Software QA and Testing

Happy New Year, Green Software Practitioners! Green Software Brighton are back for our first event of 2026 with an excellent talk from Alexander Dawson all about the Web Sustainability Guidelines. Do you work in Web? Are you concerned about how to minimise the environmental impacts of the sites you create? Do you wish there were guidelines so you don't have to start from scratch? Then this talk is for you! Alex has been integral to creating these guidelines within the W3C, the body which has produced similar standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) which are now internationally recognised. The guidelines are broken down into different areas covering UX, web development, hosting & infrastructure and strategy & product management, so they cover many roles in the website creation lifecycle. Check out the Green Software Brighton [website](https://greensoftwarebrighton.co.uk/) for links to previous talks. Arrive from 18:00 for pizza and drinks. Event will start at 18:30. We always head for a drink and a chat locally afterwards too. --- ***Thank you to Runway East for use of their space to host our events and to Silicon Brighton and the Green Software Foundation for supporting us.***

IMPORTANT UPDATE: The event will take place in the National Theatre Welcome to London 2-player Playtests—a friendly meetup open to everyone interested in playing 2-player or solo games. You don't need to bring a game - we always love to have new playtesters! For designers: Whether your game is for TWO PLAYERS, a SOLO experience, or a larger game you’d like to test with fewer players, this event is for you. Please comment with the game length, whether you need 1 or 2 playtesters, and a brief description. The event is free and will take place at the National Theatre: https://maps.app.goo.gl/74QGHXWPs5KZH6MC9 We'll meet around 6:15 pm, and playtesting sessions will begin at 6:30 pm. Join us for an evening of engaging playtests and creative feedback!

## Details **Abstract:** A honeypot is a system for which there is no intended legitimate access, so what happens when you place three honeypots on the public Internet, in three different countries? Jonathan will explain what a honeypot is before talking through his research from July 2025, and comparing it to previous research in 2021 and 2022. You may find this year’s most popular password surprising!

**This event is kindly sponsored by Nuaware.** **Raffle prizes are kindly sponsored by GitGuardian and Docker.** **There is limited seating available for in-person attendees. Registration required.** **This event will also be live-streamed on YouTube.** **Recordings will be available on the [OWASP London YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/OWASPLondon)** **Venue Location**: Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA **Nearest Tube Stations:** Shoreditch High Street Overground (2 min walk), Liverpool Street (15 min walk) **Doors Open at 6pm** for registration, pizza, drinks and networking. The talks start at 6:30pm (we start on time!). **TALKS:** **OWASP Introduction, Welcome and News** \- Sam Stepanyan\, Andra Lezza\, Sherif Mansour \- OWASP London Chapter Leaders **"DNS Based OSINT Techniques for Product and Service Discovery" -** Rishi Chudasama This talk will explain how to map products and services by passively detecting DNS TXT records. By examining these records, we can identify technologies used in an organisation's infrastructure without directly probing the target **"Race Against The Workflows: Stealing GitHub Tokens from Docker Images" -** Gaëtan Ferry Your Dockerfile says COPY . . and you think, "What could go wrong?" Turns out: a lot. We're diving into a sneaky GitHub Actions vulnerability where your authentication tokens get stored inside Docker image layers and published to public registries, where anyone can grab them. A race follows, between your workflow finishing and attackers downloading your Docker layers to loot the secrets hiding inside. Learn how this works, how to exploit it, and how to make sure your pipelines aren't leaking secrets to the world. **"Securing the SDLC: From Container Images to AI Agents" -** Tharinda Basnayake This presentation examines the evolution of supply chain security challenges from container images to AI agents. We'll explore how modern development practices create new attack vectors, from containers running hundreds of unnecessary packages to AI agents accessing enterprise systems without proper security controls **SPEAKERS:** **Rishi C (@rxerium)** Rishi is a London-based cyber security researcher specialising in zero days, vulnerability research, threat intelligence, OSINT and risk management, dedicated to strengthening cyber resilience through proactive discovery and defence. **Gaetan Ferry (@*mabote*)** Gaetan is a security researcher with a decade of experience uncovering software vulnerabilities. After establishing himself in offensive security in 2015, he transitioned to security research in 2022, bringing his hands-on expertise in application security. His track record includes uncovering significant vulnerabilities in enterprise-grade systems like Cisco Nexus and Apache HTTPD. Gaetan loves sharing his knowledge through blog posts, speaking at conferences, or hands-on security training sessions at universities and private organizations. **Tharinda Basnayake** Tharinda Basnayake is a Technical Account Manager at Docker and has worked with open source developer tools his entire career. Currently, he primarily works with Docker's strategic customers in the finance and consulting sectors. **RAFFLE - win a prize (or two!) kindly donated by our sponsors!** **TICKETS:** OWASP meetups are free and open to anyone interested in application security. Please note that you MUST book your place to be admitted to the event by the building security. Your name will be checked against the guest list **CODE OF CONDUCT:** We hope you enjoy the event, we care deeply about inclusivity and diversity so that OWASP is a comfortable and welcoming community for everyone. Please reach out to one of our chapter leaders if you have any feedback/concerns or would like to speak to us, we take these matters very seriously. OWASP Code Of Conduct: [https://owasp.org/www-policy/operational/code-of-conduct](https://owasp.org/www-policy/operational/code-of-conduct) **PHOTOGRAPHY** Please note that OWASP events are open to the public, and OWASP does not restrict attendees (including OWASP staff, volunteers, sponsors, and media) from taking photos or videos at our events. The talks will be video recorded. By attending OWASP events, you acknowledge that you are in a public space and that attendees (including OWASP staff, volunteers, sponsors, and media) may capture your image in photos and videos. Nevertheless, OWASP encourages event attendees to exercise common sense and good judgment and respect the wishes of other attendees who do not wish to be photographed at the Events.

