Data Engineering

**TICKET ONLY EVENT - YOU MUST REGISTER YOUR INTEREST ON OUR WEBSITE!** We’re delighted to have [Phillie Wright](https://www.linkedin.com/in/philliewright/) from [Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/) share her insights on **building effective Agents**. Up next, we’re excited to welcome back [Paul Stack](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stack72/), Director of Product, [System Initiative](https://www.systeminit.com/), who will share his thoughts on **the next frontier of DevOps**. After these two great talks, you’ll have time to connect with the community over drinks and pizzas. We expect high demand, and the venue is limited to 130 people (90 seated, 40 standing). To keep things fair, tickets will be allocated by random draw. You must register your interest on our [website for a ticket](https://awsuguk.org/aws-ai-in-practice-meetup-3/)! **RSVPing on Meetup will not give you entry to the event!** **Programme** **18:00:** Arrival, registration **18:15:** ***TALKS START*** **20:00:** Networking with food and a drink provided by the generosity of our sponsors **Talk 1** ***Building Effective Agents with Phillie Wright*** As agentic AI moves from demos to production, teams face a new set of architectural decisions that will shape their systems for years to come. This session draws on Anthropic’s experience building Claude Code to explore the practical tradeoffs you’ll encounter when designing agentic systems at scale. We’ll cover when MCP makes sense (and when it doesn’t), approaches to tool discovery and management as your agent’s capabilities grow, and the often-overlooked challenges of running agents in production. Along the way, I’ll share some of the unexpected ways we use Claude Code internally at Anthropic and workflows that might spark ideas for your own teams. Whether you’re just starting to experiment with agents or already running them in production, you’ll hopefully leave with a mental model for the key decisions ahead and the tradeoffs each one entails. **Talk 2:** ***AI as Your New SRE: The Next Frontier of DevOps with Paul Stack*** In the early days of DevOps, automation was the revolution. Today, AI is bringing the second wave – not just automating tasks, but reasoning, predicting, and autonomously managing complex systems like a tireless Site Reliability Engineer. In this talk, we’ll explore how AI will reshape the DevOps lifecycle: from intelligent CI/CD pipelines and automated incident response to self‑healing infrastructure and generative configuration management. You’ll see live demos of AI detecting, diagnosing, and fixing infrastructure issues in real time, and we’ll discuss the risks – over‑reliance on AI, governance challenges, and the need for explainability – plus the steps teams can take today to prepare for an AI‑augmented future. Watch his previous talk on “[Automating AWS Integration with Amazon Cloud Control AP](https://awsuguk.org/videos/paul-stack-09-04-2025/)I“. A big thank you to our **Sponsors**: * [The Scale Factory](https://www.scalefactory.com/) * [Cloudscaler](http://www.cloudscaler.com/) And to our **Hosts** * [Vorboss](https://rebrand.ly/awsuguk-vorboss) * [Rayo](https://rebrand.ly/awsuguk-rayo) Remember to follow us [@AWSUserGroupUK](https://twitter.com/AWSUserGroupUK) and on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aws-ug-uk) for the latest updates and you can find videos of our past meetups on [YouTube](http://bit.ly/2dZnvEE).

***Enter the live meeting room here: [https://discord.gg/5wgxtr4c2u](https://discord.gg/5wgxtr4c2u)*** ***Download the engine here: [https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download](https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download)*** Welcome to the **Unreal Engine Workshop!** In each session we'll tackle essential game design discussions, then transition into hands-on project creation. Participants will build and expand their skills continuously as we explore every aspect of game development. From basic blueprints and interactive mechanics, to advanced rigging, animation, environment design, and lighting, we'll work our way up to creating small complete games. We encourage experimentation and peer teaching, so whether you're a beginner or experienced developer looking to deepen your expertise, our sessions provide a supportive environment to learn, create, and innovate together in Unreal Engine 5.

