Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the DEV.BG All in One Expo Edition 2.0. The travel to the event took two workdays and was a bit more costly for me as an hourly wage earner than the previous year's weekend event. However, the venue, covering areas 1 and 2 of the Expo Center, was notably more spacious than the previous one in areas 5 and 6. This larger space provided more comfortable and straightforward navigation between stands and a more relaxed and enjoyable experience for all attendees.

Having already sought out the engaging physical items last year, my interest in games and lotteries at the booths was now waning. However, Luxoft remained generous, giving out USB flash drives to all willing to share contact data. I was specifically looking for a compact charging cable since the one from the previous year was damaged during a train journey.

Unfortunately, I missed a few games where I could win such cables. So, I decided to return to DXC Technology, which has more such charging cables. To obtain one, I had to solve puzzles involving physical polygons. Therefore, I managed to secure the same type of cable I got last year. I hope this one endures more than just a few train voyages.

The highlights of the conference were undoubtedly the diverse lectures. This year saw a decrease in AI-focused presentations, and the ones present primarily addressed the issues concerning AI rather than its pervasive use. This is a positive development.

Peter Sabev's opening lecture, The Algorithm of Life in 10½ Personal Stories, offered a captivating narrative of a developer's journey, from student years to professional work and diverse social engagements, among other topics. This lecture could prove beneficial, particularly for novice developers initiating their careers.

Peter Neftelimov's lecture, Entrepreneurship Beyond Constraints, was the second one I attended. I found it challenging to understand due to my limited Bulgarian proficiency and the monotonous delivery of the machine narration. Still, the author's life story inspires us by example that significant achievements are possible despite considerable physical limitations. This experience has left me eager to explore more of his materials in written form to get more motivation.

Next, I found Dimo Mitev's lecture, Critical and Analytical Thinking: The Key to Success, quite engaging. Although it didn't offer much novelty, it served as a reminder of the significance of thought. Intriguingly, a mere 5% of the population possesses critical and analytical thinking skills that stimulate curiosity. Such skills are undeniably essential for developers.

Unfortunately, I missed most of Miglen Evlogiev's talk, Security is Everyone's Job. The case studies towards the end were intriguing, although I'm not a security expert. Nonetheless, security awareness is essential, as most hacks are social and, therefore, hard to counteract technically. It necessitates education and self-learning.

Arguably, the most profound and thrilling lesson for me was The Price of Clean Code by Martin Chaov. As a professional primarily involved in product support who has dabbled with project ownership in the past years, I aspire to undertake more personal projects. It was enthralling to witness the standard framework of IT projects, complete with illustrative explanations of support and code refactoring and their necessity. I took photographs of the reference material links, intending to review them later.

I missed part of Radostin Cholakov's presentation, How AI Sees the World: Similarities and Differences to the Human's Perception. He discussed how GPT processes and creates images and how human perception differs. This talk served as a reminder that current AI technology could not entirely substitute human capabilities.

Anton Alexandrov's subsequent lecture, Large Language Models: The BgGPT Case, proved even more engaging. It detailed the reasons behind the issues with the application of GPT in Bulgarian, mainly due to the limited learning dataset. Such considerations are similarly applicable to the Ukrainian language scenario. Achieving a performance with GPT comparable to its efficiency in English represents a significant journey yet to be taken. Our collective efforts will ultimately influence this progression.

Victor Danchev's lecture, Spacenet—No Right to Error! unveiled a wealth of new insights. It was intriguing to delve into the challenges of constructing an orbital network. The lack of physical access to a satellite demands meticulous planning and stringent programming, a task performed under severe conditions, including drastic temperature variations and unrelenting radiation destabilizing electronics. Does this deepen one's admiration for software creation in more lenient environments or stimulate envy?

Boyan Torosov's presentation, Quantum Computers and the Next Technological Revolution, was instructive. Previously, I showed little interest and hardly paid attention to quantum computers. However, understanding their fundamental principles and potential applications was insightful. Despite being slow, these computers possess capabilities that traditional binary computers lack.

The most surprising lecture was 30 Letters  —Countless Worlds by Viktoria Beshliiska. As the book writer delivered the lecture, it offered valuable perspectives on the Bulgarian alphabet, its origins, the influence of writing on expression, and how different tools and processes shape creativity. The similarities between writing a book and writing a program suggest that developers can benefit from these concepts and shared experiences. It reminded me that planning and base algorithm design is more effectively done manually on paper before transitioning to digital coding within an IDE on a PC.

Despite not winning anything from the concluding raffle, the trivia contest piqued my interest. However, individuals seated closer to the stage or screens certainly had more advantages, as several questions were displayed in a small typeface.

Overall, the event was enjoyable, and I'm pretty content with my decision to attend it. I look forward to its return next year!