Battles of an Impostor

Melissa Houghton

Principal Software engineer at Mantel Group

Have you ever felt like a fraud? Like you did not deserve the opportunities in front of you? Have you ever thought “why me, I should not be here”? Have you feared others might discover you are a fake?

Alternatively, have you seen a talented colleague not recognising their achievements? A colleague who is hesitant to take on a new role?

This is impostor syndrome; I encounter it regularly and fight against it in myself and others. Unite with me in this battle; for yourself, your colleagues and friends.

Join me as I share my experiences with impostor syndrome, how I have fought against it, and how you can join the fight.

Level up with GitHub Copilot: using AI to learn, code, and build

Michelle “Mish Manners” Duke

Developer Advocate at GitHub

It’s time you meet your AI pair programmer. Do you find yourself stuck on a chunk of code? Unsure of how best to center a div? GitHub Copilot can help. Get unstuck by seeing suggested lines or code, whole functions, and learn more about your development journey through having code explained, and even translate your code into other languages.

Find out more about GitHub Copilot, new features, updates, and see a demo.

The session will cover:

• What is AI
• Applications of AI
• How GitHub Copilot works
• How to get better results from GitHub Copilot with prompt engineering (the art crafting effective prompts)
• Power of conversational coding with GitHub Copilot Chat
• How to build robust AI applications using GitHub Copilot
• What’s coming next
• AI ownership

Skills for the age of AI

Michelle “Mish Manners” Duke

Developer Advocate at GitHub

What skills are needed to ensure I still have a job, and how do I obtain them?

With the rise of AI and automation, how do we as humans find our value in the workplace? How do we work with these new technologises? How do we build resilience to changes? What soft skills are needed for us to thrive in this new world?

People have often felt apprehensive about change, especially big changes to the way we work. It happened in the industrial revolution and now it’s happening with the rise of artificial intelligence. Five years ago these things existed, but now they are accessible to almost everyone.

In this session I’ll cover:

• why people want to work
• why it’s important for us to have a place in the world
• what skills are needed for the “age of AI”. (We are talking about soft skills here)
• what is AI and its applications
• how we build resilience, problem solving, and critical thinking

Generative AI for the .NET Developer

Aaron Powell

Cloud Advocate at Microsoft

Have you ever wondered how to create intelligent apps with .NET and Azure OpenAI? Do you want to learn how to leverage the power of large language models like ChatGPT to generate natural and engaging conversations? Do you want to see how AI can build AI apps? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this talk is for you!

In this talk, you will discover how to use .NET, C#, and Azure to create amazing applications with OpenAI and other generative AI technologies. You will learn the fundamental concepts of this latest wave of AI, the benefits and challenges of using .NET with it, and the best practices and tips for developing intelligent apps. You will also see a live demo of how AI can build AI apps using .NET and OpenAI.

And yes, this abstract was created using Bing Chat 😀

Houston, We Have a Deployment!

Lars Klint

Principal Magician at Arkahna

In the boundless expanse of software development, deploying new features can often feel like launching a spacecraft into the unknown. Let’s embark on a mission to explore the critical aspects of feature management, because it can be so much more than just toggling features on and off. What if product owners were involved in defining the features in a product? What if developers didn’t need to have the mind of a CTO to develop the product?

Just as astronauts meticulously prepare for a space mission, we delve into the strategies for planning and executing feature rollouts, ensuring that each ‘launch’ is successful and each ‘orbit’ around the product lifecycle is stable and efficient. This talk includes live demos, lots of code, a new way to manage features, quite possibly something catching fire, and definitely llamas

Is Application Security an Illusion?

Ben Dechrai

Developer Advocate at DataStax

The first worm was designed to create awareness of security issues but was so prolific (yet still benign) that it inadvertently took the early internet down for days.

Nowadays, malicious attacks know no bounds. We hear stories of them targeting elections and even entire democracies!

So it’s easy to think that this situation is getting worse and that we’re fighting a never-ending battle. After all, you can do a thousand things right, but it only takes one mistake or vulnerability to undo everything!

