What Kafka’s modernization journey can show us | Hitting the AI productivity paradox? | Spotify’s bold AI moves raise questions | New DPEU course: Authoring Gradle Plugins | Open DPE and AI positions around the world!


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FEATURED UPCOMING EVENT

🌐 Mar-12: Lessons learned modernizing Apache Kafka CI builds with Develocity and GitHub Actions

You've probably heard the phrase, "You can’t improve what you can't measure." This was true for CI build and test times for the popular OSS streaming platform, Apache Kafka. And this very lack of observability finally led the project committers to hit their breaking point.


As a result, Apache Kafka underwent a major overhaul in 2025—going from a nearly inexcusable 8-hour build cycle to evergreen 2-hour builds. All by modernizing their CI infrastructure away from Jenkins to GitHub Actions.


On Mar-12, we welcome David Arthur, Apache Kafka PMC and Senior Staff Software Engineer at Confluent, as he shares his lessons-learned from the migration, including how Develocity helped quantify performance gains and prove their modernization ROI.



Register here

IDEAS & INSIGHTS

Why pipeline acceleration is now a strategic imperative

Is your organization hitting the "AI developer productivity paradox"—where faster coding doesn't lead to faster delivery—because it turns out that your pipeline is now the bottleneck?


As build volumes are projected to increase by up to 500% over the next three years, the limiting factor is no longer how fast we write code, but how fast we can validate and release it.


Strategic acceleration is the only sustainable path to maintaining high-performing DORA metrics in this new era. This means:

  • Comprehensive caching: Implementing a “Build Artifact CDN” and universal caching to eliminate redundant work across the entire toolchain.

  • Feedback optimization: Reducing build and test latency to prevent idle time, context switching, and cognitive fatigue.

  • Resilient throughput: Using predictive test selection and intelligent reuse to convert infrastructure spending into actual shipped value.

Read more

IDEAS & INSIGHTS

The AI "Conductor": Is Spotify trading expertise for velocity?

Spotify’s shift to AI-led development with Claude Code and "Honk" is a bold productivity play, but recent industry findings on skill formation suggest a looming crisis.


While output soars, we risk a future in which engineers become mere orchestrators of logic they can no longer deeply understand, explain, or troubleshoot. Research from Anthropic highlights the risk of technical atrophy when developers bypass the manual rigor needed for conceptual mastery. 

Without this deep engagement, will "conductors" miss systemic security flaws or accumulate unmanageable technical debt? Prioritizing speed over manual mastery creates a quality blind spot that could jeopardize long-term platform reliability and innovation.


So if velocity is your goal, you don’t have to make sacrifices in quality—accelerate development safely and observably with Develocity Universal Cache.


Learn more

DPE UNIVERSITY

New course! Sign up for “Authoring Gradle Plugins”

Need custom build functionality that scales across your organization? 


In our new DPE University course Authoring Gradle Plugins, you’ll learn the technical architecture required to extend your build's capabilities and improve developer workflows, moving beyond standalone tasks to create reusable, publishable Gradle project plugins. 


Key learning areas include:

  • Core pillars: Master Extensions for configuration, Custom Tasks for functionality, and the Plugin Class for component integration.

  • Robust testing: Implement unit and functional tests with the Gradle Runner to ensure reliability in real-world scenarios.

  • Hands-on development: Practice project setup, property providers, and the Problems API through guided exercises.

Learn more

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

DPE (and AI) job openings

The industry needs you! You might find your dream role among these job openings related to DPE, AI developer productivity, and engineering leadership.


NOTE: These postings are active at the time of sending but are subject to change.


Gradle’s customers are hiring: 

Other open positions around the world:

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