18 posts tagged with "DefconQ"

Let’s be honest: learning KDB/Q can sometimes feel like going to the gym. You know it’s good for you. You know you should keep practicing. But after a long day of debugging code, fighting with type errors, and wondering why your function suddenly returned a rank error, the last thing you want is to sit down and read another page of documentation.

That’s exactly why we’re launching the DefconQ Weekly KDB/Q Challenge.

The idea is simple: have a bit of fun, keep your Q brain sharp, and improve your KDB/Q skills on the side, without it feeling like homework. Every week, a new KDB/Q challenge will be posted on the DefconQ Community Discord Server, and everyone is invited to participate.

The DefconQ Community Server is officially live. Over the last few years, DefconQ has grown from a simple technical blog into something much bigger: a growing community of KDB/Q developers, engineers, quants, and vector programming enthusiasts who genuinely care about learning, building, and pushing the ecosystem forward. Launching a dedicated community server felt like the natural next step.

If you’ve been around the KDB/Q ecosystem for a while, chances are you’ve come across the legendary Iverson College. Founded by former KX Librarian Stephen Taylor in honour of Kenneth E. Iverson, the inventor of APL, the college has been running since 2011. After a brief hiatus between 2018 and 2023, it made a strong return in 2024. This year DefconQ joins forces with Stephen to reconvene the College at one of its favourite venues: Milden Hall.

The DefconQ Events are back, and this time, we’re taking over The Globe. Well...the Globe at Moorgate.

As promised, I’m hosting a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on November 13th, 2025, where I will be answering all your questions about KDB/Q, the world’s most powerful time-series database and array programming language.

Over the years, I’ve received countless messages about:

• 💡 How to start learning KDB/Q
• 🚀 Career paths and progression in the KDB/Q ecosystem
• 📚 Best learning resources and study plans
• ⚙️ Real-world applications and architecture insights

So instead of replying to everyone one by one, let’s bring it all together. The AMA will run for 24 hours, and you will be able to ask your questions completely anonymously.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

DefconQ

You can find the link here: Reddit DefconQ AMA

Last week marked one of my professional highlights of the year, the long-awaited Quant Strats conference finally took place! Hosted on October 14–15 at Convene 22 Bishopsgate in London, the event delivered two action-packed days filled with cutting-edge insights, technical deep dives, and forward-thinking discussions at the intersection of quantitative finance, AI, and data infrastructure. Just like last year, this blog post will recap the event and share some of the key highlights. Among them was undoubtedly my KDB/Q Masterclass, a deep dive into Wall Street’s most powerful array programming language and real-time database. Keep reading to find out more.

The past two weeks have been exciting. To mark DefconQ’s two-year anniversary, I hosted not just one, but two Happy Hours, one in Belfast and another in New York. Adding to the excitement, I joined a panel at one of the most prominent conferences in quant finance, right in the heart of New York. Since I was already there, I also spent some time working from my client’s office, a leading hedge fund on Wall Street. If you couldn’t make it to any of these events, no worries, this blog post recaps all the highlights.

It’s hard to believe, but DefconQ just turned two!

What began as a small personal hobby, mainly to improve my own KDB/Q skills, has since evolved into a full-fledged side project and growing community. I never expected the blog to gain such traction, nor could I have imagined the incredible feedback and connections it would bring.

I’m truly grateful to everyone who has supported DefconQ along the way, whether you’ve subscribed to the newsletter, liked or reshared a LinkedIn post, attended a community meet-up, or simply read an article. Your encouragement and engagement mean the world to me.

As is now tradition, I’d love to share some of the highlights from the past year. Let’s take a look back and celebrate what we’ve built together. And if you’re wondering who won the FREE PREMIUM ticket to Quant Strats Europe 2025, where I’ll be hosting a KDB/Q Masterclass, keep reading. The winner is revealed in this blog post!

One of the true highlights of last year was being invited to Iverson College 2024, an initiative led by Stephen Taylor, a long-standing advocate of APL and other array programming languages. Stephen is widely known in the KDB/Q community for his contributions, particularly his work on much of the documentation still available on code.kx.com. This post features a short video created by Miki Yamanouchi, a London based photographer and film maker, and captures key moments from the event. A heartfelt thank you to Stephen for being not just an ambassador for array programming, but a true cornerstone of our community.

Because of a scheduling conflict and the unavailability of Stephen Taylor, panelist of the well-known ArrayCast, I had the privilege of stepping in for my third appearance, this time as a (guest) panelist. Or, as the former ice hockey player in me would say, I got called up as the backup goalie.

In this episode, we welcomed Ashok Reddy, CEO of KX, who shared insights on the newly released KDB-X Community Edition. We covered the motivations behind this move, the current state of the community edition, and what’s coming next on the roadmap.

If you’re curious about KDB/Q, what the new community edition brings to the table, and our broader discussion, I highly recommend tuning in.