Tech Events in Cologne

Rust Cologne is a monthly meetup dealing with everything Rust.
We'll be talking about basic language features, such as data structures, error handling, crates and modules. This will be very beginner friendly.

(The meetup will likely be held in German but we'll switch to English if needed.)

Dear Rustacean,

you are hereby warmly invited to join the next Rust Cologne meetup. Whether you want to speed up your python code, write a web service, need interop with your C++-codebase, cross-compile for a microcontroller, write an emulator, … we've got you covered!

We commonly open up with a brief summary of noteworthy changes in the Rust ecosystem. Be it updates to the language itself, public events, its impact on other projects and languages, …

In the main part we'll do some live coding around basic language features such as defining our own types, enums, error handling, traits, importing crates and using modules to structure your code. If you want to actively participate, make sure to bring a laptop; ideally with a pre-installed IDE and rust toolchain. There will be some time before the official part starts, where we can help you to get things up and running.

As usual, the remaining time is about whatever you want to talk about!

Always wanted to know why Rust is harder to learn than other popular languages or why it lacks a certain feature? When is it appropriate to rewrite a project in Rust? Is the compiler really that slow and are the binaries really that big? Do all those safety guarantees have an impact on the performance? Fetch a drink and let's find out.

See you soon!

Yours,
Florian and Kai

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If you have a topic you'd like to talk about, please let us know in advance. This way we can make sure there's a time-slot for you and maybe announce it officially. Thank you.

Wir laden dich herzlich zum nächsten Azure Cloud Native Meetup - am Donnerstrag, 07. Mai ab 18:30 ein.
Egal wie dein Kenntnisstand ist, jeder ist herzlich Willkommen und kann etwas zu unseren Diskussionen beitragen. Wir freuen uns auf dich.

AGENDA
1️⃣ Terraform-Module als Governance? Fünf Anti-Patterns aus einer Enterprise-Azure-Plattform
🗣️ David O'Brien
➡️ Terraform-Module werden in vielen Azure-Umgebungen genutzt, um Governance und Standards durchzusetzen. Die Idee dahinter ist einfach: Wenn alle Ressourcen über Module bereitgestellt werden, lassen sich Guardrails zentral implementieren.

In großen Enterprise-Umgebungen funktioniert das jedoch oft anders als gedacht.
In diesem Vortrag zeige ich fünf typische Anti-Patterns, die entstehen, wenn Terraform-Module zur Durchsetzung von Governance eingesetzt werden: von wachsenden Modulbibliotheken über Plattform-Abhängigkeiten bis hin zu Governance-Logik, die eigentlich von der Plattform selbst kommen sollte.
Anhand realer Erfahrungen aus einer sehr großen Azure-Umgebung diskutieren wir, warum dieser Ansatz langfristig an seine Grenzen stößt und welche Rolle Plattformmechanismen wie Policies und Guardrails stattdessen spielen sollten.
Der Talk ist bewusst meinungsstark und soll eine Diskussion anstoßen:
Was gehört wirklich in Terraform und was sollte die Plattform selbst übernehmen?

📌 Wo: adesso Mobile Solutions; Agrippinawerft 26, 50678 Köln
📅 Wann: 07.05.2026 18:30 Uhr
🥤 Für Getränke und Essen ist vor Ort gesorgt.

Game Creators Meetup – diesmal als Social Event.
Dieses Mal wird es ein reines Social Meetup, da ich selbst auf der FMX bin.

Das heißt: kein festes Programm, sondern entspannter Austausch und Networking wie beim ersten Treffen.

Gerade deshalb: kommt trotzdem vorbei! Nutzt die Gelegenheit, euch weiter zu vernetzen, Gespräche zu vertiefen oder neue Leute kennenzulernen.

Das Lost Level bietet außerdem eine Außengastronomie, sodass wir bei gutem Wetter auch draußen sitzen können.

Außerdem ist es der perfekte Auftakt ins Wochenende, an dem das Indie Game Fest 2026 stattfindet – ein ganzes Wochenende voller Game Devs, Artists und Gamer.
🎟️ Tickets & Infos: Indie Game Fest Tickets sichern

Keep creating.

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Game Creators Meetup – this time as a social event.
This meetup will be a purely social gathering, as
I’ll be at FMX. That means no structured program—just relaxed networking and hanging out, similar to our first meetup.

All the more reason to still join! It’s a great chance to reconnect, continue conversations, or meet new people.

