Agoda Dev Day 2024: Celebrating Collaboration in our Tech Team

Agoda Dev Day 2024 just concluded, leaving inspired and energized! From a one-day event held in-person in Bangkok, this year’s Dev Day went international, bringing together teams in our Singapore and India tech hub for a face-to-face interaction. In this largest internal tech event, Agodans from across teams and geographies celebrate all things tech together.

“We host Dev Day because we spend most of our time thinking about ‘today.’ But every once in a while, I think it’s important that we celebrate our past and dream about our future,” shares Idan Zalzberg, Chief Technology Officer. That’s why our Tech leadership team started each edition with keynote speeches, and an Ask Me Anything session. Together, we reflected on our incredible shared achievements over the past year and dove into conversations on the topics that matter most to our team.

Here’s a look at the highlights that made Agoda Dev Day 2024 so memorable.

The Vision for Agoda Dev Day 2024

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, which set a high bar as our largest internal tech gathering, this year’s Agoda Dev Day is bigger and better in every way. The expanded agenda features dynamic lightning talks, thought-provoking debates, interactive games, wellness sessions, and even more inspiring speakers. Besides hosting in-person events in Singapore, Bangkok and Gurugram, all sessions are broadcasted live for every team member to join.

“Whether it’s exploring cutting-edge AI automation or igniting lively debates on tech innovation, we envisioned Agoda Dev Day 2024 to be our most impactful and engaging celebration of technology yet,” shared Nan Chulakasem (Senior Specialist in Internal Communications & Employer Branding), who was the driving force behind Dev Day’s planning. “Last year’s debate segment was a crowd favorite, so we brought it back with broader, more challenging topics to spark meaningful discussions within our Tech team. An exciting new addition was the career growth sessions, which were a hit across all three countries.”

Lightning Talks That Sparked Curiosity

Dev Day wouldn’t be complete without our signature Lightning Talks, in which engineers from across teams share their expertise in short, impactful sessions. From harnessing AI automation for code migration to transforming rule management with Git, these sessions offered something for everyone:

• “Gelato: Sweetening Code Migration with AI Automation” by Aswathprabhu Ramkumar and Justinus Hermawan
• “The Power of Beautiful Data Among Engineers” by Siroros Roongdonsai and Yanisa Treesak
• “GPT? MFE? We Have Them All! Pioneering a State-of-the-Art Chatbot” by Thammarith Likittheerameth
• “Scaling Refactoring with Batch Changes” by Aram Pokmanee
• “Picture Perfect: Content Enrichment and Ranking Images at Agoda” by Neeraj Barthwal
• “Adopting Rule Engine in Loyalty Platform” by Anshul Rasiwasia
• “Faster Tool” by Rakesh Kalra

A Blend of Debate and Fun

Who can resist a bit of spirited competition? In the Tech Debate segment, engineers took sides on pressing industry topics, including Java 21 vs JVM Languages and the ever-relevant Standardization vs Innovation. With our moderator, Danila Kolesniko (Director), keeping the discussion sharp and lively, the debates sparked fresh perspectives and a lot of laughs.

Between the discussions, attendees also enjoyed downtime with coffee breaks, Kahoot quizzes, team-building games, and rounds of Pictionary. In Bangkok, experts from Lotus Wellness Bangkok led a sound healing and mindfulness session, allowing everyone to re-center and learn practical techniques for managing stress during busy days.

Growth, Games, and Recognition

At Agoda Dev Day Bangkok, in-person and online attendees gathered for an inspiring Career Growth Panel, expertly moderated by Jamie Lennox (Director of Technical Product Management). Panelists Shaun Sit (Director of Engineering), Paolo Bruzzo (Director of Engineering), and Benjawan Wongwarn (Associate Director, Quality) shared insightful stories from their professional journeys, offering advice and inspiration.

Meanwhile, in Singapore and Gurgaon, Idan Zalzberg took to the stage and led similar sessions. Speaking candidly about his journey to becoming Agoda’s CTO, he shared the highs, lows, and invaluable lessons that shaped his career path.

Wrapping Up Agoda Dev Day 2024 in Style

At the Awards Ceremony, we celebrated the outstanding achievements of our global tech community with awards like “The Silencer: Acknowledging the Most Alerts,” “The AI Whisperer : For the highest usage of Copilot, GPT, or Askgoda,” “The Influencer: For the most popular blog posts this year” and “The Candidate’s Choice Award: Highest Interview Candidate Score.” It was a reminder of the outstanding talent within Agoda, the culture of recognition we value so deeply, and the quirks that make coming to work fun and exciting.

Finally, we ended each edition with Tech Connect, a social gathering filled with delicious food, drinks, and endless conversations. There was even a Foosball tournament in Singapore! Tech Connect was also a chance to unwind and chat with colleagues across teams after an inspiring, action-packed day.

Explore opportunities in our Tech team today!