Iryna Kostiuk

Passionate about Functional Programming, Distributed Systems, and Technology Evolution

Iryna holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, and her professional software engineering journey began with Erlang in 2018. Starting with BEAM in production gave her an early appreciation for distributed systems, fault tolerance, and the challenges of building reliable software at scale.

Since then, she has worked across travel, healthcare, government document circulation, and fintech, building and operating systems while exploring different technologies, architectures, and approaches to solving complex engineering problems.

She is particularly interested in distributed systems, technology adoption, and how AI is reshaping software engineering.

Talk:
When AI Writes the Code, What Matters More: Language or Runtime?

For decades, programming language popularity has been one of the strongest forces behind technology adoption.

But what happens when AI can help developers write code in languages they’ve never used before?

Does ecosystem size still matter? Does hiring become less important? Could runtime characteristics become a more important differentiator than language familiarity?

As AI changes how software is built, some long-standing assumptions about technology selection may no longer hold. This talk explores what happens when the cost of learning a language approaches zero—and what that could mean for BEAM.

Key Takeaways:

  • Learn how AI is reshaping the relationship between developers, programming languages, and runtimes.
  • Understand why language popularity may become less influential in technology adoption.
  • Explore the implications of AI-assisted onboarding for BEAM technologies.
  • Examine which platform characteristics continue to matter when AI helps bridge knowledge gaps.
  • Develop a new perspective on BEAM’s opportunities in the AI era.

Target Audience:

  • Engineers, architects, engineering managers, and technology leaders interested in how AI is changing software development, technology adoption, and the future competitiveness of BEAM.