On September 20th, a few of our consultants attended WhatTheStack 2025, a tech conference that reshaped how we approach development and collaboration. In this tech conference recap, we’re sharing the insights, lessons, and takeaways that left a lasting impression.
Why Conferences Still Matter
The talks and workshops were truly informative, but also, real value came from side conversations. Talking with people who are testing frameworks in production, experimenting with new tools, or facing the same daily challenges provides a perspective that no online tutorial can.Sharing experiences with fellow developers, exchanging ideas, and even hearing about challenges similar to your own is reassuring and sometimes surprisingly funny. Our consultants found themselves nodding in recognition at discussions about performance trade-offs and developer experience versus control dilemmas.
Talks That Stood Out at WhatTheStack 2025
A few sessions left a particularly strong impression on our team:
- Building a Planning Poker App with Angular and Supabase (Fannis Prodromou) – This session covered the full development process from Angular UI to backend, showing how to use Supabase’s database, authentication, REST API, and real-time features to build scalable apps. Our consultants were impressed by how developers can now ship real products with minimal backend complexity, allowing teams to focus on functionality and user experience.
- Client-side Friendly SSR with Tanstack Start (Atila Fassina) – Atila presented Tanstack Start, a new fullstack React framework built client-side first, with a top-tier router and battle-tested open-source tools. The framework challenges the idea that server-side rendering must be heavy or rigid, focusing instead on smoother developer experiences and better app performance.
- Angular: Framework of the future (Pawel Kozlowski) – Angular is evolving faster than many realize. This session offered a glimpse into experimental features from Angular Labs and how Angular is preparing to integrate AI-ready architecture.
- Introduction to AnalogJS (Marko Stanimirovic) – Marko introduced a Vite-powered framework that adds SSR, file-based routing, and markdown support to Angular. The framework seems built for flexibility and developer productivity, offering a compelling alternative for fullstack Angular projects.
- Smart Nano Stores, or how we made front-end simpler (Nina Torgunakova) – A practical session on simplifying state management using Nano Stores. By leveraging atomic and derived stores, developers can update components efficiently without over-engineering, making front-end code easier to maintain and scale.
- React Beyond the DOM (Erik Rasmussen) – React isn’t just for the web. From React Native to React PDF, Ink for terminal UIs, and even IoT control, this session led by Erik explored rendering in completely new environments, demonstrating the framework’s versatility.
Workshops With Practical Takeaways
The Angular workshops led by Kiril Zafirov were among the most practical and engaging sessions. Our consultants appreciated that these workshops were less about flashy demos and more about teaching patterns that actually scale. Key takeaways included:
- Forms are evolving – New signal-based APIs promise more reactive, type-safe, and maintainable forms, replacing older, more cumbersome approaches.
- Performance shouldn’t be an afterthought – Using signals for precise change detection is a simple but highly effective strategy that reinforces the principle that performance should be designed in, not optimized after the fact.
- Not every problem needs NgRx – Starting small with signals or RxJS can often solve state management challenges more efficiently than complex frameworks.
- Best practices matter – Many long-term issues are not caused by frameworks themselves, but by inconsistent coding habits. Following disciplined, repeatable practices ensures maintainable and scalable solutions.
WhatTheStack 2025: Key Takeaways
What our consultants found most valuable was that the conference shifted the way they think about their work, rather than simply giving them a list of new tricks. It reinforced the importance of writing maintainable code, prioritising performance, simplifying complex problems, and choosing the right tools for the job.
The experience also highlighted the value of learning from others. Conferences like WhatTheStack allow developers to see different approaches, learn from real-world mistakes, and bring that knowledge back to their own teams. Discussing frameworks with those actively using them in production provides insights you can’t get from online tutorials.
Beyond Tools: Mindset and Perspective
The real value of WhatTheStack came from conversations, shared experiences, and stepping back to see the bigger picture. Our consultants left with clarity on what to focus on, what to simplify, and what to double down on.
In a world where technology evolves constantly, it’s not about knowing everything, but about understanding what’s worth knowing and applying it effectively. For our team, WhatTheStack 2025 was a reminder that growth comes not just from tools, but from perspective – and that’s a win worth celebrating.
To read more interesting and personal stories from our consultants, head here.