🎉 Come along to the London Scala Talks! 🎉 In this event you'll hear from Jacob Wang and Jack Higgs. **Agenda** 6:00pm - 🥤 Doors open. Come along and grab a drink! 6:40pm - 🗣️ Jacob Wang: A comprehensive tour of error handling in Scala 7:20pm - 🍕 Intermission: Join us for some free food and drinks! Vegan, vegetarian options are provided. Let us know if you'd like something special - we'd be happy to accommodate. 7:50pm - 🗣️ Jack Higgs: Starship Enterprise: Functional Programming at Huge Companies 8:30pm - 🥤 Socialising: Grab a drink and let's discuss the talks. 9:00pm - 🍻 Join us in a pub to discuss the talks! 🌐 **This event has a live stream** Join the webinar [here]( https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/30e0cff4-dd75-446d-9512-40dd71cb2ef1@6ab2c207-55db-445d-8ff6-bab5aca7dea3) at 18:40. **🗣️ Jacob Wang: A comprehensive tour of error handling in Scala** Errors are part of life - But how best to work with them in our code? In this talk, I'll take you on a tour of various typed error handling approaches within the Scala ecosystem, as well introduce a new one for cats/cats-effect ecosystem! ⭐ Jacob Wang ⭐ Jacob has been writing Scala for close to 10 years. He enjoys creating programs that mostly behave, as well as sharing this joy via open source & teaching. **🗣️ Jack Higgs: Starship Enterprise: Functional Programming at Huge Companies** Practicing functional programming inside a Fortune 100 enterprise can feel like flying the Starship Enterprise through asteroid fields of legacy code and bureaucracy. This talk shares hard-earned lessons from the Information Engineering team at JPMorganChase, which runs a production Scala codebase powering a novel metadata platform. We'll explore the political, cultural, and technical friction of pushing functional programming in a Java and Python dominated environment. We'll introduce the domain we work in, the techniques that have worked (and those that haven't), the compromises we've made, and why - despite it all - we still think it's worth it. If you've never tried to run cats-effect in a place where Spring Boot is king, add this talk to your battle log. ⭐ Jack Higgs ⭐ Jack Higgs is a technologist with fifteen years of experience in investment banking, including the past decade at JPMorganChase. He leads teams building metadata platforms using Scala and functional programming techniques. Over the past six years, Jack has worked at the intersection of software engineering, data architecture, and large-scale enterprise systems. Passionate about type safety, functional design, and making abstract ideas practical, he thrives on applying elegant code in messy real-world environments. ———————————————————— 🗣️ Would you like to present, but are not sure how to start? Give a talk with us and you'll receive mentorship from a trained toastmaster! Get in touch through [this form](https://forms.gle/zv5i9eeto1BsnSwe8) and we'll get you started 🏡 Interested in hosting or supporting us? Please get in touch through [this form](https://forms.gle/3SX3Bm6zHqVodBaMA) and we can discuss how you can get involved. 📜 All London Scala User Group events operate under the [Scala Community Code of Conduct](https://www.scala-lang.org/conduct/). We encourage each of you to report the breach of the conduct, either anonymously through [this form](https://forms.gle/9PMMorUWgBnbk1mm6) or by contacting one of our team members. We guarantee privacy and confidentiality, as well as that we will take your report seriously and react quickly.

BOOK YOUR TICKET 👉🏼 [HERE](https://itsadate.club/event/speed-dating-in-soho-32/). Step into a fun, fast-paced night of introductions with 30+ super-social guests—hosted by London’s #1-rated dating events team! Moments from Tottenham Court Road Station, All Bar One New Oxford St. is a firm favourite with our mid-week speed dating crowd. The spacious open-plan bar is a welcoming setting for this social evening, with a dedicated mezzanine level reserved exclusively for It’s a Date. You will have the chance to select a drink from the extensive bar menu, meet your friendly host, and get comfortable on the mezzanine before we begin. For those continuing into the night, you are in the heart of Soho, so the opportunities are endless! Our host will be at the venue ready to welcome you at 19:30. Please arrive on time for registration, to grab any drinks from the bar, and receive a summary of how things will work. You will be given an optional name sticker, a pen, and a note card to keep track of everyone you’ve met. Ladies will be seated on tables adequately spaced, discreetly numbered, and arranged in a comfortable area of the venue. When speed dating commences, gents will join ladies for 5-minute dates to get to know one another. Your host will notify all guests at the end of each date, signalling for gents to move to the next table in ascending numerical order. During table rotations, you will have a moment to record on note cards your feelings towards the previous date and intention to reconnect, for your reference only. Mid-way through the evening, your host will indicate a 15-minute comfort break to use the rest room, head to the bar, or socialise with new connections. Dating will then resume for the second half of the evening. At the end of the speed dating the bar will remain open for more socialising. You can then access the event listing in your dashboard to enter feedback on dates and await your matches. If you have any questions on the event or how things will work, please get in contact with James on 07517 065 492 or james@itsadate.club.

