Computer Programming

On 23 June we will be gathering at the Star of Kings for some Postgres and a pint. This time we'll have a talk by **Andreas Karlsson** from Percona on **Stopping Collations Going Wrong**, followed by a brief recap from **Alastair Turner** (Percona) and **Valeria Kaplan** (Data Egret) on **this year's PGConf.DEV**, where the PostgreSQL community celebrated its 30th birthday. This event is generously sponsored by [Nexteam](https://nexteam.co.uk/), a London-based consultancy specialising in PostgreSQL-based solutions, database support, and bespoke software development. We are a very informal bunch, so hoping to see you and your colleagues there! We do need to know the numbers, so please register if you are planning on coming. WHERE The Star of Kings **on 23, June from 18:30.** PROGRAMME 18:30 Welcome 19:00 **Stopping Collations Going Wrong** (Andreas Karlsson, Percona) - More below! 19:45 Food and bar snacks 20:00 **Celebrating 30 Years of Postgres at PGConf.DEV** (Alastair Turner, Percona & Valeria Kaplan, Data Egret) 20:30 It's a pub, so we'll stay and hang out a bit longer — but feel free to leave whenever you prefer! About The Talk **Stopping Collations Going Wrong** Outside of causing trouble for you when upgrading libc what are collations good for? PostgreSQL's collations have gotten a lot of bad press from the upgrade issues but they are also a powerful and important tool, especially for working with text in other languages than English. This talk will give an introduction to collations in PostgreSQL, including how to use them, what they are useful for, how they work plus some common pitfalls and misunderstandings. You will learn, among other things, about the three collation providers (libc, icu, builtin), BCP 47, case insensitive collations, CTYPEs, what new features have been introduced in recent PostgreSQL versions and get a brief look into the future of collations in PostgreSQL. About The Speaker **Andreas Karlsson** is application developer and long time minor contributor to PostgreSQL who recently has started working with PostgreSQL full time. Right now working for Percona with PostgreSQL itself and extensions, including pg_tde. \*\*\* 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.

Hey everyone, We’re back with a new edition of the AI Security Engineers Meetup in London on June 23rd with 2 great talks! **Talk #1 - Architecting Safe Autonomy: High-Stakes Autonomous Agents Need Deterministic Checkpoints for safety** In the rush to build autonomous agents, we face a fundamental tension: the more freedom we give an LLM to solve complex problems, the more likely it is to drift into “stochastic hallucinations” or policy violations. Most safety efforts focus on restricting the model via prompts, which often stifles the very reasoning capabilities required for sophisticated tasks. This talk introduces InsideOut, a design pattern that prioritizes agent autonomy by implementing deterministic checkpoints. Rather than micro-managing the agent’s “thoughts,” the InsideOut architecture allows the agent to navigate freely through a task—provided it periodically “grounds” its progress in structured, verifiable artifacts such as JSON or Markdown. We will walk through a real-world application of this method: an agent designed for setting up and managing cloud infrastructure. The agent is given the autonomy to discuss and decide on Features, Stack Components, Configurations, Cost Estimates, Terraforms, Deployment, and Management. To ensure reliability, each stage requires the generation of a JSON artifact validated against deterministic rules. If a boundary is breached, the agent is triggered to repeat that specific stage until the output is within bounds, preventing error propagation. By drawing a parallel to the concept of a Brownian Bridge versus Brownian Motion, we illustrate how these checkpoints act as “pins” that anchor a random walk. This approach demonstrates how forced artifact crystallization allows an agent to design and deploy complex stacks with high independence and zero “drift.” This session provides a framework for building agents that are more productive because they are safely unconstrained. Speaker: Hossein Kakavand. Hossein did his Ph.D. at Stanford University. He has been with several start up in AI, ML and Distributed Systems, with IPOs on NASDAQ and LSE. He is currently a Co-Founder of Luther Systems focused on solving the Enterprise Operations problem at scale. **Talk #2: Agentic Development Security: Securing the AI Workforce** AI agents are rapidly becoming part of the software development lifecycle, writing code, interacting with tools, and making decisions with increasing autonomy. But as organizations embrace agentic development, a new set of security challenges emerges: How do you trust the tools agents use? How do you prevent dangerous actions? And how do you ensure the code they generate is secure? In this session, we'll unveil and demo Snyk Agentic Development Security, a new approach to securing both AI builders and the AI-powered tools they rely on. You'll see how organizations can secure the agent supply chain by vetting MCP servers, plugins, and external tools before agents interact with them; govern agent behavior through real-time policies that prevent destructive actions with Agent Guard; and ensure trusted output by automatically detecting and fixing vulnerabilities in AI-generated code at the moment of creation. Join us for a live demonstration of how security can keep pace with the rise of autonomous development, enabling teams to innovate confidently while maintaining control, trust, and resilience across their AI workforce. Speaker; Denis Kent - AI Security Engineer at Snyk. Denis is an AI Security Software Engineer at Snyk, building Evo, Snyk's agentic security platform. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- As always, expect great talks, free pizza and drinks, and even better company. 📍 **Where**: Snyk Offices, 24 Eversholt Street, London (Euston tube station is right across the street) 📅 **When**: June 23rd ## Agenda **6:00 PM** – Doors open **6:00 PM – 6:30 PM** – Food & drinks **6:30 PM** – Talks begin **7:30 PM** – Talks end & social time **8:30 PM** – Doors close Looking forward to seeing you there!

