​​​​​​​​​A free, public workshop—no technical background needed

​​​​​​​​​In just the past 8 months, AI has advanced at a pace that stunned even leading experts. These systems aren’t science fiction anymore—they’re reshaping work, relationships, and even crime in real time.

​​​​​​​​​This workshop explores where AI may be in the next 1–5 years and what that means for your daily life. Together, we’ll tackle urgent questions like:

​​​​​​​​​Jobs: Could AI lead to mass unemployment—or entirely new kinds of work?

​​​​​​​​​Crime: How might AI supercharge scams, hacking, and even physical crime?

​​​​​​​​​Companions: Will people form deep emotional bonds—or even romantic relationships—with AI assistants?

​​​​​​​​​Society: How do top researchers think these trends will shape our future?

​​​​​​​​​What you’ll get:

​​​​​​​​​A fast-paced, beginner-friendly overview of today’s most powerful AI systems

​​​​​​​​​Live demos that reveal both the breakthroughs and the risks

​​​​​​​​​An interactive forecasting exercise where you’ll test your own predictions about AI’s impact

​​​​​​​​​Come ready to explore a future arriving faster than most people realize—one that could transform not just how we work, but how we trust, connect, and even love.

https://aisafetyawarenessproject.org/

​​​​​​​​​A free, public workshop—no technical background needed

​​​​​​​​​In just the past 8 months, AI has advanced at a pace that stunned even leading experts. These systems aren’t science fiction anymore—they’re reshaping work, relationships, and even crime in real time.

​​​​​​​​​This workshop explores where AI may be in the next 1–5 years and what that means for your daily life. Together, we’ll tackle urgent questions like:

​​​​​​​​​Jobs: Could AI lead to mass unemployment—or entirely new kinds of work? ​​​​​​​​​Crime: How might AI supercharge scams, hacking, and even physical crime? ​​​​​​​​​Companions: Will people form deep emotional bonds—or even romantic relationships—with AI assistants? ​​​​​​​​​Society: How do top researchers think these trends will shape our future?

​​​​​​​​​What you’ll get: ​​​​​​​​​A fast-paced, beginner-friendly overview of today’s most powerful AI systems ​​​​​​​​​Live demos that reveal both the breakthroughs and the risks ​​​​​​​​​An interactive forecasting exercise where you’ll test your own predictions about AI’s impact ​​​​​​​​​Come ready to explore a future arriving faster than most people realize—one that could transform not just how we work, but how we trust, connect, and even love.

​AI isn't "good" or "bad" but in the moment we're in, it's directly hitting literacy rates, critical thinking, and the safety of our resources. We need to shift our resources, including time, money, and energy, and what better way to do that than an arts and crafts party?

​You do NOT need any experience. You don't need to be "good" at art. Just come, hang out, use your hands, and have fun.

​More details announced soon!

​​Please arrive by 5:30pm so you have time to eat before the programming begins.

Join us for OBI’s Accelerate Biotech Happy Hour on Thursday, March 5, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM.

You’ll find a welcoming mix of familiar faces and new ones, easy conversations, and a relaxed setting that makes it simple to jump in, whether you’re catching up with old friends or meeting someone for the first time. No agenda, no pressure. Just a chance to be present and enjoy being part of a community that shows up for each other.

Whether you’ve been part of OBI for years or are joining us for the first time, you’re invited.

When: Thursday, March 5 | 5:30 to 7:00 PM Where: OBI Event Space | Suite 230

RSVP and join us for an easy, welcoming evening built around connection and good company.

Summary:

AI coding assistants are everywhere now, but how well do they actually work for open source? This talk shares lessons from using AI on two Linux networking projects: DPDK and iproute2.

The good: documentation, test writing, and debugging. The bad: awkward code suggestions, formatting errors, and false positives in code reviews. The ugly: trying to get AI to write new features like RSTP or FQ-CoDel — after too many failed attempts, I gave up and moved on to more useful things.