This event is part of The Android Circuit, London's Central Hub for Android Developers. Check out the full circuit at https://androidcircuit.london/. The Android Circuit journeys through London, with each "stop" hosted in the heart of the city's vibrant tech ecosystem. Our mission remains the same: to connect Android developers of all levels. We're delighted to announce that the next station on The Android Circuit will be Old Street! Mark your calendars for our fourth meetup on February 11th, starting at 17:30, which will be hosted at our community partner, Encode Hub. Agenda 5:30 PM: Registration and arrival 6:00 PM: Welcome remarks 6:15 PM: Empowering Android Apps with Local Google Gemma Models for Privacy-First AI by Abdul Basit This session explores the transformative potential of running Google Gemma models locally on Android devices to build secure, privacy-first AI applications. Starting with a brief overview of Large Language Models (LLMs) and their role in the AI landscape, we’ll address privacy concerns driving the need for local deployment. Discover why local LLMs are essential, explore available Gemma models optimized for Android, and learn practical steps to install and run these models on Android devices. By the end, you’ll be equipped to create innovative, offline-capable Android apps that prioritize user privacy. Key Takeaways: AI and LLMs Overview: A concise introduction to Large Language Models and their significance in the AI ecosystem. Privacy Concerns: Key risks of cloud-based LLMs, including data exposure and regulatory challenges (e.g., GDPR, CCPA). Why Local LLMs?: Benefits of local deployment on Android, such as enhanced privacy, offline functionality, and compliance. Available Models: Overview of Google Gemma models (1B, 2B parameters) designed for lightweight, on-device Android use. Running Gemma on Android: Step-by-step guide to installing and optimizing Gemma models on Android using tools like TensorFlow Lite or ONNX Runtime, with practical deployment tips. 7:00 PM: Why it's worth implementing passkeys in Android - even though it's hard! by Tom Colvin With passkeys, you can secure user data with your phone's fingerprint scanner, facial recognition or screen lock. No more passwords or third-party auth! In this talk, I hope to convince you that passkeys are worth implementing in your app, even though it's hard to do so. And I will demonstrate how to do that in Android. You will learn: - Why user behaviour makes passwords insecure - How passkeys solve this, by being inherently immune to phishing, credential stuffing and data breaches - How to authenticate users using passkeys in Android using Jetpack Credential Manager 7:45 PM: Networking --- Speaker Abdul Basit - HungerStation (Senior Engineer) Hosts Tom Colvin - Apptaura (Google Developer Expert • Chief Technology Officer) Tom Colvin is CTO of Apptaura, the app development specialists; and founder of Conseal Security, the mobile app security experts. He has been a developer for over 20 years and worked with Android since Cupcake. He is a Google Developer Expert in Android. Goran Minov - Okta Inc. (Regional Technical Strategist) I am a Cyber Security Architect specialising in Identity & Access Management (IAM). My passion lies in architecting secure Google Cloud solutions and building tamper-proof Android applications. I currently serve as a Senior Technical Account Manager at Okta. As a key member of the customer success team, I'm dedicated to ensuring customers fully maximise the value of … --- Partner Encode Hub (https://hub.encode.club) --- Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-london-presents-the-android-circuit-fourth-stop-old-street/.