Vibe Coding Collective is a global community helping anyone turn ideas into working software with AI. We host relaxed social coding jams in bars, cafés, and maker spaces. Whether you're a developer or have never written a line of code, you'll fit right in! ​On June 23, we're teaming up with [Momen](https://momen.app/?utm_source=luma) for a special edition about building full-stack with vibes. It is the visual backend, that seamlessly turns front-end "vibes" from tools like Cursor or Lovable into scalable databases, AI workflows, and secure, production-ready architectures. ## ​Format 🛠️ ​We team up in small groups of 3-4. ​You'll start by designing and laying out your app by hand, dragging and dropping the screens, deciding how it should look and feel. Then you go from there to vibe-coded backends, including databases, workflows, AI agents, and logins. By the end you've gone from a blank canvas to a real, working app with a brain behind it. ​The goal is to vibe, and learn from each other. ## ​New to vibe coding? ✨ ​No worries. We provide simple starter ideas and example prompts so even total beginners can dive straight in without stress. ## ​Schedule 🕒 ​19:00 — Welcome 19:05 — Intro from the Momen team 19:15 — Live workshop: Building a challenge app with Momen 19:45 — Challenge briefing & team formation 20:00 — Build time 21:00 — Optional demos (show what you made!) 21:30 — Hang out, network, make friends ## ​Who is it for? ​Anyone! Curious coders, tinkerers, designers, founders, AI-curious folks, and developers. If you've ever wanted to take an idea all the way to a real, full-stack app without writing code, you belong here. ## ​What to bring ​- Laptop 💻 \- Vibes ⚡ ## ​Location 📍 ​Brewhouse and Kitchen Highbury 2A Corsica St, N5 1JJ, London ## ​About Vibe Coding Collective ​We're an international community of 3,500+ members across 9 countries, running relaxed social coding jams where everyone leaves with something they built. ​🌟 No pressure, no gatekeeping. Just good people, fun ideas, and some fast-paced collaborative building. ​Spots are limited and our events fill up fast, so RSVP early! ​#AI #vibecoding #AItech #LondonAI #social #fun #socialdrinking

**Join us on June 23rd for the Stripe London developer meetup. This is an in-person event for anyone building with Stripe. An evening focused on Stripe user experiences, product insights, best practices, and community.** 🍕🍺 **Perks** Food, drink provided! **🎫 Tickets** There is a hard limit for RSVP :) Wait list will be operating on Meetup. **📍Location** The event is hosted at Stripe's London offices near Liverpool St station. **🕚 Rough timings** * 6:00 pm - 6:30 pm: Doors open with refreshments * 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm: Talks and Q&A * 7:45 pm - 8:00 pm: Drinks, food, and networking **📣 Talks** 1. **Enabling Crypto in Stripe - from pay-ins to pay-outs,** Ana Andres del Valle 2. **What developers need to know about payments** \- Allison Farris\, Developer Advocate at Stripe Don't miss this opportunity to connect with the Stripe community. **You must bring a government issued photo ID.** [Stripe developer code of conduct.](https://stripe.com/legal/developer-code-of-conduct)g

