Talks

Here is where I’ll be speaking soon. I update this list very often, but follow me on Twitter for the latest news. I’m also seen somewhere else sometimes

Here is my calendar, feel free to import it (to Google Calendar or iCal) and stay informed about everything I do publicly

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If you are interested in placing me at your event, please email. It’s free. You will just have to pay for business-class airfare, a premium suite in a 5-star hotel, and a limo. OK, I’m kidding about the limo.

  Past Events

This is a very opinionated and subjective list of conferences that I attended recently as a speaker. They rate us as speakers, so why shouldn’t we rate them, right? The best grade is A+, while the worst is F-

Statistically speaking, I’ve been speaking in ? cities and ? countries

I was also seen at these events.

2024

B+ Далеко ли до Стэнфорда; ITPurpleConf 2024; Moscow, Russia; 16 March 2024. Very well organized event for students, in MIPT. I enjoyed being there and hope that they will continue organizing it every year. video.

B Добро пожаловать в RnD; ProIT Fest 2024; St. Petersburg, Russia; 10 February 2024. I enjoyed the event and the audience. Would be great to attend it some time again. Maybe the location and the quality of sound/video recording may be improved in the next events. video.

2023

B+ Robots vs. Programmers; AIIN 2023; Innopolis, Russia; 18 August 2023. Good local conference, with an intent to cover many AI topics at a pretty high level of abstraction. It was interesting to meet Russian researchers, who challenge world-size problems; video.

2022

C+ Готовы ли мы к роботам, а они к нам?; CIPR 2022; Moscow, Russia; 1 June 2022; видео.

2021

A Code Line No. 0; ENGX Z-DAY 2021; Kiev, Ukraine; 3 December; video.

A Анализ качества кода и почему он не работает?; <code/R>; Omsk, Russia; 18 September; видео.

A+ Твой первый Ruby Gem; Ruby Russia; Moscow, Russia; 24 September; видео

B Decentralized Architectures: Blockchain and Beyond; HighLoad++; Moscow, Russia; 17 May; видео

2020

B Testing and Testers; TestCon; Moscow, Russia; 16 September; видео

A My experience of 1000 interviews; TeamLeadConf; Moscow, Russia; 10 February; видео, slides

2019

B On Requirements Management; ProductFest; Moscow, Russia; 9 December; видео, slides

B Reversive Decentralized Deployment: Zold Cryptocurrency Example; DevOpsConf; Moscow, Russia; 30 September; видео

A Are You Sure You Are Not a Micromanager? Saint Teamlead Conf; St. Petersburg, Russia; 23 September; видео, slides

A What’s wrong with Java and IT career in USA/Russia; Meetup; St. Petersburg, Russia; 24 September; видео-1, видео-2

A Quality Assurance vs. Testing; QA Fest; Kyiv, Ukraine; 20 September; video, slides

A Building Object-Oriented Java Web Framework From Scratch; RockStart Night Meetup; Kyiv, Ukraine; 20 September; видео

B Can Distributed Teams Deliver Quality? QualityConf’2019; Moscow, Russia; 27 May; видео, slides

B Another Five Trends We Are Afraid Of; AppsConf’2019; Moscow, Russia; 22 April; видео

B Правильно ли мы тестируем; SECON’2019; Penza, Russia; 19 April; видео; slides

B Is Java Getting Better? SECON’2019; Penza, Russia; 19 April, видео, slides

A+ Микротаскинг или как обмануть начальника; StartupSamara; Samara, Russia; 13 April; видео

B Software testing pitfalls; JPoint; Moscow, Russia; 5 April; slides, видео

A Five Trends We Are Afraid Of; CodeFest; Novosibirsk, Russia; 30 March; видео, slides

2018

C Panel Discussion about Blockchain; Blockchain Conference 2018; Moscow, Russia; 20 November; видео

B How True Experts Manage Their Expertise; DevOpsPro; Moscow, Russia; 14 November; видео

B Software Testing Philosophy; Bee Mobile Meetup; Moscow, Russia; 7 November; видео

A Quality vs. Quantity; Joker Conf; St. Petersburg, Russia; 20 October; видео, slides. This is one of the best conferences organized by JUG.ru. There is nothing else to say. The venue, the travel organization, the staff, and of course the audience. These guys know how to do their work. The only problem we’ve had this year was the food—it was terrible, thanks to the venue providers (ExpoForum), shame on them (that’s why not A+). Aside from that, Joker rocks!