WEDNESDAYS at Hammersmith Salsa Club, Hammersmith, London Open Every Wednesday Hammersmith Salsa & Bachata Club, 11 Rutland Grove, Hammersmith, W6 9DH (http://www.incognitodance.com/hammersmith-salsa-club-west-london/) 7pm – 11:00 pm Bachata Classes: 7:30pm – 8:20pm (6 levels) Salsa Classes 8:30 -9:20pm (6 levels) No prior bookings are needed, just turn up and dance. Absolute beginners are warmly welcomed. Wear comfortable shoes and light clothes, to keep you dancing comfortably all night £10 Club Only £14 Two Classes + Club Usually has 200+ dancers every week Fun & friendly classes for dancers of all levels. Plenty of social dancing to the latest Latin grooves.

**Details** We're back for another fun, friendly informal evening of product lightning talks and networking. We have 4 great speakers lined up to talk for 10 minutes (max) each on a product management topic that they’re passionate about. **Agenda** * 6:30 - Networking, drinks and nibbles * 7:00 - Welcome and intro * 7:10 - 4x 10 minute lightning talks + 5 mins Q&A per talk * 8:10 - More networking * 9:00 - Head to the pub **Our Speakers** * [Germán Muñoz](https://www.linkedin.com/in/germanmunoz/) \- Senior Product Manager @ Monzo\. "Why You Should Never Search Alone: Surviving a Job Search in the Age of Layoffs" * [Lina Kandinova](https://www.linkedin.com/in/linakandinova/) \- Lead Product Manager @ ArtLogic\. "The Art of Crafting Stories \(and why it's a PM superpower\!\)" * [Iliyana Futkova](https://www.linkedin.com/in/iliyanafutkova/) \- IT Strategic Projects & Engagement Lead @ Ashurst "My experience in a Product\-Led Startup vs BigLaw" * [Adam Carley](https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcarley/) \- Serial CPO and Product Leader "Putting Jobs\-to\-be\-Done in context: where it shines but what it misses\." **Getting there** * The venue is The Old Street Gallery, 3 Leonard Circus, London EC2A 4NA. * It's on the corner of Leonard Street and Paul Street. * Check in at reception, and you will be directed to the event space. * The talks start at 7pm. * Please arrive promptly, as spaces will be limited. * We have a max capacity of 50 attendees and will unfortunately have to turn people away once we reach capacity or after the talks have started. **Our founding sponsor: Zebra People** * Zebra People is a digital recruitment business specialising in helping tech companies to grow their product, engineering and design teams with top-calibre talent. * Looking to hire Product Managers, Engineers or Designers? Visit [zebrapeople.com](https://zebrapeople.com/) or contact nick@zebrapeople.com

🎉 **Event #22 – The Analytics Engineering Meet-up** 🎉 The first event of the year will be at Checkout.com! Talks: 🚀 [Toby Henley Smith](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobyhenleysmith/overlay/about-this-profile/) @ Moneybox *AE: Abstraction Engineering?* * The role that Analytics Engineering plays in your company is far more than just being the dbt team 🤖 [Rakhee Modha-Lobo](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakhee-modha-lobo-aab6a875/overlay/about-this-profile/) **@** Starling Bank *Embracing AI and Automation in Our Analytics Engineering Workflows* * A deep dive into how Starling are using AI and automation in the analytics engineering workflow. 📅 **RSVP opens Monday, 26th January** (3.5 weeks before the event). This event will be **over-subscribed**, so set a reminder — you won’t want to miss it! 📍 **Agenda** 6pm – Doors open, networking, food & drinks 7pm – Talks kick off 8:30pm – More drinks & networking @ local pub We’ll be hosted in the amazing **Checout.com office**. This is a fantastic opportunity to connect with some of the UK’s top data professionals, share challenges, and exchange learnings. We are always looking to improve the event and get new ideas for talks, if you could please fill out a [feedback form](https://cognifysearch.com/the-london-analytics-engineering-meet-up-feedback-form/), this will help us continue to improve! The **Analytics Engineering Meet-up** is a community for data professionals working with the modern data stack, machine learning or AI. We host regular meet-ups featuring talks from data leaders building and scaling analytics, data platforms, and AI in forward-thinking teams. The community is ideal for Data Engineers, Analytics Engineers, Analysts, and those working in Data Science, Machine Learning, or AI. The meet-up is organised by [Cognify](cognifysearch.com), the recruitment partner for modern data and AI teams. Our sponsor is [Omni](omni.co), an AI-powered BI platform that helps people use data to do their best work. Whether users prefer AI, Excel, point-and-click exploration, or SQL, Omni enables fast, trusted answers from a governed semantic model. We’re always on the lookout for **venues to host** and **guest speakers** to inspire. If you’d like to get involved, feel free to chat with one of the Cognify team at any event. If you’re eager to dive deeper into industry insights, check out ***The Stacked Data Podcast*** for conversations with industry leaders: Listen on: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/24fIpekn8WfRDZsVHNcf7Q) Your feedback is so valuable to us, we'd love to hear from you to help us continue to improve, [Feedback Form here](https://cognifysearch.com/the-london-analytics-engineering-meet-up-feedback-form/) **No-Show Policy**: * If you miss **2 consecutive events** or **2 out of 3 events**, you wont be able to attend the next event. We hope you understand this is to keep things fair for venues and other attendees.

