Your name could be here.
The first edition's speakers come straight from the CFP. If you've got a production-grade lesson worth sharing, submit a talk — selection is free and on merit.
Submit a talkRaptors Conference · Online · 23 September 2026
Production-grade lessons from the real world
A free, online conference from Hackathon Raptors. Deep, practical, battle-tested engineering talks — the failures you learned from, the systems you scaled, the tradeoffs you'd defend. A peer-reviewed program, broadcast across a single day, with live Q&A.
- When
- 23 September 2026
- Where
- Online
- Format
- Peer-reviewed talks
- Attendance
- Free
01 About
Real lessons from real production, not slideware.
Any stack welcome — frontend, backend, DevOps, ML, data, security — as long as it's a real, hard-won production lesson. Every talk is reviewed by a panel and selected on merit.
Hackathon Raptors runs serious, high-signal events — System Collapse, Port Mortem, Code Resurrection, Slop Scan, Code Olympics. The conference is where that community shares what it has actually learned shipping software under pressure.
Every submission is reviewed by our panel and selected on merit. The chosen talks are broadcast across a single day with live Q&A, then captioned and archived afterward — so the best speakers worldwide can take part, regardless of timezone. Submitting is free. Attending is free.
- 2,500+
- Community
- 85+
- Countries
- Free
- To attend
- 1 day
- Broadcast
02 Speakers
The lineup is being selected right now.
Speakers are chosen from the open call for papers — on merit, by our review panel. The first names, including invited keynotes, are announced in early September.
03 Topics
Any stack. One bar: it has to be real.
We don't sort by technology — we sort by truth. Bring a failure you learned from, a system you scaled, or a tradeoff you'd defend. Talks are pitched at a level: Junior, Mid or Senior.
FE 01
Frontend
Where the users actually are.
Performance under real load, rendering at scale, the framework migration that hurt, accessibility you can't fake.
BE 02
Backend
The part that pages you at 3am.
APIs, queues, consistency, the database decision you'd make differently, the outage you'll never forget.
Ops 03
DevOps & Infra
Keeping it up.
CI/CD, observability, incident response, cost, and the migration that looked simple on the whiteboard.
ML 04
ML & Data
Beyond the demo.
Shipping, evaluating and maintaining ML and data systems in production — including when the model changes under you.
Sec 05
Security
Assume breach.
Supply chains, auth, secrets, and the threat models that should keep you up at night but probably don't.
Arch 06
Architecture & Scale
Decisions you live with.
The tradeoff you'd defend, the rewrite that paid off (or didn't), and what scale actually taught you.
04 How it works
From call for papers to broadcast day.
One open call, one review panel, one broadcast day. Here's the path from submission to a published, archived talk.
- Open now
Call for papers
Submit a talk on any production-grade topic. Free to apply, open to speakers worldwide.
- 28 Aug 2026
CFP closes
Last day to submit your talk for the first edition.
- 4 Sep 2026
Speakers selected
Our panel reviews every submission and selects talks on merit. Everyone hears back.
- 14 Sep 2026
Final talks due
Selected speakers finalize their talks with our simple guidelines.
- 23 Sep 2026
Broadcast day
All selected talks broadcast across a single day, with live Q&A on Discord.
- Early Oct 2026
Proceedings published
Abstracts published with a Crossref DOI; talks captioned and archived on raptors.dev.
The talks that change how you build aren't the ones with the cleanest slides — they're the ones with the scar tissue.
— Hackathon Raptors
05 Speak & get recognized
Speaking is free. Recognition is optional.
Talks are selected on merit and speaking is always free — the Free option keeps it that way. The paid packages are optional add-ons for extra recognition around your talk; they don't affect your spot. You'll only see these after your talk is accepted.
Free
$0 always free
Your spot, confirmed on merit.
- Talk streamed during the broadcast + short Q&A
- Talk hosted on raptors.dev afterward
- “Speaker” badge in Discord
Speaker
$149 one-time
Everything in Free, plus:
- Speaker Certificate
- Signed Letter of Appreciation
- Speaker Verification letter
- Featured profile on the Speakers page
- “I'm speaking” promo graphic
Featured
$249 one-time
Everything in Speaker, plus:
- Feature across our LinkedIn + Instagram
- Your own article on the raptors.dev blog
- Abstract published with a Crossref DOI in the Proceedings
Spotlight
$399 one-time
Everything in Featured, plus:
- ~2,600-word feature article about you in a real tech outlet
- Named spotlight in the official event recap
- Premium promotion across our channels
Keynote
$499 one-time
Everything in Spotlight, plus:
- Press release announcing you to news outlets
- Headliner placement — photo + name in the hero, plus a “Headliner” badge
- Mention in the announcement email
- Opening-session slot
No payment is required to apply or to speak — packages are optional and offered only after your talk is accepted. Student and community rates available: email hello@raptors.dev.
06 Proceedings
Talks that get published, not just streamed.
Selected talks become part of the Proceedings of the Raptors Conference — a citable, archived record of the work presented, not a video that disappears into a feed.
Crossref DOI
Featured talks publish an abstract with a permanent Crossref DOI — citable, discoverable, and part of the scholarly record.
Captioned & archived
Every talk is captioned and hosted on raptors.dev, so the work lives on long after broadcast day.
Public & verifiable
A public proceedings page with abstracts, DOIs and speaker pages — externally verifiable, by design.
Run by Hackathon Raptors
A global engineering community that runs serious, high-signal events — and now puts the lessons on the record.
System CollapsePort MortemCode Resurrectionsudo make worldSlop ScanCode Olympics
- 2,500+
- Community members
- 85+
- Countries represented
07 Call for papers
Got a hard-won production lesson? Submit a talk.
We're looking for the best speakers worldwide to share deep, practical, battle-tested engineering content with our community. Any stack — as long as it's a real lesson from real work. Submitting is free, and so is attending.
Submit your talk- 15, 30 or 45-minute talks — any stack
- Reviewed by our panel and selected on merit
- No fee to apply — speaking is free
- First-time speakers welcome
08 FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is it online or in person?
Fully online. All selected talks are broadcast across a single day — 23 September 2026 — with live Q&A on Discord, so you can take part from anywhere.
How much does it cost to attend?
Attendance is free for the Raptors community — Fellows, past judges and members. Tap 'Attend free' to get the viewing link. If you're not part of the community yet, joining takes a minute.
Do I have to pay to speak?
No. Talks are selected on merit and speaking is free. After your talk is accepted, you can optionally choose a recognition package for extra visibility — but it never affects whether you're selected.
What kind of talks are you looking for?
Real, hard-won production lessons on any stack — frontend, backend, DevOps, ML, data, security. A failure you learned from, a system you scaled, a tradeoff you'd defend. Talks are pitched at a level: Junior, Mid or Senior.
How long are the talks?
You can submit a 15, 30 or 45-minute talk. Pick the length that fits your story.
How are talks selected?
Every submission is reviewed by our panel and selected on merit. Everyone who submits hears back — selected speakers get the details and next steps.
What are the Proceedings?
Selected talks become part of the Proceedings of the Raptors Conference. Featured speakers publish an abstract with a permanent Crossref DOI, and every talk is captioned and archived on raptors.dev.
I've never spoken before. Can I still submit?
Yes — we actively want first-time speakers. If your talk is selected, we'll send simple guidelines to help you prepare. Substance beats polish.
When does the call for papers close?
The CFP for the first edition closes 28 August 2026. Speakers are notified in early September, ahead of the 23 September broadcast.