Data Engineering

**Welcome to DSF Sandbox Sessions!** Top tech talks and masterclasses from the best in the industry. Every month, and completely free. The catch? There isn’t one. Just a monthly dose of epic content to power up your data passion! **Event details** 📆 **Date:** Tuesday 14th April 2026 ⏰ **Time:** 6:00 – 9:30 PM BST 💡 **Topic:** **Signals, Systems, and Scams: Deconstructing the Future of Financial Intelligence** 🗣️ **Speakers:** Kristjan Erik Liive, Volodymyr Panov, Baran Koseoglu, Zoltan Szopory, Vera Shishkina, Aaron Wilson, Mohammed Topiwalla [Sign up for this event by clicking here!](https://datasciencefestival.com/session/wise-sandbox-session/) As global financial platforms evolve, the “Trust Gap” becomes an engineering challenge. Scaling a product to millions of users requires more than just better models—it requires a fundamental shift from manual heuristics to automated, high-fidelity intelligence. Join Wise for an exclusive Sandbox Session designed for senior data scientists and engineers. We’re moving beyond the basics of model training to explore the “Last Mile” of production ML: the infrastructure of compliance, the democratisation of optimization, and the transition to foundational representation learning. Through three practitioner-led deep dives and a collaborative product-data science panel, we will deconstruct how Wise builds resilient financial infrastructure where performance and safety are never a zero-sum game. What we’ll explore: • The GenAI Reality Check: Moving LLM automations from “cool demo” to “compliant production” in highly regulated spaces. • Decoupling Optimization: How we built “Threshold UI” to empower non-experts to tune model performance across hundreds of cohorts without a single code change. • Beyond Velocity: Replacing hand-crafted features with User Event Transformers to capture the deep behavioral context that traditional tabular data misses. • The Co-Design Philosophy: Why the future of fraud prevention isn’t just a better algorithm, but a tighter feedback loop between Product and Data Science. Food, drinks, and networking with fellow practitioners will follow throughout the evening. Check out the full session details below! **Please note: Due to high demand and limited capacity, tickets for this event will be allocated via a random ballot. Submitting an application does not guarantee entry. Successful applicants will be notified throughout March and early April. If you have not received confirmation by April 9th, this means your ballot application was not selected on this occasion.** **Talk 1: Evolution of GenAI: Building Compliant LLM Automations at Wise** **Speakers:** Kristjan Erik Liive, Senior Data Scientist & Volodymyr Panov, Senior Data Scientist. **Abstract:** Evolution of GenAI applications in servicing tasks at Wise. We will share examples, discuss architectures and challenges of building LLM-based automations in compliance-heavy space. We will also present our vision and key opportunity areas in further augmentation and automation. **Key takeaways:** Practical examples of scoping and implementing LLM-based solutions. **Talk 2: On the Threshold of Greatness: Democratizing Model Optimization at Wise** **Speakers:** Baran Köseoğlu, Lead Data Scientist & Zoltán Szopory, Staff Software Engineer. **Abstract:** This session will talk about machine learning model threshold optimization across hundreds of customer cohorts. Traditionally, optimizing these thresholds has been a complex, time-consuming task, often relegated to highly technical experts. At Wise, we faced the challenge of managing diverse customer segments, each with unique risk profiles and compliance mandates and as a solution we developed Threshold UI we will talk about more in the session. **Key takeaways:** Boost your machine learning model performance without changing any configuration in your training pipeline. **Talk 3: More Than Meets the Eye: Transforming User Events into Deep Context** **Speaker:** Vera Shishkina, Staff Data Scientist. **Abstract:** Moving from purely manual feature engineering to representation learning. This session covers the technical POC of a User Events Transformer – a foundational model designed to produce customer embeddings that augment traditional tabular features. We will discuss the proposed architecture, the challenges of building temporal data pipelines, and our vision for using these embeddings to boost performance in domains like scam prediction. **Key takeaways:** How learned embeddings provide deep context that traditional “velocity” features often miss. **Talk 4: Panel Discussion – Mind & Machine: How Product and DS Co-Design the Future of Trust** **Panellists:** Aaron Wilson, Fraud and Victim Prevention Product Lead & Mohammed Topiwalla, Fraud and Victim Prevention Data Science Lead. **Abstract:** Fireside chat to understand how DS and Product work hand in hand to keep wise safe. **Key takeaways:** How do you find the middle ground between business growth and risk precision? What is the future of DS in fraud prevention? **Schedule:** **6:00 PM** – Doors open – networking with food and refreshments **6:45 PM** – Intro **6:50 PM** – Talk 1 (20 minutes + 5 minute Q&A) **7:15 PM** – Talk 2 (20 minutes + 5 minute Q&A) **7:40 PM** – Comfort break **7:50 PM** – Talk 3 (20 minutes + 5 minute Q&A) **8:15 PM** – Talk 4 (30 minutes) **8:45 PM** – Networking with refreshments **9:30 PM** – Event close **Registering for the event:** Click the 'Sign up here!' button on the specific event page following the link below. Once you have completed the registration form, you will be emailed a link to join the webinar. You will also receive a reminder link one week, one day and one hour prior to the event. **PLEASE NOTE: Clicking 'attend' on Meetup does not register you for the event. You will need to register for the event on the link provided below to receive a joining link. If you do not, you will not be able to join the event.** **[Click here to sign up for this specific event](https://datasciencefestival.com/session/wise-sandbox-session/)** Please note the time zone when you book this event.