B- Expertise vs Experts; GeeCON Prague; Prague, Czech Republic; 18 October; video, slides. I’m not for the first time at this event and it seems to be pretty stable at its quality. It is, as they claim, not-for-profit. It happens in a cinema, which affects the quality, I believe. The screen is huge, the light is dim, the sound is not so perfect. Also, the focus of the event is not clear—it is just about tech in general? Anyway, I keep coming because I like the city

B- Who Cares About Quality?; AppsConf; Moscow, Russia; 9 October; видео, slides. The event was organized by the same guys as DevOpsConf and happened at the same venue, in Moscow. Again, as with the previous one, the quality of the venue seriously affected the entire impression of the event. The audience was pretty well prepared, but I totally missed the committee part—even though it did exist there. Would be great to see more attention paid to the quality of talks

B- Quantity vs. Quality; DevOpsConf; Moscow, Russia; 2 October; видео, slides. It’s a nice event, with about 100 people at my talk, was pretty warm and welcome. The quality of the venue was rather low (you can see it at my video), although the food was pretty decent. Also, I wasn’t sure the event was focused enough on the DevOps subject. My talk wasn’t really reviewed by any committee and I’m not sure it actually exists there

B+ Expertise vs Experts; DevOpsDays Boston 2018; Boston, MA, USA; 25 September; video, slides. Surprisingly, it was a very good event. Usually, as, I believe, I wrote before, US-based events are way worse in quality comparing to Europe and especially Eastern Europe. This one was pretty decent. The quality of the venue, the video (which is not published yet, which is sad), the food, and travel—everything was good. The audience (about 150 in my talk and about 500 in the entire event), which is the most important factor, was rather interested and engaged. I will definitely try to attend again

C- Zold: Experimental Cryptocurrency Without Blockchain; Odessa Blockchain Summit; Odessa, Ukraine; 6 September; slides. The event was pretty small (about 20 people at my talk with about 80 in total), despite the promised 300. Also, the venue was rather unusual for tech talks—some sort of a hotel lobby. Also, the video recordings of our talks were lost, for some reason. And I wasn’t filming myself :( That’s sad

B- Life Without Blockchain; CryptoBBQ; Moscow, Russia; 23 Aug 2018; видео. slides. The organization of the even was decent, including food, the venue, etc. However, I totally missed the program committee part—did it exist there? It seemed that the majority of talks were there because they were either friends of organizers (my case) or paid. Maybe it’s inevitable in the area of cryptocurrencies?

12 шагов от Java к ООП; RedCode Meetup #1; Krasnodar, Russia; 17 May 2018; видео

B+ Math of Love?; DevExperience 2018; Iași, Romania; 23 April 2018; video, slides. Surpisingly, it was a nice event organized by a good team. They did care about the quality and really wanted to help us speakers to deliver it to the audience. The venue was good, the food was good, the travel organization was good, but the most important part was the preparation of attendees. I would definitely try to speak there again, if they organize again

How to Cut Corners and Stay Cool; DevExperience 2018; Iași, Romania; 23 April 2018; video, slides

2017

TDD наоборот или как срезать углы; Почему меня не взяли в Amazon; DeepRefactoring 2017; Voronezh, Russia; 20 December 2017; видео-1, видео-2

B+ How Much Do You Cost? DevTernity 2017; Riga, Latvia; 1 December 2017; slides, video. It was my second year with these guys and I liked it more than in 2016. The travel, the food, the equipment, the venue were very good. What they still are missing, I believe, is the interaction between speakers and the audience outside of the presentation rooms. They need to work harder, I believe, to connect me with my listeners before the show and after it. Also, to connect me with other speakers. Aside from that, they are definitely growing, I will try to attend next year