Join us at the next monthly London Security Engineering meetup! **🍕 6:00pm: Arrive** \- Kick off the evening with light refreshments and networking \(30 mins\) 🎤 **6:30pm:** **Main Talk** \- Gal Ordo\, Co\-Founder & CPO @ Native on "Secure\-by\-design: lessons from a multi\-cloud world" **☕ 7:00pm: Break** – Refresh, connect, and recharge (15-20 mins) ⚡ **7.15pm:** **Lightning Talk** \- Medad Newman\, Security Engineer @Nationwide Building Society on "Driving Security Tooling Usage at Scale" **🍻 8:00pm: Pub** \- We usually go to a neighbouring pub for a drink after\! This event is a good opportunity to gain practical insights, meet fellow security professionals and discuss the latest trends in the industry. 📍 **Where:** MMC Ventures, London 📅 **When:** Thursday Feb 12th 2026 *This event is made possible by the teams at MMC Ventures, Maze, and Tracebit.*

Hello and welcome to our next **AWS AI UG** meetup. This event brings together engineers, builders, data and ML practitioners, architects, and leaders working with AI, ML, and generative AI on AWS. Our meetups are friendly, welcoming, and community-driven; everyone is welcome, whether you’re experienced or just starting your AWS AI journey. This session will include practitioner talks, demos, Q&A, and time for networking with like-minded peers. We run bi-monthly in-person meetups in London, bi-monthly online events across the UK, North America and APAC, and one online global AWS AI conference each year. Food and refreshments will be provided for in-person events where a host venue is supporting. We are delighted to host this event in **London** on **12th of February**, in partnership with [Arrows Recruitment.](https://www.arrowsgroup.com/) **Speakers and Sessions:** Speaker: Olga Pirog - Founder, Renaissance AI Session Title: AI Transformation and adoption Description: Organisations are pouring billions into AI tools - yet only 6% see significant business impact. The problem isn't the technology; it's what happens after deployment. In this talk, Olga explores the "missing middle" of enterprise AI adoption: the overlooked habit formation stage that accounts for 35% of transformation value but receives a fraction of the investment. Drawing on her experience leading AI adoption for thousands of users at IG Group and building Renaissance AI's training platform, she shares practical insights on why traditional training fails (70% forgotten within 24 hours), what actually drives lasting behaviour change, and how organisations can finally close the gap between AI investment and AI impact. Speaker: Paul Ross - Senior Worldwide Specialist Solutions Architect, In-Memory Databases, AWS Session Title: Optimise your apps and AI workloads for cost and performance using in-memory databases and Valkey on AWS Description: Organisations are rapidly adopting Valkey to dramatically boost performance while slashing operational costs. Join Paul Ross to discover how Valkey on AWS can transform your applications through lightning-fast data access, innovative developer features, and seamless real-time operations. **Agenda (GMT / UK):** 18:00 — Welcome and refreshments 18:30 — Introduction — Ethan Sumner 18:35 — Olga Pirog 19:10 — Break 19:20 — Paul Ross 19:55 — Close and networking **We are always keen to hear from:** • Speakers — case studies, engineering deep dives, demos and applied AWS AI stories • Hosts — organisations able to provide space for future meetups • Sponsors — support with refreshments, recording, marketing or accessibility If you would like to speak, sponsor, or host a future event, please get in touch with **[Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/)** via LinkedIn. You can find our YouTube channel [here.](https://www.youtube.com/@CommunityStackHQ) This community forms part of the **[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)**[ ](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)and follows the **Community Stack Code of Conduct** to ensure a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all attendees.