Register: [https://luma.com/z5aztkqh](https://luma.com/z5aztkqh) Calling all developer and graph enthusiasts for an evening of delve into the nuts and bolts of constructing memory-enabled applications that perform at scale. ​**Speakers:** 1. ​**[Aga Kopytko](https://www.linkedin.com/in/akopytko/)**, CTO **[Smabbler](https://www.smabbler.com/)** - *Life-long hypergraph memory* 2. ​**[Yusuf Abdulle](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yusufab/),** PhD **[King's College London](https://www.drive-health.org.uk/) -** *Knowledge graphs and LLMs in rare diseases* 3. ​***[Sefik Serengil](https://www.linkedin.com/in/serengil/),*** *Senior Software Engineer,* ***[Neo4j ](https://neo4j.com/)****\- LLMs can be terrible interns \- but GraphRAG and tools turn them into stars* 4. ​***[Ovidiu Serban](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/o.serban),*** *Research Fellow,* **[Imperial College London](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/o.serban) -** *How ready are we for Temporal Knowledge Graphs?*

We're excited to be back and pleased to say this event is being sponsored by [pgMustard](https://pgmustard.com). On the talks front, we have **Anton Borisov and Vlad Bokov** from Fresha who will take us through how they recently upgraded their fleet with zero-downtime. We will then host our first ever debate, on a topic to be determined! WHERE Join us at **Doggett's Coat and Badge on 14 April from 18:30.** PROGRAM 18:30 Welcome 19:00 Swapping the Elephant Without Breaking the Room: Zero-downtime Major PG upgrades in practice (Anton Borisov and Vlad Bokov, Fresha) - abstract below 19:45 Sandwiches and bar snacks (paid for by our sponsor) 20:00 Debate — topic TBD ABSTRACT **Swapping the Elephant Without Breaking the Room: Zero-downtime Major PG upgrades in practice** Upgrading PostgreSQL across hundreds of production databases without downtime sounds impossible, especially when logical replication slots, Debezium CDC pipelines, and outbox event streams are in play. At Fresha, we faced exactly that: mission-critical workloads still on PostgreSQL 12, and no safe way to reach 17 without freezing the business. This talk walks through how we designed and automated a blue-green upgrade framework using logical decoding, controlled WAL overlap, and connector orchestration. We’ll dive into how Debezium connectors, replication origins, and PgBouncer pools were coordinated to guarantee continuity for both CDC and outbox topics, with rollback and dry-run modes built in. Attendees will learn practical techniques for: * Orchestrating zero-downtime Postgres major upgrades on RDS or self-managed clusters * Managing replication slots and Debezium connectors safely across clusters * Handling sequence alignment, WAL overlap, and connector state transitions * Designing reversible, testable database cutovers This is a practical session from real production experience: no magic tools, just PostgreSQL internals, Debezium, careful planning, and a few well-placed bash scripts. SPEAKERS **Anton Borisov** architects real-time data systems centered on PostgreSQL. At Fresha, he designs zero-downtime migrations, Debezium-based CDC pipelines, and overall data strategy integrating Postgres with Kafka and Flink. His work spans query planning analysis, partitioning and indexing, autovacuum and bloat optimization, and performance tuning under high-concurrency workloads. He also builds downstream lakehouse integrations with Iceberg, Paimon, and StarRocks. Anton publishes technical deep-dives on PostgreSQL internals, streaming infrastructure, and production reliability at medium.com/@borzoniusy **Vlad Bokov** is a Staff Engineer at Fresha working on systems behind activity feeds and communication between partners and customers. He deals with what breaks at scale: PostgreSQL under heavy write load, WAL bottlenecks, replication issues, Kafka pipelines, and zero-downtime migrations. Most of his work is about making production systems behave: fixing what is slow, unstable, or too expensive, and making trade-offs that hold up under pressure. He works across Snowflake, StarRocks, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, and Redis, and is currently exploring newer streaming approaches, including Apache Fluss, for real-world workloads. *** THE OFFICIAL BITS The meet-up abides by [PostgreSQL Code of Conduct](https://www.postgresql.org/about/policies/coc/). Postgres, PostgreSQL and the Slonik Logo are trademarks or [registered trademarks of the PostgreSQL Community Association of Canada](https://www.postgresql.org/about/policies/trademarks/), and used with their permission.

