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PyCon Ireland

Volunteered at PyCon Ireland 2025, a two-day conference at the stunning UCD O'Reilly Hall in Dublin. The event featured talks and workshops ranging from Python scripting and web development to machine learning and AI agents. Highlights included a special track on technology and the Irish language, and a panel discussion on AI's impact featuring some of the best minds in the field. The Saturday evening entertainment night was the perfect way to unwind with great conversations and a true taste of Irish culture.

• Talks spanning scripting, web development, machine learning, and AI agents
• Special track on technology and the Irish language
• Panel discussion on AI's impact with leading experts

ETHDublin

Volunteered at ETHDublin 2025, one of Europe's premier Ethereum hackathons. Three days of genius talks, creative hacks, and deep-dive workshops. Had the surreal experience of meeting Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum. Attended transformative sessions on decentralization, Ethereum scaling, and Web3 privacy. Received a Ledger Nano S Plus hardware wallet.

• Met Vitalik Buterin — co-founder of Ethereum
• "The Essence of Ethereum" panel with María Paula Fernández, Nick Almond, and Vitalik Buterin
• Damien Scanlon on Scaling Ethereum

Data Céilí

Volunteered at Data Céilí, a vibrant two-day conference focused on Microsoft Data Platform Technologies at the historic Trinity College Dublin. Attended sessions on trustworthy data platforms using Microsoft Fabric and Power BI, Python in Microsoft Fabric, UX Design for Power BI, and DevOps for Power BI Deployments. Had a deeply inspiring conversation with Ahmed Zayed that was the highlight of the event.

• Harry Cooney & Gary Vance on building trustworthy data platforms with Microsoft Fabric & Power BI
• Sue Bayes on getting started with Python in Microsoft Fabric
• Elena Drakulevska's talk on Power BI meeting UX Design — 60/30/10 colour rule

Codú & Google Cloud

Attended the AI Crush 2025 watch party hosted at Google's Dublin office in partnership with Codú, joining over 50 attendees. Misuzu Hoshi, Sean Higgins, and Kaz Sato from Google Cloud shared deep dives on bringing data and AI to production, plus practical guidance on building AI agents with the Agent Development Kit (ADK). The energy, conversations, and community made it a night to remember.

• Hosted at Google's Dublin office with 50+ attendees
• Deep dives on bringing data and AI to production by Google Cloud team
• Practical guidance on building AI agents with Agent Development Kit (ADK)

Dublin Tech Summit

Volunteered at one of the most insightful tech events of the year. Learned from global leaders including Ciaran Murray (Olas Foundation), Genevieve Leveille (AgriLedger), Iseult Ward (FoodCloud), and Sarah Friar (CFO, OpenAI). Aaron B Gibson (CEO, Hurree) shared insights on Agentic AI redefining productivity and leadership. Won two lucky draws back-to-back — a JBL Tune Beam 2 and a Stranger Things Eleven Funko Pop.

• Attended keynotes from Sarah Friar (CFO, OpenAI) and other global tech leaders
• Panel on "Where technology, impact and investment intersect"
• Aaron B Gibson on Agentic AI — "removing friction between people, not removing people"

PyLadies Dublin

Attended an evening of lightning talks at the stunning Pinterest Dublin office. Yasmin Khalil delivered a practical deep dive into load and stress testing Python applications using tools like Locust. Alessandro Maggio offered a refreshing take on tech debt — not as a burden but as something measurable and strategic, emphasizing strong boundaries with independently deployable components. The Pinterest office interiors were absolutely stunning, easily one of the best-designed spaces in Dublin.

• Yasmin Khalil on load and stress testing in Python with Locust
• Alessandro Maggio on measuring and managing tech debt strategically
• Key insight: Stress testing is about overloading to improve resilience

Grab Chai / The Product Folks

Joined 25 product enthusiasts at Integral Ad Science's Dublin office for an adrenaline-fuelled 60-minute sprint transforming post-its, flipcharts, and Lovable prototypes into working MVPs. The challenge was to move beyond blunt keyword blocklists to make brand safety and suitability actually intelligent. Teams built context-aware filters, publisher dashboards, sentiment checkers, and ambitious flipchart sketches worthy of VC conversations — all between pizza slices.