B+ TDD Upside Down; DotNext 2017; Moscow, Russia; 12-13 November 2017; slides, видео. The event was organized by JUG.ru guys (authors of JPoint and Joker) and it was rather good, as usual. Maybe because it was not Java community, I didn’t get as much value from the event as I was getting from JPoint, but the overall impression was good. The accomodation, the venue, the equipment, the food were perfect. What I missed was the promotional part and the social activity around the talks

Four factors of success; Семинар в ДНУ (Днепропетровский Государственный Университет, факультет “Международные Отношения,” кафедра “Международная Экономика”); Dnipro, Ukraine; 13 September 2017; видео

B- PostgreSQL + Liquibase + Docker + Maven + Java = Integration Tests; PgDay 2017; St. Petersburg, Russia; 5-7 July 2017; video. The conference was well organized, but rather small for five tracks. There were no more than 30 people at my talk. The venue was far away from the city center which made it difficult to see the historic center of St. Petersburg. The equipment was not of a high quality. The food was great, the audience was well prepared, the organizers werefriendly

B Java Annotations Are a Bad Idea; JDK IO 2017; Copenhagen, Denmark; 19-20 June 2017; video, slides. The food, the accomodation, the audience, the equipment was good. The location was rather far away from the hotel. Aside from that, the conference was surprisingly good, even though I was told that in 2016 there were not enough attendees. This year there were just two tracks, about 80 people at my talk. Will be glad to visit again

C+ Make Customers Trust You; BDMSummit 2017; Kyiv, Ukraine; 17 June 2017; video, slides. The event was much smaller than it was announced. I hardly had 40 people in the room, even though my talk was one of the first. The venue was average, the organization was good, the food was tasty

B How to Be Honest and Keep a Client; PMCon Kharkiv 2017; Kharkiv, Ukraine; 11 June 2017; video, slides. There were some technical problems in my talk (you can see them in the video), but aside from that the event was interesting and well-organized. The team definitely did it with passion and invested a lot of effort in it. Maybe a better warming up social procedures would be helpful next year. Would be glad to attend again, if they invite

A- Object Oriented JUnit Tests; JavaDay Minsk 2017; Minsk, Belarus; 3 June 2017; video, slides. This was my second year and it did work even better than in 2016. The location was better, the accomodation was perfect, the team was very dedicated, the audience was interested. Will definitely try to attend next year

Object-oriented Mistakes in OpenJDK; JUG.ua Meetup; Kharkiv, Ukraine; 1 June 2017; video (part 1), video (part 2)

A- Object-Oriented Flavor for JUnit Tests; JEEConf 2017; Kyiv, Ukraine; 27 May 2017; video, slides. As usual, this conference was very good, but this year something was missing. The venue was perfect, the accomodation, the team, the audience, the equipment at the highest level. I guess the content could be better with the budget these guys have available. More cutting-edge talks, more panel discussions, more provocation, more scandals. It was rather quiet and routine. Will try to attend next year

How Much Do You Cost?; JEEConf 2017; Kyiv, Ukraine; 26 May 2017; video, slides

C- How to Avoid Outsourcing Disaster; Kyiv Outsourcing Forum 2017; Kyiv, Ukraine; 26 May 2017; video, slides. The event was smaller than I expected, the location was of a rather low quality, and the audience was pretty much random. Maybe that’s because of the subject, or the time of the year

C What’s This InterruptedException About?; GeeCON 2017; Kraków, Poland; 18-19 May 2017; video. The event was very big, but many things were not as good as I would expect. It was in the cinema, as in 2016—not the best location, if you ask me. The food was average, the accomodation too. The key issue was the lack of social connection between speakers and attendees

