Five years later: back to where I got my diploma, for BDX I/O

Hind BOUCHERIT — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 16:16:58 +0000

Going down memory lane

I had an opportunity last week to go back to the place that made me an engineer.

I'm not going to lie: I felt way too nostalgic setting foot again on that campus. Being back there five years after getting my diploma made me realize two things:

Time goes by so fast
Tech goes even faster

I was expecting a fair share of talks around AI. See, in the last five years, we were able to go from no AI at all, to "don't use that, it doesn't work very well", to "have you tried this new model? It's not perfect but it's decent", and then finally to: "I let my AI do the dirty work, reviewed it, it's really impressive".

Now the kids in the halls of engineering schools like ENSEIRB-MATMECA will not really know what it's like having to do it all on your own. Not that I had to do it on my own. I had the internet, I had Stack Overflow, and an annoying tendency of wanting to understand as much as I could before I even allowed myself to think: good enough.

We had it good. We had phones, powerful computers, and a hell of a lot of online documentation waiting to be read. The generation before mine probably had a lot less. And before that, very little.

AI, and what speakers have to say about it

Over time, every single new technology came with its share of resistance. AI is no exception to the rule. I myself am not sure what to think about it: is it good, is it not? Are we selfish for using it, are we just dragging ourselves down, wasting precious energy?

After months of looking for the answer and the truth about AI usage, I realized this: I will probably never have a satisfying answer. At least, not a satisfying one from my point of view. And since I need some sort of closure before I move on, me, myself and I have agreed upon these rules:

Experiment, make mistakes
Understand it, use it wisely
And to quote a colleague: learn to drive before you upgrade the car

The fear of missing out on this technology is so big that most of us find ourselves dragged into it without being properly aware of what to expect and how to use it. And since I am a big fan of the human experience and how we interact with new technology, here are three talks I enjoyed that opened my eyes a little wider to the reality of AI and tech today:

Why tech has more to do with pop culture than with engineering: a very interesting talk by Julien Topçu on critical thinking, following trends, seeking new technology for the sake of it and a habit of rewriting the same things as if to confirm our presence and our legitimacy. A great invitation to reconnect with our creative, scientific, curious and innovative mind.
Does your product still have value without AI?: an interesting talk by Noémie Rivière on the importance of sobriety when it comes to developing new features. The AI branding should not trick us into adding useless functionalities just so we can shout at the top of our lungs: WE USE AI TOO. Noémie's talk was an invitation to avoid AI washing, focus on what matters, remain true to our principles and use AI to solve real problems rather than as a default solution.
CoeurIA, what if we rebuilt ChatGPT in the service of SolidarIT?: an amazing presentation by Julien Briault where he narrates their adventure, mindfully building their own AI cluster from scratch, seeking sobriety and simplicity rather than using existing services. An inspiring and heart-warming story about human ingenuity for the greater good. It'd been a long time since I last heard the words GreenIT and AI in the same context without them fighting each other.

All of these are available on YouTube if you want to listen to them while you run your Nth prompt of the day.

Being a woman in tech

I want to give its own section to another subject I wish I wasn't thinking about right now, because whenever I do, my heart beats faster and my neck tenses: one in two women leaves tech before the age of 35. That was the subject behind Anaïs Huet's talk.

A painfully honest and very real representation of normalized everyday sexism that I'm sure doesn't only exist in tech environments. But considering how few of us women there still are in this industry, it's important we point out what's wrong. Anaïs narrated a few personal stories, ranging from micro-aggressions to intrusive questions (are you expecting a second baby, by the way?) to physical violence in the middle of the workplace (followed by a not-so-innocent kidding! Can't you take a joke?).

Her conclusion, and a great one: no laughing, no minimizing what's happening, communicating, observing, and standing up for your female colleagues.

In any case, I'm thankful for the opportunity to not only be a part of this industry as a woman, but also be able to attend conferences like BDX I/O and soak in the culture and different points of view.

Cheers to learning, cheers to tech, cheers to women and cheers to humans, because we can do great things, when we want :).

DEV Community: Hind BOUCHERIT

Five years later: back to where I got my diploma, for BDX I/O

Going down memory lane

AI, and what speakers have to say about it

Being a woman in tech