IN-PERSON: Apache Kafka® Meetup - Feb 2026

Join us for an Apache Kafka® Meetup in Frankfurt @ compeople from 6:00PM!

📍Venue
compeople AG
Untermainanlage 8, 60329 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

PLEASE FILL OUT YOUR DETAILS FOR SECURITY PURPOSES.

🗓 Agenda:

• 6:00pm - 6:30pm: Food, Drinks and Networking
• 6:30pm - 7:00pm: Keeping data private in real-time pipelines - Olena Kutsenko, Staff Developer Advocate @ Confluent
• 7:00pm - 7:30pm: Kroxylicious, the snappy open-source proxy for Apache Kafka - Anatoly Zelenin - Founder and Chief Trainer at DataFlow Academy, Kafka book author
• 7:30pm - 8:30pm: Q&A with Anatoly, Olena and Hartmut Armbruster (Freelance Software Architect, Developer. Distributed & Event-Driven Systems)

💡 Speaker One:
Olena Kutsenko, Staff Developer Advocate @ Confluent

Talk Details:
Keeping data private in real-time pipelines

We all love real-time data — clicks, payments, rides, messages — but most of it comes with a catch: it contains personal information we're not supposed to leak, such as names, emails, locations, or even small clues that can identify someone. The challenge: how do we keep streaming data useful and safe at the same time?
In this talk, we'll explore practical ways to protect privacy in streaming systems using Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, and Apache Iceberg. We'll cover:
- simple tricks like masking and tokenizing PII;
- why "anonymous" data often isn't anonymous (the re-identification problem);
- techniques like bucketing, k-anonymity, and adding noise;
- how to balance privacy with data utility (too much hiding makes data useless).
Along the way, we'll look at real-world stories: from public data leaks to surprising deanonymization attacks, and show live demos of pipelines that anonymize data before it's written to storage.
If you've ever wondered how to build privacy-aware pipelines, this talk will give you practical patterns you can use right away.

Bio:
Olena is a Staff Developer Advocate at Confluent and a recognized expert in data streaming and analytics. With two decades of experience in software engineering, she has built mission-critical applications, led high-performing teams, and driven large-scale technology adoption at industry leaders like Nokia, HERE Technologies, AWS, and Aiven.

A passionate advocate for real-time data processing and AI-driven applications, Olena empowers developers and organizations to use the power of streaming data. She is an AWS Community Builder, a dedicated mentor, and a volunteer instructor at a nonprofit tech school, helping to shape the next generation of engineers.

As an international speaker and thought leader, Olena regularly presents at top global conferences, sharing deep technical insights and hands-on expertise. Whether through her talks, workshops, or content, she is committed to making complex technologies accessible and inspiring innovation in the developer community.

💡 Speaker Two:
Anatoly Zelenin - Founder and Chief Trainer @ DataFlow Academy, Kafka book author

Talk Details:
Kroxylicious, the snappy open-source proxy for Apache Kafka

Proxies are a powerful architectural pattern commonly used in other application-layer protocols like HTTP, but they remain underutilized in the Kafka ecosystem. Kroxylicious is a groundbreaking, early-stage project that aims to change this by making it easier to develop Kafka proxies with minimal effort.

While some organizations have built their own Kafka-aware proxies to address specific challenges, these solutions often remain closed-source and highly specialized. Kroxylicious tackles this problem by offering a set of pre-built capabilities and common features out-of-the-box, enabling developers to concentrate on the custom logic their applications need.
In this session, I will introduce Kroxylicious, highlight its potential use cases, and demonstrate how it can simplify Kafka proxy development, reduce complexity, and unlock new possibilities for real-time data processing.

Bio:
Anatoly Zelenin is a renowned author of the German-language reference book on Apache Kafka and a leading trainer and expert on Kafka solutions in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). His deep technical knowledge, combined with his ability to convey complex concepts clearly, has made him a sought-after speaker, trainer, and trusted consultant in the field of distributed data systems and stream processing.

💡Speaker Three (Joining Q&A):
Hartmut Armbruster is a freelance Software Architect Developer (Distributed & Event-Driven Systems) who is passionate about elevating engineering practices - blending technical depth with a focus on clarity, communication, and impact. He has worked on real-time data processing at HSBC, NEX Group plc, eu-LISA, Raiffeisen Switzerland, and Deutsche Bahn, focusing on mission-critical platforms.

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We do not cater to those under the age of 21.
Please reach out to community@confluent.io if you are interested in speaking at or hosting a meetup.