Rebels at Flutter & Friends: Connecting through code and community

Flutter & Friends is a conference designed not only to share knowledge, but to celebrate collaboration and community. Our teammate, Tero Tarvainen, joined the event in person, cycling through the city with fellow Flutter devs and diving into technical talks and late-night conversations. Here’s why Flutter & Friends is more than just another tech conference.

Building connections before the code

Unlike most tech conferences, Flutter & Friends begins with people, not presentations. The first day was dedicated to community-building: a group bike ride through Stockholm, a traditional Swedish dinner, and a pub quiz to break the ice.

– I talked with one of the founders, Alec Åström, about the idea behind Flutter and Friends. He shared how, at many tech conferences, it can be really hard to connect with people – especially if you’re more introverted, Tero tells.

– His approach was to flip the format: instead of throwing people straight into a big conference crowd, Flutter and Friends starts with smaller group activities. That way, by the time the actual sessions begin, you’ve already met people, shared experiences and built connections, Tero adds.

This approach reflects values we share at Rebel App Studio by Codemate. We believe that strong technical work is built on trust and collaboration, and that happens naturally when people know each other beyond job titles and GitHub handles. Whether it’s company trips, movie nights or other activities, we invest in building great teams alongside delivering high-quality, expert solutions.

All about the talks

The mix of low-level technical talks, big-picture architecture and creative real-world examples made the programme both inspiring and practical. Filip Hracek opened with “The Boring Keynote”, which challenged the idea that only glamorous features matter – and actually, it’s the boring things that make glamorous things possible. Also, Slava Egorov earns a special praise for his deep dive into isolates and concurrency; his ability to balance low-level technical details with humour made the session both insightful and memorable.

For Tero, some sessions opened new perspectives, and also things that he might not usually spend time researching. For example, Anna Leuschenko made Dart annotations click in a way he didn’t expect, while Morgan Hunt shared thought-provoking ideas about architecting for massive scale. Even while the listener might not agree with every detail, it’s valuable to hear another angle. 

– The best part, though, was being able to continue the conversations with speakers and attendees afterwards – something you can’t replicate by just watching the talks online, Tero says.

Friendships, afterparties and midnight swim

After a full day of talks, it was time to turn things up. The Flutter in the Dark afterparty, where devs faced each other in a tournament mode, trying to solve a problem. Smoke, lights, DJ, Flutter – what else would you need for a great party?

And just when you thought it was over: midnight swim time. A group of Flutter devs from around the world jumped into chilly water under the city lights. 

– There’s nothing like bonding after a midnight swim, Tero says.

Hacking, workshops and goodbyes

The last day was for workshops and Hackeroo. While Tero skipped the official workshops, he spent the day hacking on e-ink nametags and coding the Flame game.

– And then, way too soon, it was time to thank the organisers and go home. I came back full of ideas and inspiration, Tero sums up.

Final thoughts: Why it matters

Flutter & Friends reminds us that building software is as much about people as it is about platforms. At the conference, Tero noticed that it didn’t matter whether someone was just taking first steps with Flutter, or had been coding for decades – everyone was welcome, and everyone wanted to help each other forward. When developers connect, share, and learn together, it shows up in the code – and in the culture.

We’re happy to support that kind of community!

Header image: Flutter & Friends