Lost Level also has outdoor seating, so if the weather’s nice, we can hang out outside as well.
It’s also the perfect kickoff for the weekend, as the Indie Game Fest 2026 is happening—an entire weekend dedicated to game devs, artists, and gamers.
🎟️ Tickets & info: Get Indie Game Fest tickets

Keep creating.

Is there anything you would like to present about? Please let us know and we will happily arrange a speaker slot for you :) Otherwise, the contents of the Meetup will be crowdsourced at the beginning of the event. If you would like to try something new or have a request, please feel encouraged to reach out to one of the organizers with any and all ideas!

The meetup will begin at 18:30 and take place in Oskar-Jäger-Staße 173 in the Offices of Ambient.

See you there!

For many years we have been organizing a Python discussion group that deals with all kinds of Python related topics. Occasionally we also have talks, but most meetings are open discussions. The topics come from those present and there is an informal atmosphere.

Topic this event: Yours? Bring Topics and Questions.

These meetings are held in German, so you should at least know the basics, although we can certainly answer specific questions in English.

CAIML #42 is going to happen on May 19, 2026, at MobiLab Solutions.

We will have two talks with additional time for networking.

Talk 1: Witold Czaplewski (Full Stack Engineer at MobiLab Solutions): AI Engineering on Databricks

Writing a prompt is easy. Building a production-ready GenAI system is not. In this session, we explore what AI engineering means in practice and how Databricks supports the full lifecycle of GenAI applications, from experimentation to deployment, monitoring, and governance. We cover the core concepts behind production AI systems, including the roles of software engineering, data engineering, and data science. The session walks through the end-to-end GenAI lifecycle on Databricks, including MLflow, batch and real-time inference, prompt management, and serving models or agents. Finally, we address governance, security, and responsible AI, with examples related to the EU AI Act, transparency, data governance, and operational risk management. A short live demo complements the discussion and shows how these capabilities come together in a practical setup.

Talk 2: Simonas Cerniauskas (Machine Learning Engineer at tisix.io): Building Reliable AI Agents: A DSPy-based Quality Assurance Framework

As publishers increasingly adopt AI agents for content generation and analysis, ensuring output quality and reliability becomes critical. This talk introduces a novel quality assurance framework built with DSPy that addresses the unique challenges of evaluating AI agents in publishing workflows. Using real-world examples from newsroom implementations, I will demonstrate how to design and implement systematic testing pipelines that verify factual accuracy, content consistency, and compliance with editorial standards. Attendees will learn practical techniques for building reliable agent evaluation systems that go beyond simple metrics to ensure AI-generated content meets professional publishing standards. This presentation addresses one of the most pressing challenges in professional publishing today: ensuring quality and reliability when deploying AI agents in editorial environments. We'll take a deep dive into how DSPy's programmatic approach to language model development can be leveraged to create robust testing and validation pipelines that meet the demanding standards of modern newsrooms. The discussion begins by exploring the current landscape of AI evaluation in publishing workflows, examining why traditional testing approaches fall short when dealing with language models, and identifying the specific quality requirements unique to journalistic and editorial content. We'll then move into a detailed technical exploration of solutions built with DSPy, demonstrating how to design modular evaluation pipelines, implement publishing-specific metrics, and create automated systems for fact-checking and consistency validation. Special attention will be given to the integration of knowledge graphs for reference-based evaluation and the incorporation of these systems into broader MLOps workflows. To ground these concepts in reality, we'll examine a detailed case study of implementing this framework in an actual newsroom environment. This will include practical discussions of handling various content types, along with strategies for managing test data and evaluation criteria. We'll share real-world performance monitoring approaches and concrete improvement strategies that have proven successful in production environments. The presentation concludes with hard-won insights and best practices, including practical strategies for finding the right balance between automated testing and human review, effective approaches to handling edge cases, and methods for scaling quality assurance processes across diverse content teams. Throughout the talk, we'll share code examples and practical implementations that attendees can adapt for their own projects.

We will share an agenda soon.

See you in May,
Aaqib, Marc & Fabian

Dear Product People in Cologne,

A lot of what we are navigating with AI these days is best explored in conversation. Shared learnings from what you have seen in your organizations, what you have experimented with personally and the open questions that result from this.

Drawing from the long traditions of Product Walks in other cities we thought we'd experiment with this format with you. Please tell us afterwards if this was a good idea and whether we should do this again.

March 20th is World Product Day and we'd like to get together with you to go for a leisurely walk through the Grüngürtel and then sit down for drinks at Stadtgarten afterwards. We'll make a reservation there at 8pm. If you can and want to only join for that part and skip the walk, you can meet us there as well.

