Review - Mage UnConf 2023

Half of our team attended an UnConf for the first time. We took this opportunity and let Linda write about her impressions as a newbie at UnConf.

Hi, I'm Linda and I've been working for maxcluster as a Marketing Manager since June. As an e-commerce newbie, I was especially happy to travel with the maxcluster team to the Mage UnConference 2023 in Cologne from September 29 to October 1. I already knew a few faces of the community from our partner day and so I was able to use the Mage UnConf to deepen existing contacts, make new contacts and learn a lot about Magento and Mage-OS topics through the various sessions.

Pre-Party

The UnConference started with a pre-party at the Lokal Alte Feuerwache, where I immediately felt the warm atmosphere and openness of the Magento community. We arrived and were immediately greeted with the comment "Everyone is hugged here". Quickly we got into conversations with other participants and you could feel the joyful anticipation of two days of UnConf.

Mage UnConf

The next morning Mage UnConf officially started when we were welcomed at Tor 28 by Carmen, Rico, Claudia and Fabian. Right at the beginning, they pointed out the special feature of an UnConference: There is no predefined agenda, but the participants shape the topics through their suggestions. All attendees were invited to write down suggestions for topics followed by a two-sentence-presentation each. It was fascinating to see how these ideas were then evaluated and selected by all participants with two "Klebchen" per person. Thus, the most interesting topics were identified and the sessions were diverse, engaging and informative.

Rooms

The rooms were named after "Bugs", "SSL" and "Cookies" and were decorated with lovely details.

Sessions

The sessions I attended were very diverse. Whether it was an open discussion focused on the integration of artificial intelligence, a presentation on the topic of "Machine learning in Magento" or a demonstration of how participants can contribute to the further development of Mage-OS - all topics were well attended and led to a vibrant exchange of ideas. I was particularly fascinated by the commitment and enthusiasm of the community for the future of Magento Open Source.

Here is an overview of the content of some of the sessions:

How to continuously monitor/improve the shops performance?

One of the kick-off sessions of this year's UnConf, presenting how others do their performance monitoring. Particularly interesting for us to draw comparisons with our monitoring and to learn which metrics are used by agencies.

How to sell Magento these days / Current status of Mage-OS / Foster MagentoMarketing / How to contribute to Mage-OS

Mage-OS was a big topic during UnConf and the first two topics were right behind each other. They talked openly about the current situation and what it takes to make Mage-OS viable for the future. This was continued on the second day in the sessions on "Foster Magento Marketing" and "How to contribute to Mage-OS", where a first roadmap was developed and the participants gained insight into the current status of the Discord server for Mage-OS.

Copilot or not to Copilot / Copilot Livecoding

The session on Copilot bridged the gap to AI and in particular Chat GPT. The cloud-based AI tool is designed to help users by auto-completing code. Looking at how the use of AI tools such as Copilot will affect the future of development, participants concluded that there will be fewer programmers and more software engineers in the future.

On the second day, the Copilot live coding session demonstrated live how AI can be used to support programmers.

Replacement - Composer replace core magento moduls

This session showed how core Magento modules can be excluded using the Composer command line tool in order to load only code that is actually needed. For this purpose, specially developed modules were presented that are integrated into the project using Composer and exclude the identified code that is not required, thus improving both the clarity in the project and potentially the performance of Magento 2.

DDEV Improve build time multiple websites & languages. Deploy, Autoscale, Failover.

This session was also very exciting for us as we were able to see how others set up their pipelines and realize their deployments. Participants were invited to an excursion into complex CI pipelines.

Design 4 Hyvä

In the Design 4 Hyvä session, participants were shown how to create individual Hyvä designs in Figma to create the best possible development workflow. For this purpose, information was shared on the setup and the required configurations.

How are we using AI across business?

In the open discussion on the usage of AI among the participants, it quickly became clear that there is a high interest in artificial intelligence, but also that there are significant differences in the way it is used. Everything from developing automated processes with AI through content planning to uncertain caution was represented. What also became clear is that a lot of emphasis should be placed on training AI tools for a company's own needs so that they can be used in the best possible supportive way.

Coffee breaks and interaction

Already before the UnConference I was told that the coffee breaks are almost more important than the sessions. This was also noticeable this time. The breaks, no matter if coffee or lunch break, were great to follow up on previous topics and to talk about what we had heard or to get to know each other on a personal level and to exchange ideas. Whether it was a new hobby or a recent relocation with a language barrier, there was always something exciting to learn about other participants. There was also plenty of fun while playing air hockey, kicker and pinball.

Aftershow-Party

A very special highlight was the after-show party on Saturday. Not only the location was impressively chosen with the Eigelstein-Torburg, but also the program with a breathtaking fire show made a lasting impression. The layout of the premises was optimally chosen for intensive discussions or dancing. An overall enjoyable evening with a view of the illuminated Kölner Dom.

Conclusion

Overall, my first Mage UnConference 2023 was an exciting experience for me as an e-commerce newbie. Not only did I learn a lot about Magento, Mage-OS and e-commerce, but I also experienced the incredible spirit of the Magento community. I was especially thrilled by the openness, the connectivity and the commitment of all participants and I am really looking forward to seeing them again. Many thanks to Carmen, Claudia, Fabian and Rico from Firegento e..V. for this great event!

Published on 09.10.2023 | LR