My Experience at API Days Paris 2024

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Talks

I attended the API Days Paris 2024, held at La Défense on December 3–5. This was my second time participating in this event, and it brought back memories of my first experience a decade ago at the 2014 API Days.

Api Days Logo
Api Days Logo

At the time the event was only at its third edition — if I recall correctly — and much smaller in scale.
I had joined my very first hackathon there with two fellow students. While we didn’t win, we walked away with our heads held high by grabbing the award for “Best Disguise.” Of course, that might have been because we were the only team in this category.

Fast forward to 2024 and the event has grown exponentially. Spanning three days, with 11 rooms, over 300 speakers, and countless sessions, it is now a cornerstone of the API community.

Note

A big shoutout to Octo for sponsoring my ticket and making it possible for me to dive into this vibrant ecosystem!

I only went for a day, so here are my highlights from Day 2.

It kicked off with two insightful keynotes:

From there, attendees had to navigate a packed schedule of 11 simultaneous tracks, covering a vast array of API-related topics. I chose to focus on sessions centered around API Design and API Architecture.

Resources for API Enthusiasts
If you’re looking to get a better grasp of the API landscape or are feeling overwhelmed by the variety of tools and solutions available, check out the API Landscape. This comprehensive resource maps out the key stakeholders driving the programmable economy. Maintained by the community, it even allows you to submit your own API tools for inclusion.

Important

You can find my detailed notes on the talks I attended with insights, key takeaways, and actionable advice on my API Days Paris 2024 Talks post

My opinion on this day

The day covered a wide range of interesting topics, and there was certainly a lot to learn. It felt like a day full of choices, as the sheer variety of content could make it difficult to decide where to focus.

Personally, I chose not to attend the AI tracks, as I felt they didn’t align with my interests.

There were many company stands, and I did take a brief tour, though I didn’t have enough time to delve deeper. I would have needed to skip a talk to do so, but I didn’t feel it was worth missing out on the sessions I was most interested in. You can find below the list of the companies I want to take a look at.

The conference was well-attended, and the rooms were crowded in the morning, with some participants standing at the back. By the afternoon, however, standing was not allowed due to security concerns, which meant I had to adjust my schedule—either staying in certain rooms for the next talk or leaving early from others to ensure I had a seat.

There were also long lines for books signatures, which I decided to skip with some regret.

One suggestion would be to collect attendees’ talk preferences beforehand. I have been told that the Devoxx conference does this, and it seems to work well for organizing better attendance management.

All in all, the organization of the event was great. Despite the small hurdles, I was able to enjoy the day and gain valuable insights.

Throughout the day, I attended a variety of sessions, each offering unique perspectives on API design, architecture, and management. The recurring themes across the talks included the growing role of AI in API consumption, the importance of creating flexible and user-friendly API designs, and strategies for building scalable, maintainable systems.

Key highlights from the talks

  1. The Future of API Management and AI’s Role: Many talks, such as Mark O’Neil’s session, explored how API management is evolving, especially with AI-driven tools like AI gateways and API consumption by generative AI models. The rise of unbundled API management solutions was also discussed, as well as the importance of clear API contracts and standards to support innovation.
  2. Building Effective Platforms and APIs: Gregor Hohpe discussed how platforms should foster innovation by embracing speed and diversity, emphasizing that the best designs evolve and adapt over time. James Gough also highlighted the need for careful API architecture management, particularly when using API management platforms (APM), and the potential pitfalls like increased complexity and latency.
  3. Practical API Design Tools: Arnaud Lauret focused on simplifying the API design process, advocating for the use of API Design Kits that include capabilities, guidelines, and mock APIs to ensure consistency and clarity throughout development. He also highlighted the importance of documentation and shared standards, stressing that good design is intuitive but explicit.
  4. GraphQL vs. REST: Peter Milne compared GraphQL with REST, emphasizing the simplicity and flexibility of GraphQL, which allows for a cleaner separation of concerns and enables easier UI development with a single endpoint and unified communication protocol.
  5. API Design for Data Scientists: Rayan Day shared insights on how to design APIs that appeal to data scientists, emphasizing easy-to-use SDKs (especially in Python), clear documentation, and support for bulk data downloads and standard external IDs to facilitate data joining and updating.
  6. Designing APIs with Impact: Mike Amudsen focused on the essential assets required for successful API design, including defining the API story, using consistent vocabulary, and providing clear API diagrams. He also stressed the importance of modularity, good naming practices, and handling breaking changes with proper versioning and testing.
  7. Creating APIs for Real-world Applications: Ofir Zeevi emphasized starting with internal APIs first to leverage domain knowledge and optimize for different needs, then validating with MVPs and iterating through alpha and beta phases before releasing a public API. He also suggested having a specialty team to support continuous improvement and reviews.
  8. Modularizing APIs with Domain Storytelling: Henning Schwentner introduced Domain Storytelling, a technique that involves gathering domain knowledge through stories from domain experts. This method helps identify microservices boundaries, understand requirements, and ensure that the software aligns with real-world business processes.
  9. API Design Principles and Best Practices: Marco Pierobon shared a set of principles for designing robust APIs, focusing on flexibility, reusability, and clear naming conventions. He also covered topics like error handling, pagination, and how to handle long-running operations (LROs), emphasizing the importance of user-friendly documentation and aligning APIs with business goals.

Main Topics

Across all the talks, several main topics emerged:

  • AI Integration in APIs: Many speakers highlighted the increasing role of AI in both the creation and consumption of APIs, noting that AI-driven tools are reshaping how APIs are designed and used.
  • Flexibility and Modularity in API Design: A recurring theme was the need for APIs to be flexible, reusable, and modular. This includes designing APIs that can scale, evolve, and integrate with diverse systems without introducing unnecessary complexity.
  • Clear Communication and Documentation: A strong focus on clear, accessible documentation was a consistent theme. Whether through API Design Kits, OpenAPI specifications, or detailed guidelines, the importance of making APIs understandable and easy to use for developers and stakeholders was emphasized.
  • Building APIs with Business Impact in Mind: Speakers consistently noted the importance of aligning API design with business goals. This ensures that APIs not only serve technical needs but also address real-world problems and deliver value to end-users.

These themes provided a comprehensive view of the challenges and best practices in modern API design, offering valuable insights for both new and experienced developers.

Book list

Here a list of books written by the speakers I saw:

Companies that were there

This is not a complete list, but rather the ones I want to take a look at.

Learn more

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