Siili Oyj : EuroClojure - Perfect way to get to know the world of Clojure

A few weeks back I had a great opportunity to get a glimpse of something completely new. For me, this new happened to be Clojure.

From the first day at Siili, I've been hearing a lot of talk about functional programming and especially about Clojure. To be honest, as a typical full-stack developer my back-end skills mostly consisted of Java programming, and I had no idea what Clojure was all about. Still, the constant chatting about it got me curious and I decided to give it a chance, by joining my fellow Siilis at EuroClojure in Berlin, where Siili was one of the major sponsors this year.

Hallo Berlin!

Everyone was really excited, as we began our journey towards Berlin. Partly because of the conference, but also since we had a chance to meet our fellow Siilis working at our Berlin office. After a warm welcome and a quick sightseeing around the city, it was time to head to the EuroClojure pre-party to start mingling with other fellow developers!

The event took place in a huge movie theater.

The venue itself took place in a beautiful old-factory-like location, Kulturbrauerei on two really hot summer days. Each day was packed with interesting lectures that had topics varying from really detailed Clojure libraries, Data modeling, Software security and uplifting success stories built with Clojure and ClojureScript.

I have to admit, as a completely new comer to the world of Clojure, I didn't have too many expectations towards the event, but luckily the organizers proved me wrong.

Growing into Clojure

Yes, some lectures were probably too challenging for my skill set to learn on that quick instance, but there was still plenty that I could enjoy and learn from. Especially a lecture about mobile software built with ClojureScript using Reageant library on top of React-Native got my nervous system tickling just in the right way. I needed to know more.

Now the Clojure bug had bitten me too.

It was pretty clear why they chose Reageant on top of React-Native for Mobile Development

All in all, the whole event surrounded with such a supportive community made me feel really welcome. It was a great privilege to meet so many people from all around the world, some from tiny two-man companies to huge enterprise organizations all excited about the same cause.

Having chances to learn and get to know new things like this, having colleagues around and going there, where all the buzz is happening, is a valuable thing. The trip to EuroClojure was a perfect way for getting to know the world of Clojure.

The experience left a really positive effect on me. I cannot say that I mastered Clojure or anything of that sort, but at least it got me interested in possibilities where I can use it. Now I just need to be brave enough to give it a try.

I hope to see you again soon, Berlin.