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Memories From FOSDEM 2024 — an Interview With Oliver Bartsch

Categories: Event Report, Community Created by Mathias Bolt Lesniak
A large crowd fills a lecture hall, with many people raising their hands. The room is packed with attendees seated in rows, and a projector is visible at the rear. The ceiling features multiple rows of lights.
“The opening was in a big room, and it felt like there were 2000 people there,” Oliver explained. Photo: RichiH / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
At the beginning of February 2025, TYPO3 Core developer Oliver Bartsch will return to FOSDEM, an enormous open-source event in Brussels. I had the opportunity to talk with him about his previous visit, in February 2024.

“I felt excited when I woke up on the first day of the conference,” Oliver told me — and rightly so. Every year, the FOSDEM conference hosts more than 5000 developers at the Free University of Brussels’s Solbosch campus, south-east of Brussels city center.

“I had never been to an event of this size before, and I was overwhelmed by the number of sessions.” According to the FOSDEM 2024 website, the event featured 948 speakers, 875 sessions, and 67 tracks in 35 rooms.

 TYPO3 Core Team member Oliver Bartsch visited FOSDEM in Brussels, Belgium, 3–4 February 2024, as part of the Meet TYPO3 initiative. See upcoming Meet TYPO3 events.

First Impression: Well-Organized and Very Big

“Arriving at the campus, my first impression was overwhelming. The opening was in a big room, and it felt like 2000 people were there,” Oliver explained. “The information was very well organized, with slides about how to contribute, how to connect to the self-hosted network infrastructure, and finally, how to connect with each other. It also gave a good overview of where to find sessions and where the exhibition booths were located.”

A crowded lecture hall filled with people seated on wooden benches. A large screen at the front displays a presentation slide. The atmosphere is attentive as everyone focuses on the speakers presentation.
Photo: Mathias Bolt Lesniak (CC BY)

After the opening, Oliver’s first stop was the main building, where all of the open source software developers had their stands. He collected a lot of stickers at the stands, and even got a MariaDB woolen hat after correctly answering which version was the latest stable.

Meeting the People Who Make Your Tools

“The stands were the best experience,” he told me. “I use open source every day and make it myself. Meeting the people behind the software I use every day was great. It’s the beauty of open source. You could talk with them and thank them and present your wishes. Imagine the difference to proprietary software, where all you can do is to fill in a support ticket that will never be answered.”

Still, it wasn’t always easy to meet everyone. The corridors were so full of people that it was difficult to get to the stands of the most popular projects. “I really wanted to thank Homebrew for their work, and they continuously had a huge crowd around their table. Despite that, I managed to pass on a thank-you message from a colleague to Frank from Nextcloud.”

People are gathered at a booth with a LibreOffice banner in a corridor. One person is sitting at the table, while others are standing and interacting. There are pamphlets and merchandise displayed on the table.
The LibreOffice stand at FOSDEM. Photo: Oliver Bartsch (CC BY)
A person holding a smartphone examines various smartwatch models connected by wires on a table. Several individuals are gathered around, engaging with the devices.
Run Linux on your smart watch. From the Linux on Mobile (Mobian, Sailfish OS, PureOS, UBports, MNT Research, postmarketOS) + Ubports stand. Photo: Oliver Bartsch (CC BY)

Many Sessions and Free Cookies

There were so many sessions at FOSDEM that Oliver found it difficult to choose: “Not because I wasn’t interested, but to find the perfect session, because there were so many.”

In the end, his favorite session was Brewing Free Beer with ESPHome and Home Assistant, with John Britton. “The speaker was into brewing and had automated the brewing process using microcontrollers and Home Assistant.” That really spoke to Oliver’s interest in smart home technology.

A classroom is filled with people seated and facing a large screen displaying a presentation titled Brewing Free Beer with ESPHome and Home Assistant by John Britton, at FOSDEM 2024.
Photo: Oliver Bartsch (CC BY)
A colorful timeline chart with overlapping rectangular blocks in shades of orange, blue, and brown. The blocks contain text, detailing various events. Simultaneous overlapping events are organized horizontally across the chart.
A screenshot including (only) some of the sessions on the first day of FOSDEM 2024.

“I also enjoyed some sessions about topics I’ve never been into, for example a session about mobile networks and one about Matrix.”

In addition to the sessions, there were some great attractions across the campus. For instance, Mozilla treated participants to free cookies — but only if they were using Firefox instead of Chrome.

A person stands inside a food truck, wearing a black shirt with a Firefox logo. The truck's counter displays assorted cookies. A sign reads, Not all roads lead to Chrome. The interior has shelves with ingredients and a small refrigerator.
Mozilla treated participants to free cookies — but only if they were using Firefox instead of Chrome. Photo: Christophe Hellodesign / Flickr (CC0)

CMS Day at FOSDEM

On the second day, Oliver spent most of his time in the CMS room (Collaboration and Content Management), organized by the Open Website Alliance, where he met friends from the TYPO3 community, as well as new faces from the Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress world. “I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect and exchange ideas across the different systems. It's fantastic to meet new people and to see a community forming that bridges the gaps between platforms and that fosters collaboration.”

A classroom filled with people seated at desks, attentively listening to speakers at the front. Banners for Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, and TYPO3, are visible behind the speakers. The room has a projector screen displaying a presentation.
The CMS room (Collaboration and Content Management) during the second day. The room was organized by the Open Website Alliance. Photo: Mathias Bolt Lesniak (CC BY)

“The event was awesome and I will absolutely go back,” Oliver summarized. “Unfortunately I had to leave early to catch my flight, but I managed to get most of the event. I stayed there late on the first day and got there early on the second day to get the most out of it. As one would expect from an open source event, it’s free to attend, which is great. I highly recommend everyone to participate in it at least once.” 

Oliver ended the interview by thanking his employer: “I would also thank my employer, b13, for giving me the opportunity to attend this event.”

FOSDEM 2025 will take place on the weekend of 1–2 February. Will you be there too? Then you’ll have a chance to meet Oliver Bartsch — and maybe other TYPO3 community members too.

Additional contributors for this article
  • Reviewer : Oliver Bartsch
  • Content Publisher : Mathias Bolt Lesniak

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