Devoxx UK 2023: Free Swag and Fresh Ideas
I just spent three days at Devoxx UK, and my backpack is now bursting with stickers, t-shirts, and most importantly - a bright red fedora from Red Hat that I absolutely refuse to wear in public but am strangely proud of owning.
How I Ended Up There
I’m pretty lucky that my current employer actually gives a damn about professional development. They don’t just talk about it in recruitment ads - they actually budget for it and encourage us to use it. This year, I’ve managed to attend both QCon London (which I wrote about earlier) and now Devoxx UK.
After several brutal sprints that left me questioning my life choices, getting out of the office for a few days to soak up some new ideas was exactly what I needed. There’s something about being surrounded by developers who are excited about tech again that helps reset your brain after weeks of production incidents and deadline panic.
The Business Centre Conference Experience
Devoxx was held at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Unlike the swanky QEII Centre where QCon happened, this venue has more of an industrial feel - high ceilings, visible ductwork, that sort of thing. It actually worked well though - less stuffy, more casual.
The main stage was massive, but I spent most of my time in the smaller rooms where the more specialized talks happened. Pro tip: always sit near the end of a row so you can escape quickly if you realize you’ve accidentally walked into a thinly-veiled product pitch.
Talks That Actually Taught Me Something
Unlike most conference write-ups where people list every session they attended to prove they were working (definitely not sitting in the hotel bar), I’m just going to mention the ones that actually made me think:
The “Modern Java Patterns” talk blew my mind a bit. I’ve been doing Java for years, but the speaker showed some approaches to concurrency that I’d never considered. I literally opened my IDE that evening to try them out.
There was this fantastic session on API design where the speaker went through real-world examples of terrible APIs and fixed them live on stage. It was both hilarious and educational - I recognized at least three anti-patterns I’ve implemented myself.
The keynote about tech ethics made me genuinely uncomfortable, which was probably the point. The speaker challenged us to think about the downstream effects of what we build, beyond just “does it work?” and “will it scale?” Definitely not what I expected at a primarily technical conference.
Sponsor Hall: The Art of Swag Acquisition
The sponsor hall was packed with the usual suspects - big tech companies, consultant firms, tool vendors. Most were doing the standard “scan your badge for a chance to win an iPad” thing, which I’ve learned is just asking to be spammed for eternity.
But some companies brought their A-game:
- Red Hat was giving out actual red fedoras. Ridiculous? Yes. Did I immediately grab one? Also yes.
- One company (can’t remember which) had these surprisingly decent compact umbrellas, which came in handy given the typical London weather.
- Some startup had these metal water bottles that don’t look cheap and nasty like most conference swag.
The real hero was the company with the good coffee machine though. By day three, I was stopping by their booth hourly despite having zero interest in their product.
Would I Go Again?
Definitely. Devoxx hits a sweet spot between deeply technical content and not being so specialized that you can only understand three talks. The crowd was diverse - from junior devs to grizzled architects, from startups to enterprises.
If you’re thinking about going next year:
- Book early - it was sold out this year
- Stay nearby if you can - the after-sessions networking is worth it
- Don’t try to attend everything - pick a few topics and go deep
- Talk to strangers (I know, terrifying for developers) - you’ll get more from those conversations than from some of the talks
Most importantly, if you see someone wearing a Red Hat fedora in the wild, it might be me having lost a bet or all sense of dignity. Come say hi.