Computing

Please register here: https://hazelcast.com/resources/resilient-java-in-production-meetup/ ### Modern Java systems don’t fail all at once. They fail under load, during warmup, and sometimes days after a “successful” zero-downtime deployment. Join us for an evening focused on real-world resilience in production Java systems, from JVM performance stability to the hidden risks of mixed-version state during rolling upgrades. Come for the talks, stay for the conversations. Food, drinks, swag, and a LEGO® raffle included. ### **Special Guest: Simon Ritter** Java Champion and Deputy CTO at Azul, Simon Ritter shares how to make JVM performance more resilient by reducing latency risk from GC, warmup, and JIT behaviour without changing application code. ### **Hazelcast Session** Zero-downtime rolling upgrades in distributed Java systems are hard when multiple versions of the same service and data model must run concurrently and share state. Using Hazelcast and Hazelcast Compact Serialization, we’ll show practical Java examples and tests that demonstrate how mixed versions behave and how to make those upgrades resilient in real systems. ### **What’s in Store?** * Two technical talks on resilience in production Java systems * Food & drinks included * Swag + LEGO® raffle * Networking with the local Java community Please register here: https://hazelcast.com/resources/resilient-java-in-production-meetup/

## Details Welcome to the DevSecOps London Gathering March Event on Wednesday 26 March. We bring you two amazing talks, as well as the usual conversations, pizza and beer! 📍 **Hosted at Autogen AI, Pentonville Road, London** 📅 **Wednesday, 26 March** 🕕 **6:00–8:00 PM** ## Talk 1 **Abstract:** Software supply chain attacks are no longer rare or theoretical. They are happening every day. Recent ​ incidents show how easily malicious packages can enter trusted registries and make their way into production systems before anyone notices. Today’s package managers host millions of components and support billions of downloads each week. That scale enables modern software development, but it also creates an enormous attack surface. Typosquatting, dependency confusion, malicious install scripts, and credential harvesting are no longer unusual techniques. They are now common and repeatable attack patterns. This session looks at how these attacks are playing out. Using malicious code detection data from Veracode, we walk-through real-world supply chain attack campaigns, the techniques attackers use, and the indicators that separate legitimate open-source packages from malicious ones. Attendees will see how weaponized components are identified, sometimes before they reach production and sometimes after damage has already begun. The talk also draws on industry research, including findings from the Veracode State of Software Security report, to put hard numbers behind the risk introduced by open-source dependencies and transitive trust. The session concludes with practical guidance for reducing exposure without slowing development. Topics include dependency controls, CI CD enforcement, malicious code detection, and continuous monitoring approaches that fit modern engineering workflows. ## Talk 2 **Abstract** [The National Archives](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/") is the official archive and publisher for the UK Government. Our records include physical records such as the Domesday Book and Magna Carta, along with digital records from UK Government departments, Enquiries, and other public bodies, held both on premise and in public cloud. It's vitally important to protect our digital records from accidental deletion and the increasing threat of ransomware. We therefore initiated a programme to implement immutable cloud backups using the AWS Backup service within a central, segregated AWS account. In this talk, we'll share our learnings from this programme of work, including: * why AWS Backup compliance mode vault locks are not always truly immutable * which KMS key types should be selected to support backup and restore to a central vault * the importance of Logically Air Gapped (LAG) vaults * how each AWS service has implemented backups differently * which widely used AWS database option doesn't support centralised backup * cost considerations for setting up backup plans We soon learnt that it's not just a case of "Turn on AWS Backup". To deploy a centralised solution, we needed to: * configure centralised AWS Backup vaults and vault policies * deploy components to workload accounts, including Backup vaults, EventBridge, IAM roles * select the appropriate vault type depending on AWS resource type We decided to implement our solution as an open-source, public Terraform Module which deploys immutable AWS Backups across an AWS Organization, to handle this complexity, and simplify onboarding new accounts and resources to be backed up. You'll come away with an increased understanding of AWS Backup, an appreciation of its complexity and limitations, and the opportunity to greatly simplify deployment of truly immutable backups across your AWS accounts, using our public Terraform module.

