NodeConf EU returns, 6th to 8th November

When and where is it on?

NodeConf EU returns to the Lyrath Estate Hotel from Monday 6th to Wednesday 8th November 2023.

NodeConf EU returns

How many years has it been going?

NodeConf EU is now in its 11th year and originated as Node Dublin in 2012. Established by the Tramore-headquartered global independent software engineering consultancy NearForm to provide a forum for the Node.js community, the conference was renamed NodeConf EU in 2013 and is now Europe’s longest-running and leading Node.js conference.

Each year NodeConf EU welcomes over 250 software developers and open source enthusiasts from over 26 countries and over 5,000 virtual attendees in 2020 & 2021 when the event pivoted to being an online conference.

What was the inspiration to start it?

When Cian O’Maidin co-founded NearForm, he was captivated by the principles championed by the Open Source community and the transformative potential of the open source ethos. He believed the open source philosophy was the right way to go about building software – all ships rise when everybody contributes to something that is shared and relied upon. During this time, Node.js transitioned from relative obscurity to becoming the preferred choice for global giants like Walmart and PayPal, who harnessed its commercial advantages for their transformative projects.

Node.js became attractive to developers wanting to work in a new technology, empowering them to translate ideas into reality and speeding up the journey from concept to production.

It was in this dynamic atmosphere that NodeConf EU was born, creating a vibrant stage for communities of visionaries, industry trailblazers, and Node.js experts to converge, collaborate, and engage in insightful conversations about the ever-evolving Node ecosystem.

NodeConf EU offers a unique opportunity for individuals to immerse themselves in a rich learning environment, where questions are welcomed, knowledge is  shared and challenges are collectively overcome. And most importantly, having a lot of fun while doing it.

What opportunities are on offer for those attending?

In addition to our on-stage speaker sessions, the NodeConf EU agenda also includes three days of multi-track workshops which give attendees the opportunity to enhance their  skills, gain practical experience, and learn from the community in a friendly and welcoming environment.

The hands-on workshop line-up includes one delivered by the NearForm Developer Experience team, who are inviting attendees  to come and make their first (or second or third) Node.js contribution, regardless of their skill set level. They will also be running a Zero to Hero React Native workshop to help guide attendees  through building their first React Native application.

Through their NodeX OAuth 2 workshop, Charles River Laboratories will give participants an insight into the different stages of third party authentication. They will also be unlocking the power of AI with their workshop showcasing Langchain JS, which is an open source framework for developing applications powered by language models.

Bloomberg will be showcasing some TypeScript Alchemy with their workshop on Transforming Object Literals into Types, whilst AmpeersEnergy will demonstrate how to “decarbonize node” through their deepdive on  the carbon footprint of our applications and how we can be more sustainable at scale.

The  Node.js Collaborators Summit is a new addition for this year’s conference and encourages the Node.js community to come  together to brainstorm and work on strategic initiatives.

There are 14 workshops scheduled in total over the three days so there is sure to be something of interest for everyone.

Who will be speaking?

There are over 30 speakers taking to the stage this year from companies such as Google, Red Hat, Microsoft, Bloomberg, NearForm, Cloudflare and Datadog.

Rafael Gonzaga who is Staff Engineer at NearForm and also TSC member and Chair of the Node.js Security Working Group will be exploring the creation of the Node.js Permission Model and sharing plans and details of this experimental security feature.

Gil Tayar from Microsoft will be explaining why the time to migrate to ESM is now and will be specifically covering Loaders, which is a simple mechanism to extend ESM and enable it to do things like transparent transpilation.

Stephan Belanger from DataDog will be covering observability tools in Node.js and showing how to build a basic structural tracer to help make your own apps more observable.

Lesley Cordero from The New York Times will be focusing her talk on using the OpenTelemetry standard for Node.js observability, especially Node.js applications within distributed systems.

Matteo Collina, CTO of Platformatic will describe the internals of Platformatic Runtime, Node.js Core fetch(), Undici and how they all combine to create an in-memory microservices network.

James Snell from Cloudflare alongside his son Aaron, will be showing the journey to a new sockets API for JavaScript and how we can do better while embracing interoperability with the web.

What tips would you give to people attending to get the most out of it?

The main reason we continue hosting  NodeConf EU at the Lyrath Estate is that it gives a retreat element to those attending the conference. The venue gives a sense of tranquility and we get told quite a lot from attendees that they cannot get over how peaceful it is!

The networking activities at NodeConf EU are a key part of its success and that starts with a welcome reception on Sunday 5th November from 6pm, with music, food and a chance to mingle.

Throughout the conference we encourage people to take the opportunity to ask questions and exchange ideas with their fellow node practitioners and discuss the interesting talks of the day. NodeConf EU shortens the gap between key community members and attendees, enabling the community to grow.

How can people book tickets / when does it usually sell out?

Tickets are available through nodeconf.eu and typically sell out fast through the month of October.

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?

NodeConf EU 2023 is your chance to be part of a vibrant community passionate about Node.js. Tickets are in high demand and are selling fast! Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn, grow, and connect.

About NearForm

NearForm is an independent team of engineers, designers and strategists who build digital capability and software solutions for ambitious enterprises and organisations seeking sustained business impact. They define, design and build platforms and future-ready products that bring together people, process and technology to modernise organisations and connect communities.

Through a combination of expertly crafted code, enhanced capability and collaboration, they empower their partners to deliver great user experiences and create enduring value.

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