Join us for a conversation with Shailendra Kumar, Product Lead at WhatsApp, as he explores how product leaders navigate decision-making in an AI-native era. Shailendra will share how teams evaluate when AI adds real value, and how thoughtful product judgment shapes scalable, trustworthy products. As AI becomes embedded in everyday products, product leaders face new challenges around reliability, complexity, and user trust. Drawing on his experience building global-scale products, Shailendra Kumar will share practical frameworks for deciding when to use AI, designing systems that scale responsibly, and shipping features that users can rely on. **Event Overview** AI introduces new opportunities and new risks for product teams. In this session, Shailendra Kumar explores how leaders decide when AI is the right solution, design systems that scale responsibly, and ship features without eroding user trust. **01 - Deciding When AI Helps and When It Hurts** Learn how experienced product leaders evaluate whether AI meaningfully improves a product experience, and how to avoid unnecessary complexity that can damage usability or trust. **02 - Designing AI Systems That Scale Responsibly** Discover frameworks for building AI-powered products that handle uncertainty, fail gracefully, and remain reliable as usage and expectations grow. **03 - Shipping AI Without Breaking Trust** Explore how transparency, governance, and accountability can be embedded into product development so teams can innovate quickly while protecting users. **Speakers** **Shailendra Kumar - Product Lead, WhatsApp** Shailendra Kumar is a Product Lead at WhatsApp, where he drives product strategy and execution for features that connect people around the world. With experience in building user-centric products at scale, he focuses on simplifying communication through thoughtful design and data-informed decision-making.

# Claude Code for GTM — Live workshop in London 🇬🇧💥 BRING your Laptops! 👩‍💻👨‍💻 Most Claude Code events today are built **for engineers**. But marketers, growth teams, and GTM leaders are starting to realize something important: **Claude Code can automate a huge portion of marketing workflows.** From **ABM account list building, through ad creation based on your top performing ads, to landing page generation and results analysis and reporting -** Claude code can be the most powerful productivity multiplier for GTM teams. BUT how to set it all up? 👀 🤷‍♀️ This live workshop will show **exactly how you can use Claude Code for GTM - Account Based Marketing (through LinkedIn specifically)** No prior coding experience required! A team of experienced GTM You will need a Claude account to get started. Agenda: 6:30 - arrival and registration + pizza/snacks + networking 7:00 - 7:30 - environment setup ​7:30 - 9 pm - Claude Code for GTM (ABM edition) hands-on workshop, covering topics like: * ​How to automate outreach to most engaged accounts: \- analyse your campaign & ad results using ZenABM API & Hubspot MCP \(free\) in Claude \- generate personalized outreach copy based on intent signals * ​How to use Clude Code for asset generation at scale: from personalized landing pages, through ads and videos * ​How to use Clude Code for target account list building ​9 pm - 10:00 Q & A and networking ​Don't miss this opportunity to master one of the most powerful AI tools available! ​All participants who stay till the end will get a certificate of completion, ZenABM credits, and a surprise gift bag from sponsors 💥 Venue: Central London, TBC soon!

