A panel on diversity and responsible AI in technology.

Freddy Lecue discusses trustworthy AI in finance.

Navigating the world of Scala and functional programming as a beginner can feel daunting and intimidating. A year ago, I was thrown into the deep end of Scala. Having come out on the other side, I want to share my experience to show newcomers that they’re not alone and can do this too! I started my Scala journey in a junior developer role at a corporate bank after graduating with a degree in Physics. So, not only did I have the challenge of learning Scala from scratch, but I also had to apply these concepts to a domain I had no prior knowledge of. Initially, I experienced a lot of confusion and frustration, such as when my implicit encoder did not behave as I expected. However, my experienced Scala colleagues were always there to help me and quickly ease my frustrations. As a result, I want to help others avoid these pitfalls that led to a lot of wasted time for me in the beginning. During this talk, we will cover the main Scala concepts that I have learned in the past year: what are Algebraic Data Types and how can I use them? Implicits and the issues I faced, and finally, starting out with SBT. I also want to discuss the different ways of learning Scala that I have experienced. Hopefully, after listening to me, other newcomers will feel less alone and more optimistic about diving into the exciting world of Scala!

Analyzing transactions with Elastic Kibana and Observability Tools.