09:50-10:20

🎤 Build Successful Teams & Remain Profitable in the Age of AI and Economic Change

Hashtags: #Leadership #Teams #AI #Economics #Inclusion #BusinessGrowth #TeamStructure

Suitable for: Everyone

Thrive through change. In a world of shrinking budgets and rising expectations, building resilient, profitable teams is no longer optional — it’s survival. Maria will start the conference and show strategies to lead smarter, scale faster, and future-proof your business without sacrificing quality or control. This session is designed for agency owners, project managers, and technical leads striving to maintain profitability amidst the economic uncertainty and AI boom. She will also share strategic approaches to structuring modern teams that drive profitability and growth even in uncertain times. Walk away with actionable frameworks, real-world examples, and future-ready strategies to scale smartly, enhance profitability, and lead your teams confidently into the next era.

Maria Totova-Cholakova

💼 Founder & CEO of IT Talents Academy
💼 Chairperson of Drupal Bulgaria Association
🚗 Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Maria is the founder and CEO of IT Talents Academy, a dynamic Bulgarian company, delivering smart outsourcing and talent development solutions to businesses across Europe. She also serves as the chairperson of the Drupal Bulgaria Association, actively contributing to the open-source community. With a background as a developer, team lead, and university instructor, Maria brings a wealth of experience to her leadership roles. She is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the tech world and is dedicated to fostering the next generation of IT professionals.

10:40-11:10

🎤 Let’s Build AI That Will Replace You

Hashtags: #AI #AIAgents #Automation #LiveCoding #CodingAssistants #DeveloperTools

Suitable for: Backend, Fullstack, AI/ML Developers, DevOps, Management, Technical QA

AI Agents are the next big thing everyone has been talking about. They are expected to revolutionize various industries by automating routine tasks, mission critical business workflows, enhancing productivity, and enabling humans to focus on creative and strategic work. But can they really replace developers? Alex takes us on a hands-on journey into the world of AI Agents — what they can do, what makes AI coding agents fundamentally different from basic LLMs, and why they are positioned to redefine how software gets built. Expect a live demo showing how to build and use your own agent, ready to boost productivity from day one. All of the code will also be available for people to play with, and they will be able to apply what they've learned right away essentially.

Alex Shershebnev

💼  Head of ML/DevOps, DevRel @ Zencoder
✈️  Funchal, Portugal

Alex is a seasoned engineering leader with a passion for building high-performing teams and scalable systems. With over 15 years of experience in the software industry, he has a proven track record of delivering innovative products and driving technical excellence. Alex is a strong advocate for open-source and is an active contributor to several projects. He is also a frequent speaker at international conferences, sharing his insights on topics ranging from machine learning to DevOps.

11:10-11:40

🎤 Unlock Peak Productivity with Model Context Protocol

Hashtags: #AI #Embeddings #VectorDatabases #Infrastructure #Productivity #Tools

Suitable for: Backend, DBA, Fullstack, AI/ML Developers, DevOps, Tech Leads, Architects

AI promises to revolutionize software development, but fragmented tools and complex integrations often bottleneck its potential. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) presents a practical, standardized approach to mitigate these issues. Nikolay will provide a concrete overview of MCP and illustrate its application through specific use cases. We will see how developers, QA engineers, and architects can leverage it today to slash integration overhead, automate tedious tasks, and build truly intelligent, context-aware workflows. We'll touch upon the growing ecosystem, security considerations, and how you can begin experimenting with MCP to drive real efficiency improvements in your daily tasks.

Nikolay Stoitsev

💼 Senior Engineering Manager @ StorPool Storage
📌 Sofia, Bulgaria

Nikolay is a Senior Engineering Manager at StorPool Storage, where he leads the development of high-performance software-defined storage solutions. With a deep expertise in distributed systems, he is passionate about building reliable and scalable infrastructure. Nikolay is a regular speaker at tech meetups and conferences. When he's not architecting storage solutions, he enjoys spending time with his kids.

12:00-12:30

🎤 How Google built Zanzibar

Hashtags: #Authorization #Zanzibar #Security #Scalability #DistributedSystems #GoogleScale

Suitable for: Backend, Fullstack, DevOps, AI/ML Developers, Management, Architects, Security Engineers

Sohan will cover the design and implementation of Zanzibar, Google's globally distributed authorization system. We will explore the challenges of building a scalable and consistent permission system and how Zanzibar addresses them. The session will delve into the core concepts of Zanzibar, including its data model, consistency models, and API. We will also discuss how Zanzibar is used at Google to power authorization for services like YouTube, Google Drive, and Google Cloud. At the end, you’ll gain insights into how Zanzibar enables fine-grained, flexible access control at scale.

Sohan Maheshwar

💼 Lead Developer Advocate @ AuthZed
✈️ Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Sohan is the Lead Developer Advocate at Authzed, where he helps developers build secure and scalable authorization systems. Sohan is a frequent speaker at international conferences, sharing his expertise on topics such as Authorization, Cloud and AI. In his free time, he enjoys visual arts, trivia, and playing frisbee.

12:30-13:00

🎤 GitHub Actions: Cloudy with a Chance of CI/CD

Hashtags: #CI/CD #GitHubActions #Automation #CloudNative #Workflows

Suitable for: DevOps, Backend, Fullstack, QA, Tech Leads, Management

GitHub Actions has become one of the most popular choices for automating software workflows directly in your repository. In this session, Sefo will demonstrate the power of GitHub Actions for building robust and scalable CI/CD pipelines. You will learn the fundamentals — workflows, jobs, and steps — and how to extend them with custom or community-contributed actions. We'll dive into secure secrets management, job matrices, caching, conditional execution, and environment-based deployments. Finally, you’ll walk away with best practices for pipeline design, including testing strategies, deployment models, monitoring techniques, and actionable insights to automate smarter.

