SymfonyCon 2023
22 december 2023
3min.
SymfonyCon are high days for PHP developers. So, from Tailr we’ve sent a large delegation of contributors to attend. We asked our colleagues what they thought of it. In this report we give you the most popular talks by our developers, along with some other fun highlights.
SymfonyCon: conference on web development framework Symfony
The event revolved entirely around the open-source web development framework Symfony. This framework is intended for developing web applications and websites in PHP, a widely used programming language.
The goal of the event was first and foremost knowledge sharing. There were plenty of experts present who blew our colleagues away with inspiring talks. It was also the ideal place to present the latest Symfony developments. In addition, it offered our developers the chance to network with other Symfony/PHP developers, companies, and professionals.
The top talks from SymfonyCon
After the event, we asked our colleagues which talks stuck out the most. It's overwhelming how many responses we got back. From all their input, we selected a top five.
1. Hands-on with LiveComponents, AssetMapper, Turbo and Stimulus - Ryan Weaver
Colleagues unanimously agreed that this live-coding session was impressive. The capabilities of LiveComponents with Twig had several mandibles falling open. We gathered some quotes from colleagues.
"The ability to seamlessly integrate dynamic forms with Form Builder within a LiveComponent, without writing a single line of JavaScript code, was a true highlight for me! The ease with which we can include specific parameters of a LiveComponent in the URL opens the door to instant URL sharing and hard refresh, allowing instant access to the filtered LiveComponent. You achieve all this through just a small tweak in the code. Amazing, isn't it?" - Youri
"One of the most remarkable moments were the 2 presentations Ryan Weaver gave on the latest and cool new features of Symfony UX. He had the guts to show those features during a live coding session on stage. He is an amazing, grateful, funny and inspiring person to the PHP/Symfony community and far beyond." - Stef
"His ability to explain concepts in an understandable way was impressive. It not only gave me a good understanding of LiveComponents but also made me excited to explore more of his SymfonyCast videos." - Tenzin
2. Symfony Apps as Standalone Binaries - Kévin Dunglas
Another talk that all colleagues enjoyed was Kévin Dunglas' talk. He talked about building a Symfony application as a standalone binary.
"My adventure begins with Kévin Dunglas' talk on running PHP and Symfony applications as standalone libraries. In doing so, you use a single binary file to run an entire PHP application. Imagine just running `./my-webshop` and BAM, your webshop is online. My mind was blown! Tiring moments during which we must tinker with dependencies such as PHP versions, composer packages, extensions.... are thus a thing of the past." - Sarah
"Dunglas gave valuable insights into making Symfony applications function as standalone binaries. His presentation gave me valuable insights and ideas that I can immediately implement within our company." - Davy
3. Your Weakness is Your Superpower - Mary Thomas
This talk was - surprisingly for a developers’ conference - not about technical skills, but about how to strengthen yourself and your team using soft skills.
"Talents," "Skills" and "Weaknesses" were distinguished. She then elaborated on how to leverage those talents and skills at the individual and team level to strengthen each other. Two aspects to achieve this goal are important. On the one hand, you need open, honest, and transparent communication. On the other hand, the focus was on finding your talents and those of your team; and finding ways to combine all those talents so that you get the most out of them." - Brend
"Of all the lectures, I found Mary Thomas' session on focusing on your team members' strengths and working around your weaknesses very interesting. It gave me new, fresh insights about teamwork." - Tenzin
4. Two interesting talks to close the top 5
Two more talks that were well liked were 'A serverless Symfony playground' by Antoine Bluchet and 'Expression Language in Symfony: Beyond the Framework' by Rémi Janot.
"The talk on 'A serverless Symfony playground' seemed a bit unconventional to me at first. Honestly, I normally would not have attended this session. However, I decided to push my limits a bit, and what a revelation it was to me! Effortlessly loading PHP serverless into your browser has become a reality. How cool is that? PHP at your fingertips, wherever you are!" - Youri
"SymfonyCon 2023 was an incredible experience and certainly Rémi Janot's talk, 'Expression Language in Symfony: Beyond the Framework,' stole the show for me. Janot's expertise shone through as he dove into the intricacies of Symfony's Expression Language, pushing its boundaries and inspiring attendees to explore new frontiers when using the component." - Tenzin
We will be present at SymfonyCon next year!
Another bonus, according to our colleagues, was the organization of the event this year. Instead of one general program, there were three different rooms with three different programs. So, you could choose from a diverse menu of choices which topics you found most interesting to listen to.
In any case, colleagues were full of praise for the event. We think that all the learnings played a central role, but also the team spirit that prevailed that day. One colleague described their two-day event as "the perfect mix of knowledge, networking and chilling. We think their closing visit to the Brussels comic book museum combined with a cocktail and some live music certainly had something to do with that.