Welcome to our first event of 2026! Starting strong with two great talks from two amazing people **Manfred Steyer** and **Rainer Hahnekamp!** We have a free **CityJS London** conference ticket to give away to a lucky in-person attendee! As usual there will be food, drinks and swag thanks to Revolution Technology and Angular.Love :D See you all soon! **AGENDA** • **5:30 pm** Networking/Food • **6:30 pm** 360° Signals in Angular: Signal Forms\, SignalStore\, Resource API & Mutations \| **Manfred Steyer** • **7:30 pm** Vitest Highlights: The New Era of Angular Testing \| **Rainer Hahnekamp** **360° Signals in Angular: Signal Forms\, SignalStore\, Resource API & Mutations \|** **Manfred Steyer** With Signals and the Resource API, Angular takes a significant step toward fully reactive application design. But what does this actually mean for day-to-day development and the architecture of modern Angular applications? This session provides a detailed answer. We model reactive data flows across the entire Angular stack and enhance an application step by step with Signal Forms, the NgRx SignalStore, the Resource API, and Mutations. A central focus is on how these tools interact—because their true value emerges only in combination. By the end, you will know how to structure Angular applications in a signal-driven world—clear, traceable, and without unnecessary boilerplate. **Vitest Highlights: The New Era of Angular Testing** **\| Rainer Hahnekamp** Vitest is finally supported out-of-the-box by the Angular CLI. But simply switching the test runner is just the beginning. In this talk, we dive into the specific highlights that make the switch irresistible: * Full Browser Mode: Real rendering with built-in "auto-waiting." Say goodbye to manual detectChanges() or whenStable(). * Better Asynchrony: Using modern tools like expect.poll and standard fake timers instead of the legacy waitForAsync() and fakeAsync(). Going All-In: While the CLI provides the foundation, we will look at Analog.js—the option that truly unlocks the full feature set. **More about our speakers:** **Manfred Steyer** *Trainer, consultant, and programming architect with a focus on Angular, Google Developer Expert (GDE) who writes for O'Reilly, the German Java Magazine, and windows.developer. Regularly speaks at conferences.* **Rainer Hahnekamp** *Rainer is a Google Developer Expert and a trusted collaborator on the NgRx team. He works as a trainer and consultant within the Angular Architects expert network, specializing in Angular and Spring. Rainer regularly provides in-depth training sessions and offers a weekly overview of key events in the Angular ecosystem on YouTube through ng-news.* Many thanks to our sponsors tonight, **Metro Bank** for hosting us and **Revolution Technology** for the food and drinks and **Angular.Love/House of Angular** for the swag :D **Revolution Technology** are a Tech Recruitment Agency who specialise in Software Engineering, Data, Infrastructure and Testing. For the past 10 years they have partnered with some of the most exciting start ups, scale ups and enterprises globally, helping them build high performing and diverse tech teams. Event will be streamed online, link will be available on the day! Looking forward to meeting you all!