**Important:** Register on the [event website](https://bit.ly/4rmQlDf) is required for admission. RSVP on meetup is turned off. This full-day session is designed for developers who want practical experience building AI applications with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and agent memory. During the workshop, you’ll work through real coding exercises that take you from AI data fundamentals to building production-style RAG pipelines and implementing persistent memory for AI agents. Bring your laptop and be ready to build. ### What You Will Learn * AI data fundamentals for application development * Vector search and similarity metrics * Building RAG pipelines with LangChain and Python * Implementing agent memory and context management * Designing production-ready AI workflows ### Workshop Topics **Data Fundamentals for AI Applications** Learn the database and data modeling concepts behind modern AI applications, including vector data, similarity search, and data structures used in AI systems. **Building RAG and Agentic Applications** Build a production-style RAG pipeline using LangChain and Python, covering data ingestion, vector search, retrieval, and response generation. **Agent Memory and Context Engineering** Implement persistent agent memory using Oracle AI Database, including episodic, semantic, and procedural memory, cross-session recall, and context management. **Important:** Register on the [event website](https://bit.ly/4rmQlDf) is required for admission.

**Low Stakes Comedy is a weekly stand-up night in Streatham Hill.** Every Wednesday at The Hamlet, a mix of new and experienced comedians perform short sets in an intimate basement room. The Hamlet 10 Streatham High Road London SW16 1DB 🕖 Doors 7:00pm 🎤 Show 7:30–9:30pm 🎟 Free entry. Reserve a seat here on Meetup or just come along on the night. Donations are welcome at the end of the show if you’d like to support the night. What happens at Low Stakes Comedy stays at Low Stakes Comedy.

**Agentic AI from Qlik: Smarter Decisions, Delivered in Real Time** Every organisation makes hundreds of decisions each day. The problem is not a lack of data, it is the inability to access the full picture at the right time. Data sits in silos, insights arrive too late, and teams spend more time searching for answers than acting on them. At our upcoming **Qlik Meetup,** we will explore how Agentic AI from **Qlik** is transforming this reality. Built on the power of **Qlik Answers**, Qlik’s **Agentic AI** framework introduces intelligent AI agents that go beyond dashboards and static reporting. These agents understand context, connect structured and unstructured data, explain the “why” behind insights, and take meaningful action. The result is faster, more confident decision making across the organisation. Join us for an interactive session including live discussion and Q&A with members of the Qlik team, where we will demonstrate how Agentic AI: * Unifies all your data sources, enabling instant access to structured and unstructured information wherever it resides * Delivers transparent, explainable analytics with clear traceability back to source data * Automates intelligently by building dashboards, triggering workflows and completing routine tasks * Amplifies team productivity by acting as an intelligent extension of your workforce * Accelerates time to value through a plug and play architecture designed for rapid deployment and measurable ROI This session is ideal for data leaders, BI professionals and analytics teams looking to move from insight generation to intelligent execution. If you are serious about unlocking the next evolution of analytics within your organisation, this is a session not to miss.

Please join us for our next Bioinformatics London meetup, where we welcome **Francisco Azuaje**, Director of Bioinformatics and AI at **Genomics England**, for a talk on what it really takes to turn powerful models and rich datasets into safe, trustworthy impact in the clinic. **Francisco Azuaje** is Director of Bioinformatics at **Genomics England**, where he leads applied ML and GenAI across national-scale genomic and clinical datasets. With 25+ years across academia, public sector and pharma (including UCB and the Luxembourg Institute of Health), his work focuses on what actually works in AI for bioinformatics: moving from proof-of-concept to robust, governed systems that clinicians and patients can trust. In this talk, he will discuss real-world lessons from deploying AI in genomics pipelines and health data platforms, touching on verification, safety, organisational friction, and why the hard problems now are as much social and operational as they are technical. Approximate schedule: * 18:30 – Doors open * 18:45 – Chitchat, announcements * 19:00 – Talk and Q&A * 19:45 – End, then adjourn to a nearby pub for informal discussion Please **RSVP at least the day before** so we can provide an attendee list to reception. Make sure your Meetup name looks like a real name (e.g. “J Smith” or “Jane Jones”, not “weaselstabber”) so University of Westminster reception can identify you. We look forward to seeing you there for an honest discussion about what it takes to make AI and genomics work *for* real patients, not just in demos.