**Kindly note that this is a paid event and the average number of attendees for our events is 60-70 people. You can register on [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-connector-exclusive-business-networking-at-home-house-studio-tickets-1991503086341?aff=meetup](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-connector-exclusive-business-networking-at-home-house-studio-tickets-1991503086341?aff=meetup)** London Connector® brings entrepreneurs, investors & founders together for premium hosted business networking at Home House Studio, London **What is London Connector® at HomeHouseStudio?** London Connector® at HomeHouseStudio is a premium, fully hosted business networking event held at one of London's most exclusive private members clubs. It brings together entrepreneurs, investors, founders, and professionals for high-quality networking, curated introductions, and meaningful business conversations. **Who should attend this London networking event?** This event is ideal for: * Entrepreneurs and startup founders seeking investment or collaboration * Investors looking to connect with emerging businesses * Business professionals expanding their professional network in London * Anyone exploring partnerships, business opportunities, or professional growth **What can attendees expect?** Attendees experience a curated, results-driven networking environment inside HomeHouseStudio private members club. The fully hosted format removes the awkwardness of traditional networking, replacing it with structured introductions and organic, high-value conversations — all in a premium London setting. **What makes London Connector® different from other London networking events?** London Connector® goes beyond the event itself. A few days before each event, an exclusive WhatsApp group is created for confirmed attendees, allowing entrepreneurs, founders, and investors to introduce themselves, arrange meetings, and begin building relationships before they arrive — so attendees feel part of the community from day one. **Key Details at a Glance:** * **Format:** Fully hosted, curated networking * **Venue:** HomeHouseStudio, London (private members club) * **Attendees:** Entrepreneurs, investors, founders, business professionals * **Pre-event access:** Exclusive WhatsApp networking group * **Availability:** Limited tickets — advance booking required * **Media notice:** Photos and videos may be captured for social and promotional use **Why book a ticket to London Connector®?** London Connector® is consistently ranked among the most engaging business networking events in London for professionals who want connections that convert into real opportunities — from partnerships and investment to clients and collaborations. 👔 Dress Code Business Attire or Smart Casual. To maintain the standard and atmosphere of the event, T-shirts and trainers are not permitted for men or women. Shorts are not permitted for men. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in helping us preserve the quality of the London Connector experience. **📲 Exclusive WhatsApp Networking Group** On the day of the event, you will receive an email invitation to join our exclusive attendee WhatsApp group — allowing You to start connecting, arranging meetings, and building relationships before walking through the door. 🎟️ **Tickets are limited. Book now to secure your place.** **📸 Event Disclaimer** Photos and videos may be taken during the event for use across our social media channels and promotional materials. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. 🎟️ **Limited tickets available – book now to secure your place at this exclusive London business networking event.** * [United Kingdom Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom/events) * [Greater London Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--greater-london/events) * [Things to do in London](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/ttd/united-kingdom--london) * [London parties](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/party) * [London Business parties](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/business--party)