**Tim Ruffles presents:** *Efficient Reconciliation and Flow Control for Anti-Entropy Protocols* [https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/rvr/papers/flowgossip.pdf](https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/rvr/papers/flowgossip.pdf) The ideas in this paper influenced [systems at Amazon](https://www.cs.cornell.edu/projects/ladis2008/materials/rvr.pdf?), and beyond, e.g. Cassandra, Ringpop from Uber (used in Temporal). **Abstract** The paper shows that anti-entropy protocols can process only a limited rate of updates, and proposes and evaluates a new state reconciliation mechanism as well as a flow control scheme for anti-entropy protocols. **The Speaker** Tim is an engineer at [poolside.ai](http://poolside.ai/), previously at Plaid & GitHub **Location**: Appold St and Worship St corner London EC2A 2AG https://maps.app.goo.gl/GmCdcBLBCLR2ifou7 The nearest tube/train station is Liverpool St The entrance is located at the street level. This is not the main entrance of the building. **Checkin instructions:** \- Please proceed to the registration desk\. \- Have ready your Meetup handle for registration\, you need to be on the list to enter \- A small wristband will be handled to you \- There are drinks available for the night\, but no food\. **The schedule:** • 6.15pm: welcome and chitchat • 6:30pm: presentation starts • 8:00pm: presentation end Meetup are captured on video and uploaded on the PWL London Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEYe-1uDIkjPtuH_qhoybnA

For our first meetup of 2026 we kick off at the Codurance office with a fun Coding Dojo where you'll practice your Test Driven Development software engineering skills - a key skill for Software Crafters that care about producing quality code. Join us for an evening of coding, food and drinks. Come and code along, share ideas, discuss best practices with Test Driven Development and learn from our expert Crafters and your peers in the London Software Craftsmanship community. **What’s the format?** After a short intro, we’ll get into groups/pairs or work solo, whatever people feel most comfortable with, and start building. You choose how you want to work and what language you want to code in. This session is about collaborating with others, becoming a better developer and building your network, in a fun, relaxed environment. We'll be sharing ideas, discussing best practices and using this as an opportunity to learn from our fellow coders. All levels of experience very welcome, if you want to brush up on your Test Driven Development skills or are a complete novice, do come along. All welcome! All you need to do is bring a laptop if you’d like to code along - please have your preferred language and editor setup. **Food and Drinks** Pizza and drinks will be provided upon arrival sponsored by [Codurance](https://www.codurance.com/), with vegetarian and vegan options available.

We playtest all sorts of games - strategic, silly, creative, or whatever. Some games are almost done. Some are very early ideas. We test anything that will fit into 90 minutes. You don't need to bring a game - we always love to have new playtesters! Please let us know in the comments when you plan to arrive/leave and whether you are bringing a game or not. This helps us to plan the day better. The schedule is: 10am onwards - gathering, chatting 11am sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 1') 12:30ish - break for food/chat 1pm sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 2') 2:30ish - break for food/chat 3pm sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 3') 4:30ish - finish up Often, we might hang around afterwards, to play some already-published games. We are strict on timings, so please try to arrive a few minutes before the session to limit disruption. You can just come for part of the day if you wish. The reason we have fixed timings for the 3 'slots' is to make it easier for folk to do so. Designers of all levels of experience are welcome! But if it's your first time, we ask that you don't bring a game and just spend some time learning how the group works. The group works based on reciprocation. If you expect to test your own game, make sure stay for long enough to play other games. As a general rule of thumb, you can expect to play one of your own games every third 90-minute session. So if you stay a whole day (3 sessions), you can expect to have one session to play your game(s). A good rule of thumb is that if you come all day, you will have one 90 minute session with two other playtesters in which to test your own games. It is sometimes possible to test games with more players. If your game requires 4 or more, please note that as standard you will be allocated half of a session (45 minutes). Pre-covid, we were getting unmanageable. As a result, we may have to limit attendees. This is a free-to-use venue, and we have to be mindful that other folk want to use the same space. Please note: This is an adults only event. We look forward to seeing you!

