Bertrand Delacretaz
Software engineer, ex Adobe (Principal Scientist), ex ASF Board of Directors (apache.org)
Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
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Bertrand Delacrétaz has spent more than 40 years building software that matters, notably for the Swiss Federal Parliament, the Swiss Television (RTS), and for Adobe, where he served as Principal Scientist before retiring in early 2026. A 14-year Apache Software Foundation Board member and open-source champion, he's been a regular conference speaker for over two decades. His motto: technology should serve people, not the other way around.
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Engineering & Ethics: Responsibility in a fast changing world
As engineers, we might build systems that shape millions of lives, but it's easy to lose sight of their broader impact. How do we balance the pressure to ship fast, or even AI-fast, with our responsibility to society?
This talk draws on 40+ years in software engineering to explore practical approaches to ethical decision-making in technical roles.
I'll share concrete examples of how individual engineers can make a difference, with empathy and persistence, and discuss when it makes sense to just walk away.
I'll also discuss strategies for raising concerns effectively, how to advocate for ethics without derailing your career.
There's no magic recipe for being an ethical engineer, but you can develop your own principles and the courage to act on them. This session will help you start building that practice, whether you're early in your career or a seasoned veteran reconsidering your path.
As with all my talks, this one can be presented in English or French.
The Power of Simplicity: Crafting Durable Sotfware Systems
Simplicity often takes a back seat in software engineering. Yet, it's absolutely key for creating durable and efficient systems.
Crafting simple software is hard and takes lots of efforts. It's about setting a high bar and persisting until the simplest solution emerges, which you can often tell by its beauty and efficiency.
This talk is based on more about 40 of software engineering experience, where the goal of essential simplicity has been reached in a few key projects. Digital audio recording, weather data management, interactive video kiosks, web app frameworks, the domains in which this happened are varied but a set of patterns emerges, that allowed us to reach high goals in terms of simplicity and efficiency in these projects.
There's no magic formula for simplicity, but our real-world examples will help you discover principles and a philosophy of simplicity that will help on your own journey.
As with all of my talks, this one can be presented in English or French.
Recording available at https://grep.codeconsult.ch/pressbook/
Maîtriser les fondamentaux du développement Web
Le développement web peut sembler simple. Il suffit de connaître HTML, CSS et JavaScript, et c'est parti, n'est-ce pas?
En pratique, les choses sont un peu plus compliquées.
Dès que votre site ou application devient populaire, ou simplement se montre sur le Web, vous serez confronté à de nombreux problèmes supplémentaires liés à la sécurité, aux performances, à la montée en charge, la compatibilité des navigateurs, aux contraintes des appareils mobiles, et bien plus encore.
HTML, CSS et JavaScript sont incontournables, mais dès que les besoins deviennent sérieux vous serez confrontés aux versions récentes du protocole HTTP, a des standards comme SSL et SVG, aux problématiques de livraison et l'optimisation d'images, aux problèmes de performance (Core Web Vitals,) à la gestion du cache et des CDN. Sans parler de CORS, CSRF, et autres acronymes sympathiques, la liste est longue!
"Savoir ce qu'on ne sait pas" est une compétence essentielle, et cette présentation vous aidera a faire le point sur vos connaissances et a les améliorer là où c'est nécessaire, en fournissant des liens pour approfondir les sujets abordés.
As with all of my talks, this one can be presented in English or French.
Recording available at https://grep.codeconsult.ch/pressbook/
Unleash the Power of Asynchronous Decision Making
The Asynchronous Decision Making techniques commonly used in open source projects enable efficient remote collaboration, in teams which have no boss, no schedule and often no cultural consistency yet produce world-changing software.
These very efficient collaboration techniques can even work without computers and apply to most types of projects, not just software development.
This talk describes the key elements and tools of the Asynchronous Decision Making process, based on more than twenty five years of experience in Open Source projects, as well as examples from federated governments, which, interestingly, work in a similar way.
It will help you apply similar principles in your own environment, for greater efficiency and happiness.
As with all of my talks, this one can be presented in English or French.
Recording available at https://grep.codeconsult.ch/pressbook/
Intelligence Artificielle, défis et perspectives
L’Intelligence Artificielle (IA) bouleverse notre quotidien à un rythme inédit, bien plus rapide que la révolution Internet de la fin du XXe siècle.
Face aux discours souvent contradictoires sur les enjeux et les qualités de l'IA, mieux comprendre les fondamentaux de cette technologie va nous aider à trouver un chemin praticable.
Pour ce faire, cette conférence vous emmène « sous le capot » des Grands Modèles de Langage (Large Language Models, LLM) et des services qui propulsent cette mutation. Loin du jargon technique, nous découvrirons leurs principes de base et leurs limites au travers d'exemples concrets.
Prédire l'avenir reste difficile, mais mieux comprendre comment l'IA fonctionne vous aidera a en tirer le meilleur parti, pour participer à cette évolution de manière responsable et durable.
As with all my talks, this one can be presented in French or English
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