A frank look at where AI helps, where it wastes your time, and what to watch out for.

Bio:

Stephen Hemminger is a longtime Linux kernel networking developer, maintainer of iproute2, and contributor to DPDK. Now retired, he continues contributing to open source as a volunteer.

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

When you come to Web Day, you'll sit down with someone and share keyboard, mouse, and browser to explore the Endless Web. In the past, we played games (every Flash game ever!), delved into local Portland services and historical data, made new web pages, and clicked a lot of links.

How does it work?

You can come in any time, for 5 minutes or an hour. Play one little game or spend the whole time exploring.

As the organizer, I will pair you up when you come in. We share a live document (like a Google Doc) of suggested activities to try out, like "find a 2-player game", or "find a page full of jokes". You'll choose one of those or bring up your own idea. Every 30 minutes we get up for 5 minutes to stretch, look away from the screen, get a drink of water, and rotate who is paired up so everyone meets different people.

You don't need to bring anything, just show up for yourself and your community. If you want to, you can bring your laptop and external keyboard and mouse (bluetooth or wired) are nice to have.

Save the date : RSVP

​More details to follow

​This was a wonderful event back in 2025 and we are happy to see them return.

​Schedule:

​5:00 - 5:30: Snacks and networking ​5:30 - 6:30: Presentations ​6:30 - 7:00: Wrap up and networking

​Get involved:

​Present your work at a future event: Email us at [email protected] to discuss sharing your project or insights

​Provide feedback: Help shape our community by sharing your ideas and suggestions

​Sponsor an event: Contact us to discuss partnership opportunities

​For more information and to join our community, visit portlandai.engineer

​Thank you to our amazing sponsors

​Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE) ​Silicon Florist ​AlteredCraft ​O'Reilly

March is all about infrastructure! We'll learn to manage edge container deployments, and then how to account for our AWS infrastructure drift.

Date: Thursday, March 19 Time: 5:30–7:30 PM Location: Reperio Health, 4784 SE 17th Ave Suite 120, Portland, OR Recording: Talks are typically recorded (opt-in by speakers)

A big thank you to Reperio Health, our venue host, and Red Hat, our food and beverage sponsor this month. If your company can sponsor our meetup, please contact the organizers.

Running MicroShift on Fedora Bootc for Scalable, Secure, and Resilient Edge Deployments - Ram Gopinathan, Red Hat

As edge computing accelerates across industries—from utilities and manufacturing to retail and smart cities—organizations are looking for lightweight, reliable, and secure platforms to deploy containerized applications at scale at the edge. Enter MicroShift, a small-footprint Kubernetes distribution, paired with Fedora Bootc, an image-based, immutable operating system built for consistency and resilience.

In this session, we’ll demonstrate how running MicroShift on Fedora Bootc creates a powerful foundation for edge workloads, combining the familiarity of Kubernetes with the reliability of image-based OS updates and atomic rollbacks. Learn how this approach reduces operational complexity, improves boot-time performance, and enhances system integrity—especially for unattended or resource-constrained edge environments.

Mind the Gap: Tracking AWS Infrastructure Drift Over Time - Christopher Buckley, Buckshot Technologies

Modern DevOps pipelines focus heavily on deploying infrastructure-as-code, but what happens after the deploy? In many organizations, the infrastructure evolves outside of Git — through the console, ad hoc scripts, or third-party tools — leaving behind blind spots and compliance risk.

In this talk, we’ll explore practical ways to track infrastructure drift and deltas across AWS environments. You’ll learn how to snapshot configurations, compare changes between points in time, and surface deltas across accounts in a format that’s accessible to engineers, auditors, and security teams alike.

We'll demo an open-source tool built to show Git-style diffs for AWS infrastructure — not as a pitch, but as a case study in how visibility empowers better decisions, faster troubleshooting, and cleaner audit trails. Whether you're running one VPC or a hundred, knowing what changed is the first step to staying in control.

