GDG Cloud Sydney is back for a meetup this July! Join us for an evening of interesting technical talks.

Come Hire!

The meetup allocates 10 minutes to people seeking technical jobs or with open roles at their company.

This meetup is in the in-person format; there are no plans to stream the event.

Please arrive before 6 p.m. The lift timings have changed, and we cannot take you up to L21 from the ground floor if you arrive after 6 p.m.

Partners

This meetup is organised in partnership with Mantel Group. They harness technologies that transform business operations in the real world. With capabilities spanning Cloud, Data, Digital and Security, they merge emerging technologies with innovative design and industry expertise to enhance your business. With deep technical specialisation and as leading Amazon, Google and Microsoft cloud partners, the depth and breadth our solutions offer is unparalleled. Mantel Group is your partner for end-to-end digital transformation.

Ranked in Australia's top 10 Best Workplaces by Great Place To Work Australia for four years in a row, we are people-focused and uphold strong values. Our culture champions trust, empowerment, and diversity with a lean structure emphasizing collaboration, direct communication, and equity.

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"Dented Code teaches coding skills that you need to become a full stack developer and help you advance your career, pursue your dream job, or enjoy the freedom of life as a freelancer." - Learn more on their website.

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We will also give out two 1-year subscriptions from JetBrains  to any of JetBrains' IDEs in a raffle. You can use the 100% discount code on CLion, DataGrip, DataSpell, GoLand, IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate, PhpStorm, PyCharm, ReSharper, ReSharper C++, Rider, RubyMine, WebStorm, or dotUltimate.

Talks

Talk 1: Building Futuristic Android Apps with XR and Gemini - Cedric Ferry

Unlock the future of mobile interaction by preparing your Android apps for the converging worlds of spatial computing and generative AI. This session delves into the steps for updating existing Android apps to leverage the Android XR platform, utilizing familiar tools like Jetpack Compose alongside new spatial APIs to create immersive mixed-reality experiences that break free from traditional screens. Furthermore, discover how to seamlessly integrate Google's powerful Gemini models using the Vertex AI SDK for Firebase for robust integration, enabling your apps with natural language processing, and dynamic content generation. Join to learn the techniques that empower you to build the next generation of truly futuristic user experiences on Android.

About the speaker - Cedric Ferry

Cedric is a seasoned software engineer with a strong passion for mobile technologies. His career spans Europe, Australia, and the US, working in both the financial industry and at Big Tech companies, including Google.

Always looking ahead, Cedric is also keen on emerging technologies—diving into AI, mixed reality, and electronics to build innovative applications that offer a glimpse into the future.

Talk 2: Don’t forget your roots! Move faster with AI by getting the basics right - Elaine Gao

AI presents incredible opportunities - it feels like it’s all the hype right now! You can maximise chances of success by building on strong foundations. This talk explores how getting the basics right accelerates AI adoption and delivers better outcomes, covering essential elements like business up-skilling, robust data fundamentals and platform architecture, and strategic use case discovery and prioritisation. Elaine will also share valuable learnings from two years of successfully building and deploying generative AI products in production environments, offering practical insights for moving confidently in the AI space.

About the speaker - Elaine Gao

Elaine is a Machine Learning Engineer at Mantel Group with machine learning implementation experience across a range of industries, including financial services, retail, education technology, and media. Also an organiser for GDG Auckland, she is passionate about practical and sustainable applications of AI/ML, with a strong focus on enablement and empowering knowledge sharing.

Event Schedule

5:30pm - Event doors open

5:45pm - Introduction and hiring connect for those hiring/wanting to be hired (5 mins for each group, and every individual gets 1 min max)

6:00pm -  Building Futuristic Android Apps with XR and Gemini - Cedric

6:45pm - Don’t forget your roots! Move faster with AI by getting the basics right - Elaine

7:30pm - Raffle for the 2 JetBrains IDE licenses

8:00pm - Event end