Bachata Sundays - Weekly Bachata dance classes for beginners/improvers, then social dancing at Park View Healthclub, Colindale. NOTE: Bachata Sensual will be taught, not Bachata Dominican. Ready to spice up your evenings with some Latin rhythm? Location: Park View Gym, 6 Heath Parade, Grahame Park Way, Colindale, London, NW9 5ZN, United Kingdom When: Every Sunday with class starting at 7pm Spaces are limited to 12 people maximum – 1st come, 1st served! Pricing: \> £15 per session for drop\-in\. \> £54 for 4 weeks block booking of group dance classes \(needs to be paid in advance\) \> Otherwise\, £160 for 8 weeks of group classes \+ 1 private class each week over the 8 weeks \(meaning 16 classes\) \> Get a further discount when you book as a couple\. Couple bookings includes one lead and one follower\. NOTE: Due to limited spaces, you must book and reserve your space ASAP. We do not advise on leaving it too late. What does a class involve? \> 55 minutes warm\-up and dance class \> 5 minutes of social dancing to practice what you learned\. This cosy setup means more personal attention and a great vibe – perfect for learning or improving your Bachata in a relaxed\, social setting\. To reserve your spot, contact Mau on: 07950268600, then make a payment via bank transfer to MR M MCPHERSON, 68649633, 09-01-28

This Valentine’s Day, skip the small talk and build something together instead! 🥳 PLEASE, JOIN THE WAITING LIST TO BE APPROVED This is a special edition of our 2-hour vibe coding jam, sponsored by [Lovable](https://lovable.dev/), for singles and others who are open to meeting people in a low-pressure way. You don’t need to be a developer or have an idea. **You don’t even need to be single!** We’ll team up in **small groups**, and **use AI tools** to **build an app**, or **experiment**. No pitching yourself. No awkward speed-dating questions. Just make something together and see if the vibe arises! **Join our What'sApp Chat:** https://chat.whatsapp.com/BxLUpQMiXwo6d1vG7YSirT **New to vibe coding? ✨** No worries! We begin with a simple starter guide with example prompts and tips so even total beginners can dive in without stress. **Who it’s for** •⁠ ⁠Singles who’d rather build than swipe •⁠ ⁠People open to friends, collaborators, or more •⁠ ⁠Designers, GameDevs, Product folks, Artists, Sales, curious humans... •⁠ ⁠Anyone! **How it works 🚀** •⁠ ⁠Quick welcome + what “vibe coding” means •⁠ ⁠A Valentine-themed challenge •⁠ ⁠90 minutes of building with AI, chatting, helping, and experimenting •⁠ ⁠Switching up teams every so often, so you meet more people •⁠ ⁠Optional demos •⁠ ⁠Hangouts **Opt-in badges to signal your vibe** 💘 Open to dating 🌼 Open to friends 💻 Just here to build **What to bring:** * ID to verify that you are 18+ 🪪 * Laptop! 💻 * Vibes ⚡ **What you’ll leave with** •⁠ ⁠A funky project you made in one evening •⁠ ⁠New friends •⁠ ⁠Possibly a crush, but definitely a story **Location 📍** **Brewhouse & Kitchen Highbury** 2A Corsica St, N51JJ, London 👉 **No pressure, no gatekeeping.** Come solo, or as a couple. Leave with something built, and maybe someone to build with again! 🔞 This event is strictly for people who are 18+. We may ask to see your ID if you look younger, in which case you may be denied entry.

