ArnhemJUG - February meetup

ArnhemJUG
We are excited to announce the first Meetup of 2025 at OpenValue Arnhem.

ArnhemJUG is proud to be an ambassador for Voxxed Days Amsterdam 2025! Join us at this meetup to discover more about this exciting event, and you could even win a ticket!

Agenda

• 17:00 CET walk-in
• 17:30 – 18:30 Food and drinks
• 18:30 – 19:30 talk: Battling your Biased Brain by Peter Wessels
• 19:30 – 19:45 break
• 19:45 – 20:00 Voxxed Days Amsterdam by Ko Turk
• 20:00 – 21:00 talk: What is multimodal RAG, and can we build a village with it?
  by Alexander Chatzizacharias
• 21:00 – 21:30 drinks

About Battling your Biased Brain by Peter Wessels
Ever heard of the IKEA effect or the bandwagon-effect? In our efforts to delivering great software, there are numerous occasions where our brain tries to trick us. Don’t fall for them!

In this talk we will dive into some well-known and researched cognitive biases that impact our judgments in our day-to-day jobs as software creators.
When do they typically occur? And why are we falling into these traps from time to time?

After this talk you'll have a better understanding of how your brain tricks you, how to make better decisions and in the end how to deliver some great software.

A word of warning; during this talk you may get tricked!

About Peter Wessels
Peter Wessels is a Java Developer, Speaker, and Teacher at Info Support in the Netherlands. In addition, he leads the Java Community within Info Support.
He loves working with talented people to develop software that's not only effective but also fun to create. In his career, Peter has worn many hats, from lead engineer and project manager to scrum master and product owner. In Dutch, he would be described as a 'manusje van alles,' which roughly translates to a person who seizes every opportunity to learn new technologies and (soft)skills to create impact. This attitude helps him get diverse perspectives on software development.

As a speaker, Peter has had the privilege of presenting at prestigious events such as Devoxx Belgium, Devoxx UK, J-Fall, and Developer Week.

About What is multimodal RAG, and can we build a village with it?
by Alexander Chatzizacharias
Multimodal Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is the art of using your own textual, visual and audio data to enhance prompts before they’re processed by a generative AI. Imagine users asking a question, the system querying your own data pool for answers, and then using generative AI to craft a coherent, relevant response… which is perfect for non-player characters (NPCs)! These are characters in video games that are not controlled by the player. Typically, NPCs have static and hardcoded responses, but with this approach we could make them more lifelike and fun to interact with!

We can take it even further. Imagine NPCs interacting with each other, having goals, and moving around dynamically, all driven by complex RAG workflows. This idea is exactly what Alexander has explored and wants to share with you!
Whether you’re a seasoned backend engineer or an adventurous developer seeking fresh ideas, Alexander will guide you through setting up basic to advanced RAG workflows. He'll demonstrate the challenges and benefits of using tools like Langchain4j to create RAG systems that provide up to date and factual answers.
Alexander’s goal is to offer an engaging and fun look at RAG, inspiring you to dive in and explore its potential yourself. Get ready for a session that mixes education and absurd fun to discover the inner workings of multimodal RAG!

About Alexander Chatzizacharias
Alexander, a 34-year-old Software Engineer at JDriven, holds dual Dutch and Greek nationality. He earned his master’s degree in Game Studies from the University of Amsterdam, where he discovered his passion for gamification and software engineering. Alexander aims to bridge the gap between game development and software engineering, believing that both industries have much to learn from each other. He is dedicated to integrating technologies and methodologies from both fields. Additionally, he enjoys experimenting with new technologies and cutting-edge sdk's.