App Developers

RSVP on our Meetup event >> https://www.meetup.com/gdg-melbourne/events/313164035/ RSVP Codeword: NEWYEAR Get ready for our first monthly meetup of the year! This event is hosted at the Mantel Group Office, with the recording of the talks to be shared afterwards on YouTube if you can't make it. There will be food, networking and some surprise swag! Agenda: 6:20 - Intro 6:30 - Talks 8:00 till late - networking & chat (& drinks optional) Talks and Speakers: Kotlin → C#; Experimenting with Cross-Runtime Interop by Isuru Rajapakse, Senior Android Developer at Motorola Solutions Kotlin is a warm, cozy blanket of null safety and garbage collection so that we don't gave to get our feet wet. But what happens when you rip that blanket away, compile your Kotlin code down to a C static library, and try to use it in a .NET application? I did it so you don't have to. And I brought the stack traces to prove it. From Hype to Hands-On: Building Smarter Apps with the Agent Development Kit by Lovee Jain, Google Developer Expert - Cloud | Senior Software Engineer @Prezzee AI agents are more than hype — they’re a new way to design applications. In this talk, we’ll take a practical look at the Agent Development Kit (ADK) and how developers can use it to orchestrate multi-agent workflows. We’ll explore agent types, chaining strategies, and how to integrate tools and context effectively. The session includes a demo of a point-based buying agent that showcases how agents can interact, make decisions, and deliver value in a real-world scenario. Expect less buzzword, more code, and practical lessons you can apply in your own projects. Agentic DevOps: I Gave AI Agents root access to a VM – Here’s What I Learned by Bishal Sapkota, Software Engineer | AI Solutions Architect | Co-founder at Outback Yak Real Automation, self patching, persistent memory, cron jobs, and the obvious loaded gun. How to find us: Doors open at 5:45 PM at our host the Mantel Group, Level 2/452 Flinders St Melbourne. Message via Meetup or Slack if you are arriving after 6:00 as the lifts won't let you up.  This is an in-person only event. If you have any accessibility requirements please reach out via the Meetup or Slack to the organiser group to discuss and we will do our best to help you out. Agenda --- Hosted By Katie Barnett, GDE Android / GDG Organiser Katie is passionate about all things Android. She has taken on a wide variety of challenging projects including in the live event, media and travel space. Her favourite thing is to see someone having a delightful experience using something she has worked on. Katie is very active in the development community, she is a Google Developer Expert for Android, one of the organisers of GDG Melbourne and is a Women Techmakers Ambassador. She frequently runs events, speaks on technical and non-technical topics and enjoys writing blog posts to share her experience with others. Katie is based in Melbourne, Australia but loves to travel the world and outside of tech she enjoys boardgaming and attempting to finish many craft projects. Suesi Tran, Senior Flutter Developer Google Developer Expert in Dart, Flutter & Firebase, Women Techmaker Melbourne ambassador, GDG Melbourne & Flutter Melbourne co-organiser. In short: Flutter is love, and mobile is life. Poornima Sivakumar, GDG Organiser Lovee Jain, GDG Organiser Lovee is a Software Engineer at Prezzee, a GDG Melbourne Organiser and also a Women Techmakers Ambassador. A tech inquisitive philomath, she loves problem solving and solution design. She has worked at a city council where she developed a lot of useful system integrations and while at Prezzee she develops and works on multiple gift card solutions to cater the B2B2C market. Zach Jensz, GDG Organiser Passionate about the web, seamless UX and accessibility. I love attending meetups, find me and come say hi! Ujjawal Raj, GDG Organiser Bramley Turner-Jones, GDG Organiser Yuba Raj (UV) Panta, GDG Cloud Organiser Kartik Arora, Android Engineer Google Developer Expert in Android Android Engineer @ Bilue Carolyn Ai Chi Wong, Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-melbourne-presents-gdg-melbourne-february-2026-meetup/.

Hey, Melbourne indie hackers! Join us on Wednesday, February 25th at The Imperial Hotel’s rooftop bar—this time we’ve got a booth 😄. It’s a great chance to catch up and chat about the progress on the apps and startups you’re working on—what’s shipped, what’s stuck, and what’s next. Expect relaxed conversations, shared learnings, and good vibes with fellow builders. See you on the rooftop!

