We’re wrapping up WebExpo 2025 with Part 4, spotlighting the more intimate and occasionally cheeky Small Cinema. This stage hosted the ever-popular “Discomfort Zone” sessions with Riki Fridrich, known for candid conversations and a dose of refreshing honesty.
True to its name, the Discomfort Zone tackled the awkward, the avoided, and the all-too-relatable sides of tech and careers. As Honza Mayer put it: “The discomfort zone is a place where we talk about things that people do not like to talk about, but needs to be talked about.”
Diving deep (and sometimes humorously) into the Discomfort Zone
The lineup was packed with speakers who didn’t pull any punches, making for some truly quotable moments:
In “Discomfort Zone: Are You Worth It?”, Riki Fridrich and René Napravil took on the tricky subject of personal value and pay in the workplace. Their discussion touched on salary negotiation, the limits of metrics, and why understanding your impact matters. René summed it up simply: “If you want to maximise your income, this is definitely one of the ways to do it.” They also addressed global outsourcing and shifting wage trends, urging professionals to keep learning and stay business-savvy to remain competitive.
In a particularly engaging session, Tomáš Litera and Riki Fridrich led participants in building a tier list for web developers, blending humour with sharp commentary on tools and roles. Designers and lead engineers both landed in ‘F’ tier—designers for favouring creativity over structure, and lead engineers for juggling code with calendars. As Tomáš quipped, “Being a lead engineer is a nightmare. I’m constantly trading my coding skills for calendar kills.” Riki Fridrich didn’t hold back on programming languages either, proclaiming “So JavaScript is a f*cking stupid language, you know, designed to be run for simple tasks in the web browser. Now, let’s make it a server-side language”, adding that “TypeScript is an attempt to fix a broken language. And they both suck. Sorry”. The session highlighted the shared frustrations and ongoing evolution within web development.
Martin Cízler, drawing from his extensive experience at corporate giants like Microsoft and Oracle, bravely shared the discomfort of transitioning from corporate life to a smaller business in his session, “How to Survive the Jump from Corporate to Small Biz“. He pinpointed the loss of established processes and the minimal infrastructure of smaller entities as initial frustrations, underscoring the vital need for flexibility and adaptability. Martin’s advice focused on embracing an entrepreneurial mindset, stepping beyond job descriptions, and taking on responsibility. He colorfully candidly remarked on the initial uncertainty, stating, “You need to be ready to kind of like blur the lines and basically assume … nothing is going to happen”. When you’re in a smaller team, sometimes you just need to get shit done, yourself.
Hana Rippelová navigated the intricate balance between legacy systems and the imperative for fresh technological solutions in her chat, “Legacy versus Fresh”. She discussed the impressive longevity of systems running for decades, like those built on COBOL, while acknowledging the challenge of deciding when to upgrade or completely rewrite complex, interconnected applications. The conversation shed light on the need for stakeholder feedback and emphasised that developers often feel overlooked in these decisions, leading to a call for better cross-team communication. Riki Fridrich humorously captured a developer’s common concern when he asked, “So basically, you don’t care if it works. You just care about if it’s covered by tests, right?”. Hana ultimately advocated for thoughtful, incremental modernisation over sweeping change.
For those pondering a shift, Michael Žabka joined Riki Fridrich in “So… You Want to Become a Manager?” to unravel the journey from a technical role to a managerial one. They put forward the view that the motivation for management should extend beyond financial gains, focusing on personal growth and team development. The session stressed the crucial blend of technical skills and soft skills like communication and problem-solving. Riki Fridrich offered a blunt take on technical credibility, warning, “If the manager of IT people is not a technical person themselves, it’s really easy to bullshit them”. The discussion served as a roadmap, highlighting the importance of a gradual transition and understanding team dynamics.
Honza Mayer tackled the controversial theme of viewing “people as numbers” in his candid discussion. He shared his personal evolution from a people-centric startup culture to recognising that, in larger corporate structures, performance often trumps culture. This dialogue focused on team dynamics, motivation, and aligning individual aspirations with organisational goals, drawing from experiments like Google’s own team productivity. Riki, in voicing his own view, offered an intriguing perspective on work-life balance, advising, “If your dream is to be lazy, you have to work hard”.
Finally, the ever-relevant topic of remote work was confronted head-on by Riki Fridrich and Radek Vokál in “Working from home – a career killer?”. Radek expressed a strong preference for in-person collaboration, citing spontaneous brainstorming and enhanced team cohesion, while a significant concern raised was the potential for career stagnation for remote workers. Radek Vokál encapsulated this worry with the stark phrase, “Out of sight, out of mind”. Riki Fridrich added to the sentiment, warning, “If you are at home, you have no chance to shmooze with your manager in person. And when he decides who he will promote, it will be his office buddies”. This session was a reminder for remote workers to proactively communicate and maintain visibility.
The Important Discussions: Accessibility in Practice
In addition to the Discomfort Zone sessions, the Small Cinema also hosted one standout panel discussion: a powerful conversation on accessibility led by Radek Pavlíček “Accessibility in practice – why customer experience trumps legal requirements”, the panel brought together Michaela Holubec Birtusová, Daniel Göransson, and Lukáš Hosnedl far beyond mere legal mandates. They emphasised that accessibility is a continuum affecting everyone, not just those with permanent disabilities, extending to temporary and contextual disabilities like a broken limb or environmental distractions. The discussion highlighted that good design for accessibility is essentially universal design, improving the user experience for everyone, not just a niche group. The core message was that accessibility should be seen as an opportunity to enhance user engagement and satisfaction, ultimately benefiting businesses, rather than just a legal obligation. This requires continuous learning and collaboration among diverse professionals, reinforcing that accessibility is an integral component of a superior customer experience.
And that wraps up our four-part journey through the WebExpo Conference 2025! The Small Cinema, with its “Discomfort Zone” and “Discussions,” truly lived up to its reputation for candid, insightful, and often amusing conversations, leaving us all with plenty to ponder (and maybe a few laughs). We hope you enjoyed this dive into the heart of the conference!