Ambica Dixit

Bio

I am an Engineering Manager at BNZ and currently pursuing my Master of Artificial Intelligence from Victoria University of Wellington. As an AI enthusiast, I am passionate about sharing my knowledge with the wider community and enjoy mentoring and coaching others.I am always willing to learn and apply my skills in the real world and so always seek new challenges within my company and around to be creative and innovative.I came to New Zealand with my family in 2011 and was mesmerized by the country's natural beauty.It quickly became my second home and I am grateful for the opportunities and experiences that New Zealand has provided me.

Andy McDowall

Bio

I'm a Software Engineer turned manager with a nearly 15 years of mistakes (and some successes). I once wrote a single method that required 900+ unit tests, so I certainly know a thing or two about bad tests and would like the believe there's some knowledge of good testing practice in me somewhere.

Anna Loughnan

Bio

Anna is an independent Salesforce consultant with 15 years experience. She's a Salesforce MVP and leads the popular SFWelly user community group. She's a networker, connector, mentor & international speaker.

Annie Vella

Bio

Annie is a lifelong computer enthusiast and self-professed nerd, with a particular interest in software development. As a backend software engineer, she's designed and built systems for a variety of industries across four countries. Nowadays, she leads technology teams and champions a culture of curiosity, learning and excellence in engineering.

Ben Chartrand

Bio

I'm the CTO at Spotlight Reporting. I've worked in a variety of orgs such as Wipster, BNZ, Timely and more - in both hands on and leadership roles.

Bevan Arps

Bio

Bevan's been writing code for a long time. He started coding, for fun, in 1982, on a Sinclair ZX81. He hasn't really ever stopped.

Carolyn Rohm

Bio

Carolyn has a deep passion for helping analysts and analytical teams engage with the wider business and stakeholders to deliver solutions that provide value and bottom-line benefits. Her style can best be described as rational, logical, and precise, whilst also being adventurous, imaginative and innovative, leveraging the facts to see the possible futures ahead.Having held various analytical and leadership roles in the academic and corporate world, across multiple industries and geographies, Carolyn's initial focus was to deliver quality and robust analytics. Over time, she realised that meaningful change required more than just great technical skills.Carolyn has over 20 years of experience in retail consumer credit risk analytics and machine learning.Through her training, coaching and mentoring programs, Carolyn is passionate about galvanising analysts and technical leads to be more impactful in their journeys and endeavours.Carolyn's first book, It's a Risky Business, was published in November 2022.

Carolyn Stott

Bio

Pronouns: she/her/ia
Iwi: Muaūpoko / Taranaki / Te Ati Awa
Carolyn is the Teaching Practice Lead at Dev Academy Aotearoa, working within a wider leadership team to look after the Level 6 Certificate in Applied Software Development programme, and is based in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland.Carolyn has been facilitating and leading the Human Skills team within Dev Academy for nearly 4 years, also managing the pastoral care and support for students across all campuses including Auckland, Wellington and Online.Carolyn is on a mission to encourage more Māori women into the tech sector in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Clinton Evans

Bio

I bring a contagious passion and excitement into tech. Spent the last 14 years in IT in Wellington Education Sector then transitioned to STEM workshops and Professional Development. I've been building Drone based STEM coding courses for the since 2021 and CAN NOT WAIT to show these to you!!

Chris Kumar

Bio

Chris is an AWS Solutions Architect at Amazon where he helps enterprise financial services customers succeed on AWS Cloud. He has been building software for over 20 years and loves solving complex problems, working on large scale systems and helping grow other people.

Dave Reeves

Bio

As a penetration tester, Dave Reeves' approach towards software development comes from an unconventional mindset. His journey into infosec started while living abroad in China, with experiences such as mastering Mandarin Chinese, engaging Russian hackers online and pursuing a job at Google unpinning the non-linear approach to understanding the unexpected when it comes to security in software.

David Thomsen

Bio

David is a multidisciplinary volunteer who has previously helped out at tech conferences, literary festivals and street carnivals. They have also attempted a variety of creative pursuits, from writing novels to their current interest in making daily web-based games. They hope you are having a nice day!

David Rawson

Bio

After adventures in India and Chile, David decided to settle down and get a "real job" as a software developer. His recent speaking engagements include GDG Sydney DevFest 2019.

David Robinson

Bio

Dave/Karit in his time working in various parts of the IT industry has developed a skillset that encompasses various disciplines in the information security domain. He currently works as a Penetration Tester at ZX Security in Wellington and runs Kākācon.Since joining ZX Security Dave has presented at DefCon, Kiwicon, Aerospace Village @ DefCon, BSidesCBR, ChCon, Unrestcon and at numerous local meetups; along with running training at Kiwicon, Syscan, CrikeyCon, ChCon and TuskCon.He also has a keen interest in aerospace, lock-picking and all things wireless.