• 60-minute product sprint building working MVPs
• Context-aware filters distinguishing nuance from noise
• Publisher dashboards recovering blocked revenue

Snowflake User Group

Attended the Snowflake User Group event in Dublin. Roger Martin from CleverCards shared how he operates as a one-man data engineering team — implementing a lightweight Snowflake strategy, consolidating data, building dynamic financial reporting, integrating HubSpot via Python UDFs, and deploying Cortex Analyst for Gen AI interaction. Serge Gershkovich, author of Data Modeling with Snowflake, unpacked the true ROI of data modeling highlighting collaboration, governance, and long-term success in an AI-driven world. Ended the evening with a well-earned pint of Guinness.

• Roger Martin on solo data engineering with Snowflake at CleverCards
• Cortex Analyst for Gen AI interaction and Python UDFs for HubSpot
• Serge Gershkovich on the ROI of data modeling in an AI-driven world

ElevenLabs

Developed an end-to-end AI-powered interview system that autonomously conducts technical interviews via Google Meet. Built "Sarah," an AI interviewer persona that joins meetings, streams realistic voice interactions using ElevenLabs, and captures audio/transcript in real-time through Recall.ai's infrastructure. Implemented a real-time analysis engine evaluating candidates across technical knowledge, communication skills, problem-solving approach, and response depth with comprehensive performance scores (0-100 scale). Built an interactive React dashboard with interview scores, strengths/weaknesses analysis, and historical tracking.

• Built AI interviewer "Sarah" with realistic ElevenLabs voice interactions
• Real-time candidate analysis across technical knowledge and communication skills
• Interactive React dashboard with performance scores and historical tracking

Couchbase

Attended Couchbase's Dublin event at the iconic Guinness Storehouse, connecting with an amazing community against the backdrop of one of Ireland's most legendary venues. Dove deep into how Couchbase fuses relational databases with NoSQL scalability for building fast, resilient applications. The energy was incredible with great conversations, insightful questions, and genuine enthusiasm for modern data solutions.

• Hosted at the iconic Guinness Storehouse
• Deep dive into Couchbase's relational + NoSQL hybrid approach
• Building fast, resilient applications with modern data solutions

UNICEF & Plan International Ireland

Attended a profoundly moving screening of Nawi: Dear Future Me at Dublin's Light House Cinema, supported by UNICEF and Plan International Ireland, bringing urgent attention to the global child marriage crisis. Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, UN Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, powerfully framed this as a human rights emergency. Writer Maia Dunphy led the post-screening conversation with remarkable empathy. Met Feargal O'Connell, CEO of Plan International Ireland, whose insights into protecting girls' rights worldwide were deeply inspiring.

• Screening supported by UNICEF and Plan International Ireland
• Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC on the child marriage human rights emergency
• Post-screening conversation led by writer Maia Dunphy

AWS Ireland

Attended AWS Ireland's largest AI and Data Conference to date, joining nearly 1,000 customers, partners, and Amazonians for an incredible day of learning and connection. Des Traynor from Intercom and Aman Thind from State Street opened the event with insightful perspectives on how AI is transforming industries, sparking great conversations throughout the day. A perfect way to start Saint Patrick's weekend in Ireland.

• AWS Ireland's largest AI and Data Conference with ~1,000 attendees
• Des Traynor (Intercom) on AI transforming industries
• Aman Thind (State Street) on AI in financial services

Google Developer Groups Dublin

Attended the GDG Dublin International Women's Day event hosted at Workday, a day dedicated to celebrating and empowering women in technology. The event brought together inspiring speakers and engaged attendees for honest conversations about careers, challenges, and opportunities in tech. From personal journey stories to technical insights, every session reinforced the importance of diverse perspectives in shaping the industry.

• Celebrating and empowering women in technology
• Inspiring speakers on careers, challenges, and opportunities in tech
• Personal journey stories and technical insights

Atlassian Community

Attended my very first tech meetup at the Atlassian Saint Valentine's Community Event in Dublin — the perfect introduction to the tech community. Sessions covered Jira Product Discovery, cloud data protection, optimizing team capacity with Jira Plans, and AI for on-premise systems including LLMs and RAG. Beyond the learning, discovered great conversations, warm vibes, and the Dublin tech community spirit. This experience kicked off my journey into Dublin's tech community.

• Brendan O'Reilly on Jira Product Discovery
• Khrystyna Shparyk on cloud data protection
• Ostap Zaishlyi on optimizing team capacity with Jira Plans