Hey everyone We are putting on an in person OpenShift meetup on Wednesday 25 Feb. Come and join us to hear the latest capabilities for OpenShift 4.21, Roadmap, Virtualisation, GPU, AI & MCP servers and more. Having just returned from Red Hat One in Vegas we have a lot to share of what we have seen happening around the world. Its the usual time starting at 6pm with a 7:30pm finish as well as drinks and pizza! Look forward to seeing you there. OpenShift Meetup team https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/achieve-more-red-hat-openshift-421

# **🎉 Melbourne AWS User Group –** February **Meetup 🎉** **📅 Wednesday, 25 February** **📍 NAB Events Hub – 395 Bourke Street, Melbourne** **⏰ Food at 6:00 pm, talks from 6:30 pm (with live stream)** We’re kicking off 2026 properly with a deep technical session and another exciting speaker announcement coming soon 👀 This month we’re diving into Kubernetes networking changes that could directly impact your clusters — especially if you’re running Ingress-NGINX. This month’s lineup features: * **Gokul Venugopal** returning with a Level 300 session on the retirement of Kubernetes Ingress-NGINX. * **Warwick Wilson** shares lessons from running and evolving a production AWS Serverless orchestration platform over three years. A huge thank you to our sponsors: 🥇 Mantel Group – Gold Sponsor, 🥈 Cevo – Silver Sponsor, 🏛 NAB – Venue Sponsor The event will be **live-streamed on YouTube** as always. *** # **🗓️ Agenda** * **6:00 pm** – Food & Socialising * **6:30 pm** – Introductions * **6:40 pm** – What’s New in AWS * **6:55 pm** – The Retirement of Kubernetes Ingress-NGINX (Level 300); Speaker: **Gokul Venugopal** * **7:25 pm** – Almost Serverless Spatial (Level 200); Speaker: **Warwick Wilson** * **7:55 pm** – Marketplace (Who’s Hiring) * **8:00 pm** – Networking + Close *** # **🎤 Talk Details** ## **The Retirement of Kubernetes Ingress-NGINX: Impacts, Risks, and Next Steps** Speaker: Gokul Venugopal Level: 300 Description: Ingress controllers are foundational to how traffic flows into Kubernetes workloads — but with the announced retirement of Ingress-NGINX, many teams are asking: what now? In this session, Gokul will cover: * A refresher on Kubernetes Ingress and the role of Ingress-NGINX * What the retirement means in practice * Risks for existing clusters * Migration paths and available alternatives * Pros and cons of the major options If you’re running Kubernetes in production, this is one you don’t want to miss. *** ## **Almost Serverless Spatial** Speaker: Warwick Wilson Level: 200 Description: Warwick manages a Spatial Data supply and distribution platform for DTP, an AWS Serverless orchestration that has now been in production for nearly three years. In this session, Warwick will walk through: * The original architecture and design decisions * How the AWS Step Functions workflows started simple * How they evolved over time as production realities set in * Lessons learned operating and refining long-running serverless orchestration If you're running or designing Step Functions in production, this is a practical, experience-driven session you won’t want to miss. *** # **🙌 Want to Speak at a Future Meetup?** We’re always looking for new speakers and believe everyone has an interesting talk waiting to be shared. If you’d like to present at a future event, reach out at the meetup, via our website: 👉 [https://melb.awsug.org.au/speak/](https://melb.awsug.org.au/speak/)

**"TechWalking" - Networking + Walking** Are you a tech professional looking to network beyond the screen? Look no further than my upcoming #TechWalking event! ‍♀️ Join us for a refreshing Yarra River Short City Loop. It’s the perfect chance to connect with industry peers while getting in some steps! I know many of you have been tuning in to my online events, but we've never had the opportunity to meet in person. Let's change that! Check out the video from the last event: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z955MaRHSqI We'll kick things off at **5.30 pm sharp** at Federation Square. Please, don't be late! We're hitting the trail around the river as soon as we gather. And trust me, you won't want to miss it – unless you're up for a bit of a sprint to catch up! (we're going clockwise) Meeting point: Mamas Gozleme, 14 Birrarung Marr Walk, Melbourne VIC 3000 https://maps.app.goo.gl/wDruvccNUzSWkV8y5 This event is pet and kid-friendly, as long as your little ones and furry friends can manage a 3 km walk, they're more than welcome to join. Looking forward to meeting you all in real life! *** Subscribe to YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ITCareerinAustralia Follow me on LinkedIn for more information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yana-martens/ Just moved to Australia? Grab your FREE guide to land your tech job! [https://yanamartens.com/first-tech-job-in-australia/](https://yanamartens.com/first-tech-job-in-australia/) Need more support? Join our 8-week program! https://www.meetup.com/it-career-in-australia/events/312469499/

