Takeaways from 🍑 RenderATL 2024

Took a little bit, but these are my takeaways from RenderATL 2024. I've been to a lot of conferences in my career but RenderATL definitely strays away from the rest. I felt I got into the most conversations of any conference I've been to. By the third day, I was absolutely talked out. Here's my quick takeaways for my fellow IRT members and anyone else who is interested.

Takeaways

Socialize More

RenderATL had a specific Atlanta feel to it. Usually the opener was a big socialization event followed by smaller group conversations focused on specifics. That being said, even in the small moments, every individual took the time in each interaction to trade info and seek to follow up on socials like LinkedIn.

I feel like I acquired more knowledge from talking to different individuals on the floor than the panels. These conversations were so insightful and I got to see how people were actually using tech vs just what the drew the biggest crowds. These kind of real world experiences help shine a light on major use cases but also the flexibility of tech.

Shared experiences are important and valuable tools to help developers recognize patterns. Socialize with your fellow devs to see how they learn and what they have gleaned over the years. Bogdan Balas gave a great talk about working 10 years at YouTube. Each of the points overlapped with my own experiences and touched on conversations I had with my coworkers during the conference.

So Much AI!

If you're at any conference, you're gonna hear the word AI a lot. Even at non-AI talks. The dominance is definitely palpable and probably will be for the next couple years in conferences. Some keys takeaways:

1. Python - Data science has heavy favoritism for it's starting language. Data Engineers are all looking towards python as the 1st class citizen since it has the most AI tools right now.
2. Code Completion - GitHub did a great talk about how code completion lets new learners catch up quickly, but frankly it's a necessity for any coder. If you're not using it, start.
3. Generative vs Deterministic - Many programmers are used to deterministic approaches. AI changes that. There's more possibility for unexpected and unplanned results. Finding ways to marry these two thought processes is key.
4. Good Data - This is something known, but maybe something to emphasize. What data you gather and how you gather it matters. Do your homework, get good data scientists who can identify issues and promote good practices.

Identifying Trends

There are easy trends to notice like talks on AI, but sometimes it's the smaller things that stand out across each of the groups. For example, many talks would make side notes mentioning reducing dependencies with tools like ShadCN.

Sometimes regions themselves also may have trends where the groups are focused on specific domain like finance or medical. I find often at conferences you can start to see how the tech implementations vary. For example, watching Netflix discuss how to use Remix is much more compelling and showcases some more uses for React Suspense.

Hire Diverse

RenderATL did a great job on showcasing diversity, but also giving pathways to teams for improving diversity. The first and foremost was spending less time on special initiatives or programs like giveaways or competitions and focusing at the root problem of hiring. Numerous talks discussed how job opportunities have the most direct impact and inevitably lead to the quickest overall positive change.

Leon Noel gave a really empowering speech around this topic. Check out Resilient Coders to take a look at their incredible students and programs.

Closing Thoughts

If you're looking for a conference for 2025, take a look at RenderATL. Take a moment to break out of the your mold and meet some new people in tech. RenderATL 2024 just ended, but early bird tickets are already out for 2025 next June!