But let’s take a closer look at reality because I believe we ARE prepared, and we always have been. Join me, as we explore why this is a challenge we can overcome and how YOU are part of the solution.

Conquering complexity: refactoring JavaScript projects

Phil Nash

Developer Advocate at DataStax

One of the most common issues in JavaScript code bases is that our code is too complex. As projects and their requirements evolve, complexity creeps in. Excess complexity slows progress, frustrating us as we try to keep large chunks of a program in our heads just to understand what is happening.

To conquer complexity, we must refactor! In this talk, we’ll investigate how to identify unnecessary complexity in our code base using cognitive complexity as a measure, how to approach refactoring complex code, and what tools are available to help us refactor. We’ll put it all into practice through a live example. By the end of the talk, you’ll be excited to tackle that 1000-line monstrosity of a function in your own code base (you know the one).

How to create a Product Strategy, with examples from Spotify

Brendan Marsh

Agile, Product & Org Coach at Organa

Creating a product strategy can be confusing and overwhelming. Many companies don’t have one and for those that do, it’s often a wish list. In this talk, you’ll learn a step-by-step process for creating an effective product strategy with plenty of examples from Brendan’s days as a Product Manager at Spotify. We’ll cover the kinds of research, analysis and questions you’ll need to answer in order to craft a Product Strategy that conveys your rationale, your WHY behind your roadmap that is aligned to the business, to the market, informed by customer insights and importantly, describes how you’re going to WIN in the market.

Tactics for Tech Professionals Transitioning to Leadership

Panel lead by James MacDonnald

Hear the journeys and advice from two of Newcastle’s technology leaders, Alica Lopez, CIO, at Newcastle City Council , and Brendan Mills, CIO at nib.

This small panel discussion will provide the opportunity to learn from two of Newcastle’s most senior technology leaders as to the career journeys they’ve endured to get to where they are at today. We’ll question them on the best decisions they’ve made, any mistakes they made along the way and advice for technology professionals looking to work their way up the corporate ladder.

A hands-on guide to increasing gender diversity in your organisation

Arden Jarrett, William Fardell and Sarah Frazer

Directors of Coded Diversity

Improving gender diversity in an organisation can seem daunting, regardless of whether it’s a small business or an enterprise organisation. This session is designed to break down some of the key challenges, offer tangible actions, and provide insights into larger, systematic pieces of work applicable to any business.

The Coded Diversity team is passionate about making technology more accessible and sustainable for women and gender-diverse people. Founders Arden Jarrett and Sarah Frazer will discuss some of the key concepts in changing organisational culture.

The team are big believers in “if you don’t ask, you won’t know” and will be taking questions from the crowd about anything you’d like to explore in the space. Join us for an informative and interactive session!

Making the right hire every time

Building High-Value Relationships between Technology and the Business: Three Essential Strategies to Delivering Successful Projects

Claire Quigley

Founder and Director of Launchpad9

Imagine you just sat through a meeting between Tech and Business leaders and teams. You ask the Techies how it went, and they’re all “Great, barely any questions!” Then you chat with the business side, and it’s crickets. All they saw were slides with a bunch of boxes and arrows, and they have no clue how it applies to their daily grind. They are simply wondering how this is all costing so much, and are we perhaps just overcomplicating things?

Fast forward a month or two, and projects stall, tensions flare, and nobody’s happy. Tech feels like robots taking orders, and Business feels like Tech doesn’t get it.

Join Claire’s session to learn how to break these patterns and build relationships where there is clarity, direction, and people who want to work together. Learn about three crucial strategies for success:

• From Many Voices to One Language: learn how to build for successful projects from the start.
• Connect the (right) Dots: How to take things from complexity to brutal simplicity in a way that everyone wins.
• Whose Team are you on? It’s probably not your first answer. Learn how to think about teams in a different way to get the results you want.

This promises to be a reflective and active session where you will be asked to engage, contribute and debate.

