LJC Meet-up at Redis

*** Please register on Eventbrite to join this event ***

About this event
The LJC is delighted to continue our new series of events, aimed at giving all Community members an opportunity to present at an LJC meet-up.

If you have an interesting topic to share, these events are for you. You don’t have to be an experienced speaker - we want to hear your story and offer you a friendly, informal platform to practise and improve your presentations.

For attendees we want this to be a meeting place, where you can talk and network with other technologists in London.

If you’d like to speak at a future event, please submit your talk and bio details here: https://sessionize.com/ljc/

Huge thanks to our friends at Redis for hosting this event and supporting our Community.

Speaker 1: Tom Appleyard
Title:
How to design nice PowerPoints
Synopsis:
"Death by PowerPoint" is a commonly used expression to convey boredom with slide decks. But the issue isn't PowerPoint per se, but that it's not being used correctly. When used properly visual aids can be one of the greatest assets to a talk.In this presentation I'll be going through the basics of good information design and how that applies to slide decks, namely how to reinforce main points, how to explain complex ideas and also some points to avoid - even more importantly when not to use a slide deck.

Speaker 2: Verissimo Ribeiro - VP of Engineering at Landytech
Title:
Spring AI: Structuring Unstructured Data
Synopsis:
I’ll show how to build AI solutions with Spring to transform unstructured data into structured information. I’ll walk through key techniques like Single Shot Prompts, Assistants, Workflows, and Agents. Also a quick tour of Models, Providers, Roles, Tools, and strategies like RAG, CAG, and MCP.
Additional notes:
This talk is based on my experience building an AI assistant and a solution that imports any bank or credit card statement into a system-friendly format.

Speaker 3: Shabana Govani Khatau - Full Stack and SharePoint Developer at East West Rail
Title:
Breaking traditional and cultural barriers
Synopsis:
My Story: Growing up in a traditional culture and facing challenges while trying to study and work in tech.
Facing Expectations: The pressure to follow societal norms and how that affected my career choices.
Finding Tech Again: How I reconnected with tech through online learning and training programs.
Qualified FA Football Coach: What being a football coach taught me—leadership, problem-solving, and confidence—and how it helped in tech.
Mentorship Matters: How mentors helped me grow and believe in myself.
Advice to Others: Take it step by step. Don’t give up, even if anyone tells you otherwise.
Conclusion
Break the Mold: It’s okay to go your own way.
Keep Learning: Always be open to learning new things.
Be Resilient: Bounce back from challenges and stay flexible.
Lean on Others: Mentors, friends, and family can make a big difference.
Grow with Tech: Tech can open doors and empower you.
Q&A Time: Open discussion and questions from the audience.

Speaker 4: Chris Davis - Engineer at Rightmove
Title:
Optional - What is it good for?
Synopsis:
Where did optionals come from?
Are they just for null-safety?
In this session we delve into optionals and understand what they are good for, and what they aren't**.**

This event is organised by RecWorks on behalf of the London Java Community.
The London Java Community is sponsored by Hazelcast, Neo4j, Redis, and Discover