Dev Academy Aotearoa

Erica Anderson

Bio

Her twitter bio says “info sec, cat, and ketchup enthusiast” which summarises her quite nicely. Erica is a space cadet (and principal security consultant) for SafeStack and leads their Wellington presence. She also causes general mayhem with Kiwicon, Kawaiicon, and (previously) BSides Wellington.

Gareth Bradley

Bio

Longtime software engineer, user experience advocate and chip connoisseur

George Pollard

Bio

Neither an occultist nor a historian, I’ve worked as a software engineer entirely remotely for over nine years. This is enough time to develop many Alone Thoughts, which I hope to share with you. My interests run the gamut of software development: My work history is in building and running software services at scale, although I have recently moved into breaking them (offensive research).I’m deeply interested in the humanistic aspects of software and attempting to empower rather than disempower users.

Helen Kyryliuk

Bio

I am passionate about frontend. I am currently a frontend developer working with ReactJS at Timely Business Management Software. I have a growth mindset and a habit of constantly practising new technologies and applying gained skills.

Ivan Towlson

Bio

Ivan has been knocking around the software scene since the days of Turbo Basic, and has lately found himself focusing on cloud native tools as part of Microsoft's Deis Labs group. He is now back in the startup world, helping to found Fermyon to explore the possibilities of WebAssembly as an application platform.

James Newton-King

Bio

James Newton-King is a Principal Software Engineer on the ASP.NET team at Microsoft, where he builds server frameworks like MVC, SignalR and gRPC. James also created Json.NET, one of .NET's most popular software libraries.

Jason Vella

Bio

Jason is a dedicated software enthusiast with a long career building large scale back end systems both as a contributor and as a leader. He has had ample opportunity to reflect upon the rapidly changing face of software engineering and how our engineering practice evolves with it. He loves the dynamic and deeply technical nature of software and gets the biggest kicks from making the complex simple.

Jevon Wright

Bio

Jevon Wright (she/her) is a software engineer, community volunteer, musician, and an avid game designer based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. She has been making computer video games in her spare time since she was 12, and received her PhD in Computer Science in 2011. Jevon has worked professionally with the software development industry for over two decades as an engineer, team leader, and most recently as a Solutions Architect for Xero.

Josh Isaac

Bio

Josh is a developer of people and culture, and has been involved in people leadership for over a decade. He's passionate about making good things great, seeing people grow and thrive, and ensuring teams go further together.

Konstantin Tchernov

Bio

Konstantin is a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and DevOps consultant with extensive experience leading teams at top companies using a variety of tech stacks. Currently leading an SRE team, automating the Auckland power grid.

Maddy King

Bio

Maddy runs the Immersive Media Major in the Bachelor of Screen Arts at Massey University. With a background in XR and web development, she teaches how to harness technology for creative expression - and to change the world.

Marcus Bristol

Bio

I am an Engineering Manager at Pushpay and have been developing for longer than I can remember. I also run the Auckland Software Craftsmanship and Auckland .Net user groups, although unfortunately they've been a little quiet since the COVID lockdowns.
I believe that for true growth, you need to be doing things that make you a little uncomfortable, and you need to be willing to make mistakes and learn from them. Toddlers are by far the best at this.

Paolo Ragone

Bio

Paolo Ragone is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Trade Me. Prior to joining Trade Me in May 2020, Paolo worked on product & innovation at Ebay, held the position of CTO at Gumtree Australia, and most recently was CTO, General Manager at Air New Zealand.Paolo has over 18 years of experience across a variety of industries but the world of classifieds is close to his heart.

Patrick Nicholls

Bio

As a javascript & C# developer who's worked at Verizon Connect (AKA Telogis) & Trade Me, I have a guilty pleasure for finding and preserving the strange contortions of code that only well aged monoliths seem to have.

Phoenix Zerin

Bio

I am passionate about solving the meta-problem: creating value for value creators. My favourite development mahi has been on open-source libraries and frameworks, and I regularly mentor software developers of all skill levels.Having worked extensively with students and junior devs, I am convinced that the key to sustainably closing Aotearoa New Zealand's digital tech skills gap is to create pathways for new developers to get their start in the industry — and it is my personal mission to help make this happen!

Prae Songprasit

Bio

I started Kyudo and Front End Development about 7 years ago. Both practice's demand for detail and respect for the audience had significant impact on who I am today. I contribute back by being in NZ Kyudo Federation committee, and co-organise Wellington Web Accessibility Meetup.