B How Bright Is Your Future?; RigaDevDays 2017; Riga, Latvia; 15 May 2017; video, slides. The event was rather good, even though the location was not great (the cinema), the food was average and the equipment was not perfect. There were enough people for my talks, they were interested and I’ve got many interesting responses

What’s Wrong With Object-Oriented Programming?; RigaDevDays 2017; Riga, Latvia; 15 May 2017; video, slides

A Java Annotations Are a Big Mistake; JPoint 2017; Moscow, Russia; 8 April 2017; видео (with English subtitles), slides. JPoint is one of the best tech conferences I’ve spoken at so far. Its strong points are the social activities between speakers, the community, equipment, location, accommodation, and help with travel. Its weak points still are the content and its focus on the Russian-speaking community. It would be great if they could make their events more international and less “Russian-only.” Aside from that, this is definitely an event I would try to attend again

A Utility Classes Are Killing Us; JBreak 2017; Novosibirsk, Russia; 4 April 2017; видео (with English subtitles), slides. Yet another great event by JUG.ru in Siberia. This was my first time there, and I enjoyed almost everything: the location, the organization, travel planning, equipment, and audience. The only thing I didn’t like was the quality of food. Aside from that, I would say that JBreak is an even better event than JPoint. Maybe because I like smaller one-day events more than bigger ones that take a few days

B+ A Few Best Practices for Time-Wasting on a Software Team; DevOn Summit 2017; Delft, The Netherlands; 30 March 2017; video. Surprisingly, the event was rather good, even though it was commercial and put on by a private company (usually such events suck). This one was well- organized with interesting speakers, good equipment, and a lot of passion from the team. I received a lot of negative comments from the audience about my subject, but that’s how it has to be with the problem I’m discussing. I’ll definitely recommend it next year

B- Избавляйтесь от экспертов; AgileDays 2017; Moscow, Russia; 24 March 2017; видео. The event was rather big, and the audience rather active, but I didn’t really feel like I was “there.” In the two days I was there, I didn’t even meet anybody from the team that organized it. I was by myself, sitting in the lobby, waiting for my slot—this is not what motivates a speaker. Aside from that, everything was decent: the food, the equipment, the location, the travel, etc. I believe it’s important to be there, because the event is rather big

Семь врагов нашей мотивации; AgileDays 2017; Moscow, Russia; 24 March 2017; видео

C Management Without Managers; Kharkiv PMDay; Kharkiv, Ukraine; 4 March 2017; slides, видео (with English subtitles). Yet another event by LemBS, this time in Kharkiv. The organization was rather good: the travel and accommodation, the food, the equipment. What was not really good was the content—they can do much better in such a big city with many outsourcing companies. Also, the promotion part was not as strong as it should be—most people in the room had never heard anything about me, etc

OOP Java Puzzlers; JUG.ua
Kyiv, Ukraine; 28 February 2017; видео

Decorators, Decorators, Decorators; JUG Dnipro; Dnipro, Ukraine; 11 February 2017; видео

2016

Object-Oriented Java by Example; Morning@Lohika 2016; Lviv, Ukraine; 24 December 2016; видео

Make Your Java Object-Oriented, 64 Practical Steps; UADevClub; Kyiv, Ukraine; 20 December 2016; видео

B XDSD: Meetings-Free Software Development Methodology; DevTernity 2016; Riga, Latvia; 1 December 2016; video. The size of the event was perfect, the audience was motivated, and the organizers were actively involved, so I liked it. What I didn’t like was the food and the lack of “social glue” between presenters, attendees, and everybody involved. I’m sure next year they will do it better

C+ Who Is a Software Architect?; BuildStuff Ukraine 2016; Kyiv, Ukraine; 21-22 November 2016; slides, video. It was probably too big to be managed right. The Lithuanian part was a bit better, while the Ukrainian was not so great at all, maybe because I don’t like that Olympiski sport center. Also, in Vilnius there were maybe 15 people at my presentation—that was just sad. What I did like was the food

