September - Digital & DevOps MeetUp


Details
Welcome to our September MeetUp, which will take place at The Old Joint Stock (http://www.oldjointstock.co.uk/)in Birmingham, starting at 18:00. We'll be using the 1st Floor Function Room and providing food & drinks.
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/0/f/600_461460527.jpeg
We are starting to firm up our Agenda and have three talks confirmed - with another due to be confirmed in the next week or so.
Confirmed talks are as follows:-
• Docker on Windows
That's right, that's not a typo, Windows. Although Docker started as a neat means of starting software in Linux containers, it's now available to use from Dev through to production on Windows Server and Azure. This talk will cover much of the developments that have made Docker on Windows possible, as well the multiple integrations throughout the software development lifecycle that now make this worth a very close look. Who knows, maybe we'll run a little demo as well.
Presented by Guy Martin & Steven Thwaites - Steven works at Docker across Europe and Asia helping large organizations adopt Docker to run their applications in containers. His background is in open source, automation and datacenter infrastructure, and enjoys the whooshing sound of new projects and releases entering the ecosystem.
- Guy runs Docker's Global Systems Integrator business globally, having joined Docker in July. Previous roles have included leading MuleSoft's partner business in EMEA, VMware's alliance business in EMEA, and helping to drive Java adoption in the market at Sun Microsystems. He was a developer originally (C and C++ on Unix) and still enjoys coding, having a small Linux network for the family at home!
• Alexa controlled Infrastructure
Ever wondered how to deploy, scale, delete and even migrate deployment's from one cloud provider to another with a single command? What about if this could be achieved just using your voice, and a trained Alexa Dot! Using a mixture of Kubernetes and Containerisation watch this demo show you how to do all this, and more!
Presented by John Eccleston & Doug Thomson
-
John is a Digital Software Engineer specialising in Java. He has Software Architecture experience and has a keen eye for developing high quality digital solutions and leading these solution into production. He’s worked in Waterfall, but mainly and more recently Agile. His latest conquest is learning functional programming and the intricacies of Scala.
-
Doug is a Platform Automation Engineer with over 17 years experience working on large scale Enterprise services in the Public Sector. Main interests include AWS, open source tooling, Platform Automation and culture/organisational change.
• Visualising Infrastructure using Unreal Engine 4
What would happen to enterprise software user experiences if it took inspiration from the games industry? What would happen if it adopted their tech and principles? Games are some of the most sophisticated simulations in software and yet rank highest in accessibility. Come and see an enterprise application managing an AWS infrastructure built using the world class gaming engine Unreal Engine 4 from Epic Games.
Presented by Gary Baptist and Ben Farley
-
Gary was a geek from the age of 12 which set his path in computing for life. It started with a ZX Spectrum but has now earned him 18 years professional experience. He describes himself as a programmer only because it's what people he meets in the real world understand, but in reality he just likes creating things and computers are his tool of choice. Although he works for Capgemini in the enterprise world his real passion is with making games. He is currently fascinated with using gaming technology to change how we build business software.
-
Ben's background is systems administration, networking and security and has been with Capgemini for just over a year working as a platform engineer; working with open source tooling and AWS.
• Starting your DevOps Journey
The discussion that Simon will be leading is about how a DevOps journey can be started. Most of the companies that approach Capgemini are looking to start a large scale transformation as they see start-ups taking market share off them with new and innovative ideas and increased time to market. But how can these transformations actually occur? What does good look like and what are the common issues which come out of starting a journey that we need to be aware of so we can course correct when they come up?
Presented by Simon Williams
- Simons background is in development predominantly in Java building large scale banking solutions, he has transitioned into a DevOps engineer over the years moving into infrastructure and operations as the need to create faster and more maintainable solutions arose. Simon joined Capgemini 8 months ago on the Apps One Digital platforms team and is currently working on the DevOps transformation for RMG. This involves aligning the people with the new technology that is being implemented and looking to review processes to streamline and make delivery to the customer more effective.
Watch this space for details of the additional talks as they will be added in the coming few days.
As always if you have an idea that would make a good topic and you'd like to present please do get in touch. We're keen to get everyone involved!
Food & Drink will be provided at the event (Honest!), so come join us...
Any questions just ask,
Thanks,
Doug Thomson

September - Digital & DevOps MeetUp