Hello and welcome to our next **GenAI UK in-person event**, delivered **in collaboration with [Data & AI Leaders](https://www.meetup.com/data-and-ai-leaders-uk/)**[.](https://www.meetup.com/data-and-ai-leaders-uk/) This session brings together engineers, ML practitioners, data and platform teams, product leaders, and technologists who are building and operating generative AI systems in real-world environments, alongside senior practitioners responsible for scaling those capabilities inside organisations. This collaborative session focuses on what happens when GenAI moves beyond experimentation, exploring how AI capabilities are built, scaled, and operated in production, and how teams reduce operational toil while maintaining security, reliability, and delivery velocity. Our meetups are friendly, welcoming, and practitioner-led, creating space for the community to learn from real systems, real teams, and real trade-offs. This session will include technical and experience-led talks, Q&A, and open discussion with members of the GenAI UK community. **We run:** • Online events for our UK & global audience • In-person meetups in London Please keep an eye on our Meetup page for future sessions. We are delighted to host this **in-person GenAI UK event in London on the 22nd of January**, in collaboration with **[Data & AI Leaders](https://www.meetup.com/data-and-ai-leaders-uk/)** and **[Incident.io](https://incident.io/)**. **Speakers and Sessions:** **Speaker: [Dylan Ratcliffe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanratcliffe/), Founder at Overmind** **Session Title: How We Detected Toil among 36,000 Changes** How much engineering effort is spent on work that doesn’t add real value? In this talk, Dylan shares how nearly 37,000 infrastructure changes were analysed to quantify toil, identify safe automation opportunities, and reduce manual effort using data-driven models and AI-supported approval workflows. **Speaker: [Rory Malcolm](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-m-m/), Product Engineer at Incident.io** **Session Title: My first year as an AI engineer** Rory walks through Incident.io’s first year building an AI capability, covering both the technical and organisational challenges of moving from early experimentation to a team able to make meaningful progress against real AI goals. **Agenda:** 18:00 — Welcome & refreshments 18:30 — Introduction - [Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/) 18:35 — [Dylan Ratcliffe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanratcliffe/) 19:10 — Break 19:20 — [Rory Malcolm](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-m-m/) 19:55 — Close & networking **We are always keen to hear from:** • Speakers — demos, applied GenAI projects, engineering deep dives • Sponsors — support for venues, recording, accessibility or community initiatives • Collaborators — meetups, research groups and ecosystem partners If you’d like to speak, sponsor, or collaborate on a future session, please get in touch with **[Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/) via LinkedIn or Meetup**. This community forms part of the **[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)** and follows the **Community Stack Code of Conduct**, helping us maintain a respectful, inclusive and welcoming environment for all attendees. We look forward to seeing you in January, and for those planning ahead, the **next [GenAI UK online](https://www.meetup.com/generative-ai-uk-community/events/312728629/) event takes place on the 3rd of March**.

**🚩 Your AI isn’t the problem. Your prompts might be.** Left unchecked, Generative AI can create inconsistency and chaos — but with the right prompts, it can accelerate impactful content creation without compromising on quality. In this talk, **[Lucy Woodham](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-woodham-49283482/)**, Senior Content Designer at **Mastercard**, will dive into how you can harness Generative AI to make life easier for you and your stakeholders, with your strategic oversight at the helm. **When:** Thursday 22 January, from 6.30pm **Where:** Codat, 15 Long Ln, London, EC1A 9PN **What:** 18.30 - 19.00 Arrival 19.00 - 19.45 Presentation 19.45 - 20.00 Short break 20.00 - 20.45 Presentation and practice 20.45 - 21.30 Networking *All times are approximate.* **How to find us:** The entrance to the Codat office is located inside the glass doors of Griffin Court, to the left of the Subway. You'll see WTD signs and organisers. [Map pin](https://maps.app.goo.gl/E2Ap9mfCvVprvLrVA) \| [what3words](https://what3words.com/bride.lock.eating) **Photos:** Note that the organizers will take some photos for the WTD group.