**Join us for a hands-on workshop where you'll build an agentic commerce solution and explore how AI agents can discover products and complete payments using Stripe.** **About** Experience a hands-on workshop designed for developers interested in the future of AI-driven commerce and agentic payments. This workshop is the very first time this content has ever been delivered. It is a pilot workshop for Stripe Sessions, and attendees will get early access to technology and workflows that are still very new inside Stripe. The way customers discover and purchase products is shifting from traditional search to LLM-powered agents. In this workshop, you’ll customize an AI agent to become an intelligent shopping assistant capable of discovering products and completing transactions. **Through practical exercises, you will:** * Customize an AI agent for commerce workflows * Implement Shared Payment Tokens (SPT) using the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) * Enable secure payment credential handoff from an AI agent to Stripe * Process payments and perform risk evaluation through Stripe * Build a complete end-to-end agentic commerce experience Because this is a pilot workshop, the content is evolving and highly experimental. Participants will be among the first developers anywhere to build an agentic commerce integration with Stripe. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a fully functioning agentic commerce solution complete with code, equipping you with the skills to build next-generation AI-powered buying experiences. **Attendance & Invitations** ⚡ This is a small, invite-only workshop designed for a very limited group of developers. To keep the session highly interactive, attendance is restricted to a small number of participants, and admission is **by invitation only**. To request an invitation: 1. Join the waitlist to express your interest 2. We will review all waitlist requests 3. Selected participants will be moved to the confirmed list 4. You will receive confirmation once your spot is approved. **Please wait for confirmation before making plans — only confirmed attendees will be admitted.** This approach allows us to create a focused, collaborative workshop environment and ensure the best possible experience for participants. **Schedule** **1:00PM – 1:15PM — Arrival & Welcome** Arrive, grab coffee and refreshments, and make sure you're set up and ready to go. **1:15PM – 4:00PM — Hands-on Workshop** Introduction to agentic commerce and AI-driven purchasing. You'll build a working agentic commerce solution including: * AI agent customization * Agentic Commerce Protocol setup * Shared Payment Token creation * Payment flows through Stripe * End-to-end testing **Requirements** This workshop is designed for developers interested in building AI-powered commerce experiences and agentic payment workflows. Developers should be comfortable with: * Basic JavaScript fundamentals * Using a terminal or command line * Working with APIs * Basic web development concepts No prior AI or Stripe experience is required. **What You'll Need** Laptop and charging cables — no Chromebooks or tablets Code editor and ability to download and install necessary tools Required software: * IDE such as VS Code * [Node.js](http://node.js/) * curl

🎉 **Event #23 – The Analytics Engineering Meet-up** 🎉 The London Analytics Engineering Meet-up - Hosted by Monzo! **Speakers:** [Pablo Fernandez](https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablofergui/) \- Head of Data & Analytics Engineering @ Lawhive [Federico Arduini](https://www.linkedin.com/in/federicoarduini/) \- Lead Analytics Engineer @ Checkout\.com 📅 **RSVP opens 27th March** (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 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 **Analytics Engineering Meet-up** is organised by [Cognify](cognifysearch.com) — a specialist recruitment partner for teams working across the modern data stack, machine learning & AI. If you’re looking to hire top data talent or exploring your next move in data, feel free to reach out to the Cognify team — we’re always happy to help and chat through the market. 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. 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) [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/@CognifySearch) or [Apple Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-stacked-data-podcast/id1700301417) 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.