Players of all skill levels are welcome to join us at Marché Board Games Cafe in the CBD for a casual night of mahjong - Right in the CBD. We'll start around 6:00pm till we all need to go home :) Our typical session concludes usually around 10:00pm. Please change your RSVP to not going if you're no longer able to attend, 24 hours prior the event. For those that have a record of non attendance without communicating, you will be moved to the waiting list for future events and be contacted directly to confirm that you indeed intend to turn up, at which you will be allotted a spot subject to availability. For more details on the rules of the game, please refer to: http://mahjongtime.com/hong-kong-mahjong-rules.html Marche has been kind enough to offer us a deal to play in their cafe. **⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ Cost ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆** Attendees who have registered for the event on Meetup can play at discounted rates, with the following payments to be made: * **$6 in total per session” to cover cafe costs. Payment of $6 should be made to Marche at the front counter upon notification to the staff member that you are here for the scheduled meetup. There is now no minimum spend on items at the cafe as there were before. The cafes menu can be found here https://mbgcafe.com.au/menu.pdf .

**Event Confirmation Form!** ➡️ We kindly request you fill out this **event confirmation form** to confirm your attendance for the event and your dietary requirements - [https://forms.gle/QwVc4QifPJqfvkd4A](https://forms.gle/QwVc4QifPJqfvkd4A) \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ## **What's On? 👀** **Panel:** State of Application Security: 2025 Trends, 2026 Strategy **Speakers:** * Jason Liyanage - Application Security Lead, Sportsbet * Louis Nyffenegger - Founder and CEO, PentesterLab * Raafey Khan - Director of Application Security, CyberCX **Abstract:** Application security is evolving faster than ever. This panel brings together practitioners, security leaders, and strategists for a candid look at what shaped AppSec in 2025 and what organizations are prioritizing in 2026. **The discussion will cover:** * **Vulnerability Trends** — What spiked, what persisted, and what caught teams off guard in 2025 * **Emerging Technologies** — New tools and capabilities are reshaping how applications are built, tested, and defended * **What Worked** — Strategies and approaches that genuinely moved the needle for security programs * **What's Next** — Bets organizations are placing bets for 2026, from new toolchains to shifting security culture Whether you're a hands-on practitioner or a security leader, this session offers grounded insights and forward-looking perspectives to help navigate the year ahead. *** *Placeholder abstract — subject to refinement once panelist details and discussion themes are confirmed.* ## **Location** 📍 Atlassian Melbourne Queens & Collins Building, Level 20, 100 Queen Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 ## **Agenda ⏰** * 5:30 - Food is served * 6:15 - Session start * 7:30 - Post-event networking \-\-\- Note: Please complete the event confirmation form: [https://forms.gle/QwVc4QifPJqfvkd4A](https://forms.gle/QwVc4QifPJqfvkd4A)

