WTF WhatTheStack. You did it again

WTF WhatTheStack.

Y’all did it again, and managed to host another killer conference at the heart of Skopje.

And I wasn’t the only one to think so highly of the day.

More than 1000 attendees joined both the main conference and support events over the week, celebrating software development in all of its flavors. Whether you wanted to go full nerd and dive into the depths of JavaScript, uncover the latest trends in AI development, or perfect your payments UX flow, there was something for you across the week. Chatting at the after party, people struggled to pick out a favorite moment.

And no wonder.

Personally, it was reminiscing about JavaScripts journey.

Skopje’s very own Wekoslav “cool tech daddy” Stefanovski walked the audience through the many faces of the JavaScript language, delivered with the daddies trademark humor. It was a reminder of how long I’ve been moving through the JS world, with shoutouts for Dojo, Knockout, jQuery, and even plain old JS along the way. Whilst it made me feel slightly long in the tooth, I’d grown accustomed to that feeling by this part of the trip.

The most useful had to be Alems talk on TanStack AI. Given the R&D project that is underway with Boutique Retreats data, this talk offered a short cut to the destination. Or at least a surprise mode of transport. The package contains everything needed to create the user facing part of the stack, although the plan will still be to blend JS and .NET together in someway.

They’re a perfect pairing after all 😬

As a second time visitor to Skopje, I was taken aback by the city yet again.

The outline impression 2025 imprinted has been colored in, thanks to the people I met along the way. After seeing so many new places in recent years, none have had the depth of friendliness and hospitality, alongside a sense of raw possibility that I’ve experienced in Macedonia. Massive shoutout to Marija, Ilija and Vlatko for making myself and friends feel so welcome in a strange place.

When cornered by the social media team to make a video about the WhatTheStack conference, I very quickly said it’s one of the best to visit. Unprompted might I add. This is particularly true when you’re coming from the other end of the European continent.

You probably need convincing tho.

Drop me a message and we can talk at length about why this is a great place to send the team for learnings, team building, and all at a price cheaper than a trip to London.