Clojure South: Nubank brings the community together in Brazil and beyond

When Nubank began its journey, we knew that scaling infrastructure alone wouldn’t be enough — we also needed predictability, clarity, and simplicity. Choosing Clojure was part of that path. The functional language brings concepts like immutability, a fast-feedback ecosystem powered by the REPL, and elegant ways to explore problems — all of which aligned perfectly with what we set out to build.

Cognitect, the organization that maintains Clojure and Datomic, has been an indirect partner in this engineering culture, one that values not only what we deliver but also how we deliver it.

With that in mind, we’re excited to announce the second edition of Clojure South, scheduled for October 6–7, 2025, in São Paulo and organized by Nubank. The conference was designed to be a moment of connection, hands-on learning, and exchange among those already using Clojure & Datomic, the curious, those considering adoption, and anyone eager to grow as a developer.

What to expect from the program

The Clojure South agenda is designed to deliver value from the very start, with practical content, inspiring talks, and opportunities for technical reflection. On October 6, the focus will be on workshops tailored to different levels of experience.

In the morning, Christoph Neumann, Clojure Developer Advocate, will lead an Introduction to Clojure workshop. This hands-on session will cover the essentials: syntax, immutable data structures, and REPL-driven development. With live coding and exercises, participants will leave able to write their own programs in Clojure.

In the afternoon, Carolina Silva and Hanna Figueiredo, Software Engineers, will host a Datomic workshop, exploring the database as a fact-oriented system. Participants will dive into transactions, Datalog queries, working with temporal data, and how immutable data modeling enables new ways of thinking about history, auditing, and system evolution.

On October 7, the conference will highlight inspiring presentations from both Brazilian and international speakers. Among the keynotes, Alessandra Sierra, Principal Software Engineer, will reflect on the 12-year journey of the Component library in her talk “12 Years of Component.” Alex Miller, also a Principal Software Engineer, will explore the “Joy of Data,” showing how Clojure makes it easy to treat data as values that can be transformed and composed seamlessly. 

 Across both days, there will be simultaneous translation in Portuguese, Spanish, and English to ensure that language is never a barrier to participation. The program will also include moments for informal connection, such as a welcome coffee, coffee breaks, and a happy hour, all designed to strengthen ties between participants, speakers, and companies.

Why it matters

The program offers two dimensions of value. The first is practical experience: workshops go beyond listening, giving attendees the chance to apply, test, make mistakes, and learn. This helps internalize concepts that often remain abstract.

The second is real-world visibility: seeing how companies apply Clojure & Datomic in production, understanding concrete challenges, and learning from practitioners who have already done it. This shortens the gap between “curiosity” and “adoption,” whether for small teams or large organizations.

Clojure South 2025 will take place at Nubank’s Spark office, located at Av. Manuel Bandeira, 346 — Vila Leopoldina, São Paulo. The venue offers great facilities and is surrounded by hotels, public transportation, and infrastructure that makes attendance more convenient.

The official website includes all details about registration, ticket pricing, food options, the venue, and how to get there.

Conclusion

For us at Nubank, organizing Clojure South is a way to put into practice something we deeply believe: technology makes its greatest impact when it goes beyond code — when it involves culture, community, and shared experiences. We want to contribute to making Clojure and Datomic more accessible and widely known, because they are powerful tools for building complex, ever-evolving systems.

Whether you already code in Clojure, are curious about functional programming, or simply want to learn about technical solutions that tackle real challenges of scale and evolution, Clojure South is for you. Registrations are already open! Join us in São Paulo this October, bring your curiosity and challenges, and let’s start a new chapter for the Clojure community in South America.