Conference Report #

In May 2017, the WeAreDevelopers conference returned to Vienna and transformed the Marx Halle into one of the biggest developer events in Austria at the time. Over two days, thousands of developers, companies, startups, recruiters, and technology enthusiasts gathered for talks, workshops, networking, and product showcases. Compared to smaller community-driven conferences, WeAreDevelopers had a much more ambitious and commercial approach. It clearly aimed to position Vienna as an international tech conference destination.

First Impressions #

The scale of the event was immediately noticeable. Even before entering the venue, large queues had already formed outside the Marx Halle. Waiting times of 30–40 minutes were apparently not uncommon. Once inside, the conference area felt busy almost everywhere:

• Three main stages
• Additional “igloo” workshop areas
• Large sponsor and expo sections
• Relaxation and networking spaces
• Food trucks and coffee stations

The event attracted not only developers, but also politicians, recruiters, media, and large international companies.

One sign of how much visibility the conference had gained was the opening appearance of Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern on the main stage.

Conference Topics #

The conference covered a very broad range of subjects:

• Virtual Reality
• Big Data
• Machine Learning
• Internet of Things
• JavaScript and CSS
• Mobile development
• Open source communities
• Chatbots
• Cloud and distributed systems

The breadth of topics made the conference accessible to many different audiences. However, this broad scope also came with a downside: many talks stayed at a relatively high level and lacked technical depth.

The Venue Problem #

One of the biggest recurring issues was overcrowding.

Several talks reached capacity quickly, especially on the smaller stages. Some attendees were unable to enter workshops or sessions they had specifically planned to attend.

This created a somewhat chaotic feeling throughout parts of the conference:

• overcrowded stages
• long coffee queues
• packed workshop areas
• difficulty moving between sessions

The Marx Halle looked impressive as a venue, but it often felt undersized for the number of visitors.

Coffee shortages also became a running joke among attendees.

Speaker Highlights #

Despite organizational issues, there were still several memorable talks.

John Romero – The Early Days of id Software #

One of the most popular sessions was delivered by John Romero, legendary game developer and co-founder of id Software.

The talk focused on the early days of game development and software engineering in the 1990s. It was fascinating to hear how small teams built games under technical limitations that seem unimaginable today.

Some memorable points included:

• shipping games via floppy disks
• primitive forms of version control
• extremely small teams building multiple games per year
• highly iterative development approaches

For many attendees, this was both nostalgic and inspiring.

Felix Krause – Scaling Open Source Communities #

Another strong session came from Felix Krause, creator of fastlane.

Instead of focusing purely on technology, he discussed the challenges of maintaining large open-source communities:

• handling GitHub issues and pull requests
• managing contributors
• balancing community expectations
• avoiding maintainer burnout

The talk stood out because it was grounded in real-world experience and reflected the growing importance of open-source infrastructure in modern development.

Frontend and CSS Talks #

Day two featured several frontend-oriented talks around JavaScript and CSS.

Speakers included:

• Håkon Wium Lie, creator of CSS
• Harry Roberts
• Ire Aderinokun
• Eva Lettner

These talks ranged from web standards and progressive enhancement to surprisingly creative CSS demonstrations and visual experiments.

Even for developers not deeply involved in frontend engineering, these sessions were entertaining and informative.

Repository Data Mining on GitHub #

A surprisingly interesting technical talk was given by students participating in the InformatiCup competition.

The presentation focused on classifying GitHub repositories using machine learning and repository analysis techniques. Compared to some of the broader “buzzword” talks, this session felt much more concrete and technically grounded.

Sponsors and Commercial Presence #

One thing that stood out throughout the event was the heavy sponsor presence.

Large companies had prominent booths, branded areas, recruiting spaces, and speaking slots. In some cases, sponsor talks felt closer to product marketing than engineering presentations.

This gave the conference a somewhat mixed identity:

• part developer conference
• part recruiting fair
• part technology expo

From a business and marketing perspective, the event was clearly successful. From a pure engineering perspective, the value depended heavily on selecting the right talks.

Personal Impression #

WeAreDevelopers 2017 felt very ambitious.

The organizers clearly wanted to build a major international tech conference in Vienna, and in many ways they succeeded. The branding, marketing, speaker names, and scale of the event were impressive for Austria at that time.

However, the conference sometimes felt more focused on visibility and growth than on deep technical content.

Many talks were relatively superficial, and the strong sponsor influence affected the overall quality consistency. Combined with overcrowded stages and logistical problems, this occasionally made the event frustrating.

Still, there were positive aspects:

• strong international visibility for Vienna
• opportunities to meet companies and developers
• several genuinely interesting talks
• broad exposure to new technologies and trends

For engineers looking for highly technical deep dives, the conference may not have been ideal. But as a large-scale technology event and networking platform, it was undeniably successful.

Conclusion #

WeAreDevelopers 2017 demonstrated that Vienna could host a large international developer conference with thousands of attendees and globally recognized speakers.

The event delivered strong marketing, impressive scale, and broad topic coverage, but also revealed the challenges of balancing technical depth, sponsorship, and mass appeal.

For attendees interested in networking, industry trends, and the broader tech ecosystem, the conference offered a lot of value. For engineers seeking deeply technical sessions, the experience was more mixed.

Overall, it was an important step for Vienna’s visibility in the international developer conference landscape, even if the event still had room to mature technically and organizationally.