Welcome to 2026!! We need a second speaker please - if you are doing anything cool let us know Melbourne(at)serverless.org.au and we can get you on the agenda! Even for a future month if you are not quite ready yet. THANKS TO MANTEL GROUP for sponsoring the location & refreshments again! Thanks also to PROGRAMMABLE - we have tickets to give away for people who attend the meetup this month! Please get in touch ASAP if you would like to talk at a future event, send us an email at Melbourne(at)serverless.org.au for more info! First time speakers are more than welcome and we can provide you assistance if you need with your presentation beforehand. Please reach out Melbourne(at)serverless.org.au. It can be a regular talk, lightning talk, demo, workshop, whatever is your thing our community will love it - as long as it is serverless related! Venue: MANTEL GROUP, Level 2, 452 Flinders St. Melbourne Look for the signs! 📅 Agenda 📅 5:30 PM - Doors Open! 6:00 PM - Welcome from the organizers / housekeeping 6:05 PM - **"Build vs Buy - how LLMs are shifting the scales" - By Liam Johnston, Lead Consultant, V2 AI** This talk examines how LLMs are fundamentally changing the build vs buy calculus. Through a real project - a crossword generator using AI for clues and algorithms for word-fitting across 300k words - we'll explore why projects that were impossible side quests two years ago are now weekend builds. 6:35 PM - Pizza & Networking 7:00 PM - **"Middle age serverless – Step Function maturation" by Warwick Wilson from the Department of Transport and Planning.** Warwick will share some updates on his AWS Step Functions in spatial data distribution systems which he presented a couple of years back. It looks very interesting! 7:30 PM - Networking and finish the Pizza! 8:00 PM - Door Close, see you next time!

## Details **Ruby Meetup Melbourne will be run as a hybrid meetup.** **1\. What** Join us for an evening of talks on Ruby and related topics, plus socialising, food and drinks. You can find out about the **[Talks for the night here](https://github.com/rubyaustralia/melbourne-ruby/milestones?direction=asc&sort=due_date&state=open)** Alternatively, their will be announced on Slack, Twitter, Github & Meetup closer to the date **2\. Where 📍** \- In Person: meet us at the Ferocia in Melbourne CBD from 5:30PM \- Online: Click [Jump in Zoom Meet Call](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84834916944?pwd=SWlQOGJsbEZwNkNwVVk4Q25WaVNRZz09) from 6.30pm onwards **3\. Sponsors 🎉** This is a Ruby Australia supported meetup, with event sponsorship provided by our Major Sponsors: * [Ruby Australia](https://ruby.org.au/) * [Assembly Four](https://assemblyfour.com/) * [Gleam.io](https://gleam.io/) for our Drink sponsors for Melbourne Ruby Meetup * [Ferocia](https://ferocia.com.au/) for being our venue partner. **4\. Anything else ?** To suggest or vote on a talk, please look in[ Github repo](https://github.com/rubyaustralia/melbourne-ruby) **Come in from 5:30pm-6PM** for some early chatter, we'll kick the proceedings off properly around 6:15, hear from our presenters, and then socialise further after the talks. See you there 😄

Welcome back for 2026. We're kicking off with a talk by [Caitlin Blackwell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin-blackwell-8328a623/), Head of Product from Seek who'll share real life stories of getting a product live with AI and the learnings along the way. Caitlin Blackwell is a Head of Product for SEEK across APAC where she leads a team of PM across the homepage feed, search and job pages to help candidates get great jobs and drive high quality placements for hirers. She has worked in a range of ecommerce and SaaS companies as well as being at SEEK for a long time. She resides on a farm on the famous Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia where a large garden, a dog and 100 acres of bush keep her busy. **Our amazing sponsors are Easygo** Bio: [Easygo](https://www.linkedin.com/company/easygo-au/?originalSubdomain=au) is the Australian powerhouse behind the world’s biggest online casino, as well as pioneering a creator-first online streaming platform with over 50 million users. Fuelled by an ambitious mission, our culture of collaboration invites industry visionaries, innovators, and disrupters to drive the future of entertainment forward.

### **The Vibe** Are you curious about AI and automation, or are you already building complex workflows in **n8n**? Join us for a casual, after-work gathering in the heart of the Melbourne CBD. This is an "open floor" event—no rigid slides or formal pitches. Just a group of locals grabbing a drink and talking about how we use n8n to reclaim our time and supercharge our businesses. ### **Who This Is For** * **The Curious/Newbie:** If you’ve heard of n8n but haven't started yet, come see what’s possible. No question is too basic! * **The Pro/Builder:** Share your latest "Agentic" workflows, swap tips on self-hosting, or help troubleshoot a tricky expression. * **The Business Owner:** See how Melbourne SMEs are using automation