***[We're leaving Meetup! Going forward, tickets on Meetup will be limited. We encourage you to register via our Luma calendar instead, where the full number of tickets will be available.](https://aisignals.org.uk/events)*** **Agenda** 06:00pm - Doors open 06:30pm - Welcome 06:35pm - [Anni Chen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anni-in-tech/), Developer Evangelist at Twilio, "Building a Real-Time AI Voice Agent" 07:00pm - Break 07:15pm - [Peter Houghton](https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-houghton-374a36/), Lead Engineer and Researcher at Investigating Software Limited, "Tokens for Fun & Quality and More" ​07:45pm - Lightning Talk: [Anand Rawat](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anand-rawat-b8362891/), Co-Founder at AINAP Ltd, "Agents That Monitor the Pipeline: Autonomous DataOps for AI Systems" 09:00pm - Wrap up and social at The Bricklayers Arms **Please note you will be unable to enter the venue before 6.00pm.** RSVPs will close 24 hours before the event, you may be unable to register after this time but you can still watch online. If you can't join us in person you can watch remotely via [our YouTube channel](https://youtube.com/@ai-signals-community). **Our hosts may require that we provide a list of all attendees, please ensure that you register with a name that matches your government issued ID or bank card: if you do not we cannot guarantee you entry to the building.** Please RSVP for the event well in advance if you plan to attend in person and unRSVP if you can no longer attend as limited spaces are available.

**Important:** Register on the [event website](https://www.aicamp.ai/event/eventdetails/W2026041610) is required for admission. **RSVP on meetup is turned off** Welcome to the AI meetup in London, in collaboration with Snowflake. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs and Agents, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers and fellow developers. **Agenda:** \* 6:00pm\~6:30pm: Checkin and Networking \* 6:30pm\~6:45pm: Welcome/community update \* 6:45pm\~8:30pm: Tech talks and Q&A \* 8:30pm\~9:30pm: Open discussion & Mixer **Speakers/Topics:** Stay tuned as we are updating speakers and schedules. If you have a keen interest in speaking to our community, we invite you to submit topics for consideration: [Submit Topics](https://forms.gle/JkMt91CZRtoJBSFUA) **Venue:** Snowflake, 3 Crown Pl, London EC2A 4EB, United Kingdom. **Sponsors:** We are actively seeking sponsors to support AI developers community. Whether it is by offering venue spaces, providing food, or cash sponsorship. Sponsors will not only speak at the meetups, receive prominent recognition, but also gain exposure to our extensive membership base of 20,000+ AI developers in London and 500K+ worldwide.

Regulators are increasingly turning to sophisticated data analysis to catch financial wrongdoing. From insider trading to market manipulation, agencies like the FCA and SEC are now building cases around one controversial line of reasoning: that certain patterns of trades simply couldn't have happened by chance. Join our small, informal RegTech Meetup for a deep dive into the world of data-driven enforcement. While the mood takes us, we'll chat about how regulators are using algorithmic surveillance and statistical modelling to detect suspicious behaviour. Afterwards we'll just chat. Whether you're working in compliance, financial services, law or data science—or simply fascinated by where technology and justice collide—this session is for you. The topic should give us all plenty to discuss and think about. Please come ready with questions, comments and suggestions. Notes: 1. As per our group's guidelines, we will ask for a small £5 donation on the day to help keep things running. 2. If you have any difficulty finding the venue or have questions beforehand please contact our WhatsApp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KpXlPokyOXWH4Nol0NDdzX?mode=hqctcli 3. We've moved the venue to Canary Wharf in the hope that this is more convenient for our members but please share your thoughts on where we should meet next. Do you have any suggestions as to frequency, timing and format?

