Tech Events in Rotterdam

THEME:
Let's meet for an informative session where you can ask security experts any questions you have in your mind no mater how basic or advanced that is. Every month we try to have a different topic, and there's always time to discuss anything important to you as well!

FAQ:
▶️ The heck is SecTalks?
✔️ SecTalks meetups are about participating in information and cyber security discussions, learning from others, and improving problem-solving skills.

▶️ Where & When is this event? What?
✔️ Every LAST Thursday of the month 18:30 at CIC Rotterdam, (along the Venture Cafe / GHG drinks); SecTalks continues as usual & we still meet at the same place! Doors open at 17:30 - drinks and snacks provided!

▶️ I want to speak at your talk
✔️ Cool, message us here on Meetup.com and get in touch, or on twitter, or be creative!

▶️ Does it cost me something?
✔️ No.

▶️ Cool idea, I want to sponsor the event.
✔️ If you want to sponsor these sessions please get in touch via messages or on twitter with the organizers, Nicolas @nicolasnow

SecTalks takes place at the CIC innovation community - and part of the Venture Cafe Rotterdam gathering which is now (temporarily?) on halt.

Doors for SecTalks open at 17:30 we have drinks (and some snacks). SecTalks session starts at 18:30. If you are there earlier, drop a line so we can connect and socialize more.

Notes:
💡 Got feedback? DM here on Meetup.com or DM on twitter/X @nicolasnow or @xxByte

Hello AI & Data Science enthusiasts! 👋

We're excited to invite you to AI & Intimacy — a joint meetup hosted by Breeze x Data Science Rotterdam.

How do we build AI products for the real world without falling into patterns that potentially harm or exploit our users? Dating apps are a perfect case study: they promise connection, but their incentives don't always point that way — engagement metrics, retention, and matching algorithms can quietly work against the very outcome users want. As AI takes a bigger role in how we meet people, the stakes get higher: whose interests does the algorithm actually serve, and what biases does it bake in along the way? We're bringing together industry and academia to ask how AI-powered platforms can genuinely help people connect — and what it takes to build them responsibly.

Where: 42 Workspace, Rotterdam
When: Wednesday, 30 September 2026

Agenda

• 17:30 – 18:00: Welcome & intros
• 18:00 – 18:20: Talk 1 — Thomas Crul (Breeze)
• 18:20 – 18:40: Talk 2 — Carlota Memba Aguado (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
• 18:40 - 19:20: Debate - industry vs safety, plus audience
• 19:20 onwards: Networking & drinks

Talk 1: Thomas Crul (Breeze) — Addressing algorithmic fairness in practice: lessons from Breeze
A look from inside the machine: what it actually takes to build a dating app's matchmaking system and navigate its unavoidable ethical challenges. Every matching algorithm decides who gets seen, how often, and by whom — and those choices carry real consequences. Thomas shows where the trade-offs really bite: how you build matching that serves users rather than engagement dashboards, and what "responsible" looks like when your product decides who people get to meet.

Bio: Thomas Crul is the lead matchmaking engineer at Breeze, the dating app taking 'online dating offline' by skipping the messaging stage and arranging real-life dates after a match. He's responsible for the system that decides who sees which profiles, and how many.

Talk 2: Carlota Memba Aguado (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Discrimination, preferences, and the law in online dating
By definition, romantic preferences exclude people — yet most are an accepted way of choosing a partner. So where's the line? Carlota defines what discrimination actually means, explains why some preferences can be problematic, and maps the forms of discrimination found on dating platforms — especially where the interaction between humans and algorithms turns private preferences into public concern. She closes with how European law addresses algorithmic discrimination, and what developers and companies should consider when putting AI into their products.

Bio: Carlota Memba Aguado is a PhD candidate and lecturer at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, researching anti-discrimination law and the line between private and public in intimate relationships. Her current work focuses on discrimination in online dating platforms.

The Debate: Ship it vs. scrutinise it 🥊
Here's where it gets spicy. In one corner, Thomas — building and shipping matchmaking at Breeze. In the other, Carlota — scrutinising exactly these systems through the lens of anti-discrimination law. Moderated by Dimitrios Gontzes, they'll go head-to-head on the tensions neither side can dodge: where does "giving users what they want" end and "amplifying harm" begin, and can you really build responsibly at commercial speed? Then we hand it to you — come with your sharpest questions, because this only gets better the harder we push.

We look forward to seeing you there! 🚀

A big thank you to 42 Workspace for hosting us — go check out their space if you haven't yet.