We are delighted to announce the **27th London Information Retrieval & AI Meetup**, a **free evening event** aimed at enthusiasts and professionals curious to explore and discuss the latest trends in the field. This time, the Meetup is **Hybrid**, with a live event in **London** streamed online on Zoom! **ATTENTION: Remember to [fill out the form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfp5PsXj__nGojOBstvCsImc1MUDYr1ny4_IvtR3YZXWXFenQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=106887390294946923291) to confirm the registration and receive the link to the virtual event.** **\>\>\>\> IN\-PRESENCE MEETUP** Location: **Gladwin Tower, nine elms point sw8 2fs, London** [[Google Maps](https://g.co/kgs/ri7cUv4)] open doors: 6:15 PM (GMT+1) **\>\>\>\> ONLINE MEETUP** Location: Zoom open doors 6:30 PM (GMT+1) You will receive the virtual event link after **[completing the form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfp5PsXj__nGojOBstvCsImc1MUDYr1ny4_IvtR3YZXWXFenQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=106887390294946923291)[.](https://forms.gle/UQfBgcCLm2fG7Zza9)** \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- The event will be structured around 2 technical talks, each followed by a Q&A session. The event will end with a networking session. **>** Open doors from 6:15 PM *(in-person)* \> 6:30 PM open doors for **virtual attendees** * Welcome & Latest News - **Alessandro Benedetti,** *Director @ Sease* \> 06:45 PM First talk "**Binary Quantization 101**" - Carly Richmond, *Principal Developer Advocate @ Elastic* \> 7:30 PM Second Talk "**From RAG to Agents: Building AI Applications on OpenSearch**" - Itamar Syn-Hershko, *CTO & Founder @ BigData Boutique* \> 8:15\~8:45 PM Networking session \+ buffet For more info, including speaker bios, abstracts and timing, please check our website [https://sease.io/](https://sease.io/)

# Beyond the Classroom: Education in an Intelligent Age Join us for the next session of Deeptech Futures, a monthly series from UCL Engineering, supported by AlbionVC and Cooley LLP, and hosted at IDEALondon. ​This time, we’re exploring **Beyond the Classroom: Education in an Intelligent Age**. As emerging technologies such as AI and VR move further into classrooms, universities, training environments, and online learning platforms, the question is no longer just what these tools can do, but how they should be designed, adopted, and evaluated. ​From AI-supported teaching to immersive learning environments, education is becoming a major testbed for how new technologies shape human development. What does it take for these tools to improve learning outcomes, widen access, and support teachers, rather than simply adding another layer of complexity? ​**What you'll get out of it** * ​Hear from researchers and founders working at the intersection of education, emerging technology, and real-world implementation * ​Understand how AI and VR are being applied across learning environments, from universities to digital platforms * ​Explore what makes new education technologies genuinely useful, usable, and evidence-based * ​Gain insight into the design, access, and adoption challenges shaping the next era of education ​**Speakers** * ​**John Mitchell** – Head of Department and Professor of Communication Systems Engineering, Co-Director, Centre for Engineering Education, UCL Engineering * ​**Benoit Wirz** – Founding Partner, Brighteye VC * ​**Stephen Hilton** – Professor of Chemistry and Enabling Technologies, UCL School of Pharmacy * ​**Rajeshwari Iyer** – Founder, sAInaptic * ​Moderator: Dr Rob Thompson, Vice-Dean (Enterprise), UCL Engineering ​**About the series** ​Deeptech Futures: Conversations at the edge of what's possible, supported by AlbionVC and Cooley LLP, opens the door between research excellence at UCL Engineering and London’s innovation ecosystem at IDEALondon. Each month we explore new themes, from robotics and XR to climate tech and health, designed to spark debate, share insights, and connect people who might just build the next big thing together. ​**About UCL Engineering** ​With ten departments spanning activity from cybersecurity to biofuels, synthetic tissues to international trade, UCL Engineering is one of the most diverse Engineering faculties in Europe. As part of UCL, London’s Global University, it crosses boundaries to work with other disciplines, universities, and cultures. ​**About IDEALondon** ​IDEALondon is UCL Engineering’s home for ambitious founders in the heart of Shoreditch, run by WilbeLAB. We bring together startups in AI, biotech, fintech, climate, and more, giving founders workspace, community, and direct access to London’s deep-tech and investor network. ​**Privacy Notice** ​We occasionally take photos/videos at the event for marketing and socials. As part of attending, your contact details may be shared with our event partners (UCL Engineering, AlbionVC, and Cooley LLP). ​If you’d prefer not to have your details shared or photos/videos taken, email **[idealondon@wilbelab.com](mailto:idealondon@wilbelab.com)**.