How Do You Know When Your Product Is Ready to be Shipped?; BuildStuff 2016; Vilnius, Lithuania; 18 November 2016; slides, video

B- Seven Sins of a Software Project; TopConf 2016; Tallinn, Estonia; 17 November 2016; slides, video. The event was rather small (about 300 people), but well-prepared. At my presentation, the room was full

Keep Your Servers in GitHub; TopConf 2016; Tallinn, Estonia; 16 November 2016; slides, video

C A Practical Example of a One-Click Release; DevOpsPro Moscow 2016; Moscow, Russia; 15 November 2016; video. The event was rather small and chaotic. I tried my best to make my speech interesting, but the audience wasn’t really ready

Вредная архитектура MVC; msk.jug.ru; Moscow, Russia; 14 November 2016; видео 1, видео 2, видео 3

B+ XDSD: How Extreme Is Your Team?; XP Days Ukraine; Kyiv, Ukraine; 12 November 2016; video, photos. This event was organized by the same people who did JEEConf. This time it was smaller, at a different place, and with less attention to detail, if you ask me. However, my overall impression was very good; the organizers definitely know what they are doing. I will try to attend again next year

B- ORM Is an Offensive Anti-Pattern; Øredev 2016; Malmö, Sweden; 9-10 November 2016; slides, video, photos. The event was pretty too big; I would say about 800 attendees, 60 speakers, six tracks, and three full days plus workshops. For that size of a conference, organizers need to do way more “social” work for speakers and everybody else. I made almost no connections there, and most people I met had the same problem. It’s a typical issue for big conferences—you simply get lost. At this one, they had every chance to make a great event, but… Aside from that, the venue was great, the food was good, and the travel and accommodation were perfect. I will definitely try to attend next year

Built-In Fake Objects; Øredev 2016; Malmö, Sweden; 9-10 November 2016; slides, video

B A Practical Example of AOP With Aspect (in Russian); JavaDay Kyiv 2016; Kyiv, Ukraine; 14 October 2016; slides, video, photos. The venue was great, the size average (about 500 people), and organizers were very friendly and motivated. I liked the event. A few things definitely need to be improved, though: the food and the number of tracks. There were too many tracks, I guess, for the number of people who attended. It would be better to invite fewer speakers and focus the audience on the best of them. And spend the money they saved on better food

Java vs. OOP; JavaDay Kyiv 2016; Kyiv, Ukraine; 15 October 2016; video

Trial by Combat for OOP Honor (in Russian); JavaDay Kyiv 2016; Kyiv, Ukraine; 15 October 2016; video

Why Static Methods Are Evil; Object Thinking Meetup; Palo Alto, CA, USA; 9 August 2016; video

How Anemic Objects Kill OOP; Object Thinking (Meetup #1); Palo Alto, CA, USA; 12 July 2016; slides, video

B- Eight Maturity Levels of Continuous Integration; Salt Lake City DevOpsDays; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; 15 June 2016; slides, video. There were about 250 people with just one track and a pretty good organization, even though the budget was rather low. I liked the event and the audience. However, the venue was not comfortable at all (It was literally a church)

B Java vs. OOP; JavaDay 2016; Minsk, Belarus; 11 June 2016; slides, photos, video. It was a surprisingly well-organized one-day event with more than 300 attendees, two tracks, and an inexpensive entry ticket ($75). Even though the budget was rather low, they paid for travel and hotel, and invited speakers mostly from abroad. The audience was well-prepared for my talk, and I got many questions right after the presentation and throughout the rest of the day. However, the venue was not really comfortable, and the content was mostly outdated

A+ Chat Bots Architecture; GeekOUT 2016; Tallinn, Estonia; 9 June 2016; slides, photos, video, official video. Almost everything was done perfectly at this event. There were more than 500 attendees and just two tracks (when I was speaking). The venue was very comfortable, modern, and located within walking distance from the center. All the logistics were done perfectly, the food was of high quality, the team was personally there and in permanent contact with speakers. It’s absolutely a must to be there again