​Join us for the 25th London PyTorch Meetup! 🔥 ​We have our first speaker confirmed: **Peter Romov** – Open Source Contributor, 2. PyTorch/Opacus Autoresearch for Discovering State-of-the-Art LLM Adversarial Attacks ​More speakers to be announced.

**eCommerce & marketing course in London. Build your online store free. By Getshop Today, Tide Bank & Temu. In-person expert training.** This isn't just a course. It's a launchpad and Opportunity. Learn how to build and market an online business, and if you decide to move forward, we'll set everything up for you - at no cost. **Who's Teaching This?** The people behind this course actually built the tools you'll use: * **Getshop Today** \- a UK\-based eCommerce platform that builds your independent online store * **Brand Backie** \- an AI marketing tool that helps you promote your products We're not just instructors. We built the technology. **In official partnership with:** * **Tide Bank** \- providing smart banking solutions tailored for new eCommerce businesses\. * **Temu** \- unlocking complimentary Temu shop access for 12–18 months to accelerate your launch\. **Two Afternoons. Real Results.** **Day 1 \- Saturday\, 4\-7 PM \| Intro Training** Learn the foundations: how online stores work, dropshipping vs. selling your own products, multi-platform selling, and how to market effectively. Includes live demos. At the end, you choose whether to take up the **Opportunity**. **Day 2 \- Sunday\, 4\-7 PM \| Implementation Masterclass** For those who join the **Opportunity** only. We go deeper - advanced setup, marketing strategy, and a step-by-step launch plan. We start building your store live. *** **The Opportunity** By the end of Day 1, you’ll decide whether to take the leap. If you’re in, we’ll help you open a Tide business account right then and there - equipping you with the legal and financial foundation to launch and run your store immediately. As part of this, you’ll deposit a small initial amount (typically around £100) into your own account to get your business operational (this is not a fee and remains your money). **This unlocks 2 Options for you:** **Option 1 - Sell Your Own Products** We build your independent store, set up your Temu seller account, and train you to manage and market everything using Brand Backie. ✅ 12 months free independent online store ✅ 18 months free Temu shop ✅ Full marketing training **Option 2 - Dropshipping** We build your store and integrate it with eBay and TikTok Shop, then train you to market and scale across platforms. ✅ 12 months free independent online store ✅ 12 months free Temu shop (no dropshipping here) ✅ eBay & TikTok Shop integration ✅ Full marketing training *** **What You Get** Proprietary UK-built technology, 12–18 months of tools for free, multi-platform setup, and direct access to the founders. A real business, built from day one - not theory. **Bring your laptop. Basic computer skills needed. Arrive on time** \- sessions are step\-by\-step and build on each other\. **Spaces are limited. Register now!**

Special event for our PyTorch Friends. ## **ABOUT Agents and Robots 26 HACKXELERATOR™** * ​**Purpose:** A comprehensive HackXelerator focused on agents and robotics, spanning pre-event networking to final showcase in Berlin. * ​**Themes:** Digital agents, autonomous systems, human-robot interaction, and AI ethics. * ​**Duration:** 20 days of collaborative creation and mentoring. * ​**Agents and Robotics 26 Schedule:** * ​**March 12th \| Virtual Pre\-Event Briefing:** HackXelerator overview, rules, prizes, categories, sign-up, team formation, and Q&A * ​**March 27th \| AR26 In\-Person Kick\-off:** Inspiring keynotes on agents and robotics, expert panels across all streams, networking with sponsors and recruiters, plus yummy food and drinks. * ​**Mar 27th– Apr 17th \| Main HackXelerator:** intensive development period with mentoring, collaboration, and project creation. * ​**April 17th \| Showcase & Awards In\-Person Finale:** Project presentations, awards ceremony, and celebration party under the disco ball. ## ​HOW TO JOIN AR 26 1. ​[Sign in or sign up](https://www.kxsb.org/ar26#) to **KXSB** 2. ​Join the Discord server with the invite from the KXSB platform 3. ​Attend the pre-event virtual briefing [Agents and Robotics HackXelerator Pre-event · Luma](https://luma.com/tdi2pf5t)