Hi everyone! My name is Evgenii. I’m from Ukraine and I trade prop firm accounts. I’m creating a trading community in London for people who are interested in Forex trading, prop firms, technical analysis, and improving their skills as traders. The main idea of this community is to bring together people who want to learn, share experience, analyse the market, discuss trading strategies, and find practical ways to pass prop firm challenges and improve trading performance. This community is for people interested in: Forex trading; prop firms and funded account challenges; technical analysis; market structure, liquidity, support and resistance; risk management and position sizing; trading psychology and discipline; backtesting and journaling; sharing real trading experience; finding better ways to pass challenges; improving consistency and trading results. The first meeting will be mainly for introductions and sharing experience. We will get to know each other, talk about our trading backgrounds, discuss what markets we trade, what challenges we face, and what goals we have as traders. If more than 10 people RSVP for the event, I will choose and confirm a suitable meeting place in London. The exact location will be announced before the meetup. This is not a signal group and not a place for financial advice. The purpose of this community is education, networking, support, and practical discussion between people who are serious about trading. You don’t need to be a professional trader to join. Beginners, developing traders, prop firm traders, and anyone interested in Forex and technical analysis are welcome. Event plan 15:00 – 15:15 — Arrival and introductions 15:15 – 15:45 — Everyone shares their trading background and goals 15:45 – 16:15 — Discussion: Forex, prop firms, and funded challenges 16:15 – 16:45 — Sharing experience, mistakes, and lessons learned 16:45 – 17:30 — Open networking and contact exchange Location London — exact location to be confirmed. If more than 10 people join the event, I will choose a suitable place in London and share the exact address before the meetup.

**Hello There! And welcome to our June Gophers @ Meta event!** It's immensely exciting that we'll be visiting Meta for our June event, but with great big office comes great responsibility, so it is **CRITICAL THAT YOU HEED THESE ENTRY REQUIREMENTS!** * You MUST bring Government Issued Photo ID with you, matching the name with which you sign up to this event * You MUST complete the NDA that will be emailed to you in advance of the event, before arrival * You MUST be over 18 years old * You MUST NOT record when inside the venue * You MUST wear the lanyard provided to you on the night at all times And needless to say, if you satisfy all of those criteria and manage to make it through security without being tackled, you MUST have a lovely time otherwise you know I'll be giving you a hard stare. A massive thank you to Meta for hosting! See you all there! ==== 📓 **Agenda**📓 ===== (Certain timings and orders may be subject to change) **5:30pm onwards:** Sign-In, Food & Refreshments **6:55pm:** Introduction **7:00pm:** 🗣️ **Jon Bodner: Testing Go: From the Basics to synctest** Testing is fundamental to software engineering and as a language focused on software engineering, Go includes a wide variety of tools to ensure your code is working as expected. I’ll walk through the basics of testing in Go, and then cover some of the more advanced tools: benchmarking, fuzzing, and the new synctest package. **7:40pm:** Raffle and Break **8:00pm: 🗣️** **Oleg Obleukhov: Time @ Meta** Discover how Meta uses Go to build PTP and NTP - open-source, highly efficient time synchronization systems that achieve nanoseconds precision. **8:30pm:** Break **8:40pm: 🗣️** **Simon Emms: Failure Happens. Your Code Shouldn't Care** As Gophers, we expect our code to be retried, restarted and run more than once. The challenge is making that safe and maintainable without layers of defensive plumbing. Temporal lets us write reliable workflows in Go that automatically recover from crashes and restarts, while still looking and feeling like normal Go code. In this talk, I’ll explain how it works and prove it with a live demo that treats failure as just another code path. **9:10pm:** Raffle Winners! **9:30pm:** Pub / Socialize ==== 🎉 **Prizes & Discounts!** 🎉 ===== **JetBrains Raffle!** \- We have 3 free JetBrains Product licenses to give away to some of our lucky attendees\! **Ardan Labs Raffle!** \- We're giving away one course license for Ardan Labs' Ultimate Go Bundle\! **Manning Publications Raffle!** \- We're giving away 4 free Go e\-books\! **45% Manning Publications Discount** \- a massive discount provided by the fine people at Manning\! You can also support London Gophers Events by purchasing via our affiliate link [HERE](https://mng.bz/oKqM) \- Use Code "**LGMeetup45**" for 45% off! **GopherConUK Raffle!** \- We're giving away one free ticket\!\!\! **10% GopherConUK Discount** \- The lovely people over at GopherConUK have provided a discount code for [GopherConUK 2026](https://www.gophercon.co.uk/tickets)! At checkout, use code "**GCUK26LGM"** for 10% off! ==== 💡 **Priority Queue** 💡 ===== We reserve 20% of the attendee spots at our events for those who are underrepresented in tech. If they join the waitlist and there is a reserved spot open they will be bumped into going! These spots are reserved until the last Sunday before the event. How do we define underrepresented? We use public surveys done by the tech community such as the ones linked below. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/#section-demographics https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/devecosystem-2022/#gender-and-development ==== [📢](https://emojipedia.org/loudspeaker/) **Become a Speaker!** [📢](https://emojipedia.org/loudspeaker/) ===== Have something to say? We want to listen! We are always looking for new speakers who want to share their adventures with Go and have mentors who can help. You can sign up to be a speaker here: https://gophers.london/apply ==== 🧳**Looking For a New Adventure?** 🧳 ===== On the Gophers Slack (https://gophers.slack.com) there is a **#london-jobs** channel where company and recruiters can post job opportunities. ==== [📞](https://emojipedia.org/telephone-receiver/) **How To Reach Us** [📞](https://emojipedia.org/telephone-receiver/) ===== **Email:** contact@gophers.london **Linkedin:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/london-gophers/ **Twitter / X:** https://x.com/LondonGophers **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/c/LondonGophers 📜 **All London Gophers events operate under the Go Community Code of Conduct** \- https://golang\.org/conduct * **Treat everyone with respect and kindness.** * **Be thoughtful in how you communicate.** * **Don’t be destructive or inflammatory.** **Please do not message members without their consent** If you encounter an issue, please mail contact@gophers.london or conduct@golang.org

