Mechanical Engineering

Are you ready to enjoy warmer spring evenings together again? We are, and that’s why we’re inviting you to our next Data & AI Engineering [applydata](https://applydata.io) Meetup, taking place at our Bucharest office on the 14th May. **Bogdan Beda:** ***"Beyond Syntax: The Evolving Role of the Software Engineer in the AI Era"*** [Bogdan Beda](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bogdan-beda/) is a Principal Software Engineer at [Microsoft](https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/), working on \*Copilot for Work\* backend, on a non-deterministic product using a codebase that is increasingly being generated by AI. In his presentation, Bogdan will explore the new essential toolkit for the AI era – moving beyond basic prompt engineering to mastering product development, from system design decisions to validating outputs. **Costin Vilcu: *"SOC Transformation in the AI Era"*** [Costin Vilcu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/costin-vilcu-oscp-pentester/) is an Information and Network Security Professional with 20+ years of experience, passionate about Penetration Testing, Security Consulting, Teaching and Social Communication. Costin's presentation explores how Security Operations Centers (SOCs) must evolve in the age of AI, from reactive monitoring to intelligent, autonomous threat detection and response. **Dana Juncu: *"The Invisible Threat: How a Sticker on a Traffic Sign Could Compromise Autonomous Vehicles"*** [Dana Juncu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danajuncu/) is a Senior Product Manager at [Diconium](https://www.linkedin.com/company/diconium/posts/?feedView=all), working at the intersection of data, engineering, and product, owning end-to-end delivery of labeled datasets for ADAS & autonomous driving systems. In her presentation, Dana will cover why AI security is fundamentally different from traditional software security and what it actually takes to build robust, trustworthy AI in safety-critical domains. If you're curious, you can read more about the importance of Data Labeling in her previous blog articles: [Data Labeling as Continuous Service](https://applydata.io/data-labeling-as-a-continuous-service/) & [Traffic Sign Recognition at Scale](https://applydata.io/traffic-sign-recognition-at-scale-why-the-dataset-is-the-hard-part/) **What to expect:** * Three expert talks * Networking opportunities in our historical villa office * Some snacks & drinks **Timetable:** * 18:30 - Event admission * 19:00 - Welcome & introduction * 19:05 - First speaker * 19:30 - Second speaker * 20:00 - Third speaker * 20:30 - Connect & chat ✧ ✧ ✧ **Our goal is to form a local data-loving community, so join us and let's talk data together!** ✧ ✧ ✧ *At the event, sound, image and video recordings are created and published for documentation purposes as well as for the presentation of the event in publicly accessible media, on websites and blogs and for presentation on social media. By participating the event, the participant implicitly consents to the aforementioned photo and/or video recordings. Find [more information on data protection here](https://applydata.io/events/information-on-data-protection/).*

С голямо удоволствие ви каним на следващата ни WordPress Sofia Meetup среща, която ще бъде с маркетолога Marina Vassilyovska. Марина е подготвила тема по изключително наболял за много бизнеси и създатели на съдържание въпрос – какво е бъдещето на блоговото съдържание, когато търсачката се превърне в наш конкурент? По време на лекцията ще разберем: 👉 Какво се случва с класическия блог през 2026 година? 👉 Какво представлява "The Great Decoupling" в контекста на онлайн съдържанието? 👉 И най-вече: ако AI Overviews изяждат все по-голямо парче от Google трафика, а клиентите ви откриват основно през него, какъв е следващият ви ход? Ако разчитате на органичния трафик за развиване на бизнес проектите си, тази лекция е точно за вас. Заповядайте да обсъдим накъде отива индустрията! Специални благодарности на приятелите ни от **SuperHosting.BG**, **Delta.BG**, **Jump.BG** и **JetHost.BG** за безрезервната им подкрепа както на това събитие, така и на останалите срещи през годините! Поканете приятели и колеги или споделете събитието - ще е супер да се съберем повече хора! Както всеки път, срещата ще бъде напълно безплатна и отворена за всички, като единственото нещо, което трябва да направите, е да се запишете в събитието тук в платформата. Ако имате Facebook акаунт, можете да се включите в WordPress Sofia Meetup групата: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/344049376341346](https://www.facebook.com/groups/344049376341346), в която обсъждаме предстоящите събития, коментираме актуални теми и си помагаме. Заповядайте и в Sofia WooCommerce Meetup! Независимо дали сте начинаещ или опитен професионалист, ако имате интерес към WordPress и WooCommerce, се абонирайте за предстоящите събития и останете в течение за новините и полезната информация около WooCommerce. Запишете се в групата тук: [https://www.meetup.com/sofia-woocommerce-meetup/](https://www.meetup.com/sofia-woocommerce-meetup/) За тези, които не знаят: месечните срещи на WordPress Sofia Meetup събират десетки хора (независимо дали са професионалисти или абсолютно начинаещи), които по някакъв начин са свързани с най-използваната система за управление на съдържанието в света. Те са напълно безплатни и отворени за всички, които обичат WordPress - единственото нещо, което трябва да направите, за да присъствате, е да се регистрирате в събитията тук. До скоро! :)

