Last week the Hamilton Robson software team attended the highly anticipated, and first, AWS (Amazon Web Services) Community Day in Belfast! The event brought in 150+ attendees and 34 speakers across 3 tracks, which was organised by a local community group known as the BelfAWSt User Group. This was a sold-out one-day event run by the community, for the community, featuring diverse local community leaders and speakers of all backgrounds, who came to Belfast in their droves from around the world!

Due to Hamilton Robson’s very own Senior Software Engineer, Chloe McAree, being one of the organisers and our Software Engineer, Bradley, securing a speaker slot – there was a lot of hype in the office for the lead up to the event, so it was fantastic to see the day come to life after watching how much hard work the organisers put into the community day. Aside from the fabulous talks, there was also a generative AI workshop, DeepRacer suite, and of course, the unspoken highlight: collecting AWS merch (because, who doesn’t need more AWS socks?).

This free, sold out event was definitely not one to miss, and for those who couldn’t be there I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to summarise what the team got up to on the day.

Bradley’s Talk – AWS Builder Cards: The Game-Changer for Learning AWS

[Bradley during his presentation at the AWS Community Day, Belfast]

Software Engineer Bradley secured a speaker slot for the AWS Community Day. This was his first ever talk, and the whole team is very proud of how amazingly he did with his planning and preparation, followed by the delivery on the day. Well done Brad!

Bradley’s talk took place in the Prawn Cocktail track room (did I mention the tracks were named after Tayto crisps? For any of our readers from outside of Ireland, you’re welcome!) just before lunch. He kicked things off by expressing how the world of AWS can feel quite intimidating as a junior developer, as there are so many tools and services available for use. He then went on to explain how the AWS Builder Cards can be used to ease newcomers into the vast amount of tools and services, and how they can be used within a project’s architecture. As a placement student, I totally agree – after getting to use the cards in the office in the lead up to Bradley’s talk, it is definitely a lighthearted way to introduce team members of any technical level to AWS services.

Bradley then went on to discuss our product Marvel’s architecture. It is a media content platform we developed at Hamilton Robson for users to upload and save audio and images. He explained to us all what AWS services it utilises alongside what these services look like on the builder cards, followed by how to look up information on how each service works via the cards. The crowd then got introduced to all the games that we had been playing in our Belfast office such as QuickDraw, Battle of the Architects, and (my personal favourite) Uno! Bradley took us all through the rules, gameplay, and outcomes of each of these games alongside the advantages they provided within the team during the sessions.

Bradley then wrapped up his talk with the benefits of gamification in learning, and his closing points on how the team here in our Belfast office have been putting this learning style to great use! It’s safe to say that during and after his talk, it really highlighted how much the cards have been providing a more engaging approach to learning these last few weeks as we have all been getting to familiarise ourselves with the vast range of AWS tools and services.

Yasmine’s Panel – Belfast Community Panel

[Fiona, Kristi, Niall, Sapphire, and Yasmine during the Community Panel at AWS Community Day, Belfast]

Just after lunch, and also in the Prawn Cocktail Track room, I got the opportunity to sit in on the Belfast Community Panel!

I got to share my experiences being a previous organiser for Women Who Code Belfast and my university societies, alongside my current experiences helping organise NIDC for 2024. Fiona then moved on to drive our discussion into areas such as community impact, diversity and inclusion, challenges and opportunities, and lastly to share advice for aspiring community leaders. The entire panel’s responses were ones that I heavily resonated with, as I truly believe having a strong local community is vital for everyone in technology roles.

While we are on the topic of how great the local community is, a specific example of how my involvement within the tech community has helped me would be how I currently work for Hamilton Robson! Back in 2022, I attended my first NIDC where Chloe and our Head Engineer,  Luke, were both speakers – after a few more times of our paths crossing and putting myself out there I landed my summer internship which led to me making a great connection for my year long placement out of university! The local tech community helped me connect with employers as a student who did not really have the resources to make those initial connections.

Final Thoughts

After our talks were wrapped up and we could relax, the team enjoyed the rest of the day connecting with other attendees and catching some of the remaining talks that were happening right up until the closing keynote. The software team had a great day out at the event supporting the community – a huge thank you to Chloe, Kristi, Matt, and Matthew for curating such a fantastic day and thanks to all of the volunteers plus sponsors who make these local community events possible. Excited for the next wee:invent!

PS – the sessions will soon be available to watch! Check them out here when they launch.