Our experience at Code Europe

About the conference

The vibrant city of Kraków recently played host to one of Europe’s most anticipated tech gatherings - Code Europe 2025. Developers, engineers, and tech enthusiasts from across the globe attended the conference to exchange ideas, explore cutting-edge innovations, and gain insights from some of the industry’s leading voices. 

From AI breakthroughs to cloud-native solutions and sustainable coding practices, the event was a true celebration of technology’s future. In this post, I share the key highlights, standout sessions and overall thoughts about my first conference attendance experience.

On the morning of Monday, 31st of June, the doors to EXPO Kraków opened to welcome thousands of developers, project managers and everyone else fascinated by tech to take part in Code Europe. The venue was huge and the map I got handed during the registration was a lifesaver when it came to finding the correct room for the keynotes I wanted to attend. With 56 keynotes/workshops spanned across two days, I had to make difficult choices when deciding which one to go to, as sadly it was impossible to attend them all.

Whatever your IT role, you would definitely find something tailored to your interests, with presentations spanning across cybersecurity, devOps, data & AI, programming languages, development execution, and future & inspire. The venue was full of individuals sharing the same passion for technology. 

Standout sessions

Kent C. Dodds, from Epic Web, delivered an opening keynote titled 'Letting AI Interface with Your App with MCPs.' Beginning with the overview of Model Context Protocol (MCP) and a quick history lesson of the evolution of AI Assistants, Kent used the example of Jarvis from one of the Marvel movies to describe the ecosystem and how it enables seamless communication between host applications and tools.

This presentation set a high standard and proved to be an excellent choice, as AI was a prominent topic in many talks and discussions throughout the conference, whether during the presentations or corridor chats in between.

A lot of practical solutions and tips could be heard at John Papa’s (Microsoft) keynote “Do more using GitHub Copilot, AI, and VS Code”. GitHub Copilot is identified as the world’s most widely adopted AI developer tool. This was highlighted during the discussion on its functionality and integration with various editors, including (VS Code), which facilitates increased productivity for developers through features like code completion and error fixing. As John Papa stated, "AI is not just autocomplete on steroids".

He highlighted that the Copilot can create tests, fix errors, and provide code completions and explanations, acting as a paraprogramming partner. Key features, like agent mode, MCP spec integration, ability to assign issues directly to Copilot through GitHub or custom instruction capabilities through .MD files were showcased and explained with real life examples. At the end of the session John Papa provided practical implementation advice on leveraging AI to enhance our work.

The public speaking for tech pros workshop run by Carolina Greno has been one of the best executed sessions I’ve attended. Not only full of insights and valuable tips, but also practical activities where we could use newly learned skills and keep on connecting with others. As I sometimes struggle to organize my thoughts into a cohesive speech, the Why-What-How framework presented by Carolina has given me a foundation to improve the way I articulate.   

The takeaway from this session has also been that others are most likely feeling a little bit of anxiety when speaking publicly, and when people are listening to us, it’s because they want to hear our perspective, not judge us.

Another great keynote was from Sheen Brisals on a place for QA in modern autonomous fast-flow teams. Perfecting the art of quality assurance and code reviews are subjects close to the hearts of everyone at Steadfast Collective. We continually seek to refine our processes, not only to continue to deliver excellent work to our clients but also to future-proof our code. This proactive approach minimizes bottleneck tasks, allowing us to prioritise enhancement over remediation.

Code Europe 2025 offered much more than just keynote lectures. Companies and communities had their booths and stands dotted around the venue, and everyone present was keen to network, share experiences, and exchange ideas. In my personal opinion, the atmosphere at an event is just as crucial as the speakers and their presentations, and the energy at Code Europe this year was truly phenomenal. After two days, I left with a head full of new ideas and a renewed passion for coding.

Exploring Kraków

To cap off a fantastic trip, I took some time to explore Kraków. I wandered around the old town, visited the Wawel castle and various museums. The city is so beautiful and easy to navigate. My personal favourites were the Sigismund Bell hanging in the Sigismund Tower of the Wawel Cathedral, Oskar Schindler’s Factory Museum and a little restaurant serving traditional Polish cuisine, where I enjoyed the most delicious chicken noodle soup.

I'll certainly return to Kraków, perhaps even for the next Code Europe conference.