Newwwie.com dev sprint

Josh Peak

Bring your own Laptop or pair us with someone else as you join Josh Peak for a session building out features for the newwwie.com website. This is a great opportunity to work with other people from around the community to contribute to Newcastle’s own Open Source community project.

Podcasting Unplugged: How to Start & Grow a Podcast

Ever asked yourself – “should I start a podcast?” Join this immersive workshop and get an answer to that very question and whether you should unlock the potential of podcasting as a powerful medium for your voice and ideas.

In this session, we aim to demystify the podcast creation and production process for aspiring podcasters. Guided by an experienced podcast producer, you’ll gain insights into what it takes to create a podcast, and how podcasting can help grow your business or personal brand.

From the initial spark of inspiration, to developing a show’s identity, and then recording, editing, publishing and marketing your show – this session will help you decide whether now is the right time to start your podcast.

Whether you’re looking to share your passion, elevate your brand, or connect with a global audience, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and tools to make your podcasting aspirations a reality.

To Be Announced

We will have more information about this session soon

Cyber war room: a hands-on experience in crisis management

Alpha Echo

Your company has just been hacked – what’s next? Step through a real-world cybersecurity incident with the Alpha Echo cyber response team, as they delve into real-world scenarios, explore incident response essentials, and provide practical tools. This workshop will walk you through incident response so you can see how a clear incident response plan can prepare your business for cyber incidents. Whether you’re just starting out in incident response planning, or you’re confident in your ability to respond, this workshop will provide an insight into the realities of cyber events.

Smarter Decision Making for Aspiring Cloud Frugalistas

Birger Halfmeier

Senior Cloud Architect for DoiT International

Frugality, not AI, is surreptitiously revolutionising cloud spending in 2024.
Whether you’re scaling a startup or pushing innovation within a giant, mastering your cloud budget is essential.
This session moves away from the traditional “top-down” approach to cloud cost management, emphasising a team-centric strategy where developers are crucial in making architectural decisions that align spending with business goals.
By leveraging insights from Werner Vogels’s “The Frugal Architect” and studying the cloud vendors’ own service design strategies, we can inspire more effective architectural choices and simultaneously streamline our budgets.
Join us for a session packed with insights and actionable strategies. By the end of this talk, you’ll walk away with killer strategies that make frugality look downright sexy, proving that the best cloud leaders are also savvy spenders.

Riding Waves of Change: From Motorbike Novice to Career Crossroad

Anne-Marie Charrett

Group Owner DX Test & Automation at Telstra

Whoever wrote “A change is as good as a holiday” clearly doesn’t work in tech! In tech, we’re grappling with an unprecedented rate of change of new ideas, languages, frameworks, architectures, and technologies. Rapid, constant, and often overwhelming change has become the new norm.

How do we navigate and respond to this change at work and in our personal lives? And how do we remain congruent with ourselves and with our teams?

In this keynote, I’m going to share stories about change in both my career and life. One a career crossroads where I had little agency. In the other, I learned to ride a motorbike, an experience that paralysed me with fear. In sharing these stories, perhaps we can find some truths about how we can handle change, for ourselves and as leaders in technology.

Threat Centric Design, Innovation and Defence – What You Need To Know About The Cyber Threat Landscape

Rebecca Shepard

General Manager and a principal consultant for Alpha Echo

Take a quick journey through the world of Cyber intelligence as presented by an Ex-Government Intelligence Officer.

As technologists and innovators out-designing and out-innovating our competitors gives us the edge – but what is the impact of this on the cyber threat landscape? How does this evolution lead to the plethora of cyber vulnerabilities facing our society today, thus impacting our economies, political landscapes, legal factors, human factors such as mental health and wellbeing and the technological factors (to name a few). We are in a commercial and military arms race that is only making the threat environment more complex and more harmful to everyday Australians like you and me.

Join me for an introduction into why I think you need to be more actively pursuing threat intelligence to be ethical and sustainable in your work and in your lives.

The threat is evolving. Are you?