Richard Vaughan

Bio

TBC

Shiffy Lal

Bio

On a constant pursuit for world domination, I believe the best way to take over the world is by empowering others to change it (for the better!). I am a Senior Manager and a Management/Technology Consultant by day. I am also the Founder and Director of M.A.D Skills, the social enterprise which birthed the female empowerment movement known as More Than Rubies and Rubies Girls. Having run several practical and educational events for women and girls including 3 conferences, I know first-hand that personal decisions made at conferences can change lives. Skeptical? Come see for yourself!

Steve Barnett

Bio

I'm a human-centered front-end developer. I work at Xero as a Technical Digital Accessibility Analyst, where I help designers and developers make things ever more usable and accessible.I design and develop sites and apps in a future-friendly way: with an eye towards inclusive design and accessibility. That means a site that everyone can use, regardless of their device, the network they're on, or any disabilities they might have.

Sue Hope

Bio

Sue most recently has been at Xero working in the Global Learning team supporting Xero's to be the best they can be through building learning around meaningful meetings. Sue is an expert facilitator dynamic and enables, encourages and supports people to develop and grow!

Summer of Tech

Tracy Morris

Bio

Tracy has been in the IT industry since 1994. She recently doubled down on her purpose to increase the representation of women wherever decisions are being made; to lead towards a world where women's voices, stories and lived experiences shape our future. Tracy loves to ski and mountain bike, and enjoys a local craft beer.

Terry Pan

Bio

I have been consulting as a Cloud and DevOps engineer for a few years, for companies of various sizes ranging from start ups to companies in the Fortune 500. I hope I can share some of my experiences.

Vanessa Thornton

Bio

I'm Vanessa, a senior developer at Xero. I love teaching people new things so you will generally see me speaking about how to get started on a new language, framework, tool etc. In my spare time I geek out and 3D print a lot of useful things. I'm learning how to build complex electrical components. I also dabble in a bit of abstract art creation from time to time.

Zelle Marcovicci

Bio

Zelle is a programming tutor, game & software developer, and anarchist with a passion for open source, hardware hacking, and digital worlds. She met her wife on a virtual pet website when she was sixteen years old, and, rather naively, believes love will save us all.You may have seen her around Wellington, Neopets.com, Second Life, or giving previous talks at the New Zealand Game Developer Conference and Virtual CC Fest.

Stuart Whitehead

Bio

In my role as an engineering manager at Springload, it’s my role to oversee client projects and to support the members of our technology team. Technology is my profession and people are my passion.

Lena Plaksina

Bio

Hi, I’m Lena. I’m an avid cat rescuer, learning enthusiast, and Rails Bridge Wellington organising committee member. I started out in design, but fell for web and software development during my first industry internship. I've been writing Ruby since 2015, and I'm currently learning other languages to expand my toolkit. I’m all about finding patterns, building and communicating software in a way that helps everyone understands it, and failing better – mistakes make me a better developer, and I believe that failing is just an opportunity to learn. When I’m not coding, I’m watching movies with my 3-legged rescue cat Warlock, collecting enamel pins, and helping out and/or presenting at tech community events around town.

Cliff Ahleong

Bio

Cliff is an intern for ANZ from the summer of tech program 2019. He has 4 years’ experience in Kiwibank payments team and looked after the daily transactions. The internship journey, brings him from the bank back office to the digital world. He’s all about making website memorable with excellent user experience, bringing his passion and experience to the internet banking team, and learning everything about what it takes to be a great developer.

Jackie Wang

Bio

Jackie is a senior test engineer at ANZ. She is interested in how engineering practice and product management shapes the technical world these days. She is also keen to promote the agile testing practices and explore the possible career path for testers. In her spare time, she’s learning how to grow vegetables and travel as much as she can.

Josh Espinas

Bio

Having recently completed my AWS Solutions Architect Associate exam is what inspired me to write this talk. The exam is largely based on your breadth of knowledge across many different AWS services rather than a depth of knowledge to be able to use them. So thinking about all these services in terms of this food catering analogy really helped. I enjoy trying to teach and communicate technology ideas to anyone with little background in the topic. Outside of work as a devOps engineer at Xero, I follow and play music, I follow and play basketball, and I follow and play video and board games.

Kai Koenig

Bio

I'm a trained mathematician and went into software development after uni (and ignored my maths background for a long time).
With the advent of FP and machine learning/data science, I got interested again and found it reasonably easy to adopt these technologies with the help of having an understanding of the maths behind it.
Some of my friends didn't and we wondered why. We realised that the problem was not only the maths, but quite often also that they would struggle with finding ways to start (re-)learning some of it after having given up on math in high-school.