This June we're at FundApps offices in HYLO, Bunhill Row. Chris Simon's back in town, and will be joining us to talk about streams and queues; plus Tiago Sousa from SteelEye will be talking about the work they're doing around using AI in comms surveillance. Our hosts at FundApps will be providing drinks and snacks, and there will be plenty of time to chat beforehand and in the pub afterwards. **Chris Simon: It's like 10,000 streams when what you need is a queue** *🎶🎵 A new dev team adopted E-D-A* *Got head of line blocking, on their very first day* *Isn't it ironic, don't you think 🎶🎵* The last few years have seen widespread adoption of Event-Driven Architecture, supported by DDD practices such as event storming. But what does that orange sticky note become when we start implementing our design? Common implementation choices include event sourcing, streaming platforms like Kafka and queuing systems like RabbitMQ. Unfortunately not every orange sticky note has the same operational needs, and many teams remain confused about the differences between these options, resulting in the selection of the wrong paradigm for their needs. This can lead to unnecessary complexity & operational challenges such as head of line blocking, dropped messages, challenges dealing with failed messages, difficulty with adaptive scaling and inadvertently increasing coupling between services. In this talk we'll bring that orange sticky note into the runtime of our system. We’ll start with a deep dive into the similarities and differences between event streaming platforms such as Kafka and queueing systems such as RabbitMq, Azure Service Bus & AWS SNS/SQS. We’ll then look at ways to assess your orange sticky notes to work out which messaging and persistence paradigms suit each one, helping you build more resilient, scalable and loosely coupled event-driven architectures. **Tiago Sousa: AI in Comms Surveillance** In this talk, Tiago shares what it's actually like to build AI for communications surveillance at SteelEye. Financial firms are required to monitor and flag communications for compliance, but making AI work reliably in that context is harder than it sounds. He'll walk through real examples from the trenches: what worked, what didn't, and what he'd do differently. **Tiago Sousa** is a Staff Data Engineer and AI Lead at SteelEye - a platform that helps financial firms monitor and flag communications and trades to stay compliant with regulations. He's spent the last five years building the data and AI systems that make that work. Before that, he did research in bioinformatics, which means he came into fintech from an unusual angle and has the scars to prove it. He's based in Braga, Portugal.

