Event Highlights

Registration & Breakfast

8:00 – 8:45

Welcome

8:45 – 9:00

The 1-Person DevOps Stack: How I Keep Client Apps Alive Without a Big Team

Lionel Sapp

When you're a solo builder, "DevOps" isn't a department — it's whatever keeps production stable at 11pm when a client pings you and real users are stuck. In this TED-style talk, I'll share the minimal, battle-tested operations stack I use to ship and maintain client apps without a big team: preview deployments for safe releases, error tracking and logging that actually matter, and a calm incident loop for when something breaks. I'll also show how AI fits in practically (not hype): using v0 for rapid UI mockups and Cursor/MCP agents to speed up implementation while keeping quality guardrails in place. The stack is modern, simple, and repeatable — Next.js + Supabase + Vercel + Resend + Stripe — but the real value is the workflow: what to monitor (and what to ignore), how to deploy with confidence, and the "stability rituals" that keep apps alive long after launch.

Break

9:45 – 10:00

How to have a successful dev career in the 757*

Ryan Castillo

What if the biggest limiter on your developer career isn't your technical skill? In Hampton Roads, there are plenty of talented developers doing solid work. Yet opportunities often feel inconsistent. People get passed over for promotions. Job searches feel exhausting. Great ideas and side projects don't go anywhere. This talk explores why that happens and what actually drives opportunity. Whether you're looking for a new role, doing freelance work, or building something of your own. Through real examples, Ryan will share a practical mental model for creating more surface luck area for opportunity without pretending to be someone you're not. Midway through the talk, the real title will be revealed. Once you see it, you'll start noticing the pattern everywhere.

Break

10:45 – 11:00

City of Virginia Beach AI Roadmap

City of Virginia Beach

Peter Wallace, City of Virginia Beach's CIO, and Bojan Duric, the City's Chief Data Officer, will cover the city's approach to the AI roadmap, their successes, and the decision-making tools they've implemented.

Cool Demo, Bro. Now Ship It: Why Most GenAI Apps Fall Apart

Katie Novotny

Everyone has a GenAI demo. Very few have a GenAI system. In this talk, we'll roast the most common GenAI anti-patterns - chatbots pretending to be apps, agents with no guardrails, and "just add RAG" architectures that collapse under real users. Then we'll rebuild them the right way. You'll learn how production GenAI actually works: tools over prompts, systems over models, and architectures that assume failure, hallucination, and chaos from day one. We'll cover when agents are useful (and when they're absolutely not), why observability matters more for AI than traditional services, and how to ship GenAI without lighting your cloud bill on fire. This is not a hype talk. This is a survival guide.

Lunch

Lunch is included with your ticket.

AI with AI with AI

Ian Taylor

Awesome Interactions with Artificial Intelligence with An Ian 😀 🎉 Have more fun! Ian will showcase examples of interactions with AI like creating your own carved apple turtle the next time you're hungry or kids remind everyone it's snack time. Make a coloring book with your favorite characters or stuffed animals to print at home and enjoy. Discover what that beautiful flower or weird mushroom is that you keep seeing outside. Classify your friends and family into Lord of the Rings characters as if Tolkien came over for a dinner party. ✅ Get work done! Clone yourself with an AI agent digital replica 😮 Ok probably not the type of sci-fi cloning where poof another bearded Ian appears bounding about. Instead it only exists within machines and is accessible by web, phone, and text. But the training is just like how you train another human on a job, by guiding their behaviors and interactions within the workplace and among their coworkers. Ian will demonstrate how to create your own AI agent and learn more when you're in the mood. ☀️Shine like the sun! Recent advances in AI bring many challenges along with its benefits. Ian will share some of the impacts from AI's creative destruction with a focus on the challenge of authenticity in academia, social media, and labor markets. Then he'll present some ideas of how these tools can help improve human relationships with an optimistic outlook.

Break

1:45 – 2:00

757tech.org and the Hampton Roads Tech Community

Kevin Griffin, President of RevolutionVA

We're going to talk about 757tech.org, and how to get connected with the amazing tech community we have in Hampton Roads.

AI Can't Teach You Jiu-Jitsu: Developing Your Craft in the Age of AI

Tim Banks

This talk uses Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a lens to explore the fundamental limitations of AI in teaching complex, embodied skills, and why the same principles apply to software development. Just as BJJ practitioners must master fundamentals through physical repetition, strategic thinking, and real-world testing on the mat, software engineers must develop deep understanding through hands-on experience rather than relying on AI-generated solutions. The presentation examines how BJJ's progression system, from white belt fundamentals to black belt mastery, mirrors the journey of becoming a skilled engineer. It challenges the notion that AI can shortcut genuine learning, drawing parallels between "Instagram BJJ" (flashy techniques that don't work in reality) and "vibe coding" (AI-generated code that lacks fundamental understanding). Through the metaphor of BJJ as chess rather than checkers, the talk illustrates why rote learning and pattern matching fail when faced with novel situations that require strategic adaptation. Ultimately, this session argues that while AI has its place as a tool, dependency on something you don't control is a mistake. True expertise, whether in martial arts or software engineering, comes from learning by doing, embracing failure, seeking mentorship, engaging with community, and focusing on getting good rather than just winning. There are no shortcuts to becoming a black belt in any craft.

Break

3:00 – 3:15

Why "Delete" Doesn't Exist: Digital Forensics in a Post-Quantum World

Lauren Pryor

When you press "delete," what actually happens to your data? From cell phones and enterprise email systems to Slack channels and even the vehicles we drive, modern technology is built on layers of storage, replication, logging, and encryption. What appears to disappear often persists in ways users rarely consider. This keynote explores the lifecycle of digital data — post deletion — and examines where "deleted" information truly resides. We will uncover how digital forensics reconstructs timelines, recovers artifacts, and validates evidence across devices and platforms. Finally, we look ahead: as quantum computing advances and traditional encryption models face disruption, what happens to digital evidence? How will forensic integrity, cryptographic trust, and data preservation evolve in a post-quantum world?

Closing Session

4:00 – 4:45