**Important:** Register on the [event website](https://www.aicamp.ai/event/eventdetails/W2026041610) is required for admission. **RSVP on meetup is turned off** Welcome to the AI meetup in London, in collaboration with Snowflake. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs and Agents, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers and fellow developers. **Agenda:** \* 6:00pm\~6:30pm: Checkin and Networking \* 6:30pm\~6:45pm: Welcome/community update \* 6:45pm\~8:30pm: Tech talks and Q&A \* 8:30pm\~9:30pm: Open discussion & Mixer **Speakers/Topics:** Stay tuned as we are updating speakers and schedules. If you have a keen interest in speaking to our community, we invite you to submit topics for consideration: [Submit Topics](https://forms.gle/JkMt91CZRtoJBSFUA) **Venue:** Snowflake, 3 Crown Pl, London EC2A 4EB, United Kingdom. **Sponsors:** We are actively seeking sponsors to support AI developers community. Whether it is by offering venue spaces, providing food, or cash sponsorship. Sponsors will not only speak at the meetups, receive prominent recognition, but also gain exposure to our extensive membership base of 20,000+ AI developers in London and 500K+ worldwide.

Welcome to our April event. We're delighted to welcome [Alex Le Peltier](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-le-peltier/), Chief Technology Officer, Signapse and [Daniel Jones](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieljoneseb/), Head of Product, re:cinq. **Alex** answers - “what if AI could sign for the entire world - in real time?” From Heathrow flight announcements to Netflix live streams, find out how Signapse is making accessibility possible at scale on AWS. **Daniel** answers - “how do you turn 100 developers AI-native in just a few weeks?” Daniel reveals the psychology, strategy, and surprising human side behind one of the most ambitious agentic coding rollouts in enterprise tech. A big thank you to our sponsors [The Scale Factory](https://rebrand.ly/scalefactory) and [Cloudscaler](https://rebrand.ly/cloudscaler)! **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:** ***Real-Time Sign Language in the Cloud: Building Accessibility Infrastructure on AWS with Alex Le Peltier*** Accessibility is too often an afterthought - bolted on at the end, limited by budget, or simply impossible without a human interpreter in the room. Signapse is changing that. In this talk, Alex Le Peltier, CTO of Signapse, will show how a proprietary GenAI model hosted entirely on AWS is delivering real-time AI sign language at mass-market scale - from live flight announcements at Heathrow to Netflix live streams. By combining AWS infrastructure with custom and public LLMs, Signapse has built a platform that fills the critical gap where interpreters can't be present, freeing up scarce interpreter resources for where they matter most. **Alex** is a serial startup-er and tech leader with over 13 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. He’s passionate about understanding what challenges are faced by the deaf community and building innovative solutions that make a difference in people's lives. **Talk 2:** ***Agentic Coding For 100 Developers with Daniel Jones.*** How has a $3b Stockholm SaaS company transitioned 100 developers to AI-native development over a few weeks? Daniel shares how he helped Odevo with exactly this, but the answer might be more than you expect - it involves just as much discovery and psychology as it does training. Learn about the social and business prerequisites for such a transformation, the syllabus that enables developers to use multi-agent workflows, and how 'one-and-done' training is insufficient for this type of behavioural change. **Daniel** is Head of Product at re:cinq, an AI-native transformation consultancy, and a CTO Craft 100 member. He founded cloud consultancy EngineerBetter, spent six years helping banks, government and defence organisations deliver software faster, then scaled and sold the business. Now he focuses on agentic coding, AI-native engineering, and software factories - with a practical, engineer-first perspective: fix your path to production before you let agents anywhere near it. **Do you have a story to share?** If you are interested in speaking at one of our events, please check out our [call for papers here](https://awsuguk.org/call-for-papers/). We are advocates for greater inclusion & diversity in UK Tech and are especially keen to receive talk submissions from people in underrepresented groups. If you are interested in speaking at a future meetup but would like to discuss what to expect or need assistance, please contact our Inclusion & Diversity Lead Natalie Gray - graynataliej@gmail.com or DM her [@natjgray](https://twitter.com/natjgray) Check out our [website](https://awsuguk.org/) for more information about our community. 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 [here.](https://awsuguk.org/our-videos/)

