VIATEC AI Meetup: Technology Track
VIATEC AI Meetup: Technology Track
Thursday, July 24, 2025 (11:30 AM - 1:30 PM) (PDT)
Description
Doors open at 11:30 and presentations start promptly at Noon.
Are you curious about how AI can transform your business and career? Join us at the VIATEC AI Meetup, where local thought leaders and innovators come together to explore the cutting edge of artificial intelligence and its practical applications.
Join us for this session as we welcome Eric McLachlan from Revela:
Keep Calm and Refactor: Surviving AI as a Software Engineer
As a longtime developer, Eric is keenly aware of the shift underway and feels strongly that we need to talk about how we're going to adopt AI in our industry, revise our contribution to industry, and how we're going to turn this into a national strategic opportunity.
He'll share his own survlval story starting in South Africa and taking him to Japan and ultimately Canada.
He'll explore his own journey and bring forth topics like:
- Agentic AI and how can be leveraged to accelerate the delivery of software solutions.
- Do we finally need to rethink code as text files?
- Do we need to document for AI?
- How do we manage AI-generated code and make it maintainable?
- Can Canada, as a leader in green energy position itself to take advantage of the up-and-coming increase in the demand for energy?
Whether you’re a developer or looking to help understand some of the impications of an AI coding era, come join us for this fascinating session.
Coffee and Tea will be served.
Feel free to grab a lunch at the Fort Cafe, located on site.
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/viatec-ai-meetup-technology-track-tickets-1492296070719
About Our Speaker
Eric McLachlan has been coding since 1995, applying his skills across a wide range of industries and continuously evolving with the fast-changing tech landscape. His journey has taken him around the world, and along the way, he pursued a Master’s in Computational Linguistics through the University of Washington - around the same time that BERT was breaking new ground in natural language processing.Since 2018, Eric has been focused on using machine learning to solve language problems:
- 2018: Led the development of text classification systems for identifying risk in natural language.
- 2019–2022: Pioneered multilingual text classification techniques and scaled them for real-world applications.
- 2023: Became an early adopter of GPT-3.5, applying large language models to tasks like sentiment analysis, summarization, and code augmentation.
- 2024 and beyond: Continues to work on delivering AI and machine learning solutions across diverse use cases.
We’re excited to have Eric share his insights and experience with us.
About the Organizers:
This event is organized by Steve Harris, founder of AI4Enterprise and Rob Cooper, Founder of PlusROI Online Marketing, along with the generous support of VIATEC. This is your chance to connect, learn, and lead in the world of AI innovation. Spots are limited—RSVP today and be part of Victoria’s AI-powered future!
777 Fort St
Victoria, BC V8W 1H2 Canada
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