Join us on June 24th for Microsoft post build in London. Sign up here https://msevents.microsoft.com/event?id=991181493

AI agents are getting better at writing software. That doesn’t mean the software is getting better. As AI systems become more autonomous, engineering teams face a different set of problems: unreliable outputs, untestable workflows, evaluation bottlenecks, and legacy systems that weren’t designed for any of this. At this Future Form session, we’re looking at what happens when agentic systems collide with production engineering reality. **Speakers:** **Ning Lu, VP, Aladdin Financial Engineering, BlackRock** Ning explores the evolving landscape of LLM evaluation. From static benchmarks to LLM-as-judge systems and agent trajectory review, he’ll break down how engineering teams can evaluate systems that don’t behave deterministically. **Katie Roberts, Technical Director & AI Native Specialist, Nearform** Katie will show how AI-native engineering can be applied inside mature brownfield systems. Using patterns like the Strangler Fig approach, she’ll explore how to isolate risk, generate tests for undocumented code, and evolve legacy architectures without full rewrites. If you’re working with AI agents, legacy systems, or production engineering workflows, this session is for you. Pizza, drinks, and practical AI insights included.

\> This group has a new home\. \[Luma → [https://luma.com/ldn_software_guild](https://luma.com/ldn_software_guild)]([https://luma.com/ldn_software_guild](https://luma.com/ldn_software_guild) ) **About the London Software Guild** ​The London Software Guild gathers developers, architects, and teams across London who care deeply about the craft of building great software. No fluff, no vendor pitches — just people who take the work seriously, sharing what they've learned the hard way. *** ## ​**Talk:** Dimming the Lights ​**Abstract:** Lessons from the front lines of transforming our enterprise SDLC into a dark factory. We'll talk about quick wins, surprising sticking points, the unsolved problems of orchestration and validation, and controlled experiments and challenges that you can try with your team. ## ​**🎤 Speaker:** Macey Baker, Community Engineer at @Tessl ​**Bio:** As Tessl's Founding Community Engineer, Macey Baker is busy helping to build the future of AI-native development (and helping you build it too). Now an AI code generation obsessive, she got her start as an early employee at tech unicorn Intercom in San Francisco, before jumping the pond and roaming the London startup scene, working primarily in big data / ML houses. Some of her best friends are LLMs. *** ## ​Talk: Secrets in Plain Sight ​**Abstract**: Your AI assistant needs to understand your code, but your model provider doesn't need to know your credentials. We'll explore a novel guardrail architecture that lets models reason about sensitive data they never actually see — preserving full performance without the leak. We'll cover the design philosophy, the tradeoffs, and why context-aware approaches outperform blanket redaction. ## ​**🎤** Speaker: Daniel Trugman, Co-founder and CTO at Requesty ​Requesty is building a novel AI Gateway that provides a complete control plane for any AI use case. The team at Requesty is building innovative solutions that solve the problems of tomorrow for AI trailblazers.

AI assistants are getting more capable. The question is how we build effective workflows around them. At DevDay London, [Lucy Joyce](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-joyce-597485166/), [Ash Shakrani](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ash-shakrani/) and [Arun Kurian](https://www.linkedin.com/in/arun-mathew-kurian-39b8aa5a/) will explore harness engineering through the lens of a payment integration. From requirements and design through to implementation, they’ll demonstrate why context alone isn’t enough for successful AI-assisted development. Drawing on real-world experience, they’ll show how engineering harnesses, reusable context, standards, and validation workflows help teams move beyond experimentation and build reliable, scalable AI-assisted development practices. **This session will unpack:** 🎯 Why “more context” isn’t the answer on its own 🎯 What engineering harnesses are and how they create reliable feedback loops 🎯 How standards, workflows, and validation reduce AI-generated rework and technical debt 🎯 Practical techniques teams can adopt immediately to improve AI outcomes 🗓️ **Save the Date:** 25th June, 2026 📍 **Location:** Sahaj Software, 1 Quality Court, London, WC2A 1HR 🕕 **Time:** 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (BST) The evening will feature: 🎤 **One engaging talk** with Q&A 🤝 **Plenty of time for networking** over free pizza and non-alcoholic drinks Don’t miss this chance to learn, connect, and share with fellow tech enthusiasts. 👉 Please click the link below to register. https://sahaj.ai/events/harness-engineering-in-practice-from-requirements-to-implementation/