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Share

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Share

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Share

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Share

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Share

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Share

Think & Drink Trivia Night is back at OBI and we’re kicking off the year strong.

Join us at the Oregon Bioscience Incubator for an evening of dinner, drinks, and smart competition. Whether you roll in with friends or show up solo, you’ll be placed on a team of four or fewer to keep things fair and fun. No trivia steamrolling allowed.

Your ticket includes a hearty catered dinner and two drink tickets to fuel both your brain and your confidence.

Expect classic pub-style trivia covering a wide range of general knowledge topics. Nothing too obscure, nothing too easy, and just challenging enough to spark a little trash talk.

Doors open at 5:30 PM for networking and mingling. Trivia starts promptly at 6:00 PM and yes, there will be prizes worth bragging about.

Come for the trivia. Stay for the community. Leave with bragging rights.

​Core Defender returns with student (age 6-14) showcases in AI and Robotics.

​More details to follow

​This was a wonderful event back in 2025 and we are happy to see them return.

​Schedule:

​5:00 - 5:30: Snacks and networking ​5:30 - 6:30: Presentations ​6:30 - 7:00: Wrap up and networking

​Get involved:

​Present your work at a future event: Email us at [email protected] to discuss sharing your project or insights

​Provide feedback: Help shape our community by sharing your ideas and suggestions

​Sponsor an event: Contact us to discuss partnership opportunities

​For more information and to join our community, visit portlandai.engineer

​Thank you to our amazing sponsors

​Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE) ​Silicon Florist ​AlteredCraft ​O'Reilly

Topic

Often relegated to episodic efforts such as late-stage audits and ad hoc projects, digital accessibility is most effective and efficient when it is the organization’s default mode of operation. Making the shift to continuous accessibility leads to better outcomes across the board, including improving the experience of disabled users, mitigating the risk of accessibility-related lawsuits, improving brand reputation, and even creating a positive return on investment (ROI).

In this talk we provide practical strategies for embedding accessibility into daily routines and technical systems, demonstrating how to start small and scale over time. Key topics include:

• Establishing a repeatable accessibility routine and improving it over time.
• The importance of data and metrics, such as bug counts and time-to-resolution (TTR), to establish a baseline and measure progress.
• Rallying cross-functional allies to drive change (yes, even without C-suite mandates).
• Creating a unified system where human workflows and technical tools work in concert.

A real world case study illustrates how the strategic application of automated regression testing and clear bug prioritization led to a profound cultural shift where accessibility is treated like any other product quality concern. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas for initiating and sustaining cultural change, making the case for accessibility as a core business principle.

Agenda

The event begins at 6 pm; join early, starting at 5:45 pm for networking.

• 5:45–6:00pm Networking
• 6:00–6:15pm Introductions and announcements
• 6:15–6:45pm Presentation
• 6:45–7:15pm Q&A and discussion

About the presenters

Devon Persing is your neighbor to the north in Seattle, WA. Before joining "big" tech as an accessibility professional around 2012, she worked in "small" tech as a UI designer, front-end web developer, and usability advocate in libraries, higher education, and local government. She has an MS in Information and is disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent, and as a result her approach to digital accessibility centers information literacy, organization dynamics, and disability justice. Her current focus as a solo consultant is on helping people do accessibility work that is more holistic, inclusive, cooperative, and sustainable. She wrote a book called The Accessibility Operations Guidebook with that goal in mind.

Portlander by birth and by choice, Andrew Hedges is COO for Assistiv Labs, an accessibility tooling company based in the PNW. His 28-year career as a web developer and engineering leader has taken him to companies from Apple to Zapier. As a longtime advocate for improving the usability of websites for people with disabilities, Andrew would love nothing more than for accessibility to become the default so we can finally realize the original promise of the web to democratize access to information for everyone.

RSVP

Please RSVP for the Zoom link.

Accommodation requests

If you have any accommodation requests, don't hesitate to contact us before the event to discuss.