Serafim Karparov

💼 Software Architect @ IBM
📌 Sofia, Bulgaria

Serafim is a Software Architect at IBM, where he leads the planning and execution of complex projects and key initiatives within the IBM Software webMethods division. He has over 15 years of experience in the software industry, with a focus on Java, CI/CD, DevOps, and cloud-native technologies. Serafim is a passionate advocate for automation and is always looking for ways to improve the software development lifecycle. He loves learning new tech with a cold beer in hand and a smile on his face..

13:50-14:20

🎤 Using React without using React

Hashtags: #React #VanillaJS #UIArchitecture #StateManagement #JavaScript

Suitable for: Frontend, Fullstack

In this talk, Krasi will explore how to apply the principles of React to build applications without using the React library itself. He will break down the core principles that power React: component-based architecture, declarative UI, and smart state management. Then, Krasi will show how you can apply them without importing React at all. Using vanilla JavaScript and lightweight alternatives, you’ll explore how to recreate the React mindset in any setup. Perfect for those who want to truly understand React's design patterns, use them outside the React ecosystem, and want to learn how to apply them in different contexts.

Krasimir Tsonev

💼 Senior engineer @ Trusti.bg
🚗 Varna, Bulgaria

Krasimir is a senior software engineer with a passion for JavaScript and front-end development. He is the author of several popular open-source libraries and a frequent speaker at international conferences. Krasimir is a strong advocate for simplicity and clarity in code and is always looking for ways to improve the developer experience. When he's not writing code, he enjoys spending time with his family and exploring the beautiful coastline of the Black Sea.

14:20-14:50

🎤 JS Signals (and Proxies)

Hashtags: #JavaScript #Signals #Reactivity #Proxies #StateManagement #WebStandards

Suitable for: Frontend, Fullstack, Architects

Signals are poised to redefine reactivity in JavaScript. Ilko will explore the new Signals API in JavaScript and how it can be used to build reactive user interfaces. He will compare Signals to other reactive programming techniques, such as Proxies and Observables, and discuss the pros and cons of each approach. Ilko will demonstrate how to build a fully reactive app using Signals, without relying on frameworks like React or Vue. We’ll also look at the evolution of signals in modern frameworks like SolidJS and the movement toward standardizing them across the JavaScript ecosystem. Expect clarity on where signals shine, where Proxies still win, and how the future of frontend state might look. The session will include a live coding demonstration of how to use Signals to build a simple reactive application.

Ilko Valchev

💼 IT Team Lead @ Enetpulse
📌 Sofia, Bulgaria

Ilko is an IT Team Lead at Enetpulse, where he manages the development of real-time sports data platforms. With deep roots in JavaScript and UI performance, Ilko is passionate about clean architecture and modern frontend patterns. He was a top-rated speaker at previous editions of DEV: Challenge Accepted, known for his engaging sessions and practical demos. Outside of work, he enjoys basketball, movies, and helping his team grow — ideally in that order.

15:10-15:40

🎤 API testing journey through web protocols

Hashtags: #API #Testing #SecurityTesting #PerformanceTesting #Protocols #Automation

Suitable for: QA, Backend, DevOps, Fullstack, Security Engineers

In this talk, we will embark on a practical journey through the world of API testing, focusing on the various web protocols behind modern APIs — from HTTP and REST to GraphQL and WebSockets. Dawid will guide you through the essentials of API test automation, performance benchmarks, and security assessments. You’ll see live demos of popular API testing tools in action, with real-world techniques to validate and harden your APIs for production use. Dawid will bring insights from years of hands-on experience into a compact and actionable format.

Dawid Pacia

💼 Independent Consultant
✈️ Krakow, Poland

Dawid is a QA consultant with over 8 years of experience in the software industry, specializing in API, performance, and security testing. He’s an ISTQB-certified Test Manager, respected speaker at international conferences, and the author of a well-known blog on testing and QA. Passionate about quality at every level of the stack, Dawid brings clarity, energy, and real-world insight to every stage he joins.

15:40-16:10

🎤 Bug fixing in business - two frauds of almost half a million!

Hashtags: #FraudDetection #BusinessSecurity #Leadership #Ecommerce #RiskManagement

Suitable for: Everyone

In this gripping final talk, Vizo takes us through two jaw-dropping fraud cases that nearly cost his company almost half a million. As both a business leader and storyteller, Vizo will guide us through what actually happened, how internal loopholes were exploited, and what it took to recover from the blow. You’ll hear about tense moments with the police, refunding customers out of personal pockets, and learning the hard way how fragile trust can be. With charisma, humor, and brutal honesty, Vizo reminds us that in both tech and life, the real bugs are often human. A rare blend of drama, insight, and raw honesty from someone who’s been through it, and lived to tell the tale.

Velizar Velichkov

💼 COO & Partner @ 1ForFit
💼 Sales Director & Partner @ Grabo.bg
Co-Founder & Partner @ Artvent
📌 Sofia, Bulgaria

Velizar Velichkov - Vizo is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of several successful companies in the e-commerce and fitness industries. He has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities of running a business in the digital age. Velizar is a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship and a mentor to many young startups. As an actor who turned into business leader, he is combining creativity and business acumen in everything he does. Vizo is also a frequent speaker at business conferences and a regular contributor to leading business publications.