**\*\*To book please go here [https://dateinadash.com/events/london/west-end/gay-speed-dating/31Jan2026-7522](https://dateinadash.com/events/london/west-end/gay-speed-dating/31Jan2026-7522)\*\*** Step into style at our brand new Saturday night Gay Speed Dating for ages 21-45 at the luxurious [NYX Hotel](https://www.nyx-hotels.co.uk/london-holborn) in Holborn. Meet 15 like-minded singles in one unforgettable evening. Arrive 15–30 minutes early for registration and soak up the hotel’s vibrant atmosphere before the event kicks off at 6:30pm sharp. Your friendly host will guide you through the evening — half the men stay seated, the other half rotate every 4 minutes, and you’ll mark who you’d like to see again on your scorecard or phone. At 8pm, the dating ends but the night doesn’t have to. Head upstairs to the stunning Glasshouse rooftop bar where you can sip cocktails, enjoy city views, and mingle with your new connections late into the night. Matches are sent the next day, so you can reconnect through our website. Spaces are limited and sell out quickly — book now to secure your spot at London’s most sophisticated speed dating night! For questions, email enquiries@dateinadash.com or call 0845 862 1448 (9am–5pm).

February edition! We will be at Kraken Tech (Octopus Energy Group) London office! (in-person only event, no streaming) **Talks:** **Constraints over Patterns** - *Eden Watkins* We should think and talk about software engineering principles first as constraints on how we write code rather than patterns to be applied. Eden is a software engineer at Kraken in the developer foundations team. Before that, I was a research student in Linguistics. **Intro to Load Level Measurement (LLM) with Locust** - *Andy Idiaghe* An Intro to Load Testing with Locust and Python *Andy Idiaghe* is a Senior Software Engineer at Kraken, Mario Kart enthusiast and overall tech generalist **Want to share your Django or Python knowledge?** We’d love to feature your talk! Just fill out our [speaker form](https://forms.gle/LkaRdKVTF9ApbrEq7) to propose a talk! **Agenda:** • 6:15pm Doors open, socialising • 6:30pm Food and drinks offered by our sponsor • 7:00pm Doors close \*\* • 7:15pm Introduction, News, Talks • 8:30pm Socialising • 9:30pm Fin \*\* Please make sure to arrive between 6:15 PM and 6:55 PM. If you arrive earlier than 6:15 PM or later than 6:55 PM, you can take a seat in the seating area located in the downstairs reception. Please note that we cannot accommodate arrivals after 7:15 PM. Our meetups are governed by a [Code of Conduct](https://www.djangolondon.com/code-of-conduct/). Please take a few minutes to read it. This meetup is sponsored by: • [Kraken Tech (Octopus Energy Group)](https://kraken.tech/): "Kraken is a revolutionary energy tech platform built with predominantly Python & Django. We Serve 54 million households worldwide and have 38GW of contracted capacity." • [JetBrains](https://www.jetbrains.com/): "We make professional software development a more productive and enjoyable experience." Website: [https://djangolondon.com](https://djangolondon.com/) BlueSky: [@djangolondon.com](https://bsky.app/profile/djangolondon.com) Github: [github.com/djangolondon](https://github.com/djangolondon/) Open Collective: [opencollective.com/the-london-django-meetup-group](https://opencollective.com/the-london-django-meetup-group/)

**People Analytics 101: Making Sense of Compensation Data** Compensation data is one of the most widely used and widely misunderstood forms of people analytics. The session will cover where compensation data comes from, including market pricing data, internal payroll data, and benchmarking sources, and how companies think about structuring and analyzing that information. We will explore how compensation data is leveraged to set salary ranges, manage internal equity, support hiring and retention, and align pay with business strategy. A portion of the session will address common data challenges and limitations, such as market noise, inconsistent job matching, and incomplete datasets, while keeping the primary focus on practical use rather than technical depth. The session will also look ahead at where the space is going, including the growing impact of pay transparency laws, expanding pay equity requirements, and emerging regulations in the US and Europe that require organizations to report on gender and pay gaps. The goal is to give attendees a clear mental model for how compensation analytics works today and why getting it right is becoming increasingly critical. (note: we are back at Rev1 this month!) **About Our Speaker** [Alex Moore](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexscottmoore/) is the founder of [Moore Cooperative](https://moorecooperative.com/), where he advises organizations on compensation strategy, pay equity, and people analytics. His work focuses on helping organizations like the Ohio Supreme Court design, analyze, and communicate compensation systems that are data-informed, defensible, and aligned with organizational goals. Alex lives in Granville, Ohio and has three little kiddos. More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