**Important:** Register on the [event website](https://www.aicamp.ai/event/eventdetails/W2026012210)[ ](https://www.aicamp.ai/event/eventdetails/W2025110510)is required for admission. Welcome to the AI meetup in London, in collaboration with Civo. 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. **Speakers/Topics:** Check the [event website](https://www.aicamp.ai/event/eventdetails/W2026012210) for speakers and topics. 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) **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.

**Important:** Register on the [event website](https://luma.com/fmjv8ft4?utm_content=ai%20camp&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter)[ ](https://www.aicamp.ai/event/eventdetails/W2025110510)is required for admission. (RSVP on meetup is turned off) Join **Together AI and Black Forest Labs** for the AI workshop, bringing together practitioners and researchers interested in model customization. Join **Max Ryabinin**, VP of Research & Development at Together AI, and **Stephen Batifol**, Developer Advocate at Black Forest Labs, for an evening of in-depth technical talks covering recent advances in reasoning with language models and fine-tuning diffusion-based image models. **Talk 1 (Max Ryabinin): Escaping the Verifier: Learning to Reason via Demonstrations** * ​Leveraging Inverse RL to train reasoning language models * ​Jointly optimizing the critic and the policy through an adversarial game * ​How to stabilize adversarial RL with a relativistic objective * ​Strong empirical gains on both non-verifiable and verifiable benchmarks **Talk 2 (Stephen Batifol): LoRA for diffusion image models** * ​How LoRA behaves in diffusion models * ​Choosing effective LoRA hyperparameters for images and how they impact visual quality vs. overfitting * ​Data strategies for high‑quality image LoRAs and diagnosing common failure modes ​ **Agenda**: * ​​18:00–18:15 Welcome reception * ​​18:15–19:15 Escaping the Verifier: Learning to Reason via Demonstrations * ​​19:30–20:30 LoRA for diffusion image models * ​20:30–Close Networking

PyTorch isn't just another framework; it's the de-facto standard for Deep Learning. Our community is dedicated to bringing together PyTorch users in London and those with a profound interest in ML and AI. This is your platform to share experiences, network, seek advice, and initiate collaborations. This event is packed with opportunities to learn, connect, and exchange ideas and knowledge with experts from both Revolut and the data industry. Join us for exclusive talks from Revolut speakers and our partner, PyTorch, and dive into the world of Data Science—with a special focus on conversational AI. Here's what you can look forward to at the meet-up. **Speakers** 1\. Stas Bichenko\, CEO at Recombine: "Solving Interruptions in Voice AI" 2\. Anna Baidina \(Revolut\) 3\. Angelo Giacco \(ElevenLabs\) **Event Details:** **Date:** 22th January 2026 **Time:** 18:30 (GMT+4) **Where:** Revolut HQ Office

HYBRID EVENT, VIRTUAL SPEAKER In this talk, Sean Hoar will explore the transformative journey of AI’s role in modern software engineering, from rapid prototyping (“Vibe Coding”) to strategic AI integration by skilled practitioners. It clarifies the distinctions between AI-assisted, AI-enabled, and practitioner-led approaches, offering insights into how developers can effectively adapt to and harness AI tools. The presentation also highlights recent advancements and practical strategies for leveraging AI in daily workflows and long-term development.

