Coderetreat in Montenegro
Data Engineering Camp
October 24–27, 2025

How it works:


A group of 15 people spends 4 days together in a historic olive mill, now restored into a cozy modern hostel by a mountain river. We take it slow: enjoy homemade food, hike in the mountains, learn engineering best practices at workshops, and share experiences. In the evenings we light a fire in the yard and continue discussions under the stars.

Workshops:
  • Igor Mosyagin

    Data-* specialist, wizard, and sorcerer
    • Pushed science forward until he got it out of the way
    • Calls himself a “pragmatic engineer who loves data analysis, Python, Linux, math rock, and quantum mechanics”
    • Once sat down and realized he had been teaching for 20+ years — stopped counting after that
    • Find him everywhere online as @shrimpsizemoose
    The Evolution of DE Orchestration: From cron to modern solutions
    No endless theory — we’ll dive straight into practice. We’ll take one business task (ML inference pipeline + alerting) and solve it three ways:
    1. Simple cron + scripts
    2. Using dramatiq for more complex logic
    3. Full-blown Airflow DAG
    Along the way, we’ll discuss architecture choices, operational overheads, and learn how to make informed decisions when choosing a stack.
    Audience:
    • Mid-level+ Data Engineers
    • Developers planning a move into DE
    • Anyone wanting to structure their knowledge of orchestration, from cron-only users to Airflow pros who want to understand alternatives and justify their tool choices better.
    Expected takeaways:
    • Clear understanding of trade-offs between different orchestration approaches
    • Hands-on experience building ML inference pipelines with monitoring using different stacks
    • Ready-to-use patterns for monitoring quality and performance of pipelines
    • Knowing when a simple solution beats a complex one — and when complexity is worth it
    Prerequisites:
    • Python at mid-level+
    • Basic Docker experience
    • Any task scheduling experience is a plus
    • No ML expertise required — we’ll use a pre-trained model
  • Nikolay Markov
    Infrastructure Engineer with 13+ years of experience designing systems using a variety of components and programming languages. Builds analytical architectures and Data Governance frameworks for companies across different countries. Lecturer of both corporate and university courses (NewProLab, Slurm, School 21, universities of Tbilisi and Bangkok). Speaker at multiple conferences (DevOps Pro Europe, PyData, SmartData, DataFest, Cebit, etc.), member of program committees (SmartData, Moscow Python Conf++), and co-organizer of data breakfasts. Currently — Technical Lead of the Data Platform engineering team at Altenar.

    Databases through the eyes of a Data Engineer

    We’ll look into how popular DBMSs work (the obvious and the not-so-obvious), how queries are executed, and what can be done to optimize them. Hands-on with local Postgres: reading query plans, building indexes, and rewriting a couple of “heavy” queries.
    Modern data storage formats and building a mini-lakehouse. We’ll spin up a local MinIO, launch an Iceberg catalog, explore snapshots, time travel, compaction, and schema evolution.
    Bonus: A quick look at DuckDB — trying it out to work directly with files.

    Audience:
    • Data Engineers who want to deepen their DB and storage understanding
    • Developers looking to sharpen performance tuning skills
    • Anyone curious about modern data formats
    Expected takeaways:
    • Practical skills for optimizing queries
    • Hands-on experience with modern storage formats
    • First steps with DuckDB for lightweight data analytics
  • One more workshop to be announce soon!
Camp dates: October 24–27, 2025

Location: the super-atmospheric The Grove Montenegro, Bar, Montenegro.
45 minutes by taxi or train from Podgorica airport.
7 minutes by taxi from Bar train station (Belgrade train).

Camp participation fees:

  • €450 – triple room
  • €490 – double room
  • €650 – single room

Included: accommodation, breakfast, lunch, dinner, hikes and transfers, participation in workshops.

Not included: transfer to the venue (we can help organize and coordinate with other participants), tourist tax.

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Organizer
Elena Mogilnikova, Individual Entrepreneur, TIN 661217489217
DOO "Optimizam MNE", BIP 03625877

Contacts:
Telegram: @vorona_karabuta (feel free to ask any questions)
Phone: +382 67 354813
Email: esmogilnikova@gmail.com

Have been organizing events for developers for more than 10 years: from major industry conferences like PyCon and GopherCon to cozy camps and parties. I’ve lived in Montenegro for 3 years, love the mountains, and know the most beautiful and delicious spots within a 300 km radius.