We will meet at the starting point, wak towards the Black Rock Beach and take a round trip back. Parking is available at the train station on site. You can grab a coffee/ snack at the start, as we wait for everyone to arrive in the 15mins. Dress fo outdoor long walk and come join us for an afternoon walk! Take it slow and start from there. **\-\-\- Running Late \-\-\-** If you are running late, please message at least 30 mins in advance. We will wait up to 15 mins before heading off. We won't be able to keep track of messages once we start. **\-\-\- RSVP / Change of Plan \-\-\-** Change of plan or decide not to attend is absolutely okay. Please do update your RSVP to "NO", so others can have the opportunity to attend. **\-\-\- Intro \-\-\-** Kudos to Friends….Expand Your Social Circle Meetup group is a community of individuals who prefer to take it slow to get to know each other overtime in Melbourne. Join us on a fun journey as we explore cafes, restaurants and bars, including drinks, meals, outings, chilling, cultural exchange, etc. Above all, we’d like to celebrate the importance of friendships. So if you are looking to expand your social circle and explore new adventures and venues in Melbourne, come join us! **\-\-\- WhatsApp Group \-\-\-** We use WhatsApp for more fluid communication, including ideas, interest groups, questions etc. Please let the organizer know if you would like to be added to the WhatsApp Group at the event. We will send an invite to attendees to the group. (give us some time) **\-\-\- Rules \-\-\-** Admin will only add members to the group with a clear profile picture. (No hidden behind sunglasses, masks, drawings) **You might be removed from the group in the case of…** * no show * without a clear profile picture * anti-social behaviour (i.e. acts rude / disrespectful regularly) * take advantage of individuals for personal gain(s) **\-\-\- Privacy \-\-\-** Do not disclose your contact number in this post comment. We will delete your comment/info as soon as we see it to protect your privacy.

Come join us for our first workshop of 2026! Join **Women Coders** for an interactive workshop where you'll learn to build on and use Azure AI with all its agentic AI capabilities. Connect to and leverage various models across the platform to fit your use case and scenarios and power agents. This will be an in-person, hands on workshop **What You'll Learn:** **🛠️ Hands-on coding** with step-by-step guidance to Azure AI platform 💡 **Expand your skills** with resources to deepen your understanding of GPT models and how to leverage them **🫱🏽‍🫲🏼 Network** with like-minded professionals in a supportive environment. **Who Should Attend:** * Women in tech passionate about AI * Developers looking to get across Azure AI * Anyone interested in coding and innovation **What to Bring:** Please bring your laptop - we'll use Azure platform on the day. Please have a subscription set up if you would like to code along on the day. A free trial can be accessed here: [https://azure.microsoft.com/en-au](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-au) **About the speaker:** [Akanksha Malik](https://www.linkedin.com/in/akankshamalik96/) is a Managing Principal at IRIS by Argon & Co, a Microsoft AI MVP and an international speaker. As the founder of Paths Uncovered, she is dedicated to showcasing non-traditional routes into technology, encouraging diversity and inclusion in the industry alongside consulting work. After studying Financial Maths and Actuarial Science at UCC, Ireland, she realised she wanted to work with people as well as numbers. As a consultant, she works with clients to help them solve problems by making more informed decisions with data. Her belief in making technology, particularly AI, accessible to all is evident through the numerous community events, meetups, and conferences she organises. She is the co-founder and director of Women Coders alongside Gretch, dedicated to building a more equitable world. **Sponsors:** This event is sponsored by IRIS by Argon&Co, who are hosting and catering for us on the night!

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** *Spec-Driven Development with GitHub Spec-Kit: From Intent to Implementation* Spec-driven development flips the traditional workflow on its head: instead of code being the source of truth, the specification becomes the backbone of design, collaboration, and delivery. In this session, we’ll explore how GitHub Spec-Kit enables teams to treat specifications as first-class artifacts—living documents that drive architecture, implementation, and verification. You’ll learn how Spec-Kit helps teams clearly express intent using structured, version-controlled specs that live alongside code. We’ll walk through a practical workflow that starts with defining system behavior and constraints, then progressively refines those specs into testable, automatable outcomes. Along the way, we’ll show how specs can reduce ambiguity, improve cross-functional collaboration, and make design decisions explicit before a single line of production code is written. This talk will cover: --What spec-driven development is (and what it isn’t) --How GitHub Spec-Kit fits into modern developer workflows --Using specs to align product, engineering, and AI-assisted development --Real-world examples of turning specs into implementations with confidence Whether you’re building greenfield systems, integrating AI into your stack, or trying to reduce costly rework, spec-driven development offers a scalable way to move faster without sacrificing clarity. Attendees will leave with concrete patterns and a clear mental model for adopting GitHub Spec-Kit in their own projects. **YouTube Link** TBA