Cloud Native Aspirations with .NET Aspire

Matt Wicks

Solution Architect at SSW

From a .NET software consultant’s experience, this talk presents .NET Aspire and .NET 8, highlighting their role in cloud-native application development. It focuses on .NET Aspire’s capabilities and the multi-platform versatility of .NET 8. Addressing orchestration, service integration, and telemetry, this session demonstrates how .NET Aspire and .NET 8 facilitate scalable, distributed app development across different platforms.

Top Database Performance Techniques

Bryden Oliver

Solution Architect at SSW

Discover the secrets to unlocking lightning-fast database performance! In this engaging presentation, I will guide you through a range of tried-and-true techniques that will revolutionize the way you approach database optimization. With plenty of live demos along the way, you’ll gain a deep understanding of each technique and learn how to apply them to your own databases. From the simplest tips to more advanced techniques, this session has something for everyone. Get ready to take your database performance to the next level!

This session is aimed at those with limited database experience to provide some basics to help avoid the most common problems developers have when working with relational databases.

Yes, Your Browser Can Do That (Probably) — A Look At Modern Web APIs You Might Not Know

Julian Burr

Lead Developer at Vouch

We’ve become so accustomed to aiming to develop native apps to get access to certain advanced features and functionality that it’s easy to miss that a lot of that has been adopted slowly but surely by our web browsers over time.

In this talk, we’ll have a look at some of these Web APIs, how they work, and how you can use them to progressively enhance the experience of your users in a real-life context.

—

This talk explores some of the more unknown Web APIs and gives practical advice on how to use them to enhance the user experience of your products.

Some examples of those APIs:

* Intersection & Resize Observer

* Page Visibility API

* Network Information API

* Battery Status API

* Internationalisation API

* Eyedropper API

* Vibration API

* Contact Picker API

* PasswordCredential API

* WebOTP API

The key takeaway from this talk is that browsers have become increasingly powerful over the last decade and keep doing so. It’s worth using the platform more and keeping an eye on what’s available. Slides from an older version of this talk can be found here: https://www.julianburr.de/my-work/talks/yes-your-browser-can-do-that-probably/

Testing your crap

Sam Connelly

Test/Data Engineer (mobile) at Woolworths Group

There are so many elements of quality that are often over looked.

Learn first hand how a mobile app can be built with privacy by design, accessibility and localisation in mind.

Building API-Based System with Distributed Service Architecture

Hrvoje Tutman

Lead Software Engineer at Skript

This talk serves as a practical extension of the “Responsibilities of Modern Software Engineers”, diving into the realm of API-based systems built with distributed service architecture. Rooted in the author’s experiences as the lead software engineer at Skript, a prominent Open Banking data aggregator, the API design principles presented extend beyond this specific context, making them universally applicable to any API-based system. Furthermore, the unset architectural principles and Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) presented in the talk have relevance across diverse distributed service architecture systems.

The exploration of good API design touches on the evolution from the era of SOAP Web Services to contemporary choices like REST and GraphQL. Specifically, the talk focuses on REST API, emphasising adherence to HTTP specifications, idempotency, OpenAPI specifications, authentication, authorisation, versioning, URI modelling, pagination, filtering, sorting, projection, and comprehensive payload rules—forming a non-exhaustive list. The talk also touches upon industry standards like {json:api}, highlighting potential pitfalls in partial implementations and questioning the practicality of HATEOAS when similar features are achievable through established features within the HTTP standard.

Transitioning from design to implementation, the talk articulates core architectural principles and “ilities” – characteristics of distributed service architecture, with independent deployment as the core principle. It underscores the significance of asynchronous event-driven architecture and messaging middleware with event store capabilities for all inter-service communication. The necessity of independent service testing leads to contract testing as a mandatory step for implementing continuous delivery. The talk advocates for robust observability through tracing, metrics, and logging, emphasising the power of the baggage API. Additionally, it highlights the potency of feature toggling for controlled releases and experiments. The importance of centralised API repositories with specifications in an Interface Definition Language (IDL) is paramount, encompassing security practices, and database change management, among other aspects.