**The Test Tribe 2nd Washington Meetup – Designing a Modern QA Organization: Structure, Skills, and Shared Ownership** AI is accelerating software delivery at an unprecedented pace-but speed without structure introduces serious risk. In today’s landscape, the traditional “testing bottleneck” isn’t just a delay-it’s a business liability. This session explores how Quality Engineering must evolve from a siloed function into a strategic, distributed capability-one that balances rapid AI adoption with strong human oversight. Moving beyond basic automation, this talk introduces the concept of Distributed Quality Governance, where quality becomes a shared responsibility across engineering, product, and leadership. Expect a practical, leadership-focused discussion that cuts through AI hype and addresses the real challenges of testing complex, AI-assisted systems-while ensuring accountability, trust, and long-term resilience. **Event Details** * **Date: 21st January 2026 (Wednesday)** * **Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT** * **Location: 1501 Langston Blvd. Arlington, Virginia** **Session: Designing a Modern QA Organization: Structure, Skills, and Shared Ownership** **Speaker: Alekhya Guduri** **About the Session** In an era where AI-generated code is accelerating delivery, quality can no longer be treated as a final checkpoint. Instead, it must be embedded, intentional, and governed. In this session, Alekhya Guduri presents a blueprint for building a modern QA organization that operates as a strategic business function. You’ll learn how to shift from centralized testing teams to shared ownership models, while introducing guardrails that ensure responsible AI use across the delivery pipeline. From defining a Materiality Matrix to identify where AI risks are too high to ignore, to implementing Human-in-the-Loop frameworks, this talk provides actionable guidance for leaders navigating AI-driven engineering environments. **Key Takeaways** * The Materiality Matrix: How to objectively prioritize AI risks based on business impact and technical complexity * Distributed Governance: Transitioning from centralized QA to shared ownership in AI-driven CI/CD pipelines * Responsible AI Guardrails: Practical Human-in-the-Loop frameworks to prevent bias, hallucinations, and silent failures **About the Speaker** Alekhya Guduri is a seasoned technology leader whose career sits at the intersection of engineering execution, operational excellence, and innovation. As Director of Engineering at Indeed, she focuses on building high-performing organizations that treat quality as a strategic advantage, not a last-mile activity. With deep experience scaling complex systems and leading cross-functional teams, Alekhya works at the forefront of shaping how AI and human judgment coexist within modern software delivery. She is a strong advocate for distributed governance, responsible AI practices, and the evolution of Quality Engineering into a trusted business partnership. **Why You Should Attend** * Learn how to design QA organizations for AI-driven delivery * Understand how to balance speed with responsibility in modern pipelines * Gain leadership frameworks for shared ownership of quality * Move beyond AI hype to practical, defensible testing strategies * Connect with Washington-area QA, engineering, and tech leaders **About The Test Tribe** **The Test Tribe** is the world’s largest software testing community, empowering testers globally since 2018. With 7**00+ events** and **150K+ members** across **130+ countries**, we bring testers together to learn, grow, and connect through meetups, conferences, cohorts, masterclasses, and more. By RSVPing, you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy and consent to be contacted by The Test Tribe and our event partners.

Dulles Code & Coffee is a collaborative community of software and technology enthusiasts seeking to learn, grow, and help each other. All skill levels are welcome. The concept is simple. Bring a laptop and ideas. We’ll provide coffee, tea, and donuts. Thank you to [BTI360](https://www.bti360.com/) for sponsoring this event. ## **Event Format** 1. At 9:15 everyone introduces themselves and briefly describes what brought them out this morning (project, homework, networking, etc.). 2. For the rest of the day folks work in the communal space, socializing and asking/giving help as desired. ## **Location** BTI360’s Office in Herndon The office is across from Worldgate, looking down on the toll road. ## **Address** 12930 Worldgate Dr, Ste 400, Herndon, VA 20170 [[map](https://goo.gl/maps/pF5ZrPUviX1vtmdSA)] ## **Logistics** * **Must be a U.S. Citizen to attend. Real ID verification is required.** * PARKING: Use the surface lot. All spaces marked MIII are open for parking. Please avoid Management spaces, State Farm and SP+ * ARRIVAL: Follow the signs from the front entrance to the freight elevator located in the parking garage on level P2. Take the elevator to Suite 400 (Floor 4). * How to find us video: [https://youtu.be/ohqFzyqiASE](https://youtu.be/ohqFzyqiASE) ## **Community Guidelines** We value the participation of each member of the community and want all attendees to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. To ensure a conducive environment, all participants are required to conform to our [code of conduct](https://github.com/DullesCodeCoffee/.github/blob/main/code-of-conduct.md).