D Talk to Your Microservice Via a Chat Bot, Not UI; NDC Oslo; Oslo, Norway; 8 June 2016; slides, video. It was a very big event with, I’d guess, 1,500 visitors and nine (!) tracks. What was good was they paid for all travel expenses, and the venue was really modern. Aside from that, everything else was not so good. There was no focus on content, the audience wasn’t prepared at all, and there were many sponsor booths. Besides that, I never even met the organizers

C+ OOP Is Dead? Not Yet!; ITEM 2016; Dnipro, Ukraine; 3 June 2016; slides, video. There were about 400 people, two or three tracks, and a terrible venue. Seriously, the place was a total disaster, even though it’s a newly built conference center. The sound, the location of rooms, the after-talk areas—everything was uncomfortable. Also, the content was not really well-selected. They invited a few star speakers just because of their names, which is usually a mistake. The after-party was good, though. It seemed that the organizers tried to do this event with love, but the venue and speakers, unfortunately, didn’t play along

Is Your CEO or Your Programmer the Boss?; ITEM 2016; Dnipro, Ukraine; 2 June 2016; slides, video

Don’t Be Overly Excited About Amsterdam; ITEM 2016; Dnipro, Ukraine; 2 June 2016; video

B- Micromanagement; PMDay Lviv; Lviv, Ukraine; 28 May 2016; photos, video. There were more than 400 people, two days, and four tracks. The venue, the food, and the transportation were rather good, taking into account the ticket price. Besides that, the audience was very motivated and engaged. The only downside was a very short time slot for each talk (30 minutes), very short breaks (10 minutes), and the number of speakers. It felt too crowded. Aside from that, I would definitely try to visit again

B+ Deployment Scripts Are Dead; Meet Rultor; DevOps Pro; Vilnius, Lithuania; 26 May 2016; photos, video. The organization was very good. Not perfect, but very good. There were about 300 people and four tracks (I think it’s too many). The only problem was with the content. It looked like they paid too much attention to logistics and forgot about content. Aside from that, it’s definitely a place to see again

A ORM Is an Offensive Anti-Pattern; JEEConf 2016; Kyiv, Ukraine; 21 May 2016; slides, photos, video. The venue, the logistics, the food, the organization, the size (more than 1,000 people), and the preliminary screening of my presentation…everything was very good. What I didn’t like was the number of tracks (too many) and the list of speakers, which I believe almost copied JPoint. It would be great to see new faces. My overall impression was very positive, and I definitely will try to attend it next year

How Immutability Helps in OOP; JEEConf 2016; Kyiv, Ukraine; 21 May 2016; slides, photos, video

B Need It Robust? Make It Fragile; DEVit 2016; Thessaloniki, Greece; 20 May 2016; slides, photos, video. Surprisingly, the conference was very good. Just two tracks for about 400 attendees, a motivated audience, good equipment, video recording, etc. What I obviously didn’t like was the venue (not really comfortable), the mess with the schedule (my talk was delayed for more than 30 minutes), and an absence of focus on a specific subject. Aside from that, it was a positive experience

C Microservices as Chat Bots; I T.A.K.E. Unconference 2016; Bucharest, Romania; 19 May 2016; slides, photos, video. It was a rather small conference (around 150 people) without any specific focus. The venue (Radisson) was perfect, but the number of tracks was too many. There were fewer than 30 people in my room. Also, the organization was rather messy, and my talk was delayed for more than 20 minutes

How Much Immutability Is Enough?; Bucharest JUG Meetup; Bucharest, Romania; 18 May 2016; slides, photos, video

C Fail Fast. Into User’s Face; GeeCON; Kraków, Poland; 13 May 2016; video, slides, photos. Even though it’s a big (more than 1,000 people) and popular European conference about Java, my overall impression was not really positive. The venue was not comfortable at all (it was a cinema), there were no tables for food, and we were eating lunch in cinema chairs. The number of talks and tracks was too many, and the audience was very unfocused. What seriously affected my impression was the way listeners left the rooms during the talks; check out this tweet. Besides that, the organization was rather formal and messy. There is a lot of room for improvement