Arun Venkatram

Bio

Kia Ora! I'm a Software Developer working for Xero out of Wellington. Our team has solved some hard problems over the last couple of years whilst building out Payment Systems from scratch; and as exciting (and arduous) the journey was, we've learnt a few lessons along the way (especially around queues) that I'm keen to share.
In previous lives, I've worked for security, platform and e-commerce organisations and I'm presently dabbling with React. Outside of work I have a family that keeps me relatively busy and I attempt to play, watch and analyse cricket whenever I can.

Laura Munro

Bio

Designer turned developer, Laura is a front-end developer at Xero. She's been working with CSS and Sass since ages ago and loves to talk typography, UX, and everything sci-fi. She has a less-is-more approach when it comes to development, and uses design principles to build maintainable and scalable front end frameworks for the web.

Kristy Johnstone

Bio

Kristy is a Wellington based web developer working on a front-end Angular app at Trade Me. She is highly creative with a natural ability to understand the user. When she's not coding you can probably find her in the kitchen eating freshly baked bread.

Simon Carryer

Bio

Simon Carryer is a data practitioner who lives and works in Wellington.

Michelle Burke

Bio

Michelle has been working in data longer than she’d care to admit. Her current favourite dataset is her Untappd check-ins (if you’re going to invest that much in craft beer, you should get something out of it, right?)
She’s worked for tiny companies and large multinationals and everything in between. She is passionate about data quality, data security, appropriate uses of information, solving business problems, and building welcoming and diverse teams.

Lisa Chong

Bio

Curious, quirky and pretty much says whatever comes to mind, I've seen quite the number of hairy projects through my experiences as a consultant, quality analyst and scrum master. And they continue to shape how I work and apply learnings at Xero, where I collaborate with teams and leaders to optimise flow.

Rory Braybrook

Bio

I'm a Microsoft MVP and have been involved in the industry for many years. I'm heavily involved in the tech. community and present regularly to user groups and conferences.

Kate Pearce

Bio

Kate Pearce is Head of Security at Trade Me (which you may have heard of). Previously she was a professional computer hacker (pentester) and has broken into everything from cars, to cellphone networks, to websites (which you may also have heard of - but she can't name!).

Lester Litchfield

Bio

Lester helped build the Data Science team at Trade Me, and has built and released dozens of Machine learning services used by millions of users every month. He has recently moved to Volpara where he'll be focussing on cancer detection with AI.

Anuj Sharma

Bio

Passionate and curious about software testing, I have explored various domains of this field including performance, security and automation. I love learning and talking about testing and anything that related to it.

Rachel Collingridge

Bio

A classically trained musician, I was accidentally drawn into software development 20 years ago. Most of my IT career has been spent crafting code until moving into leadership a few years back. Now I work to build high performing delivery teams and ensure engineers are equipped to grow their careers and happiness.

Aleisha Amohia

Bio

Aleisha Amohia (Te Ātihaunui-a-Papārangi) (she/her) is a passionate young advocate for diversity and inclusion in all spaces, but especially the technology industry. Born and raised in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aleisha gets her energy from her supportive whānau and friends, and is driven by the idea of a future where STEM industries care less about innovation for profit, and more about ethical innovation for people and planet.

Hannah Gray

Bio

A back end .NET developer, turned manager, turned developer who has been around the block a few times, I'm usually found deep in the intersection of people and process meets technology. I've been at Xero longer than most of the furniture (not kidding), and love to talk junior talent, sci-fi and how to make things better one small step at a time. Currently leading a small team of possibly deluded developers on a crusade to uplift engineering capacity across the organisation within our legacy codebases.

Craig Spence

Bio

Craig is a Software Engineer from New Zealand, working at Spotify in Stockholm. He loves building cool things that help teams build cool things! He also loves punk rock, Disney's Frozen, and his cat Cosy.

Felix Shi

Bio

Felix donned many different hats and worked for a handful of startups and corporates. He currently works as a Sr. Security Architect at Xero, and raises axolotls in his spare time.

Kirk Jackson

Bio

Kirk Security Researcher at RedShield, where he helps to protect customer websites from attack. He organises the Wellington OWASP Chapter, and has organised and spoken at other conferences, usually on the themes of developer security and defence.

Andy Prow

Bio

Andy is the CEO and co-founder of RedShield, with staff and customers in New Zealand, Australia, USA and UK. On the tech side he's a seasoned software developer, pen-tester and security researcher. On the business side Andy won the EY NZ Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 (Services Category), and RedShield won the NZ HiTech Awards 2017 for more Innovative Software Product and Most Innovative Service.

Owen Evans

Nick Halley

Ashlyn Baum