**About the London Software Guild** ​The London Software Guild gathers developers, architects, and teams across London who care deeply about the craft of building great software. No fluff, no vendor pitches — just people who take the work seriously, sharing what they've learned the hard way. *** ## ​**Tonight's Speakers** ## ​**🎤 Kieran — Founding Engineer, Demand-Genius** ​Kieran is a founding engineer at Demand-Genius, working to close the gap between how humans and machines perceive your brand versus reality. Background in electrical & electronic engineering, previously working on real-time payments systems, high-scale distributed dynamic rules engines, and reverse proxies. Third Start-Up/Scale-Up (because I'm dumb and have never learnt my lesson). ​ **Talk: The Statistical (Un)Certainty That Our AI Co-Founder Ruins Everything** ​We have handed the most powerful text prediction machines ever built the keys to our codebases. They write code that is statistically likely to be correct. But "statistically likely" and "correct" are not the same thing. As we move toward autonomous multi-agent systems writing production code at machine speed, that gap becomes the central engineering problem of our time. ​Code is not text. It is a formal, deterministic, mathematical structure that happens to be serialised as text. Every tool in the agentic coding stack — retrieval, editing, version control, coordination — treats it as text. ​This talk argues that the answer isn't better frontier models. It's better systems around models. Specifically, the engineering disciplines we've used for a century to control uncertain systems — feedback loops, formal verification, dependency analysis, and control theory — are the missing layer between "AI can write code" and "AI can write code you can trust." *** ## ​**🎤 Andy Roberts — Senior Engineering Leader** ​Andy Roberts is a senior engineering leader with 25+ years of experience — the kind where you've actually written the code, run the teams, and been in the room when things went wrong at scale. Previously Head of EMEA Enterprise Solutions at Apollo GraphQL, where he helped companies like [Booking.com](https://booking.com/), PayPal, and The New York Times stop arguing about their APIs. Before that, Head of API Engineering at RS Components, wrangling 11 teams. Has strong opinions about federated architecture and isn't afraid to use them. ​ **Talk: Built for Browsers, Billed by Tokens** *Your microservices solved for latency. AI agents are solving for context. Nobody told your APIs.* ​Every era of software development has been defined by a constraint that reshaped architecture. In the database era we optimised for round trips. In the web era we obsessed over latency. Mobile forced us to think about bandwidth and battery. Each shift required new instincts, new patterns, new defaults. We're in the middle of another one. ​The AI era introduces a new constraint: context. Language models have finite working memory, and every API response your services return goes into it. The kitchen-sink response payloads that work fine for browsers are quietly making your AI agents more expensive and less capable — and the cost is almost entirely invisible in your existing dashboards. ​This talk maps the constraint transition from latency to context, shows what it means for the microservice APIs you have today, and offers five concrete things you can do about it without touching a line of existing backend code.