​Make friends who care about stuff at Soapbox Portland, the city's most fun community space for climate action! ​We're having a party for people who care about the planet. Same time, same place, every week. You're invited. Request a reparative ticket here if you need one.

​It's time to take action on AI and how it's affecting our planet, minds, and communities!

​​The plan (more details to be announced soon!)

​​5~5:45 pm | arrive, eat dinner, chit chat

​​5:45~6:15 pm | context-setting & affinity activity

​7-8 pm | action time!

​​Please arrive by 5:30pm so you have time to eat before the programming begins.

That PLUG Clinic you like is coming back into style!

The PLUG Clinic returns again this month on February 15, from 1pm-5pm. Note the different venue this month, we are back at the Albina Branch Library. If you need help with your Linux computer, or want to offer help, you are welcome!

Volunteer helpers are as desirable as helpees. Helping is fun and rewarding. If you've ever helped out at a PLUG Clinic before, come checkout the space!

Thanks to the taxpayers of Multnomah County for the beautiful new building!

​Sick of hearing about AI yet? Same, but also... we would like for an expert to sit us down and talk about it.

​For our February LEARN night, we're going to host an expert speaker on AI, the threats we know about, the threats we need to talk about, and the opportunities it can create that we need to pay attention to.

​​The plan

​​5~5:45 pm | arrive, eat dinner, chit chat

​​5:45~7 pm | interactive Q&A (more announced soon!)

​7-8 pm | peer learning + the vibes will continue; pick up the conversation with new people and make friends

​​Please arrive by 5:30pm so you have time to eat before the programming begins.

Show & Tell with Geoff Rhoads (Transformative Optics Corporation)

Join us for an interactive, behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge optical technology with Geoff Rhoads, founder of Transformative Optics Corporation.

Rather than a traditional slide deck, Geoff will lead a show-and-tell style presentation featuring images of array cameras, sample outputs, and the company’s unique lens designs. The format is intentionally informal and conversational, with plenty of opportunities to ask questions as the visuals unfold. We’ll wrap up with an open Q&A session (about 5–15 minutes) for deeper discussion.

If you’re interested in robotics, computer vision, imaging systems, or novel optical hardware, this will be a great chance to see real technology in action and engage directly with some of the inventors behind it.

As always, all experience levels are welcome—come curious and ready to ask questions!

Thanks to Roseline Coffee for providing a physical location! Find inside the hotel and to the right, likely on the couches

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

Step into the Portland small business community’s best-kept secret: a team of seasoned volunteer mentors who’ve seen—and solved—almost every challenge a business can face. For more than 60 years, SCORE has been matching entrepreneurs with one‑on‑one advisors from every sector you can imagine: tech, retail, food, creative, nonprofits, professional services, trades, and more. Whether you’re just sketching an idea or scaling a growing company, you can tap into that experience for free, as often as you need it.

Our mentors reflect Portland’s diversity across industries, career stages, and lived experiences. At this event, you’ll meet some of them, hear how they work with clients, and get a feel for what a confidential, tailored mentoring relationship could look like for you. You’ll also get plugged into workshops, webinars, and a deep library of practical tools—all at no cost.

Need funding? An SBA representative will speak and be available to answer your questions about financing, loan programs, and how to position your business to qualify for capital. If you’ve ever wondered how to actually get money in the door to grow your business, this is your chance to ask directly. This, combined with conversations with a free mentor, can set your business up for success.

Come if you’re serious about moving your business forward and want a trusted, long‑term ally on your side, without adding another line item to your budget.

Hosted by the Metro Region Innovation Hub and HERE, this is a first-of-its-kind, day-long conference to help founders and tech startups navigate the obstacle course of early stage business development.

​Seeking Investment capital? A brand strategy? Wondering about your sales funnel? No matter your challenge, this is the place to get you past the confusion. Experts and prospective business partners in multiple disciplines will be on hand for you to learn from, huddle with, and grow your local network.

