NIX at Spark + AI Summit

Not long ago the guys from the Java and Python departments successfully visited Amsterdam, participated in a three-day Spark + AI Summit and have already returned back home, taking with them a terabyte of useful information, new knowledge, interesting ideas, as well as an unlimited amount of professional inspiration to apply in the future and real projects.

Spark + AI Summit 2019 is Europe’s largest data and machine learning conference. More than 2,000 scientists, engineers, and data analysts come to the event annually to learn about the latest advances in open source technologies such as Apache Spark, TensorFlow, MLflow, as well as best practices for deploying AI in practice. This year, participants were lucky to learn about the latest OSS technologies, including Delta Lake and Koalas.

Combining Spark + AI themes, the conference is a unique “one-stop-shop” for developers, data specialists and technical managers who strive to use the best tools for data processing and AI to create innovative products. The NIX guys were happy to be there and exchange their experiences with colleagues from all over the world.

“The main advantage of the conference goes like this: Being students we learned this technology from books, learned how to code correctly, but my people still have certain open questions about whether we are doing the right thing in choosing this or that approach. Spark + AI Summit 2019 allowed us to answer most of them. Plus, I’m already solving one of the project’s tasks thanks to the cases that were discussed at the conference.”

Ilia, Python Developer at NIX

Sessions and training classes at the conference were focused on information technology and data content, as well as on the best practices for the AI creation: maintaining the relevance of training data through streaming processing, quality monitoring, testing and maintenance of models on a large scale. The conference also included in-depth sessions on popular software systems.

“I was really struck by the sheer scale of the conference and how many useful things we heard there. One has to mention the training, from which I expected a whole lot. At the training, we were not taught just how to code but rather talked about how to improve the processes with which we deal everyday. The conference gave us many answers and ways to resolve ongoing issues, and now a lot of fruitful work to improve current projects is waiting for us :)”.

Irina, Java Developer at NIX

Any conference is, first of all, an invaluable experience that helps our developers to become better in order to solve your difficulties more efficiently. Therefore, together with new knowledge, our guys bring to NIX a huge boost of energy and the desire to improve current projects and to take on new ones with even more enthusiasm.