Join us for an engaging 30-45-minute talk, followed by casual networking and drinks. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly - perfect for learning something new, meeting interesting people, and enjoying good conversation over a glass of wine. **Who is it for:** This presentation is suitable for anyone interested in human or computer vision, and is designed to be informative and easy to follow. **What You’ll Learn:** You will learn how we see colour and how light works, how visual information is stored digitally, and the computer vision techniques used to manipulate visual data. **Why attend:** Feed your curiosity, enjoy a relaxed atmosphere with a glass of wine, and connect with others through networking.

*🦞* Cogito Ergo Creo *🦞* Second gathering of OpenClaw Bulgaria. This time — we go local. On April 4th, Anthropic blocked Claude Pro and Max subscriptions from being used through OpenClaw and other third-party agent frameworks. The message was clear: if you want to run agents your way, you need to own your infrastructure. So that's exactly what we'll do. 🧠 Mental — Why local matters. What happened with Anthropic's decision, what it means for the agent ecosystem, and why running your own LLM isn't just a backup plan — it's freedom. 💻 Demo — Setup & run. Live walkthrough: setting up and running a local LLM from scratch. Models, hardware, tools, performance. No cloud, no API keys, no permission needed. 🔥 Live — Your turn. Bring your laptop, your project, your questions. Build something, break something, ask anything. Open floor. Who is this for? Developers, makers, entrepreneurs, and the simply curious. Whether you've been self-hosting for years or just want to understand what "running local" means — if you like building things, you belong here. Language: English + Bulgarian — whatever flows naturally. 📍 Location: SOHO — HOLISTIC Room, 4 Iskar Street, Sofia 1000 (near Serdika metro station) 🕐 Start: 17:00 🌐 www.openclaw.bg 💬 discord.gg/qu4gusnZd3 This is a recurring meetup — every first Thursday of the month (moved this month due to holidays). Come once, come always. Hosted by Alex Alexiew & Aria 🤖 ——— 🇧🇬 Български Cogito ergo creo. Втора среща на OpenClaw Bulgaria. Този път — ставаме локални. На 4 април Anthropic блокира използването на Claude Pro и Max абонаментите през OpenClaw и други агентни платформи. Посланието беше ясно: ако искаш да пускаш агенти по свой начин, трябва да притежаваш инфраструктурата си. Точно това ще направим. 🧠 Mental — Защо локалното има значение. Какво се случи с решението на Anthropic, какво означава за екосистемата на агентите и защо да пуснеш собствен LLM не е просто резервен план — а свобода. 💻 Demo — Настройка и стартиране. На живо: инсталация и стартиране на локален LLM от нулата. Модели, хардуер, инструменти, производителност. Без облак, без API ключове, без разрешение. 🔥 Live — Вашият ред. Донесете лаптоп, проект, въпроси. Създайте нещо, счупете нещо, питайте каквото искате. 📍 Локация: SOHO — зала HOLISTIC, ул. „Искър" 4, София 1000 (до метростанция Сердика) 🕐 Начало: 17:00 🌐 www.openclaw.bg 💬 discord.gg/qu4gusnZd3 Срещаме се всеки първи четвъртък от месеца (този месец преместен заради празниците). Елате веднъж, останете завинаги.

​​**IMPORTANT: If you were not able to join our previous session on the 13th of December, we are re-doing the workshop with the SAME CONTENT, so more people can experience building AI apps using Redis AI products.** ​**​What?** ​​Redis AI workshop is a hands-on session with Redis AI products ​**​Why?** ​​Redis AI is a game-changer in the world of AI and machine learning **Where?** ​​Sofia, Synergy Tower, Boulevard "Tsarigradsko Shose" 111P, 1784 ​**​When?** 14th of May at 18:00 ​​ *Let’s run some live coding sessions together, where each participant can experiment with Redis LangCache, vector caching, and related features using their preferred programming language* ​**Workshop Agenda:** ​​17:30 - 18:00 Registration Session 1 ​​18:00 - 18:30 - Workshop intro and core concepts 18:30 - 19:15 - Coding Session 1 **Session 2** ​​ 19:15 - 19:30 - Recap and intro to Session 2 19:30 - 20:15 - Coding Session 2 **Session 3** ​​20:15 - 20:30 - Recap and intro to Session 3 20:30 - 21:15 - Coding Session 3 21:15 - 21:30 - Wrap up and Q&A 21:30 - 23:00 - Pizza and Networking ​**​*Bring your good coding mood and your own laptop with pre-installed containerization software (Docker, Podman, etc.)***