​The day will feature panel discussions, presentations, Q&A sessions and 1-on-1 advising with business investors and professional service consultants.

​This mini-conference is best suited for early stage startups that involve technology-based innovation. As this is an educational conference, pitching, selling, and solicitations will be prohibited.

​Lunch is included. Space is limited to the first 80 registrants. Walk-in registrations will not be available.

​Registration closes February 5. Early pricing ends January 28 ($35 registration fee beginning 1/28).

Come join Community Broadband PDX to talk about building a publicly owned broadband network here in Portland.

RSVP to be added to our mailing list!a

There will be Snacks! This is a kid friendly event!

​Make friends who care about stuff at Soapbox Portland, the city's most fun community space for climate action! ​We're having a party for people who care about the planet. Same time, same place, every week. You're invited. Request a reparative ticket here if you need one.

​Every first Tuesday of the month, Soapbox Project presents Dream Sessions, an evening of food, live music from a diverse range of local artists, conversations, and new connections.

​​This month, our theme is AI x Sustainability, and we'll be focusing on understanding what it means in terms of people power, good and bad. Join us in making friends who care about reimagining what a safe, sustainable world could look like in the context of new technology.

​The artist: alt-pop songstress Kingsley

​​The plan

​​5~5:45 pm | arrive, eat dinner, chit chat

​​5:45~7 pm | our moderator and artist will weave together music and a conversation about how to create the change to you want to see in the world. This isn’t just entertainment; it's an interactive experience ✨

​7-8 pm | the vibes will continue; pick up the conversation with new people and make friends

​​Please arrive by 5:30pm so you have time to eat before the programming begins.

This is an in person meeting

Agenda

5:30 pm - 5:45 pm - Pizza and Intro 5:45 pm - 6:45 pm - Presentation

Details

So you have a new Workflow in your application. Let's say that it has 20 steps in the workflow

What happens if the instance handling the workflow goes down What happens if a remote service that is invoked in one of the Workflow steps is down This is where a durable workflow comes in. DBOS is a durable Workflow engine that provides this capability along with many other features.

Come learn about the durable workflow space and how you can add such a capability to your Java application

Speaker

Harry Pierson is a Software Engineer at DBOS and is responsible for the Java implementation of DBOS Peter Kraft is the Co-founder of DBOS

Let’s kick off 2025 with another great evening of cloud-native learning, real-world talks, and hallway conversations with Portland’s platform-engineering community.

Date: Thursday, January 22 Time: 5:30–7:30 PM Location: Reperio Health, 4784 SE 17th Ave Suite 120, Portland, OR Recording: Talks are typically recorded (opt-in by speakers)

The Observability Reset: 4 Foundational Principles for O11y That Scales by Noam Levy, CTO at groundcover

Let’s face it, collecting metrics, logs, and traces isn’t enough anymore. Most o11y stacks today are drowning in telemetry, buried in cost overruns, and spread so thin across tools that they’ve become more noise than signal. The classic SaaS-based model is cracking.

This talk lays out 4 foundational principles for building a sustainable observability posture - that scale with infra and budget:

• Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC): SaaS o11y is financially unsustainable at scale.
• Consolidate or Bust: DevEx suffers when visibility is fragmented- consolidation isn’t a luxury - it’s a requirement.
• Standardize Everything: Open protocols, pluggable pipelines, and vendor-neutral APIs are the only way forward, or your o11y is a ticking liability.
• Self-Reliance: You can’t rely on app-level instrumentation forever - eBPF enables scalable o11y without complexity

This session pulls from real-world deployments and lessons learned helping engineering teams scale visibility without compromise.

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“What It’s Like to Learn Cloud-Native Today — A Beginner’s Kubernetes Story” by Kelis Hightower

When given the chance to explore cloud-native development, I chose not to avoid the unfamiliar. With no prior Kubernetes experience and only a few weeks to learn, I took a hands-on approach by building a small burnout-aware study tool to ground abstract concepts in something tangible.