Agenda:
6:30 to 7pm: Arrive and meet at the Arch leading into Stadtgarten
7pm to 8pm : We'll go for a walk in Güngürtel
8pm to end: We'll have a few drinks and continue our conversations in Stadtgarten

This time our community is the star, and we'll explore learning about what's new with your product world in conversation with each other.

We're also looking forward to see you on June 1st for out next more formal ProductTank Meetup with Petra Wille!

Best,
Simonetta, Tim, Dominik, Shehrina & Esjona
Your ProductTank Cologne Team

Willkommen zur nächsten INNOQ Technology Night in unserem Büro in Köln! Wir freuen uns, euch zu einem Abend voller Vorträge und angeregter Diskussionen einzuladen.

Unsere Speaker Christoph Windheuser und Stefan Negele haben diese Themen für euch im Gepäck: Die richtige Big-Data-Architektur für euer Unternehmen sowie praktische Heuristiken für den richtigen Schnitt von Datenprodukten. Der erste Vortrag startet um 19:00 Uhr. Nutzt die Pausen und die Zeit nach den Präsentationen für Networking und Austausch. Wir freuen uns auf einen tollen Feierabend mit euch!

18:30 | Doors open
19:00 | „Big-Data-Architekturen: Welcher Ansatz ist der richtige für euch?“ mit Christoph Windheuser (Databricks)
20:00 | „Datenprodukte richtig schneiden: Heuristiken für die Praxis“ mit Stefan Negele (INNOQ)
21:00 | Netzwerken

Die Talks:

"Big-Data-Architekturen: Welcher Ansatz ist der richtige für euch?"
Christoph Windheuser, Databricks

Wer Big-Data-Anwendungsfälle wie Analytics, Machine Learning oder GenAI umsetzen will, braucht die passende Datenarchitektur. Diese hat sich im Laufe der Zeit erheblich weiterentwickelt: von den ersten Data Warehouses bis hin zu modernen, cloudbasierten Daten- und Compute-Plattformen.

Dieser Vortrag wirft einen Blick auf Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft von Big-Data-Architekturen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen konkurrierende Architekturmuster wie Data Mesh, Data Lakehouse, Data Fabric und Data Vault: Was unterscheidet sie, wo liegen die typischen Stolpersteine bei der Einführung, und wohin entwickelt sich das Feld?

Über Christoph:
Christoph Windheuser leitet bei Databricks ein Team von Big-Data- und KI-Lösungsarchitekten für Zentraleuropa und hilft Unternehmen dabei, herausfordernde Big-Data- und KI-Probleme zu lösen. Vor seinem Einstieg bei Databricks studierte er Informatik in Bonn, Pittsburgh, Tokio und Paris und schloss seine akademische Laufbahn mit einer Promotion im Bereich Spracherkennung mit Machine Learning an der E.N.S.T. in Paris ab. Anschließend arbeitete er über 25 Jahre in der IT-Branche, unter anderem bei SAP, Capgemini und ThoughtWorks. Big Data und KI sind seine Leidenschaft, über die er regelmäßig schreibt und spricht.

Datenprodukte richtig schneiden: Heuristiken für die Praxis
Stefan Negele, INNOQ

Datenprodukte sind ein zentrales Konzept moderner Datenarchitekturen. Doch wie groß sollte ein Datenprodukt eigentlich sein? Sind sie zu klein, müssen Konsumenten mühsam Daten zusammenstückeln. Ist es zu groß, verliert das Produkt seinen klaren Zweck und seine Ownership. Dieser Talk gibt eine praxisnahe Einführung in Datenprodukte und die Architekturen, in denen sie eingesetzt werden. Anschließend werden konkrete Heuristiken für den richtigen Schnitt vorgestellt, die nach den drei Archetypen source-aligned, aggregate und consumer-aligned gegliedert sind. Der Fokus liegt auf anwendbaren Leitfragen, die Teams dabei helfen, bessere Entscheidungen beim Design ihrer Datenprodukte zu treffen.

Über Stefan:
Stefan Negele ist seit 2012 als Softwareentwickler und Architekt in verschiedenen Unternehmen tätig und seit 2023 als Berater bei INNOQ. Seine Schwerpunkte liegen in den Bereichen Datenarchitekturen, Data Governance und verteilte Systeme.

Begrenzte Plätze: Bitte updatet eure Teilnahme, wenn etwas dazwischenkommt. Das erleichtert uns die Planung!

