Written by Alex Perekalin
Being a developer requires constant learning on an almost everyday basis – that’s what makes this career path both super interesting and very challenging. Attending relevant conferences and meetups is one of the best ways to learn new things – or at least about the existence of a variety of new things that you may want to learn. It is also a great way to meet like-minded people from the community and have a good time.
In the year 2020, conferences were mostly either canceled or online only. However, in 2021, local meetups and in-person conferences are starting to surface again, and this may be even more true in 2022. Some conferences are being held in a hybrid format – you can either attend in person or watch a translation online, the latter usually being free. In addition to that, there are still a bunch of online-only events, which also provide an opportunity for those who cannot travel a long way from home to attend.
So, which ones should you visit? We picked the top eight events (plus two honorable mentions) for mobile developers in 2021 and 2022 that we ourselves are interested in. Hopefully, learning about these events is just as useful for you as it is for us.
DevTernity
When: 10–11/12/2021
Where: Online
Price: €399 for the conference and €399 for the workshops
Why visit: You can learn valuable skills and advance your career.
DevTernity is a dev2dev conference with a no-nonsense approach: no empty Agile gibberish and no purely marketing talks. Only the best practices, insights, and talks on architecture, leadership, and career advancement are allowed. The conference itself runs online in three parallel streams for just one day, while the second day is reserved for workshops (which are quite long and also run in parallel).
The organizers describe the conference as a tool to learn valuable developer and leadership skills so that you can give your career some momentum and become a software architect, team lead, or CTO. Well, what else would a developer want from a conference, right?
droidcon San Francisco 2022
When: 02–03/06/2022
Where: San Francisco, USA
Price: To be determined
Why visit: droidcon covers everything Android and gives you an opportunity to hang out with the community. It’s a real offline event, after all.
Actually, this is not the first droidcon this year. Another conference recently wrapped up in London on October 28 (we were there!), and droidcon Italy was held online on November 11–12.
This convention’s name actually speaks for itself: droidcon is predominantly an Android event, and the con here stands for convention just as much as for conference, which implies that it involves a lot of networking and hanging out with people.
However, droidcon is not only about chatting but also includes talks on rather serious topics, like what’s next for Android, advanced Kotlin programming techniques, and much more. The call for papers will open on January 1, so if you’ve been wanting to speak at a conference, this may be an opportunity for you to participate. Speaking may be even more interesting and insightful than just attending!
DartUP 2021
When: 3–4/12/2021
Where: Online
Price: Free
Why visit: The only Flutter/Dart conference in both English and Russian.
DartUP is a conference dedicated solely to Dart and Flutter. What’s special about it is that it has two language tracks: English and Russian. This is because DartUP was originally created by the Russian-speaking Dart community. In 2021, DartUP will be run in an online-only format. It will include speakers from Google, Wrike, and other companies, as well as some additional online activities, games, and as much community spirit as an online event can possibly have.
And there’s more good news – DartUP is completely free. Just don’t forget to register, and you will receive your link to the event one hour before it starts.
DevGAMM Fall 2021
When: 17–19/11/2021
Where: Online
Price: Free (BASIC ticket) or $149 (PRO ticket)
Why visit: DevGAMM is a busy game dev event with lots of talks for all kinds of audiences, and it has a cool community vibe.
DevGAMM is a series of game dev events, both local and global, with the flagship conferences happening twice a year. DevGAMM Fall 2021 is one of the flagship events, bringing together thousands of attendees and speakers from all over the world. Originally, DevGAMM was mostly about mobile gaming, but it has since evolved to cover all sorts of game-dev-related topics, including game design, game development best practices, narratives, publishing, sound design, and more.
Even if you are an expert in your field, there will certainly be talks that will share a lot of new and interesting stuff – especially given the large pool of sponsors and speakers, including experts from Microsoft, Rovio, Wargaming, tinyBuild, and many other renowned game dev veterans.
DevGAMM Fall 2021 will happen online, and there are two main types of tickets: BASIC and PRO. BASIC tickets are free and will give you access to all the conference’s content in real time, as well as to the Career Wall and virtual booths. PRO tickets currently cost $149 and provide all of the above plus access to roundtable discussions, random networking opportunities, the ability to watch stream recordings, and more.
DeveloperWeek
When: 02–04/02/2022
Where: Oakland, USA + online
Price: $545 (PREMIUM pass)
Why visit: This massive dev event covers all kinds of topics you may be interested in.
OK, let’s look at something on a bigger scale. DeveloperWeek is not a conference for only mobile devs but every type of developer, as well as solution engineers, admins, team leads, and IT business owners. VR, AI, blockchain, IoT, microservices, and, of course, lots of mobile development content – it’s all there for you.
DeveloperWeek’s website proudly mentions that more than 8,000 developers from 70+ countries gather for each major event. And this year, DeveloperWeek will be co-located with two more shows, ProductWorld and CloudWorld – buying a ticket for one conference will get you access to all three. The ticket ain’t cheap, but that’s normally the case with large-scale conferences, especially offline ones.