This talk shares what it’s like to learn cloud-native technologies today from a beginner’s perspective. Through experimentation with containers, Kubernetes, and cloud services, I’ll reflect on the mental model shifts, early misconceptions, and “aha” moments that emerged from learning by building. Rather than focusing on expertise, this would offer an honest look at what beginners actually take away from a short, modern introduction to cloud-native systems.

Agenda

5:30–6:00 — Check-in, snacks, networking 6:00–6:30 — The Observability Reset (Noam Levy) 6:30–7:00 — Beginner’s Kubernetes Story (Kelis Hightower) 7:00–7:30 — Networking (and games if anyone wants to bring some!)

Who Should Attend

Platform engineers, SREs, DevOps, app/platform teams, OSS maintainers, beginners learning cloud-native, and anyone curious about observability, Kubernetes, modern infra, or developer experience.

Sponsors

Venue Sponsor — Reperio Health F&B Sponsor — groundcover

Topic

This talk explores the incredible power of tiny CSS snippets that create big accessibility improvements, proving that sometimes the most impactful code is measured in lines, not libraries. We'll dive deep into practical, copy-paste-ready CSS solutions that require minimal implementation time but deliver maximum inclusivity. Each snippet comes with real-world context, showing exactly how these small changes impact actual users.

Agenda

The event begins at 6 pm; join early, starting at 5:45 pm for networking.

• 5:45–6:00pm Networking
• 6:00–6:15pm Introductions and announcements
• 6:15–6:45pm Presentation
• 6:45–7:15pm Q&A and discussion

About the presenter

Mike Mai is an expert in design systems, web accessibility, HTML/CSS, and typography. His design philosophy is rooted in a fundamental understanding of the web. Mike's passion for typography, cultivated during my BFA in Graphic Design at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, directly informed my decision to pursue web design professionally. He considers typography to be the most critical foundation of any website, given its text-centric nature, making typeface selection and typesetting my first order of business on any new projects.

Mike firmly believes that design is about solving problems, a principle instilled by a formative mentor. This conviction drove his path to specializing in accessible web design. While strong typographic forms are important, they must be balanced with robust function and an intuitive user experience. He is committed to ensuring all his designs are usable, useful, and truly inclusive.

RSVP

Please RSVP for the Zoom link:

• Meetup
• Eventbrite
• email

Accommodation requests

If you have any accommodation requests, don't hesitate to get in touch with us before the event to discuss.

Join the Portland AWS User Group for an evening of technical learning with other tech professionals!

Starting networking at 5:30 PM, Presentation at 6:00 PM

Enjoy drinks & PIZZA provided by ProFocus.

That PLUG Clinic you like is coming back into style!

The PLUG Clinic returns again this month on January 18th, from 1pm-5pm, at Willamette University's space on the 2nd floor of the Ecotrust Building. If you need help with your Linux computer, or want to offer help, you are welcome!

Volunteer helpers are as desirable as helpees. Helping is fun and rewarding. If you've ever helped out at a PLUG Clinic before, come checkout the space!

Thank you Willamette University, for hosting us!

Event Agenda: There will be a main talk between 30 minutes to 1 hour followed by optional lighting talks.

Main Talk by the Lake Monsters Robotics Team

The Lake Monsters Robotics Team competes in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics every year. They will give an overview and demo of their robot and how they prepare for competition. They are also always looking for mentors to help assist the students in the program-so they'll provide information for that too if you are interested in getting involved!

Lightning Talks: Lightning talks are talks up to 5 minutes in length on any topic that might interest other Python people. See PyCon’s Lightning Talks description for more details.

Whether you are interested in a career shift, startup life, or curious about freelancing. We will have groups to help work through getting started.

Whether you are interested in a career shift, startup life, or curious about freelancing, we will have breakout groups to help you get started.

We will have a resume and interview community if you need to brush up on either or both.

We will have resume reviews and mock interviews by volunteer recruiters or peers to fine-tune your approach.