One of the driving reasons for this approach is to enable not only the scaling of applications but also the independent scaling of each component (service) within the architecture. Building an API system is easy; building a scalable API system is hard, and that is where engineering comes in. This sometimes leads to principles that are counterintuitive or go against traditional approaches. For instance, to achieve global data scalability, we need to break traditional RDBMS. This poses additional challenges where certain practices need to be “unlearned” first. The talk further advocates for the Everything as Code approach, extending it beyond infrastructure to encompass testing and documentation—all mentioned and more falling under the responsibility of software engineers working on the implementation.

The talk concludes by reinforcing the holistic approach to modern software engineering, emphasising that software engineering transcends bureaucracy. Domain knowledge and the pursuit of excellence are the most important principles for achieving robust, scalable, and future-ready API-based systems.

Securing your business: Cyber Security Incident Response Plan for Small Businesses

Elena Scifleet

Cyber Education Lead at Alpha Echo

In an age dominated by ransomware and data extortion, the call for small businesses to fortify their cyber defenses resonates with unparalleled urgency. By unraveling the unique challenges faced by small businesses in the cyber landscape and elucidating the tangible benefits of a well-crafted Cyber Security Incident Response Plan, this session aims to empower business owners and decision-makers to take proactive measures in the face of escalating cyber threats. Join Elena as she arms you with information on how to create Cyber Security Incident Response Plan specific to the needs of your small business to safeguard your digital integrity.

Kubernetes Operators on Easy Mode with Python and Kopf

Aiden Price

CTO at Arrowtail Precision

Kubernetes operators bring declarative management to your app stack on K8S. Simply tell the operator what resources you want to exist with a Custom Resource and make the operator sort it out, declarative ops FTW.

There are a bunch of great open source operators available to run your favourite services in Kubernetes, Postgres, Elastic, Redis, RabbitMQ and we’ll do a whirlwind tour of some of the best. You have been running stateful services in Kubernetes right? You know that’s a thing these days?

But what about your own apps or your own DevOps processes? Well you can write your own operator to do them for you from inside the cluster. Avoid the headaches of manually pushing workloads with kubectl like an animal. Avoid the pitfalls of having to grant high K8S privileges to developers just so they can test new features.

Conventional wisdom says you should write your operator in Golang, but have you ever tried to find a Go dev? If you’re using Python elsewhere in your stack you should give Kopf (Kubernetes Operator Python Framework) a go. You can build fully event driven K8S DevOps workflows in Python with ease.

Now the parts of your DevOps workflow that always required a curly Python script can be automated. Then run them declaratively with your own Custom Resources. Then you can GitOps them from a repository with some proper permissions and branch protections. Then how about driving your GitOps with GitHub Actions on a pull request? Disposable environments anyone? The future for operators and GitOps is particularly bright and we’ll bring the sunglasses.

Productise your platform

Bethan Timmins

Delivery and Technology Advisor

This talk looks at How you should think about your platform as a product. What techniques you should use, and why you should do this. Showing real world examples across some of my most recent clients.

By the end of the talk we hope that you will appreciate the importance of the biggest value that product thinking can give you on your platform is increase of flow. That measuring the success your product platform isn’t just About DORA it is also about flow metrics.

Also that by addressing your platform like a product really enables your organisation to operate in an efficient ops model.

Slow Coffee

Damian Hamilton

Head Roaster at Pirate Coffee

This talk introduces the concept of slow coffee, a way to create space and time to get back to connecting with each other! You’ve seen people solving world problems over a Shisha in Morocco, challenging the approach of world economies over cannolis and espresso in Italy, but have you tried Pour Over? Pirate Coffee love Pour Over coffee as a way to slow down the mind and create a time to engage in 1:1 conversations around health and wellbeing while enjoying the amazing flavours of the world over epic coffee. In this workshop, you’ll get the chance to learn the art of slow coffee, taste delicious Pirate Coffee from exotic locations, as well as be part of an open conversation about mental well-being.

Welcome

We’re so excited to be kicking off the 2024 edition of /NEW. It’s been a huge couple of months getting everything ready, and now that the day is finally here, we’d like to say a few words before we launch into a massive two days.