Come out to Improving for our monthly iOS and Mac meetings. This Month's Presentation: Nothing yet. (You should volunteer). What is Cocoaheads (http://cocoaheads.org/)? CocoaHeads is a group devoted to discussion of Apple Computer's Cocoa Framework for programming on MacOS X and iOS (including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch). During monthly meetings, members present on their projects and offer tutorials on various programming topics. What is BuckeyeCocoa (http://buckeyecocoa.org/)? BuckeyeCocoa is a group of Objective-C/Swift developers/enthusiasts. We host monthly Cocoaheads and near-weekly NSCoder meetings in Columbus, Ohio. The meetings are free to attend. Presentations! Presenters welcome! We are always in need of people willing to present material. Any Swift and/or Objective-C related topic is welcome. Times can be 5 minutes (i.e. lightning talks) to a maximum of 2 hours. Interested? Contact info is on the BuckeyeCocoa website. To volunteer for a presentation contact us at @BuckeyeCocoa on Twitter. Follow us on Twitter! @BuckeyeCocoa (https://twitter.com/#!/Buckeyecocoa/) For more information: http://buckeyecocoa.org/

Our monthly PHP meetup. A virtual shindig courtesy of Zoom. Check back here for the details around 6:15 pm

**PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT NOTES:** 1. The dates for this series are simply placeholders at the moment. We are working on our 2026 schedule, and adjustments are forthcoming. 2. Each class in this series has an attendance fee. 3. Each class from BOTH a sign-up and fee perspective is a separate entity. **Introduction:** Our Page Building with Bricks web development class provides detailed instruction for using Bricks Builder, a visual site builder for WordPress, to create and manage websites. Widely considered by many of the world's leading web developers to be the most complete page builder on the market today, Bricks Builder offers a wide range of features and comprehensive tools. Our Bricks Builder web development class provides detailed instructions on utilizing the toolset. The series of courses covers the core features of Bricks Builder, enabling users to design and develop responsive, visually appealing websites. Moreover, the courses are oriented to reinforce a focus on professional, scalable web development. Throughout the series, we focus our page-building instruction on the semantic and structural integrity of the pages in a responsive world. By the end of the 10-class series, participants will have a fundamental understanding of proper web page and website development. **The breakdown of the 10-class series is as follows:** * Class 01 - Survey of Page Builders / What Bricksbuilder Does For You * Class 02 - Boxes, Boxes, Boxes / Sections / Containers * Class 03 - Static Units / Relative Units / Responsive Development And Math Functions * Class 04 - CSS Variables And DRY Development / Classes And Global Styling * Class 05 - CSS Grid And CSS Flexbox * Class 06 - Responsive Development / Breakpoints And Media Queries * Class 07 - Effective Use Of Color / Effective Use Of Images * Class 08 - Beginning To Think Dynamically / Using Templates And Components * Class 09 - Dynamic Styling / Data Attributes And Attribute Selectors * Class 10 - Pseudo Elements / Programmatically Styling With Pseudo Classes Throughout the class sessions listed above, we cover the following key areas of web development with Bricks Builder: * **Introduction to Bricks Builder Interface:** * Familiarization with the builder's layout, including the toolbar, panel, and canvas, and understanding how to navigate and interact with its various components. * **Visual Site Building:** * Techniques for creating layouts using Bricks' drag-and-drop interface, incorporating sections, rows, columns, and elements to build page structures. * **Styling and Design:** * Utilizing Bricks' styling options to customize elements, apply global CSS classes for consistent design, and leverage features like Flexbox and CSS Grid for responsive layouts. * **Dynamic Content and Custom Fields:** * Integrating dynamic content from custom post types and custom field plugins (like ACF, Meta Box) to build data-driven websites. * **Template Building:** * Creating and managing reusable templates for headers, footers, post type layouts, and other site-wide elements. * **Performance Optimization:** * Understanding how Bricks Builder contributes to fast-loading websites and implementing performance best practices. * **Advanced Features:** * Depending on the class level, it might delve into advanced topics such as conditional logic, interactions, and custom code integration to enable more complex functionality. The series aims to equip participants with the skills to efficiently build, customize, and maintain WordPress websites using Bricks Builder, catering to both beginners and experienced web developers.