Alli, Lisa, and Beth are hoping to get everyone, and in some cases ourselves, back to work!

We look forward to seeing everyone in person!

Break out topics:

Resume review Sharing effective work search tactics (tools, sites, etc) Getting started with consulting or startup founding Open discussion: How are ppl feeling & what’s helping to cope TBD: Tips on skills needed for careers today, what careers will be AI-proof TBD: Oregon Women in Trade and other groups Bring your own lunch or snacks

What to Bring

Snacks or lunch Laptop or notebook

Event Flow

11:30 AM-12:00 PM: Arrival & casual networking 12:00-12:30 PM: Intro to break-out group sessions. 12:30-1:30 PM: Breakout group session Work from the space all day! Come early or stay late to enjoy our downtown workspace.

This month we will have in depth technical presentations from AI builders looking for feedback and diverse perspectives our amazing community can always be counted on for.

Schedule:

5:00 - 5:30: Snacks and networking 5:30 - 6:30: Presentations 6:30 - 7:00: Wrap up and networking

Presenters

Beyond the Demo: Building Reliable AI with LLM Evaluations

Speaker: Randy Olson, Co-Founder and CTO of Goodeye Labs

Randy has a PhD in Computer Science and 15+ years of experience across software engineering, ML, and AI product development. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wired, and FiveThirtyEight, and he created the widely-used open source tool TPOT.

LLM evaluations (evals) have become one of the most talked-about topics in AI engineering, but for many teams, they remain abstract or intimidating. This talk cuts through the noise and gets practical: What are LLM evals, why should you care, and how do you actually implement them? Whether you're an AI engineer shipping models, a product manager defining quality bars, or anyone working hands-on in the AI space, you'll leave with a clear understanding of why evals matter and how to get started.

Get involved:

Present your work at a future event: Email us at [email protected] to discuss sharing your project or insights Provide feedback: Help shape our community by sharing your ideas and suggestions Sponsor an event: Contact us to discuss partnership opportunities For more information and to join our community, visit portlandai.engineer

Thank you to our amazing sponsors

Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE) Silicon Florist AlteredCraft O'Reilly Instrument

Built an app that needs real user feedback? Tired of testing in isolation?

Break - It! brings Portland founders together to stress-test each other's applications and get honest feedback before launch.

This edition will be led by Beth Fuller, a professional software product manager who specializes in helping teams refine their products before release.

To kick things off, we’ll be starting with one brave volunteer: TBD — a local startup ready to be really broken. It’ll set the tone for how deep and constructive we’ll go with feedback throughout the session. 😉

App Creators - Whether you've been hand-coding, AI-coding, or no-coding your way to success, get your app in front of fresh eyes who understand the founder journey.

Everyone Else - Here's your chance to break something for good! Channel your inner chaos agent, find those sneaky bugs, and give feedback so insightful it makes founders weep tears of gratitude.

What You'll Do

Demo your app (5 minutes) - Show what you've built Test others' apps (rotating 15-minute sessions) Give & receive real-time feedback from fellow builders Discover bugs before your users do Connect with Portland's founder community

Perfect If You Have

Apps in development or beta testing Prototypes needing concept validation Launched apps wanting UX optimization Side projects that need a sanity check All platforms welcome: Web apps, mobile apps, browser extensions, PWAs All dev approaches welcome: Hand-coded, AI-assisted, no-code, hybrid

What to Bring

Your app (any stage, any platform) 2-3 specific feedback questions Laptop/device for testing others' apps Open mind for constructive input

Event Flow

11:30 AM-12:00 PM: Arrival & casual networking 12:00-12:30 PM: Quick app intros (2-3 minutes each) 12:30-1:30 PM: Testing rounds (4 sessions, 25 minutes each) Work from the space all day! Come early or stay late to enjoy our downtown workspace.