OWASP Köln ist wieder in den Räumlichkeiten von REWE digital am Standort Carlswerk in Köln-Mülheim zu Gast!
Die Veranstaltung beginnt um 19:00 Uhr, der Vortrag startet um 19:30 Uhr

Schwachstellen in der Cloud - Vorstellung des Cloud Configuration Vulnerability Scoring System (CCVSS) - Kai Schubert
Konfigurationsfehler sind die häufigste Ursache für Schwachstellen in der Cloud. Etablierte Standards sind für die Bewertung dieser Cloud-spezifischen Schwachstellen nur unzureichend geeignet. Beispielsweise sind die Auswirkungen der Ausnutzung eines Konfigurationsfehlers mit den Metriken etablierter Scoring Systeme nicht sinnvoll zu erfassen. Das neue Cloud Configuration Vulnerability Scoring System (CCVSS) liefert dafür eine Lösung: Die Metriken von CCVSS sind angepasst, beziehen die Umgebung mit ein und berücksichtigen die Effektivität mitigierender Maßnahmen. Neben der Vorstellung des CCVSS demonstrieren wir anhand konkreter Praxisbeispiele seine Anwendung.

🏢 Location:
REWE digital, Schanzenstraße 6-20, 51063 Köln, Building 2.20
Kostenlose Parkplätze stehen auf den „REWE digital“-Parkplätzen am Carlswerk rund um das Gebäude zur Verfügung.
🌈Alle Geschlechter und Altersgruppen sind herzlich willkommen!
Bei diesem Meetup sprechen wir (mindestens) Englisch und Deutsch.
Diese Veranstaltung findet ausschließlich vor Ort statt. Solltest du Anzeichen einer Erkrankung verspüren, ziehe bitte in Erwägung, diese Veranstaltung auszulassen und ein anderes Mal teilzunehmen. Wir werden in Zukunft noch viele weitere Meetups veranstalten.

Event Storming Speed Run – 45 Minuten, keine Folien, nur Sticky Notes!
Alle reden über Event Storming – aber mal ehrlich: Wer hat’s wirklich schon gemacht? Und wer hat verstanden, warum? Wir zeigen euch in 45 Minuten, was Event Storming so mächtig macht – und zwar nicht als Vortrag, sondern als echten Mini-Workshop. Keine Folien, kein doppelter Boden, nur Sticky Notes, Moderationsfläche und Tempo. Gemeinsam modellieren wir ein kleines, aber greifbares Beispiel und ihr erlebt live, wie man mit Event Storming komplexe Fachdomänen sichtbar macht und ein gemeinsames Verständnis schafft. Spoiler: DDD ist dabei nur die halbe Wahrheit.

Vorkenntnisse
Neugier reicht. Wenn ihr schon mal Software gebaut habt – oder nur wissen wollt, warum Fachleute und Entwickler ständig aneinander vorbeireden – seid ihr hier richtig. Keine Theorie, kein Vorwissen!

Lernziele

• Verstehen, wozu Event Storming genutzt wird
• Erleben, wie man Prozesse über Events modelliert
• Lernen, wie gemeinsames Modellieren Kommunikation verbessert
• Ein Gefühl dafür bekommen, wann (und wann nicht) Event Storming hilft
• Motivation, es im eigenen Team selbst auszuprobieren

Agenda

18:45 – 19:15 Uhr: Get together & Pizza

19:15 – ca. 20:15 Uhr: Vortrag

20:15 – 22:00: Austausch & Drinks

So findet ihr uns

Das Backyard Loft befindet sich auf der Richard-Wagner-Str. 31, im Hinterhof. Folgt einfach dem Schild.

ÖPNV: Die nächsten Bahnhaltestellen sind Rudolfplatz und Moltkestraße. Vom Hauptbahnhof gelangt ihr mit der Linie 5 über die Haltestelle Friesenplatz oder über Linie 16, 18 über Haltestelle Neumarkt zu uns.

Anfahrt mit dem Auto: „Richard-Wagner-Str. 31, 50674 Köln”.
Parken könnt ihr am besten in der Tiefgarage am Rudolfplatz (Steigenberger Hotel), Habsburgerring 9, 50674 Köln.

With Great Trust Comes Great Responsibility:
How to Super Empower Teams to Continuously Deliver High Quality Software

Micha(el) Kutz will take you on his software engineering journey and says Farewell to his 12-year-journey at REWE digital (THANK YOU, MICHA!):
"16 years ago I worked as a junior developer on a huge project. The situation was bleak. Release trains with rigid schedules, only to be followed by long bug fixing phases. It was close to unbearable, probably nobody enjoyed working there, and the delivered quality was way below desired standards. One year later, many things had changed in the project's structure. Suddenly, I worked on a team that delivered high quality even before deadlines were met, which found their own creative ways to do so and had a lot of fun at work. It was like we were bit by a radioactive spider and developed superpowers. Ever since that team, I tried to reproduce that spirit in any team I joined. To find the radioactive spider that bit us. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I did not.