NOVA Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal, co-working session. People of all skill levels are invited. The concept is simple, bring a laptop and ideas, we'll provide the coffee and donuts! Here's how it works: 1. At 10:15 everyone introduces themselves and briefly describes what brought them to Code & Coffee today (project, homework, networking, etc) 2. For the rest of the day, folks work in the communal space on their projects providing one another help and conversation as needed. Oh and they usually drink coffee and tea too! That's it! Hope to see you there! **Location** Our hosts are the Fairfax City Economic Development Building: [10300 Eaton Pl, Fairfax, VA 22030](https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=d7298231ca2df594df822003f9a93517c788fceefe1fcbb79c8976696e341bc6JmltdHM9MTc1MzIyODgwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=180d0745-3b7f-69a1-23a2-11433a7868e5&u=a1L21hcHM_Jm1lcGk9MTA5fn5Ub3BPZlBhZ2V-QWRkcmVzc19MaW5rJnR5PTE4JnE9RmFpcmZheCUyMENpdHklMjBFY29ub21pYyUyMERldmVsb3BtZW50JnNzPXlwaWQuWU44NzN4ODI4MTk2Mjg0NTk5MDM4MTU0MiZwcG9pcz0zOC44NjE0NDYzODA2MTUyMzRfLTc3LjMwMjE3NzQyOTE5OTIyX0ZhaXJmYXglMjBDaXR5JTIwRWNvbm9taWMlMjBEZXZlbG9wbWVudF9ZTjg3M3g4MjgxOTYyODQ1OTkwMzgxNTQyfiZjcD0zOC44NjE0NDZ-LTc3LjMwMjE3NyZ2PTImc1Y9MSZGT1JNPU1QU1JQTA&ntb=1) Conference Room A- Large, Floor 1 This is a new venue for us, so give us some time to get more details about it. Driving is the best option. There is plenty of free on-site parking. Otherwise, we are a 22 minute bus from the Vienna Metro Station. **Sponsored by:** Thank you [Fairfax City Economic Development](https://gofairfaxcity.com/) and [Mason Enterprise Center](https://enterprise.gmu.edu/) for making this event possible! **Thank you so much to our wonderful sponsors!** Organized by [DMV Petri Dish](https://www.dmvpetridish.com/) **[Code of Conduct](https://github.com/NoVACodeCoffee/admin/blob/master/code-of-conduct.md):** We value the participation of each member of the community and want all attendees to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. To make clear what is expected, all delegates/attendees, organizers, and volunteers at any Nova Code & Coffee events are required to conform to our [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/NoVACodeCoffee/admin/blob/master/code-of-conduct.md).

Gaming, AdTech, EdTech, Media Streaming, and FinTech are just a few of the workloads where high-availability cloud infrastructure matters. Whether you’re doing battle daily in one of these spaces or are just curious about ways to improve performance, meet us in Reston for an in-person discussion on bare metal cloud architecture. You’ll meet our product lead, James MacKenzie, who will walk through how modern bare metal serves as a control plane for hybrid and private cloud architectures. **What we will cover** * Ways to leverage bare metal, containers, and orchestration for better performance and predictable economics; * Real-world hybrid, disaster recovery, and data-intensive architectures; * Our approach to eliminating ingress and egress fees. **Who should attend** * Cloud architects and platform engineers; * DevOps professionals and infrastructure leads; * FinOps stakeholders managing data-heavy or hybrid workloads. **Why attend** This is a technical, architecture-first conversation. You will leave with a clearer understanding of high-availability cloud infrastructure and how organizations are scaling cost-effectively. Food and drinks will be provided. Space is limited to keep the discussion interactive.

## **1 Million Cups Loudoun Workshop: How AI Can Work for Your Business** **Wednesday\, January 28 \| 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM** **Venture X Loudoun – Ashburn** Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a buzzword — it’s a practical tool that businesses of all sizes can begin using today. Join **1 Million Cups Loudoun** for a special **workshop-style presentation** led by **Victor Meer of AI Prime** and **Jay Jay Billings of Band Gap AI**, designed to help entrepreneurs understand how AI can realistically support their business operations. This workshop will provide: * A clear, practical overview of what AI actually is * Real-world examples of how businesses are using AI today * Insight into where automation can save time and reduce friction * Guidance on how to start leveraging AI without needing technical expertise Whether you’re AI-curious, overwhelmed by the noise, or ready to explore automation in your business, this session will help you think clearly about where AI fits — and where it doesn’t. As always, coffee, conversation, and community are at the heart of 1 Million Cups Loudoun. ### What Is 1 Million Cups? 1 Million Cups is a national program powered by the Kauffman Foundation that brings together entrepreneurs and community members for weekly conversations that educate, support, and inspire. Loudoun’s chapter meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month. Join us on **January 14 at 9:00 AM** for coffee, connection, and a meaningful conversation about reimagining after-school education in Loudoun County. **We look forward to seeing you there.**