Snapshot of Community

AI is changing how we write code, search for information, and learn new technologies. As more of these tasks become automated, what keeps developer communities relevant?

In this keynote, we’ll look beyond code and explore the role communities play in our careers: sharing experiences, mentoring each other, learning together, and creating opportunities. From local meetups to conferences and open source, we’ll look at the interactions that shape us as developers beyond the knowledge we share.

Technology will continue to change, but communities evolve for a different reason: people choosing to participate. Let’s take a look at what makes our community worth investing in, and what we can do to help it grow.

The state of AI

In the early 1950s, Tavistock Institute researchers studied British coal mines. As mines grew more technically efficient through specialized, assembly-line-like work, productivity and morale fell. Mines that reverted to older ways performed better. This gave rise to socio-technical systems: a framework reminding us a workplace is both social and technical, embedded in organization and society. The two breathe together — neglect one and you harm the other.
Eighty years later, AI arrives full of promises: faster, cheaper everything. There are claims whole professions will vanish by end of 2026 — humans optional.
But what lies beyond the hype? The lessons of Tavistock, taught again at scale. People are laid off or fear they're next. CTOs cast coding as assembly-line work while engineers eye carpentry. Communities fight data centers over drinking water. Microsoft "rented" a nuclear plant for 20 years — now a "clean energy center."
This talk looks beyond boomers and doomers.