In this keynote, I will tell you about my attempts. About things that seemed super important, but turned out to be mere details. And about details that seemed unimportant, yet turned out to be essential. About why today I think that trust is the most important and first component, and what other components are essential when building a team with the super power to continuously deliver high quality software in the most efficient way."

When: May 27, 2026
doors open at 6:00pm
start of the tech talk at 6:30pm
Location: This meetup will take place at our REWE digital premises in Cologne.
REWE digital, Schanzenstraße 6-20, Building 2.20 Cologne
Food and drinks? As always on us!

About Micha

"I'm a Software Engineer with a passion for systems, quality, and the people who build them. In June 2026, I'm joining Entropy Data as a Staff Engineer. Prior to that, I spent almost 12 years as a Principal Engineer at REWE digital, where I played a key role in shaping agile development, test automation, and SRE practices.

I am particularly fascinated by the intersection of code and psychology: How do cognitive biases influence our software architecture? How do metrics drive our behavior? I regularly speak and write about these topics at international conferences and on platforms like InfoQ.

A big part of my heart goes into open-source. I am the creator and maintainer of tools like ApproveJ, Stubit, and the Shakespeare Framework.

When I'm not analyzing complex systems or tinkering with new tools, you'll likely find me lacing up my running shoes, playing video games, or relaxing in distant sci-fi universes."

About REWE digital

REWE digital is the technology powerhouse behind one of Germany’s largest retail groups, with nearly 2,500 people working across five European countries – the majority of them right here in Cologne. Their team has been shaping the future of retail through technology since 1984, from e-commerce and apps to warehouse logistics and data infrastructure. We’re glad to call them our hosts.

How to find us:
We encourage you to use public transportation. For example, take KVB Line 4 to Keupstraße. From there, it’s a 10-minute walk to REWE digital. From Cologne Mülheim Station, it takes about 15 minutes. If you do decide to come by car, you can use the parking spaces designated for REWE digital on the premises for free.

🌈All Genders and Ages welcome!
We speak (at least) English and German during this Meetup.
This event will be only in-person. If you feel some signs of sickness, please consider skipping this event and attending another time. We will have plenty of meetups in the future.
REWE digital. Part of REWE Group.

Don't theorize about UX – let's talk about hands-on UX for the digital products we create - second edition.

If you're a building a digital product or are simply interested in UI and UX: everyone is invited. Listen to our talks, meet new people, get new ideas, ask the questions you always wanted to ask.

(Talks will be held in German)

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Speaker & Talks:

TBA

Dear Product People in Cologne,

in many product teams, the step from Product Manager to Product Leader doesn’t happen intentionally. It’s something people grow into over time — often without clear guidance on what to actually change in how they think, decide, and act.

We’re excited to welcome Petra Wille to ProductTank Cologne — one of the most influential voices when it comes to developing product people and product leaders. As co-creator of Product at Heart and author of Strong Product People and Strong Product Communities, Petra has been shaping how product organizations approach growth, coaching, and leadership.

In her talk “How to prepare myself to become a Product Leader – skills you can practice today to become a leader tomorrow”, she focuses on a question many experienced product people struggle with: what does it actually take to grow into a leadership role — beyond titles and responsibilities?

Drawing from her work with product leaders and teams, Petra shares how you can start developing the skills that matter for leadership today. Not as a theoretical model, but grounded in everyday product work — from how you reflect on your own performance, to how you seek feedback, build your environment, and deliberately work on your strengths and gaps.

If you’re at a point where you don’t just want to deliver products, but shape how product work happens around you, this evening will give you a clear and practical perspective.

Don't miss the chance to ask your questions & connect with Petra and the community. Of course you'll have time to mingle and connect with curious product people from the Cologne area again.

Agenda:
7pm: Arrive and networking
7:30pm: Opening Remarks of ProductTank Cologne & Location Sponsor
7:40pm: Talk of Petra Wille (in person)
8:00pm: Q&A about everything you want to ask Petra
8:45pm to end: open networking

As always we're super happy to engage in a lively conversation with our speakers, and we'll get to mix and mingle at a beautiful location in Cologne.

A big THANK YOU to our location host denkwerk for supporting our ProductTank community with space, food and drinks.

Looking forward to see you on June 1st!

Best,
Simonetta, Tim, Dominik, Shehrina & Esjona
Your ProductTank Cologne Team