Microsoft Reactor Student meetups are for students to engage, learn and connect with Microsoft Most Valued Professionals (MVP’s), Microsoft Student Ambassadors, Partners and Microsoft Team. It’s an opportunity for them to enhance their careers in technology and personal learning.

Our regular student meetups are an opportunity to hear from fellow students, peers and leaders in the industry about new technologies and also a chance for the students to network with potential employers.

Agenda:
6:00PM – Door Open
6:30PM – Welcome by Reactor Team
6:35PM – 7:10 - SkillStruct Presents: Breaking down the Tech industry- Maintaining a Competitive Edge by Michael Olatokun
7:10 – 7:15 – Questions
7:15 – 7:45PM – Break for Pizza! 🍕
7:45PM – 8:15PM - Engineering is for workflows, AI is for Innovation by Richard Conway & Darshna Shah
8:15 – 8:45 – Networking

Session Descriptions

Session 1: SkillStruct Presents: Breaking down the Tech industry- Maintaining a Competitive Edge

This session is about a journey to success in technology, the talk starts with a personal touch to give the attendees an insight into the presenter and organisation. The talk then goes on to discuss the theme of the talk in 2 segments first, with careers in IT and then follows it on with the SkillStruct approach for going for a tech career. Finally, the presenter discusses key takeaways; ways students can feel empowered and get involved and opens the floor for questions.
The session will be followed by a small quiz!

Speaker Bio

Michael Olatokun, SkillStruct Founder

Michael Olatokun is a Tech Engineer with a Bachelor of Engineering First Class Honors in Computer Science. Having graduated in 2015, he has gained many experiences and applied knowledge in various sectors including Government, Finance and now the Consulting sector. He is passionate about the computing industry and helping the next generation get into the tech industry. In his free time, you will find him learning Spanish, in a good book or working on his health and wellbeing.

Connect with Michael

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-olatokun-4880615b/

Session 2: Engineering is for workflows, AI is for Innovation

In the old world of computer science professionals, algorithms were everything. From understanding sorts and searches, GoF patterns, cryptographic algorithms and path traversals. Many of these are now available in software and don't need to be understood in the same depth as way back when. With the advancements in Data Science and AI the knowledge gap has widened and led to some incredible new innovations where data and AI models have allowed data science professionals to build innovative decision support tools. Software developers are now the new delivery mechanism in their know-how but data science is for innovators. Join Darshna Shah and Richard Conway as they talk about their respective complimentary skillsets and review why all would-be innovators should be data scientists too.

Speaker Bio’s

Richard Conway, Director of Elastacloud, Microsoft Regional Director and former MVP

My name is Richard Conway. I'm a Microsoft Regional Director and former-Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Azure. I'm a Director of Elastacloud which is a Data Science consultancy working across key business sectors such as finance, energy and others. As well as my role in business, I'm an author of books and courses and a key contributor to Apache open-source projects with a love for all things cloud and data. Over the years I've become proficient in C++, C#, Java, Scala, Python and R and I mix and match these skills for my customers and community on a regular basis. I love speaking to new audiences on aspects of cloud, data science and data platform and have spoken all across Europe over the last few years. I'm a strong advocate of communities and over the years founded @ukazure and a few others. As an advocate for child education in IT I've been working closely with Code Club in the UK. My most recent community contribution has been AzureCraft, an annual two day event for developers, parents and kids to teach the Cloud and Programming through Minecraft.

Connect with Richard:
https://twitter.com/azurecoder

Darshna Shah, Director of Innovation at Sustainability Studio & Microsoft MVP

Darshna is the Director of Innovation at Sustainability Studio (part of the Elastacloud Group) and Microsoft AI MVP. Building on her broad-ranging consultancy experience, in which Darshna has developed and deployed a wide range of machine learning models on Azure across a myriad of industries, she has refined focus over the last few years to developing solutions in Sustainability. Darshna has a PhD in Neuroscience, specialising in neuronal network dynamics in drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy from which her passion for Data and AI stemmed. During the last few years she has established herself as a speaker and mentor, having given talks at Tech(K)now Day, Microsoft’s Future Decoded conference, The TFL Data Science Group, UK Azure meetup, Digital Camp UK, SQL Bits as well as co-organising and leading the monthly Data Science London meetup group to bring together a community of over 10,000 members together to discuss and learn about the latest and most compelling data science algorithms and use-cases. She has a huge passion for sustainability and loves speaking with diverse audiences, learning and sharing knowledge through talks, hacks and blog posts.

Connect with Darshna on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshna-shah-69493284/
https://twitter.com/Darsh262