C+ Continuous Integration May Have Negative Effects; Baltic DevOps; Tallinn, Estonia; 10 May 2016; slides, photos, video. The conference was rather small (around 150 people), but well-organized. What I didn’t really like was the food and the venue. (We even had some other conference going on in the room next to us.) Also, the audience was not really engaged nor prepared, as it seemed to me. I believe this event may improve and become better; the potential is definitely there

B- Meetings or Discipline; New Trends in Project Management; Gdynia, Poland; 26 April 2016; slides, photos, video. It was an interesting event, mostly because the audience was full of questions and really interested in project management. The location, the food, logistics, etc. were good enough. I didn’t really like the content other speakers were delivering, though. I suspect that most of them were invited there because of their names

B- An Immutable Object-Oriented Web Framework; JET Conference; Minsk, Belarus; 25 April 2016; photos, video. There were about 250 people present. The location was not good at all—it was a cinema. Also, the audience was so serious or so shy that it was rather difficult to present. Not just for me. Also, I got an impression that speakers were invited just because of their names, not the content they deliver. Aside from that, the impression was positive

A- ORM - это обидно (ORM Is an Offensive Anti-Pattern); JPoint 2016; Moscow, Russia; 22-24 April 2016; slides, photos, video. It was a very big (more than 1,200 people) and a very well-organized Java conference. The food, the location, the logistics, everything. My presentation was carefully screened beforehand by the organizers, and I received a few valuable corrections. The content, I would say, was not so perfect. I would recommend looking at new names in the industry, and invite those who are less known but working on something hot and interesting. Besides that, the event was perfect

A Объектно-Ориентированное Вранье (Object-Oriented Lies); Student Day Moscow, Russia; 22-24 April 2016; slides, photos, video. It was one of the best conferences I’ve attended so far, very well-organized and carefully planned in a perfect and rather expensive location. Besides that, my speech was screened beforehand. I even had to present it over Skype, and some corrections were received. I would suggest inviting new speakers—it seems there are almost the same faces every year

B- Continuous Integration May Have Negative Effects; WEBIT.Festival 2016; Sophia, Bulgaria; 20 April 2016; photos, video. It was a huge event with, I’d guess, more than 1,500 attendees. Even for my presentation, there were 150 people in the room. The location, the food, the logistics—everything was good. The only negative part was a total lack of focus on the content. Speakers were talking about everything. I didn’t even understand why my presentation was accepted there

B Blame the Project; NextBuild 2016
Eindhoven, The Netherlands; 16 April 2016; slides, photos, video. The event was free to attend but very well-organized. The location was comfortable, the audience was motivated enough, and the organizers really cared about the event. The only bad thing was a total absence of speaker screening. Nobody checked my presentation beforehand, and I can only assume that the same happened to other speakers

B+ Meetings Are a Threat to Code Quality; AgileEE 2016; Kyiv, Ukraine; 9 April 2016 slides, photos; video. The organization, food, location, audience, welcoming, and departing were very good, but the content was rather poor. Most talks were rather boring and poorly prepared. Aside from that, everything else was good, and I liked being there

C+ Software Outsourcing, 10 Years Ahead Prediction; Outsource People 2016; Minsk, Belarus; 8 April 2016 slides, photos, video. The conference was rather small but well-focused. The audience was actively engaged and asked a lot of questions. There were about a hundred people at my talk. The quality of the location was average, and my expenses were not reimbursed. Also, the content was not really well-prepared or monitored

B- Meetings Help Us and Kill Our Projects; Agilia Conference 2016; Olomouc, Czech Republic; 5 April 2016 slides, photos, video. There were more than 250 people and just two main tracks—a good setup. It was a comfortable location, careful organization, good food, and expenses were paid. The only problem was the content. Most presentations were rather boring and not well-prepared. Aside from that, I liked it

