Microfinance

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/).*

Join us as we get together to get together to help those in need at this CMG Gives Back event! We have a great little community of Movie Group friends so rather than see a movie this time, we’ll help “create a better world” by helping serve those in need. Here are complete details and our plan for this event: FAITH MISSION – GRANT KITCHEN: The Faith Mission kitchen and dining room serves residents 3 meals a day, every day of the year. For this event, our group will help prepare food, serve meals, assist residents in the dining room, wash dishes, and clean surfaces. PLAN: We will be preparing / serving / cleaning for BRUNCH from 10:30am to 12:30pm and have space for a total of 7 volunteers. Please arrive at 10:20am and wear closed-toe shoes and long pants. LOCATION: Faith Mission – Grant Kitchen is located at 245 N. Grant Ave. Enter the kitchen at Dock 1 (in the back of the building), indicated in the attached map. On-site parking in the adjacent lot and street parking is available in the surrounding area. Below are some links / attachments with additional info/details: IMPORTANT REMINDER: Our group will be providing all of the volunteers on this day so a firm RSVP count is essential. Please only sign up if you are certain you’ll be able to attend. If something unavoidable comes up, please try to update your RSVP no later than one week prior to the event. With few exceptions, no shows or cancelations within 1 week of the event will not be eligible for future CMG Gives Back events. I appreciate your understanding as we try to ensure the agencies have the volunteers needed to provide the essential services they provide to the vulnerable population they serve. Our Partner Agency for this event is Lutheran Social Services! A huge THANK YOU to all of YOU for volunteering at this (and any of our previous) CMG Gives Back events! Should be another good/fun/meaningful time together, Dan

Let's Crop!

Interested? Contact Preston Moore k.preston.moore@gmail.com 614-300-5989 ———————————— Engaging in men’s work is the new way to forge friendships while being open-minded to personal growth. Many men experience healthier relationships, personally and professionally, by engaging in this work. Open Men’s Group is a container for men to share vulnerably without receiving judgment or feedback. We believe that emotionally mature, powerful, compassionate, and purpose-driven men will help heal some of society’s deepest wounds. We support the powerful brilliance of men and we are willing to look at, and take full responsibility for, the pain we are also capable of creating – and suffering. We care deeply about men, our families, communities, and the planet. Visit ManKind Project USA to discover more. https://mkpusa.org/

We will show how to build custom agents with Microsoft Agent Framework. Attendees will learn how to build and custom host agents when Microsoft Foundry is not a viable option.

Bring your business cards and network in person with other business professionals! Gold Star Referral Clubs is one of the most established professional networking organizations in the country, with multiple groups in central Ohio. Join us!

Practical AI for Power BI Developers A year ago, “agentic AI” was mostly hype for Power BI teams. Today, it deserves your undivided attention. For Power BI pros, there is now a real opportunity to reduce repetitive development work, accelerate delivery, and help developers do more, but only when strong DataOps practices are in place to make AI workflows effective. This session is a no-nonsense introduction to effective AI patterns for Power BI and Fabric development. Along the way, we will make sense of the growing pile of terminology, including skills, plugins, hooks, and MCP. You will see examples of how modern AI tooling can help with development tasks across Power BI and Fabric, along with the prerequisites, guardrails, and DataOps principles needed to use it responsibly. Whether you're burned out on AI hype or already using Copilot CLI daily, this session will show you the foundations that are finally making AI-assisted development genuinely useful.