Hi Architects, Welcome to our the second AWS London Well-Architected User Group Meetup!!! 🥳🥳🥳 Due to the huge demand we saw for our inaugural meetup we have gone bigger with a new venue. Dragon Hall Trust, 17 Stukeley Street, London WC2B 5LT The AWS London Well-Architected Meetup is the latest chapter in the most popular AWS Meetup group globally. At each meetup we cover off various pillars of AWS best-practice in detail including insights from industry leaders that specialise in the Well-Architected Framework. We'll be announcing more speakers and topics over the coming weeks. **Speakers** * **The Philosophy Behind Well-Architected** **Philip Fitzsimons (Fitz)** \- Ex\-AWS \- Co\-authored the AWS Well\-Architected Framework\. The Well-Architected Framework started at AWS but has since been adopted by every major cloud vendor and beyond. Why did it resonate so widely? In this session, Fitz, who led the Well-Architected initiative at AWS from the beginning, explores the philosophy behind the framework, how it was intended to shape architectural thinking, and the mistakes teams commonly make when applying it. Drawing on lessons from seeing thousands of real architectures, he will explain how to approach Well-Architected reviews in a way that actually improves systems rather than just generating checklists. * **Running your first Well-Architected Review: A Live Walkthrough** **James Harding** \- Technical CSM \- Green Custard Curious about how a Well-Architected Review works in practice? In this session we'll run a live walkthrough using the AWS Well-Architected Tool, showing how to define a workload, answer the review questions, identify High Risk Issues and move on to an actionable improvement plan. * **Building Your Infrastructure: "Self-Hosted vs. Managed"** **Mykola Boiko -** Backend Developer - Ultralytics What does it really cost to build and operate your own infrastructure? Mykola Boiko shares real-world lessons from scaling a globally distributed AI platform using self-hosted infrastructure before gradually migrating services to AWS. Through stories of building replication, caching, observability, and multi-region reliability from scratch, the session reveals the hidden operational complexity and costs behind running everything yourself. The journey highlights key principles of the AWS Well-Architected Framework including Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Operational Excellence, and Cost Optimisation and shows why managed cloud services can dramatically reduce operational burden while improving scalability and resilience. More speakers to be announced soon. So come join us at 7pm for a 7.30pm start, including drinks, snacks and friendly networking after our talks :-) \*\*\*NB: No entry to the building after 7.30pm.\*\*\*

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is the gold standard for grounding LLMs in proprietary enterprise data. However, the journey from a flashy proof-of-concept to a reliable, secure production system is fraught with complexity. This talk bridges the gap between rapid prototyping and rigorous engineering. We will begin by exploring the actual merit of “vibe-coding”—using AI-assisted, rapid prototyping to build compelling demo apps that secure client buy-in and validate use cases. Once the demo is sold, the real work begins. We will navigate the architectural decision matrix, comparing the trade-offs of off-the-shelf products, cloud-managed services, and fully custom-built RAG solutions. Diving into the technical pipeline, we will cover modern ingestion strategies like agentic chunking and sophisticated retrieval methods, including re-ranking and GraphRAG, to overcome the limitations of simple vector search. We will detail the essential role of telemetry and LLM-as-a-Judge evaluation frameworks in ensuring sustained performance, faithfulness, and relevancy. Join us to learn how to transition from impressive demos to robust solutions that deliver measurable business value. Our Speaker, **[Dr. Enrico Fonda](https://www.linkedin.com/in/enricofonda/)** is a data scientist with a background in physics. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland and New York University, where he studied quantum fluids and applied deep learning to turbulence. In 2019, Enrico moved to London and transitioned his skills to the industry. He has since worked across the MarTech, Telco, and Tech sectors, focusing on machine learning modeling, generative AI applications, and code generation. Today, as a Solution Consultant at Sahaj Software, he continues to solve complex problems in data science and AI. 🗓️ **Save the Date:** 26th March, 2026 📍 **Location:** Sahaj Software, 1 Quality Court, London, WC2A 1HR 🕕 **Time:** 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (BST) The evening will feature: 🎤 **One engaging talk** with Q&A 🤝 **Plenty of time for networking** over free pizza and non-alcoholic drinks Don’t miss this chance to learn, connect, and share with fellow tech enthusiasts. 👉 Please click the link below to register. https://sahaj.ai/events/the-rag-reality-check-from-vibe-coding-to-production/

**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 **Abstract** Web Forms gave .NET developers a powerful abstraction for building reusable UI controls long before design systems were a thing. Web Components finally bring that same idea to the browser natively. This session explores how the Web Forms mindset translates into Custom Elements, Shadow DOM, and HTML templates. We’ll examine how Web Components enable design systems that work across frameworks, how they differ from server‑driven controls, and why they’re becoming a foundational layer for modern UI. Whether you’re maintaining legacy apps or building greenfield projects, you’ll leave with a practical understanding of how to apply familiar patterns in a modern, standards‑based way. **YouTube Link** TBA

**Improving Office in Franklinton** Physical location: Improving Office 330 Rush Alley Suite #150 Columbus, OH 43215 Schedule: 6:00 p.m.: Socialize, eat, and drink. Improving will be providing pizza and beverages. 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Main meeting and presentation(s). Topic: Type Annotations with John Cassidy We meet on the last Monday of each Month. Presentations are given by members and friends of this group. If you would like to do a presentation (small or large) on a python topic, please contact Central OH Python at centralohpython@gmail.com