For people who build software. **We focus on AI, design, engineering, cloud, and startups without the hype.** No vendor pitches or buzzwords. Just real architectures, production lessons, and honest trade-offs. For engineers, architects, platform teams, and technical founders. Join us for two practical talks and a roundtable & pizza.🍕 **🤖 1. Using GenAI to Re-Imagine City Development** [Damian Bemben](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bemben/) \- Senior Software Engineer @ AdaMode "Urban redevelopment is constrained by cost and slow iteration. This session explores using GenAI and image-to-3D to generate and test concepts in seconds, giving more people a voice in planning. Covers practical model integration and where these tools actually deliver value beyond “AI slop" **🤖 2. Deploying Deep Learning in Real Healthcare Constraints** [David Agbolade](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dagbolade/) \- Senior Data Scientist\, \| AI Researcher \| SheerFit Founder "A system for automated radiology reports, built for environments with 1 radiologist per 1 million people. The model worked in the lab. Deployment exposed the real problems: data scarcity, bias, low budgets, and lack of trust. Real trade-offs: shipping a prototype over a “proper” app, choosing speed over marginal accuracy, and training on imperfect data because perfect data never arrives. **🤖 3. Round table** [Tom Winstanley](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomwinstanley/) \- CTO and Head of New Ventures in UK&I Open discussion on shipping AI systems under real world constraints. Questions. Trade offs. What we would do differently.

Curious about “vibe coding” but not sure what it actually means? This beginner-friendly talk is about how people are using AI to build websites, apps, automations, and small software projects by describing what they want in plain English. We’ll cover what vibe coding is, what AI is good at, where it falls short, and how to actually use it without getting lost. The goal is not to hype AI as magic — it’s to show how to use it as a practical tool. This session is designed for beginners, curious builders, non-programmers, and developers who want a clearer picture of how to build with AI today. Topics include: * What “vibe coding” means * What AI can help you build * Where AI is useful and where it is unreliable * A simple workflow for building with AI * Prompting tips for better results * Common beginner mistakes to avoid If you’ve ever thought, “I have an idea, but I don’t know how to build it,” this talk is for you. LOGISTICS AND PARKING: The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks! The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.

We will cover metadata-driven approach to building and operating data pipelines at scale on AWS. Discuss architecture, design trade-offs, and lessons learned from running a unified pipeline across multiple customers using configuration-driven workflows. **Presenter: Dilshad Nasirov** Seasoned Software Architect and cloud practitioner with 20+ years of experience building scalable systems and data platforms. Specializes in AWS, with deep expertise in data lakes, serverless architectures, and real-time data processing. Has led the design and delivery of enterprise-grade solutions across industries, helping organizations improve performance, reduce costs, and unlock data-driven insights. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dilshad-nasirov-4538431/ **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/ **THANK YOU** *Leading EDJE* for hosting our meetup! Leading EDJE specializes in helping organizations innovate and solve complex problems. EDJE does this with their "A" player team of professionals using agile methodologies and SCRUM management techniques to give organizations a competitive advantage that sets them apart. Learn more at https://www.leadingedje.com/ **THANK YOU** *Amazon Web Services* for sponsoring pizza! Learn more at https://aws.amazon.com/. **DIRECTIONS** 6515 Longshore Loop, Suite 300 Dublin, OH 43017 (3rd floor) **FREE PARKING** at the Endres Garage across the street, 6540 Riverside Dr, Dublin, OH **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab for a future meetup?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

AI is changing how art is made. But when does it stop being your work and start being the machine’s? This month we're going to be doing a panel with with digital image, music, and written word artists, talking about at what point, while using AI in the creation process, does the work become not the artist creation? We encourage audience participation during this event that will be moderated by Chris Slee. 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) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/55umjqta)

The global Azure community is coming together again, and Columbus is officially on the map. View the session lineup and speakers at [Global Azure Columbus 2026](https://coazure.github.io/cbus-global-azure-2026/) On **Saturday, April 18, 2026**, the Azure Columbus Meetup, DevOps Meetup, and Code and Coffee Meetup are hosting our local edition of Global Azure 2026. This is a free, community-driven event packed with learning, networking, and all things Microsoft Azure. Whether you’re building modern cloud-native apps, experimenting with AI agents, deploying containers, automating infrastructure, or just beginning your Azure journey, this event is for you! **What to Expect** * Engaging technical sessions * Real-world Azure architecture & cloud-native patterns * AI, agents, automation, and modern DevOps * Food and drinks (because learning burns calories) * Time to connect with fellow engineers, architects, and cloud enthusiasts **Who Should Attend?** * Software engineers (any language, any stack) * Cloud architects * DevOps engineers * Data professionals * AI explorers * Platform builders * Anyone who loves solving hard problems with great tools If you build, deploy, automate, scale, monitor, or optimize in Azure, you’ll feel right at home. **Why Global Azure?** Global Azure is a worldwide community event where Azure user groups host learning sessions on the same day across the globe. It’s grassroots. It’s technical. It’s practical. And it’s powered by people who genuinely love sharing what they’ve learned. And yes, it’s free to attend!