C Meetings and Motivation, Friends or Enemies?; SEDC 2016; Washington, D.C., USA; 31 March 2016; slides, photos, video. The place was good, the food was very good, the organization was not bad, but the audience was rather old and out-of-subject. Maybe system engineering is not really my thing, but most of these guys live somewhere in the 1990s. And there were fewer than a hundred people for four tracks. Just about 20 per presentation. It’s not really a conference but more like a meetup

F- Microservices as Chat Bots; CascadiaIT; Seattle, WA, USA; 12 March 2016; slides, photos. It was a very small conference, with barely 10 (!) people in the room. The talks were separated into six rooms, with no specific focus on subjects. Moreover, I don’t think they did any preparation of speakers or even selection of them. Clearly, the event was there only to make money. The lone thing I enjoyed was the city, one of my favorites,—Seattle. Aside from that, it was a time-wasting event for me

B- Need Robust Software? Make It Fragile; Kyiv DevOps Day; Kyiv, Ukraine; 27 February 2016; slides, photos, video. Looks like these DataRobot (the sponsor of the event) guys care about quality and do this with passion. There were about 180 people at my speech, and the reaction from the audience was rather active. What this event can improve on is to pay attention to the preparation of speakers and limit their number to just four. They had too many (six), and most of the talks were rather boring, overloaded with text-rich slides. Also, the place should definitely be changed; NSC Olimpiyskiy is just trash. To be honest, the previous event at Fedoriv Hub was much better (I would give it an “A”)

F Talk to Your Microservice Via a Chat Bot, Not UI; DeveloperWeek 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; 17 February 2016; slides, photos, video. This was a shame for the entire industry—a money-making event with zero attention to quality. Just random speakers, random attendees, random subjects—anything that helped them make money selling tickets

F+ Talk to Your Microservice Via a Chat Bot, Not UI; DevNexus 2016; Altanta, GA, USA; 16 February 2016; slides, photos, video. This was a huge event with, I would say, more than 2,000 participants and almost no effort from organizers to make it interesting. Talks were mostly from sponsors promoting their own products or from clowns making a living by talking about “why writing clean code is important.” Needless to say, they didn’t compensate travel expenses for speakers, even while making a lot of money on tickets. It was a waste of time and money

B+ XDSD: Meetings-Free Software Development Methodology; The Entrepreneurs’ Club; Palo Alto, CA, USA; 11 February 2016; slides, photos, video. There were about 50 people in the room, most of whom were rather interested and engaged. The place was comfortable, equipment was of good quality, and the focus was right on my talk, as I was the only presenter. I received a number of leads from this event

2015

C+ Continuous Integration May Have Negative Effects; DevOpsDays Warsaw 2015; Warsaw, Poland; 24-25 November 2015; slides, photos, video. The event was rather big, with more than 300 people in the room. However, the audience was rather passive, and presentations were mostly from sponsors. The event was there primarily to make money, which is always a downside. The location was rather bad—an old Soviet-time hotel

D How Do You Talk to Your Microservice?; BuildStuff 2015; Kyiv, Ukraine; 23 November 2015; photos, slides, video. The place was a total trash pit (small rooms in NSC Olimpiyskiy) with bad lighting, bad sound, and a lack of proper ventilation. There was no preparation of talks or any communication with speakers. These guys are just making money in a hyped market. It’s a shame

C What Keeps Us Motivated and Why We Get Lazy; Distributed Agile Teams, Flock 2015; Berlin, Germany; 19-20 November 2015; photos. There were fewer than a hundred people in total, separated by, I would guess, four rooms. It was a rather small event, but participants were active. Agile is in general a very boring subject; maybe that’s why the event was also rather slow, despite all the attempts of organizers to make it fun

A Continuous Integration Is Dead; Kyiv DevOps Meetup; Kyiv, Ukraine; 19 September 2015; photos, video

B CI Is DEAD. Or Is It?!; San Francisco DevOps Meetup; San Fancisco, CA, USA; 23 April 2015; video