Columbus Code & Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. People of all skill levels attend, and we love it that way. Many people (optionally) bring projects to work on, and many other people (optionally) socialize the entire time. It's entirely up to you! **What to Expect at the Intro Circle** \~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~ Near the beginning of the event (1:30 pm), we do a standup: * Organizer announcements, updates, and logistics Round 1 - (7 secs max): * Your name * What you're working on * What you can help others with Round 2: * Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. Round 3: * Job opportunities you're hiring for OR announce that you are looking for one. If none, that's cool. After the introduction circle, everything is self-organized! Feel free to work alone, pair up, attend one of our workshops/presentations, or mingle!

Discover Kiro, AWS’s innovative development environment that adapts to your workflow. Whether you prefer specification-driven development or a more intuitive, vibe-based approach, Kiro empowers you to build applications your way. In this session, speakers will explore Kiro’s core functionality and its evolution through re:Invent 2025, along with demonstrations of prompts used to create APIs, hooks, and steering documents. In the latter part of the session, watch as we build a complete example from scratch, showcasing Kiro’s agentic AI workflow in action for spec-driven development and vibe coding. What You'll Learn - Core Kiro concepts and development philosophy Feature evolution: pre and post re:Invent 2025 Practical examples: API creation, hooks, and steering docs Live coding demonstration with real-time problem solving Who Should Attend - Developers, solutions architects, and technical leaders interested in modern AWS development tools and AI-assisted coding workflows. **Speakers Bio:** Matthew Jorat: Matthew Jorat is a Customer Solutions Manager at AWS with nearly three decades of expertise in AI, cloud transformation, migration, modernization, IT, technology, and business. His career spans infrastructure engineer, solutions architect, security auditor, customer success director, support and services director, and operations officer. He was an early adopter of AWS services as a customer, and his current role at AWS uniquely blends his technical and business skills as he partners with executive teams to translate strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes through cloud adoption, AI implementation, and operational excellence. Matt leads end-to-end AI initiatives for enterprise customers, identifying high-impact use cases and maintaining relentless focus on measurable ROI. He holds eight AWS certifications and serves as Adjunct Professor at Franklin University teaching cloud computing and AWS architecture. His expertise encompasses GenAI, agentic AI systems, migration, modernization, and optimization strategies that drive transformation at scale. [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/) Girish Bhatia: Girish Bhatia is a seasoned technology delivery leader with deep expertise in cross-domain program management. He holds multiple AWS certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, and AWS Generative AI Practitioner, and is also an AWS Community Builder. Girish brings over two decades of experience in the information technology industry. Throughout his career, Girish has led major technology-driven business transformation from modernizing on-premises applications to driving large-scale cloud migrations. His work includes API-based integration platforms, data-center and mainframe modernization, and enterprise cloud adoption initiatives. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Girish works at a tech-forward fintech company. He is passionate about AWS serverless architectures, Generative AI and emerging cloud technologies. An avid learner and builder, he continues to explore and apply the latest innovations in AWS to help organizations accelerate their digital transformation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/[https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/) **THANK YOU** *Franklin University* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Franklin University*, please visit their website: https://www.franklin.edu/ **DIRECTIONS** Franklin University Fisher Hall 300 E. Main St, Columbus, OH 43215 Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxjBA2hUmS5qrvhq8 Parking is FREE! Please park in Lot C in front of Fisher Hall. See attached map. NOTE: Map the address only. When mapping with Google Maps it may use the Fisher Hall at OSU, which is NOT correct. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

Join us and work remotely together with like-minded UX folks. This is a last minute opportunity to get out at one of our favorites, [Junto](https://thejuntohotel.com/)! Plenty of seating is available in addition to a connected coffee shop and restaurant. I will be there 10-12 for sure, maybe longer. Feel free to come and go anytime during the day, and don't forget your charger and headphones!