**Complex Trauma Support Group** Our group is intended for survivors of complex trauma. If you are here, it’s likely that so much of who you are and what you have experienced in this life is actually invisible to most people––to family, society, coworkers, and the people who are around you. We are a peer-led group of survivors creating opportunities for ourselves and others to share our experiences, share support, and build relationships in kind community together. Survivor experiences might include: child sexual abuse, incest, child trafficking, and other experiences of people living with traumatic dissociation and complex PTSD. **What to expect at your first meeting:** Currently, we are offering a bi-monthly in person group at 2:00pm on the first and third Sunday of the month. The only criterion for joining the group is that you are a survivor of trauma wishing to have more kindness in your own life and share kindness with others, and that you agree to practice to group’s relational agreements available for view here: https://www.kindgroups.com/agreements. Joining the group is free of charge. We ask that new people connect with us for 30 minutes on the phone or on zoom before coming to their first group, so that we can determine together that we are a good fit. Our meetings last approximately 90 minutes. Participants are never required to share. You’re also welcome to choose a pseudonym and you will never be asked for private information. You are welcome to leave at any time. The kindness that survivors can share when among others who have survived similar childhood experiences is something we rarely get to experience. Time spent with others who understand even a little bit more about us is a relief. Our hope is to help ourselves and others experience that we are not alone. We wish for our efforts to be a cause of kindness in our own lives and the lives of each other. You can read more about the groups at www.kindgroups.com.

**New Dojo Location!** **Knotty Pine Brewing** 1765 W 3rd Ave, Columbus, OH 43212 We're going to try a new dojo location for a few weeks and see how it works Dojos are informal Python group study sessions where everyone interested in Python gathers to learn about Python, help others with Python, or just hang out. Everyone is welcome from Python beginners to experts. Bringing a laptop is encouraged (we'll have extension cords and power strips). If there's something you want to learn leave a comment on this invite so we can plan ahead. We're looking for topic suggestions and people interested in presenting at our monthly meetings. To this end we've set up a survey form at [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc)

We connect you with up to 30 Men or Women tennis partners close to your PLAYING REGION and skill level. This program is less competitive, no champions crowned, no league standings just dedicated tennis partners who want to meet up with you on the courts. Players will meet up to play a tennis match or just to hit around. Just go through the [Join Page](https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program) to enter this program. [https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program](https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program)

**First meetup of the Columbus AI Engineering group.** We’ll kick things off with a practical, beginner-friendly discussion on: **How LLMs like ChatGPT actually work — and how to build real applications with them.** We’ll cover: * what’s actually happening under the hood (at a high level) * why LLMs behave the way they do (hallucinations, prompt sensitivity, etc.) * how people are building real systems with them today * where things break in practice This will be a **short, informal talk (\~15–20 min)** followed by open discussion and Q&A. Whether you’re an engineer, builder, or just curious about how modern AI systems work, you’re welcome to join. No slides, no fluff — just real conversation about real systems. We’ll hang out afterward and get to know each other.

Builders, creators, architects, admins, consultants - come one, come all. This one's for you. We're bringing a little friendly competition to the Columbus ServiceNow community while highlighting the cool things people have built on the platform. Five presenters will take the stage to showcase something they've built, solved, designed, or imagined on the ServiceNow platform - and a panel of judges (plus YOU, our amazing audience) will score them live. So basically, America's Got Talent but make it ServiceNow's Got Talent. Bring a notepad if you'd like 'cause you'll definitely be learning something new. Each presenter gets 10 minutes max to wow the crowd with: • A demo • A real-world business solution • A bold idea • A UX transformation • Or a creative use of the platform Judging Criteria: 🏆 Business Value 🚀 Innovation ✨ User Experience This event is about celebrating ideas, sharing knowledge, and showing how ServiceNow can drive both business impact and meaningful user value. Come learn. Come support. Come get inspired. Refreshments and bites will be provided. And maybe next time… you’ll be on stage.