We’ll cover important stuff like emergency exits, accessibility features, bathrooms, and food and coffee locations, as well as share more about the Networking Zone and other ways to make the most of the conference.

We’re kicking off day one of /NEW with an Acknowledgement to Country from Brad Twynham, a direct descendent of ‘Bungaree’ (the First Australian), incorporating a didgeridoo performance and compelling storytelling.

Morning Break

It’s time for another coffee, a bathroom break and a chance to check out the sponsors in the sponsor halls.

You’ll find a networking zone in the Mulubinba Room. Networking can be awkward at times, especially if you don’t know what to talk about. Fear not, the Networking Zone has you covered.

If you’re keen for a chat, write a topic you’d like to chat about on one of the whiteboards. If you see a whiteboard with a topic you’d like to discuss, feel free to join that person. Meeting new people has never been easier!

There’s no time limit on how long or how short you can stay in the Networking Zone. Feel free to dip in and out as you please.

SSW sponsor after party

After the conference SSW is hosting an after party af their Newcastle offices. They’re asking that you RSVP on Eventbrite to help them plan for numbers

Lunch

Lunch is served! Catering tables are available in both of the Sponsor Rooms. Take this opportunity to check out the sponsors, grab a coffee, chat with other attendees and make the most of the Networking Zone.

You’ll find a networking zone in the Mulubinba Room. Networking can be awkward at times, especially if you don’t know what to talk about. Fear not, the Networking Zone has you covered.

If you’re keen for a chat, write a topic you’d like to chat about on one of the whiteboards. If you see a whiteboard with a topic you’d like to discuss, feel free to join that person. Meeting new people has never been easier!

There’s no time limit on how long or how short you can stay in the Networking Zone. Feel free to dip in and out as you please.

Afternoon Break

It’s time for another coffee, a bathroom break and a chance to check out the sponsors in the sponsor halls.

You’ll find a networking zone in the Mulubinba Room. Networking can be awkward at times, especially if you don’t know what to talk about. Fear not, the Networking Zone has you covered.

If you’re keen for a chat, write a topic you’d like to chat about on one of the whiteboards. If you see a whiteboard with a topic you’d like to discuss, feel free to join that person. Meeting new people has never been easier!

There’s no time limit on how long or how short you can stay in the Networking Zone. Feel free to dip in and out as you please.

Driving next gen tech enablement in a merged environment

Libby Davey

CIO NGM Group

It’s been a year since two of the Hunter’s largest financial institutions in Newcastle Permanent and Greater Bank merged to form NGM Group. Hear from NGM Group Chief Information Officer Libby Davey as she shares her vision for the organisation’s digital future, touching on the below trends in Artificial Intelligence, the Cloud and the digital dividend that will change the banking landscape.

Agile: Use it or lose It. Don’t abuse it!

Chris Gilbert

Consulting Director at SixPivot

Agile is great, except when it’s not. Then it’s terrible. And oh boy, have I seen some things…

In this talk I’ll share the best, the worst, and the should-never-have-been parts of agile projects that I’ve seen over the years. There’ll be practical tips for you to take away to start improving your own projects too.

Are we still talking about agile in 2024? Yes, because we have to.

Data Literacy & the AI Imperative

Hayley Morgan

Insights & Analytics Business Partner at Coal LSL

With the rise of AI & automation, organisations are only now starting to understand the need for large scale data literacy programs. In an age where 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced each day, data literacy has become a critical skill. The rapid rise of data has not only transformed how we do business, but it also demands a new set of competencies from every organisations workforce.

While computer literacy took hold of the global workforce in the 80’s, followed shortly by software literacy with applications being rolled out & products being sold in the early 2000’s. Data literacy now holds the key to ensuring organisations can remain competitive in a rapidly shifting environment. There is a technical, practical & ethical understanding required of data literacy & AI literacy.