If you have colleagues or friends who are ai-mazing enthusiasts of data science, AI, or analytics — feel free to invite them along.

Photography & Media Consent
By registering for this event, you acknowledge and agree that photographs and/or video may be taken during the event [confirm recording is happening before finalizing this line]. These may include images in which you appear and may be used for promotional, marketing, or documentation purposes by the event organizers, including publication on websites, social media, and other communication channels. If you do not wish to be photographed or recorded, please inform the event staff upon arrival.

Product managers often avoid talking about features, in favour of outcome-based now/next/later roadmaps. But even when we stay out of feature delivery, we still have to enable product marketing to talk about features, and enable customers to successfully use them. So how do you do feature rollout?

Join us for informal conversation about working in product. You’ll find a small group of product people facing similar challenges, for real talk over a coffee.

No pitches, presentations or performances. Turn up any time 17:30–18:30.

Welkom op alweer een nieuwe editie van de DevPort meetup.

Tijdens deze meetup hebben wij weer 2 sprekers weten te strikken. Als eerste zal Amer Grgic (Sr. Solution Architect @ AWS) een talk geven over het gebruik van DevOps Agents binnen AWS. Tijdens deze talk ontdek je hoe AWS DevOps-agents passieve CI/CD-pipelines transformeren tot self-healing development engines.

Bij de tweede talk zal Dennis Brouwer (Sr. Freelance Public Cloud Expert en AWS User Group Leader) het hebben over soevereiniteit. Tijdens deze interessante talk zal hij ingaan op de avonturen en de hoofdpijn tijdens het opzetten en nabouwen van een moderne Mission Critical platform op een Europese Cloud Provider.

Programma
17.30 uur - 18.45 uur: Inloop en eten
18.45 uur - 19.15 uur: Talk 1 Amer Grgic: Beyond the Pipeline: Self-Healing Workflows with AWS DevOps Agents
19.30 uur - 20.15 uur : Talk 2 Dennis Brouwer: Cloud Sovereignty in the Public Hyperscaler Era
20.15 uur - … : Napraten & Borrel

Talk Amer Grgic – Beyond the Pipeline: Self-Healing Workflows with AWS DevOps Agents
In this session, you will discover how AWS DevOps agents transform passive CI/CD pipelines into self-healing development engines by moving beyond static scripts to autonomously analyze build logs, fix errors, and generate test suites in real time. You will walk away with practical strategies to offload routine security scans and infrastructure maintenance to AI, giving your team a clear blueprint to shorten deployment cycles, eliminate manual operational friction, and deliver resilient software at scale.

About Amer:
Amer Grgić is a Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) with over 15 years of technology and leadership experience. Spanning roles from systems engineer to CTO, his expertise bridges complex cloud architecture, DevOps, and modern IT strategy. Outside of his work building scalable AWS solutions, Amer is an active speaker, podcast host, and content creator who regularly shares insights on cloud technology, engineering culture, and tech leadership.

Talk Dennis Brouwer – Cloud Sovereignty in the Public Hyperscaler Era
We will dive in to the adventures of trying to rebuild a modern mission critical platform on a European Cloud Provider, OVH in this specific case. How does it compare? What works great and what gives you headaches at night? This talk will not focus on the technical details, but will give you a broad overview of when, why and how you should consider moving your workloads to the EU!

About Dennis:
8+ years experience in serving mission critical customers on Public Cloud Providers. Certified AWS engineer. From design and build to run phases of projects. Always on the edge of (customer) business and IT. Lead of AWS User Group Community in the Netherlands. Also a DJ in the weekends 🎧

Locatie:
De locatie is, zoals inmiddels bekend bij vele van jullie, bij Meet Tuesday (Weena 690) te Rotterdam (op de 23e verdieping van de Millennium Tower, recht tegenover Rotterdam Centraal) en we zorgen uiteraard voor eten en drinken voor iedereen.

De locatie is gemakkelijk te vinden. Ga via de ingang van het Marriot Hotel naar binnen, houd rechts aan en loop door naar achter. Neem achterin de lift naar de 23e verdieping en geniet daar van een toffe talk, goed gezelschap en een fantastisch uitzicht. (https://publuu.com/flip-book/371639/861484/page/2)

We hopen jullie in grote getalen te morgen verwelkomen. Je kan gratis aanmelden. Tot dan!

DevPort:
DevPort is een startup welke begin 2023 is opgericht en dat de volledige focus heeft op de medewerkers binnen het bedrijf. DevPort richt zich op DevOps, Platform en Cloud Engineers en zorgt dat ze een veilige haven is voor haar medewerkers.