I love my job and one of the main things I do is help customers get going with any of the data technologies at Microsoft. Right now there are a lot of my customers asking about Microsoft Fabric. It's hard to weave across all the shiny new options across the Fabric landscape, let alone figure out where it fits into your organization. In this session we'll focus on answering one question - how can I get data into Fabric? We'll talk through the "it depends" options and see some of the options in live demos.

**NEW LOCATION: 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). Lonnie Morgan will be presenting information about the DLT Library. "The Python library `dlt` provides a powerful [REST API toolkit](https://dlthub.com/docs/dlt-ecosystem/verified-sources/rest_api/basic) to ingest data. Combined with our [LLM scaffolds](https://dlthub.com/workspace) and [MCP server](https://dlthub.com/docs/hub/features/mcp-server), you can build a custom connector for any of the 8k+ available sources in 10 minutes by following this guide. Building with LLMs is an iterative process. We will follow this general workflow and give practical tips for each step." See Our [Parking Map](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u2A4fLNlxwLJn0KA_hKc8bnFlFHLvsHBDh-_8wzX_tk/edit?usp=sharing) 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 centralohpython@gmail.com

**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** TBD **YouTube Link** TBA

**Abstract:** The Advanced Photon Source (APS) is an X-ray light source at Argonne National Laboratory where researchers perform imaging, diffraction and spectroscopy experiments at 68 specialized beamlines. APS recently completed a major upgrade that made it the brightest synchrotron in the world and upgraded many of the beamlines to take advantage of the dramatically brighter, more coherent beam. These new capabilities are increasing the facility’s raw data production from <10 PB/year before the upgrade to >100 PB/year once all instruments are back online. To meet this data challenge, the APS Beamline Data Pipeline project team is partnering with beamline staff to develop and deploy science data pipelines that use a common set of open-source software tools (many written in Python) to link instruments with the Polaris supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) for data processing. This talk will describe the APS data systems, our file-based and streaming pipeline templates, and some of the open-source software we use to extract scientific insights from beamline data. **Audience Takeaway:** Open source Python data acquisition and analysis tools are ubiquitous at the APS. Many of the packages that are mentioned can be found at [https://github.com/AdvancedPhotonSource](https://github.com/AdvancedPhotonSource). This is a *hybrid* event. To attend online, join us on Zoom here at 6pm: [https://numfocus-org.zoom.us/j/89399976851?pwd=UEgMUZXdYmKdK1x1dIPL6hwUYnp7NW.1](https://numfocus-org.zoom.us/j/89399976851?pwd=UEgMUZXdYmKdK1x1dIPL6hwUYnp7NW.1) **Sponsor**: Grainger will provide the meeting site, as well as snacks for the onsite participants. * **Address:** 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, 18th Floor, Chicago, IL 60654 * **Grainger's Overview:** W.W. Grainger, Inc., is a leading broadline distributor with over $17 billion in revenue. At Grainger, We Keep the World Working® by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products and services delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships. Our machine learning team builds broadly across search, recommendations, product matching, computer vision, and generative AI. * **Logistics**: To access the Grainger office, we require **first and last names** of those who RSVP'd by **Feb 11**. Please take the main elevators at the center of the Mart. Attendees will then present their **IDs** when they arrive at the front desk on the 18th floor.

Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! https://sessionize.com/cbus-hug-2026/

Join the Columbus AI community for our quarterly gathering — a casual, community-focused evening where everyone has a chance to share, learn, and connect. These open mic–style events give anyone in the community up to **5 minutes** to present a project, share a tool, pose a question, or offer a perspective on the evolving AI space. No slides required — just a welcoming space to exchange ideas and keep the local AI conversation moving. If you’d like to take the stage, message **Chris (the organizer)** with a **title and short description** of what you’d like to share. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.transformlabs.com/services)