**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** *Customize the IDE: Building Extensions for Visual Studio Code* Visual Studio Code is one of the most widely used development environments today, and much of its flexibility comes from its extension ecosystem. Extensions allow developers to customize the editor with new features, integrations, and workflow improvements tailored to their needs. In this session, we’ll cover what extensions are and the different types available, including full extensions written in TypeScript or JavaScript, along with lighter-weight extensions such as color themes, language packs, language support, code snippets, and keymaps. We’ll also look at practical reasons a developer might create an extension, from automating repetitive tasks to adding custom tooling. The session includes a hands-on walkthrough of creating a new extension, testing it locally, and understanding the basic project structure. We’ll close with a brief overview of how extensions are packaged and published to the Visual Studio Marketplace and other distribution options. **YouTube Link** TBD

Most people still use AI like a search box: type one question, get one answer, repeat. But the next step is AI agents: systems that can take a goal, break it into steps, use tools, remember context, and produce useful work for a human to review. In this beginner-friendly session, we’ll demystify what AI agents actually are — without hype or jargon. We’ll walk through practical examples of how agents can help with research, planning, writing, coding, operations, and personal productivity. We’ll cover: * What makes an AI “agent” instead of just a chatbot * How agents break tasks into steps * Where agents are genuinely useful today * Where they fail, hallucinate, or need human review * How to design simple AI workflows for your own work * A live demo of an AI agent-style workflow from start to finish No coding experience required. This is for anyone who wants to understand where AI tools are going and how to use them more effectively right now. 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.

**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** *July Meeting - Lightning Talks!* Lightning talks are very short presentations on a topic of your choice (must be related to .NET). Talks should be 15-20 minutes in length and include minimal slides and quick demo (no live coding please). There will be 6 slots available! First come, first serve! **YouTube Link** TBD

We've moved to guild.host Look for us there. https://guild.host/events/buckeye-cocoaheads-nscoders-tcbrk5

**Improving Office in Franklinton** Physical location: Improving Office 330 Rush Alley Suite #150 Columbus, OH 43215 Schedule: 6:00 p.m.: Socialize, eat, and drink. Improving will be providing pizza and beverages. 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Main meeting and presentation(s). Topic: This month Chris Pazsint will be talking about Agentic Coding. How does one use CLI Based Agents, and Agentic IDEs such as Cursor, Kiro, Antigravity? How to include agentic coding plugins for IDEs you already love such as Visual Studio Code. We meet on the last Monday of each Month. Presentations are given by members and friends of this group. If you would like to do a presentation (small or large) on a python topic, please contact Central OH Python at centralohpython@gmail.com

We connect you with up to 30 Men or Women tennis partners close to your PLAYING REGION and skill level. This program is less competitive, no champions crowned, no league standings just dedicated tennis partners who want to meet up with you on the courts. Players will meet up to play a tennis match or just to hit around. Just go through the [Join Page](https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program) to enter this program. [https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program](https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program)

Whether you've never done improv before, or you've done it for so long you were quoted in *Truth in Comedy*, or anywhere in between, come join us! Swing by *Gresso's* for the **Columbus Improv Comedy Meetup**! The idea behind improvised comedy is to create entire scenes from scratch. A suggestion is taken from the audience and laughter is built on the spot. This can be done in game form, like *Whose Line Is It Anyway, Make Some Noise,* or *Wild 'n Out*; it can also be done in a longer way, to tell a complicated story, like *TJ & Dave*. Our meetup, which is central Ohio's longest running (and FREE!) weekly comedy event, brings the games for you to play in a safe, supportive, and compassionate environment. Afterward, many members will hang out in *Gresso's* itself and get to know each other. Not only is this a lot of fun, but you get to work on thinking faster on your feet, your public speaking, plus it's an excellent way to meet new people and build relationships that will last a lifetime, and you do that while laughing your butt off! Ask yourself if you want to join the **Columbus Improv Comedy Meetup**, and say "*Yes, And*" that you'll have a blast!