Imagine: * There is a nuclear missile incoming * You’re standing outside a bunker with a group of strangers * It can only support a limited number of people Who gets in? That is for you to decide in this in-person thought experiment and social game. Each person will be randomly assigned characteristics, skills, and items. Then, the group will vote on who deserves a place in the bunker. This is for anyone who enjoys: * Ethical dilemmas * Group discussions * Meeting new people 📅 Date: Tuesday, 12 May 🕖 Time: Game begins at 19:15 📍 Location: The Steps (upstairs) 🎟️ Price: Free

**Founders Running Club** (FRC) brings founders, investors, tech, creative people and startup enthusiasts together for weekly easy runs and networking. We like to be comfortable when we run and finish with coffee and conversations. Choose your pace or follow a pacer—pets, friends, family, are welcome. 🗓️ Launched in San Francisco, July 16, 2022 🌍 Now in 35+ cities 📅 Running + Networking events + Community **Join the community** [http://foundersrc.com/chats](http://foundersrc.com/chats) **Stay updated**: Instagram [http://instagram.com/foundersrc/](http://instagram.com/foundersrc/) Podcast [http://podcast.foundersrc.com/](http://podcast.foundersrc.com/) LinkedIn [http://linkedin.com/company/foundersrc/](http://linkedin.com/company/foundersrc/) Strava [http://strava.com/clubs/foundersRC](http://strava.com/clubs/foundersRC) Website [http://foundersrc.com/](http://foundersrc.com/)

Join us for a practical, beginner-friendly guide to choosing the right large language model. We’ll compare major models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama, talk about when to use hosted APIs versus local models, and break down the tradeoffs around cost, speed, quality, privacy, context windows, coding ability, and reliability. You’ll leave with a clearer mental model for picking an LLM based on your actual use case instead of hype, benchmarks, or brand names. No deep AI background required. 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.

**Total Eclipse of the Chart: School Redistricting Dashboards** In this presentation, we will explore the utilization of maps, sets, and SQL within a Tableau dashboard to help provide “what-if” analyses generated through the use of a mapped dashboard, providing different scenarios and the potential implications of these. While in this use case we are focused on a large school district, the concepts of utilizing existing data to explore the future impacts of modifying different geographic boundaries can be useful to many industries, balancing the mix of maps with visual analytics. **About Our Speaker** Robert Kramer is the Data Systems and State Reporting Coordinator at South Western City Schools in Grove City. He has worked there for 17 years, serving previously in the roles of Data Analyst, Programmer, and Operations Coordinator. Prior to working at South Western, he worked as a Systems Engineer at Pinnacle Data Systems in Groveport. He graduated in 2005 from The University of Toledo with his Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering, and a minor in Mathematics. Robert resides in Obetz with his wife, and their 15 and 12 year-old daughters. He was also just elected to his 3rd four-year term on the Obetz City Council. Thanks to our 2026 sponsors: [Clarivoy](https://www.clarivoy.com), [What Box Consulting Group](https://www.whatboxconsultinggroup.com), [Conductrics](https://www.conductrics.com), and [Piwik PRO](https://piwik.pro) More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

**Building a great product is one thing—building momentum behind it is another.** Join **Senior Product Manager Adam Solaiman** and **User Experience Manager Tyson Smith** for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to turn complex ideas into scalable products inside large organizations. In this session, they’ll share how teams move from ambiguity to execution—navigating organizational complexity, aligning stakeholders, and continuously evolving products after launch. You’ll walk away with insights on how to: * Build and sustain momentum across teams * Adapt to changing priorities without losing direction * Scale products thoughtfully in complex environments Whether you're driving a new initiative or growing an existing product, this conversation will give you practical strategies to keep things moving forward. Come connect, learn, and swap stories with fellow product professionals. \-\-\- Food and drinks will be provided by Switchbox, our generous host. Free parking will be available at the front and back sides of the Switchbox Office.

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

We meet to learn and practice American Sign Language and to grow our familiarity with Deaf culture. Facilitated by hearing folks (with a connection to a professional interpreter) using Deaf-created content. People of all ASL skill levels are welcome! As we learn, we hope to connect more with the Deaf community in Central Ohio. Join us as you're able! Come regularly or just once - whatever you're looking for! Each meetup will explore different topics related to ASL/Deaf culture, and will feature time to practice conversation with one another. Just bring yourself and a willingness to learn!

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.linkedin.com/company/transformlabs/) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/transformlabshq)

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