And DeveloperWeek is an offline event that lasts three days, as well as three additional days spent on an online platform afterward. It packs a ton of content, plus two offline hackathons, plus all the other usual conference stuff – from career boards to afterparties.
Flutter Vikings 2022
When: 2–3/02/2022
Where: Oslo, Norway + online
Price: NOK 4,000 (approx. €400) for offline or free online
Why visit: Flutter Vikings is the biggest Flutter event in the North, with top Google Developer Experts plus a cheerful atmosphere.
TRVE KVLT Flutter development, anyone? Just kidding. Flutter Vikings actually has really positive and cheerful vibes. Its list of speakers and schedule are not finalized yet, but you can surely expect two tracks of quality talks on Flutter and Dart, a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, and a comfortable venue – Oslo’s Felix Conference Center. One track will be available for free for online attendees!
One more thing: Flutter Vikings is sponsored by Codemagic, so expect to see us there as well – we’d be happy to chat if you drop by.
iOS Conf SG
When: 20–21/01/2022 (workshops on 17-18/01/2022)
Where: Online
Price: $70 (early bird), $150 (after November 16), $220 for conference + workshops (early bird), and $350 for conference + workshops (after November 16)
Why visit: This conference has a lot of Swift and iOS talks, as well as workshops on SwiftUI and iOS security.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MAc-hjvKqw
With so many Flutter and Android conferences, there should surely be one for iOS developers. And, of course, there is – iOS Conf SG (SG stands for Singapore, where the event is usually hosted, even though it’s going to be held online on Zoom this year). The list of speakers includes both educators who teach iOS development and specialists from renowned businesses that have developed very successful iOS apps (like Instagram, which, if anyone remembers, was iOS-exclusive at first).
On top of that, there are workshops, which may be the most valuable part of the event. This year, one workshop is dedicated to multiplatform development with SwiftUI, and the other will focus on finding vulnerabilities in iOS apps and is hosted by an expert from the InfoSec company F-Secure. The bill to attend the workshops may hurt for indie devs, but you’ll certainly finish each of the workshop days with a satisfying feeling of having learned a new skill or sharpened one you already had.
React Summit 2022
When: 17–21/06/2022 (Amsterdam) and 20-21/06/2022 (online)
Where: Amsterdam, Netherlands + online
Price: €599 (JSNation conf + React Summit)
Why visit: React Summit is the biggest upcoming React event, with large sections dedicated to React Native.
There aren’t many events specific to React Native, with RNEU 2021 (React Native Europe) having wrapped up in late September. Nothing is clear about when the next RNEU is going to happen, so for now, React Native fans may as well turn their attention to general React conferences, of which there are plenty. The bigger the event, the higher the probability you’ll find something interesting related to React Native, and React Summit is certainly one of the biggest upcoming events dedicated to React.
This year, the conference will run in a hybrid format – both in person in Amsterdam and online. All days are streamed online, but the first day includes a lot of hybrid interactions and entertainment. The offline part will gather about 1,500 people, and the online event will probably bring together dozens of thousands (at least, according to the organizers). However, the price is on the steeper side, and it’s the same for both in-person and online attendees. Of course, there is an option to sneak in for free: The call for papers is still open and will continue to be until April 16.
Honorable mentions: events that will hopefully happen, but we aren’t sure yet
As much as we want 2022 to be “the year of going back to normal” (even if it’s the new normal), let’s face the harsh reality: It most likely won’t be. And some of the events that got canceled in 2020 and 2021 may not resurface in 2022, but let’s keep our fingers crossed. So, in this section, we’ll mention a couple of those events that are really dear to us, even if we don’t know if they will happen next year.
Flutter Europe
Why visit: This is the biggest Flutter event in Europe.
This is another Flutter-only event, but it’s a large one. Flutter Europe is driven by European Flutter Communities. Basically, it’s a way to bring everyone together from different parts of the world in one place. The only language you’ll see here (apart from English, of course) will be Dart.
The last time we saw Flutter Europe happen was in January 2020, when the pandemic had not been officially announced yet. Back then, our own Priit Lätt was one of the speakers and talked about CI/CD and Flutter. Normally, the conference takes two days and is an offline event. Let’s hope it will be the same in 2022.
AltConf
Why visit: AltConf is a free, offline, community-driven iOS and macOS event.
AltConf is short for Alternative Apple Developer Conference, it’s free, and it’s hosted next door to Apple WWDC and on the very same days. After all, if you’re visiting WWDC, why wouldn’t you attend AltConf as well? The conference brings you a lot of content about developing apps for macOS and iOS – two tracks running for three days. And, in 2019, the creators introduced an escape room, adding some entertainment, which can also be an interesting way to connect with new people.
Sadly, the last time AltConf happened was back in 2019 – along with the last in-person WWDC. We don’t know if there are any plans for it to resurface in 2022, but we hope so, and you can always check for yourself.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a seasoned mobile developer or just entering the field, conferences and events can offer you valuable insights and connections in this rapidly changing landscape. As these events begin to return, you may consider attending some in person or online to grow as a developer and have fun!
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