💓 **Online Speed Dating Built for First Timers – Real Connections, Zero Pressure!** **🔴 MUST READ: RSVP Alone Won't Get You In!** To attend, you must: (1) Click your age group link below, (2) Complete registration, and (3) Finish the personality quiz. Limited spots available – register now before they're gone! **📋 Choose Your Age Range Below to Register:** - **Ages 18-32** → [REGISTER HERE](https://tempodating.com/product?productId=430.0&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Cincinnati&groupurlname=network-for-active-local-singles-dating&ar=18-32&face_v=1.0) - **Ages 30-46** → [REGISTER HERE](https://tempodating.com/product?productId=430.0&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Cincinnati&groupurlname=network-for-active-local-singles-dating&ar=30-46&face_v=1.0) - **Ages 40-58** → [REGISTER HERE](https://tempodating.com/product?productId=430.0&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Cincinnati&groupurlname=network-for-active-local-singles-dating&ar=40-58&face_v=1.0) - **Ages 55+** → [REGISTER HERE](https://tempodating.com/product?productId=430.0&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Cincinnati&groupurlname=network-for-active-local-singles-dating&ar=55+&face_v=1.0) --- 🤝 Tired of swiping with no results? Try real conversations instead! Online speed dating removes all the awkward parts of traditional dating. A friendly host guides you through each round, so all you have to do is show up and be yourself. 🎯 **Perfect for:** - Introverts who shine in one-on-one conversations - First-time speed daters seeking a welcoming, easy experience - First-timers who want to date without the pressure of face-to-face meetings - Busy professionals who value their time and comfort **How It Works** 1. **Sign Up** – Click the registration link for your age bracket above. 2. **Finish the Short Personality Assessment** – This helps us optimise your matches for the evening. 3. **Connect on Zoom** – No setup needed. Just click the link and you're in! 4. **Meet Your Matches** – Rotate through fun one-on-one rounds with Cincinnati singles who share your vibe. 5. **Discover Your Matches** – We'll notify you of any mutual interest after the event. The rest is up to you! **Event Details** - **Format:** Hosted live on Zoom – guided, fun, and stress-free - **Location:** No venue needed – just a comfy seat and a good internet connection - **Host:** Your personal guide through the evening – friendly, encouraging, and fun - **Vibe:** Light-hearted, easy-going speed dates with open-minded Cincinnati singles - **Accessibility:** Join from any device – laptop, tablet, or phone - **Duration:** About 60–90 minutes of structured, fun conversations **Frequently Asked Questions** **How long are the conversations?** Each round is a few minutes – long enough to feel a connection, short enough to keep things exciting! **What happens after the event?** We reveal mutual matches after the event. If you both liked each other, we help you connect! --- ✨ The hardest part is clicking register. After that, we make everything easy. See you there! 💘 ✨

**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** GitHub Copilot is powerful, but what if you could scale from a solo AI assistant to an entire team of specialized agents working in parallel? This session introduces Squad: an open-source framework for multi-agent orchestration that lets you define teams of AI agents with specific roles, responsibilities, and expertise. We'll progress from Copilot basics to the Copilot CLI, explore how Agents add autonomy, and see how Instructions and Skills let you customize agent behavior. Then, the climax: a live demo where a Squad team of 3 agents (Lead, Developer, Tester) stands up and builds a working application in real-time, showcasing true multi-agent collaboration. Whether you're new to AI or exploring how to scale your use of Copilot, this session will show you what's possible when agents work as a team. **YouTube Link** TBD

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