Episode 6 of the 2025 Edition - The autumn dance!

The autumn just started...
but we are not preparing yet for the winter! So the next dance will be thankfully at SoundCloud!

Line-Up:

👉 Parallel Spring Boot Integration Tests: from >5 minutes to < 30 seconds.
by Jilles van Gurp

At FORMATION, we have around 320 integration tests for our Spring Boot backend that individually take seconds to run and use Elasticsearch, Redis, and Postgresql. To run all of these sequentially can take well over five minutes. In this presentation, we'll discuss a few practical things you can do that 1) get all of these tests completed in 30-60 seconds!, 2) make your tests more valuable, 3) get the most out of that expensive new laptop you might already have, or finally give you the excuse to upgrade. Engineering tests for concurrent execution are the name of the game here, and it's not that hard. We'll discuss async testing, polling vs. sleeping, using test fixture randomization, and more tips and tricks.

👉 Crafting Idiomatic APIs with Kotlin and Compiler Plugins
by Ash Davies

👉 AI-Assisted Software Development With Kotlin And Autonomous Agents
by Alex Fedorov

AI Agents and using them for AI-assisted development can be powerful, save a lot of time, and shrink the time-to-value horizons. They even allow you to automate things that you would have never considered before. However, there are gotchas: code quality, architecture, code review, testing, and actual customer need. These concepts become real bottlenecks in the end-to-end business & customer value delivery via software development. In this talk, you’ll learn about the nature of the problem and how to mitigate and even overcome these challenges.

Speaker Bios:
🗣 Ash Davies:

Google Developer Expert for Android, failed blogger, enthusiastic public speaker, maker (and breaker) of shiny things. Kotlin aficionado, Multiplatform manipulator, prolific facilitator of cute cat photographs, spends more time travelling than working (he/him).

🗣 Jilles van Gurp:
Dr. Jilles van Gurp is an accomplished technology leader with a strong track record of founding and running innovative startups and leading technology teams to create breakthrough products. With over two decades of deep expertise in search engines, geospatial technologies, and agile team management, he excels in crafting technical strategies and solving complex problems to drive product development and achieve long-term strategic value.
Currently serving as the CTO at FORMATION GmbH in Berlin, Jilles leverages his extensive experience to drive strategic and technical advancements.
A serial founder and troubleshooter, Jilles brings decades of expertise in software innovation, team leadership, and product development. His professional journey includes pivotal roles such as Senior Researcher at Nokia Research in Finland and Principal Engineer at Nokia Maps/Here in Berlin. As a search engine consultant, Jilles has collaborated with industry giants like BCG Digital Ventures, SoundCloud, Bertelsmann Group, Nokia Bell Labs, and several smaller companies, addressing their search challenges and driving product excellence.
Before FORMATION, Jilles co-founded Localstream with Mark Macmahon. Localstream was acquired by Linko, which was later renamed Inbot, where Jilles led the team as the CTO until the company folded in 2018. In recent years, Jilles has also mentored several startups via Techstars and in his Berlin network.

🗣 Alex Fedorov:
Alex is a proven authority in software engineering and financial technology, with 16 years of professional and 9 years of Olympian-level programming experience. As a Fractional CTO Consultant, Alex partners with fintech and invest-tech start-ups to solve their most complex challenges. Drawing on deep expertise in capital markets, trading, double-entry bookkeeping, and financial data systems, Alex helps clients: Define and execute scalable technology strategies; Build robust architectures for trading and investment platforms; Accelerate product development with high-performing engineering teams. An award-winning coder and distinguished thought leader, Alex is the author of 10x Software Engineering Delivery, a book designed to transform the way engineering teams deliver value. Passionate about advancing the fintech space, Alex combines hands-on technical expertise with strategic leadership to drive growth, innovation, and long-term success for his clients.