It's a wrap at DevSparks Bengaluru 2025: Here’s all that happened

YourStory’s DevSparks Bengaluru, which saw a grand start despite the pouring rains, brought together more than 1,000 developers and over 25 speakers under one roof.

The event also saw the launch of Builders’ Guild, which supports developers working in AI, DevOps, data security, and cloud technologies. In partnership with HackerEarth, GeekyAnts, and The Product Folks, the initiative offers curated events, meetups, and platforms for knowledge sharing.

The opening session by Kamesh Sampath, Lead Developer Advocate, Snowflake, was on how leading businesses are leveraging Snowflake’s native LLM capabilities to restructure data cultures, the architecture implications of AI-augmented data workflows.

“Humans can never be replaced. Without developers, AI can’t do anything…The future of tech isn’t AI vs humans — it’s AI with humans. And it’s already here,” said Sampath.

He shared a sneak peek into the future with Snowflake Cortex, showing how native LLM integration is revolutionising data pipelines. 

Developers also heard a lightning talk by Anupam Mishra, Director of Solution Architecture at AWS India and South Asia, who shed light on how AI is quietly rewriting the rules of user experience, saying, “The promise of AI is: no UI.”

In yet another lightning talk, Vishwastam Shukla, CTO, HackerEarth discussed code as a commodity and the shift in value creation. While once people would pay for writing code, with AI that is no longer the case and developers must evolve with the changing times. “The entry barriers are higher for you to land a job in the industry today; you will have to have additional skills,” he said.

“The future is about managing a swarm of AI agents to multitask for you,” he added.

In a lightning talk on becoming a GenAI wizard, Siddhant Goswami, Co-founder, 100xEngineers, discussed the importance of community-driven programmes. While the usual online courses see about 5-6% completion rates, “Our community-driven programme hits 49%. Why? Because learning with like-minded people pushes you further,” he said.

The GenAI race is no longer just about chips, but building an ecosystem from edge to enterprise. Reiterating the same, Jigar Halani, Director of Solution Architect & Engineering at NVIDIA, said, “We are no longer a chip company, we are a full-fledged platform company.”

Halani highlighted the growing emphasis among organisations on efficiency, scalability, and cost-effectiveness as they move from labs to real-world deployment of GenAI solutions across sectors.

Talent at GCCs

The event also hosted a panel discussion on how Global Captive Centres GCCs are redefining innovation hubs. Panelists included Kaushik Das, Managing Director, JCPenney India, Hariharan Ganesan, VP – Data, Analytics & Reporting, Rolls-Royce Data Labs, and Vineet Mehta, Executive, Software Engineering & IT, Telstra, and the session was moderated by Smitha Hemmigae, Managing Director – Marketing & Employer Brand, ANSR, Talent500, 1Wrk.

The discussion focused on the evolution of GCCs in India into innovation hubs, driving value creation and strategic outcomes.

“A GCC isn’t a silo— t’s part of a bigger family. The real value lies in driving outcomes that move the business forward, not just tracking savings on a KPI sheet,” said Das.

“Our India centre isn’t just an extended arm—it’s an equal voice at the table,” said Ganesan.

As GCCs evolve into innovation hubs, the focus is shifting from coding faster—it’s about solving smarter, with heart and boldness.

“Be fearless with innovation—you’ve got nothing to lose. And always build with empathy—step into the user’s shoes,” said Mehta.

What once used to take years of research now takes merely seconds, and the reason behind it is AI.

Manish Gupta, Senior Director, Google DeepMind during a lightning talk on what’s cooking at Google DeepMind, said, “A decade ago, uncovering the structure of a single protein meant a PhD’s worth of work and nearly five years of research. Today, thanks to AlphaFold — recognised with the 2024 Nobel Prize — it takes just seconds.”

In yet another panel discussion, KB Shiv Kumar, EVP & CTO, Yotta, Dale Vaz, Founder & CEO, Sahi.com, Ramkumar Venkatesan, CTO, Cashfree Payments, and Aditya Mohanty, Co-founder, The Product Folks, discussed building faster SDLCs with AI.

The panel explored concepts such as leveraging AI to accelerate software development life cycles (SDLCs) and product life cycles.

“Generating boilerplate code is a major focus area for us—and we’ve already started. It saves significant time during setup and accelerates productivity from a coding perspective,” said Kumar.

Meanwhile, Vaz discussed the importance of leveraging AI from the very beginning. “With just 10 engineers, we built a complete broking platform—app, charts, full tech stack. That was only possible because we leveraged AI from day one. As a startup trying to compete, AI is extremely important,” he said.

Venkatesan discussed the interconnected function of AI, “From fraud detection to customer support, AI is no longer a siloed function—it’s embedded across the stack to ensure speed, security, and quality at every level,” he said. He added that At Cashfree Payments, AI is becoming a part of every team.

“Whether you’re in a job or not, the future belongs to generalists — developers, designers, PMs — who know what they want and can clearly articulate it,” said Mohanty, who believes in investing time in learning new tools, which will in turn reduce the time taken for various tasks.

Fast-tracking tech careers

The event saw a panel discussion on how GCCs fast-track tech careers. The panel included Ashutosh Dabral, MD – India and CPO Marketplace Platforms Falabella, Surendra Bashani, Head of BBY India | Driving Innovation for Best Buy, and Manu Dhir, General Manager – India, StoneX Group Inc.

Dabral discussed the power of the right tools and mentorship and said, “Give Indian teams the right tools and mentorship, and they’ll build world-class solutions. That’s why global tech has trusted India for decades.”

According to Bashani, it’s no longer just about execution, and India is at the core of global decision-making. “The GCC industry will hit $120B in five years—the same as SBI and Axis Bank’s combined market cap. That’s the scale we’re looking at,” added D’Silva.

For the complete DevSparks 2025 coverage, click here.