I will walk through a couple of key design approaches to try & address the data literacy gap & the impact AI will have on the workforce, for example:

– a roadmap that seeks to uplift organisations ability to adopt AI through data education, data products & engagement

– a data literacy program I’ve rolled out to an organisation of 200+ that teaches non-technical data skills to people via a curriculum that are at risk of job detachment due to AI. This is where L&D, change management, comms, strategy & data come together.

– the impact AI has on current jobs (which ones we’ll see likely go, transition or change)

– the skills data literacy program teaches & how upskilling in chatgpt, statistics, data decision making etc, enables organisations to retain talent rather than widespread redundancies, trying to seek new workers in a tight market.

– what a data academy is & what it can do for all sizes of organisations & enterprises

– challenges of a data literacy program & common pain points you’ll likely experience

There is a common misunderstanding of who is data literate & what data literacy means. Being in technology doesn’t automatically mean you’re data literate. The ability to read, understand, interpret & analyse data is data literacy – data quality particularly is at the heart of it, given that many people in an organisation are unknowingly interacting with the DQ of entire pipelines & architecture.

To be data literate means being able to ask important questions about the data & the world around you. Especially with the rise of AI powered misinformation & deepfakes, you need to be able to ask the right questions about the data & the technology you see. This is the power of data literacy.

Organisations can either ethically spend the time & effort it requires to shift their workforce in the direction of AI through data literacy, or be at risk of AI happening to them, with very little time to plan or react in a commercially competitive market.

Conversational analytics: scalable and cost effective insights using AWS Connect

Matthew Fenwick

Senior Data Analyst nib health funds

Over the past 18 months I have been building out the speech and chat analytics ecosystem at nib using AWS (specifically AWS connect).

With the rise of LLMs, this space has changed from simple rule based analytics to also incorporate more sophisticated insights only attainable via complex language models.

Furthermore, companies are now capturing increasingly more conversational based data, but with no ability to draw insights from this lake of data points. I hope to shed light on my journey in exposing these insights and the challenges faced when aggregating millions of conversations into a single distilled topic/theme.

I aim to outline a brief overview of the benefits of conversational analytics, discuss in brief the basic methodology within an AWS context and then present some of the best approaches based on complexity and needs – with the intent to show that simple fuzzy matching rules can often be equally as accurate as LLMs at a fraction of the cost and increased ability to scale.

I will explore what Conversational analytics is optimal for (Quality assurance, sentiment, scripting, issue detection) and where previous shortcomings are now being ameliorated through LLMs (sarcasm, context specific engagement).

You should play RPGs at work

Andrew Harvey

You might have heard some people play chess while others play checkers. That by understanding the capabilities of each person we can create better strategy and tactics and win. In this talk I propose that you should do neither and that instead you should play RPGs at work.

We will go on a journey together where we understand that as software engineers the be best way to “win” – to actually enjoy our work and build cool stuff, achieving our own goals and contributing meaningfully – requires us to go beyond just understanding the piece of work in front of us, but those we’re working with and what on earth it is we’re working towards.

It turns out we already have a great way of doing that outside work: RPG games. This talk will give attendees concrete ways to escape from being a Generic Software Engineer, and step into their unique role within a quest.

The audience is anyone who works as part of a software engineering team: engineers, product managers, designers, and leaders. It will even include some demos of things that we’ve put into practice at our workplace

Unlocking Success: The Crucial Role of Technical Leadership in Technology Strategy Execution

Sheena Peeters

Transformation Lead

Technology strategy execution is a strategy in its own right! However, its success comes from technical leadership at all levels. Whilst some of the key fundamentals of a CIO/CTO role may include strategy, businesses cases, budgets, operational effectiveness, cyber and data risk management, to achieve a robust technology strategy technology leaders will need to provide leadership at the execution level through architecture and have a robust understanding through a technical lens on cloud engineering, CICD, modernised data, AI, ITSM, integration observability, cyber and the likes to create quick wins, make tactical decisions and achieve longer term strategic technology outcomes Today, I’ll lean on some stories and examples of how i balance working with executives, boards and senior business leaders to educate and get buy-in, whilst leading technical teams through a hands on approach to deliver successfully.