!
• The key insight that resonated with me: While we obsess about de-risking (rightfully so), we might be missing even bigger opportunities by not thinking bold enough. The real question isn't just 'what could go wrong?' but 'What if everything goes right, and how do we maximize that?'
• This mindset shift from NASA's journey - from RAD750 to putting a consumer-grade Snapdragon chip on Mars - is a masterclass in calculated risk-taking at scale.
• A powerful reminder that in tech leadership, sometimes the riskiest move is playing it too safe.

Tatiana Fesenko, Lead Software Engineer @Klaviyo

How accessibility benefits everyone

"Not enough of us engineers talk about accessibility and design inclusivity. I know I’m guilty of it. I’m also about that #backend life, so I normally wouldn’t be interested in a UX talk.

Dylan Fox, I attended your talk at QCon San Francisco because I was like, "WTF is XR?" When I googled it, I realized I was SO behind still using AR, VR, etc., and should probably go to your talk to get caught up. I am happy to announce:

1. I am caught up— take that XR!
2. I learned about the Curb Cut Effect. The Curb Cut Effect is the idea that programs, laws, and accommodations designed to help vulnerable groups can benefit everyone."

Krys Flores, Staff Software Engineer Staff Software Engineer @Crunchyroll

AI to Architecture Modernization

"InfoQ Dev Summit Boston 2024 was a blast! I'm returning home refreshed and energized, brimming with new ideas and insights.

The diverse range of sessions was amazing. I learned a ton about AI, OpenTelemetry, developer platform experiences, legacy code migrations, cloud systems, building asset libraries, strategic thinking, architecture modernization, Staff+ career paths, Java and Kubernetes, scalable UI, and even the lessons learned from Duolingo's Super Bowl ad.

I can't wait to apply this knowledge to my projects and share it with my team."

Loiane Groner, Director, Application Development @BNY

Insights on Cloud security and optimization

"Danielle Sudai summarizes the benefits of cloud security posture management (CSPM) and discusses the challenges of cloud security at #InfoQDevSummit.

"It's really in your hands to keep it secured." #cloudsecurity

Renato Losio, Cloud Expert, AWS Data Hero, InfoQ Editor, and InfoQ Dev Summit Munich 2024 Chair

"Suggest remedies on the cloud with RAG support: Dr. Jens Kohl and Marcello Tava are presenting how they use generative AI to optimize cloud rooms performance and costs at BMW Group. #InfoQDevSummit

Among the benefits:

• scalable solution
• support DevOps teams
• facilitates continuous learning
• easy maintenance and extensibility."

Renato Losio, Cloud Expert, AWS Data Hero, InfoQ Editor, and InfoQ Dev Summit Munich 2024 Chair

Building Platforms as Products: Lessons from The New York Times

"I’m loving the "platform as product" approach The New York Times have taken. Excellent insight from David Grizzanti at InfoQ Dev Summit Boston. So much great tactical advice!

• treat (and fund and staff) your platform as a product
• focus on your users and the business goals
• market your platform (internally) as you would any other product
• show your roadmap and regularly seek feedback (and act on it)
• provide maturity models to aid adoption."

Daniel Bryant, News Manager @InfoQ, emeritus chair of QCon London, platform engineer and head of product marketing @Syntasso.

What to expect from QCon and InfoQ Dev Summits in 2025

In 2025, QCon and InfoQ Dev Summit conferences will continue delivering practical, relevant, and peer-driven insights from active senior software developers.

InfoQ Dev Summits are back in Boston (June) and Munich (October), with a debut event in New York (December). QCon returns to London (April) and San Francisco (November) for its 19th year.

Deepen knowledge, expand technical skills, and address real-world projects by attending our conferences in 2025. Early-bird pricing is available for upcoming events:

We look forward to seeing you at one of our QCon or InfoQ Dev Summit conferences in 2025.