Ground Rules

Constructive feedback only - We're here to help each other win Respect IP - No screenshots or sharing without permission Meet apps where they are - Rough prototypes to polished products all welcome Come to give AND receive - Your fresh perspective helps everyone

Kick Off 2026 with OBI’s January Accelerate Biotech Happy Hour

New year. New momentum. Same brilliant community.

Join us as we launch the first Happy Hour of 2026. Whether you’re returning rested, returning caffeinated, or just returning because you love this crowd, you’ll be in good company. Davis Wright Tremaine is sponsoring the evening, and we’re gearing up for a lively start to the year.

When: Thursday, January 8 | 5:30 to 7:00 PM Where: OBI Event Space | Suite 230

What you can look forward to:

• A room full of founders, scientists, researchers, and bioscience pros ready to reconnect • A relaxed environment that makes conversations easy and introductions even easier • Light refreshments while you trade ideas and set your 2026 networking goals in motion

We have changed the location to Roseline Coffee for this month, a block away from Capital One

We are located inside the hotel and to the right

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Hosted by Aaron Campf.

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

If there are any issues with joining in person or online please message on here and Slack or Discord

That PLUG Clinic you like is coming back into style!

The PLUG Clinic returns again this month on December 21, from 1pm-5pm, however, note the different venue this month.. If you need help with your Linux computer, or want to offer help, you are welcome!

Volunteer helpers are as desirable as helpees. Helping is fun and rewarding. If you've ever helped out at a PLUG Clinic before, come checkout the space!

Thanks to the taxpayers of Multnomah County for the beautiful new building!

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Find us upstairs

Hosted by Aaron Campf.

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

If there are any issues with joining in person or online please message on here and Slack or Discord

Coffee, bagels and people working on their careers and code! We have 2-5 mentors every month ready to help people get started in the industry, get help with a particular problem, or get career advice. We offer resume reviews, portfolio reviews, and sometimes mock interviews (time permitting).

Find us upstairs

Hosted by Aaron Campf.

Online Teams Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTljOWRlMDAtNThmZS00NzljLWE1YTEtZDhlODMyYzI0OTRi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2282ea9e81-6f10-49e0-a1f1-d75b0b4c2e7c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22143ee9d3-21a4-4da7-a1e8-2472c358110e%22%7d

Or call in (audio only)

+1 872-240-8681,,882162595# United States, Chicago

Phone Conference ID: 882 162 595#

Thanks to Capital One Café for providing a physical location!

Discord https://discord.gg/nSCxgbcG7U

If there are any issues with joining in person or online please message on here and Slack or Discord

Is breaking into tech always a straight path? For many professionals, the journey includes unexpected turns, non-traditional backgrounds, and skill sets that don’t fit the typical mold. But those experiences can become powerful advantages when used well.

In this live session, you’ll explore how soft skills like communication, emotional intelligence, organization, and resilience can fast-track your growth in the tech industry. Jeremy Barger will share how his unique path from a brief stint in the United States Army, to performing standup comedy, to leading software engineering teams shaped the leader he is today.

Join us for this motivating Tech Talk on Friday, December 5 at 1 PM PT | 3 PM CT | 4 PM ET and discover how your personal strengths and experiences can accelerate your career in meaningful ways.

Whether you’re early in your tech journey or looking to grow into leadership roles, this session will give you practical insights to help you move forward.

Reserve your spot today and start building the skills that set successful tech professionals apart: https://www.meetup.com/techacademy/events/

Join Us for OBI’s December Accelerate Biotech Happy Hour

This is it. The most attended and most popular Happy Hour of the entire year. If networking had a season finale, this would be it.

Come connect with innovators, founders, researchers, and bioscience professionals at our December Accelerate Happy Hour, proudly sponsored by Davis Wright Tremaine. Whether you are building something new, scouting opportunities, or trying to remember what life felt like before you lived in your inbox, this event will boost your energy before the holiday chaos arrives.

When: Thursday, December 4, 2025 | 5:30 to 7:00 PM Where: OBI Event Space | Suite 230

What you can expect:

• Packed room with new faces and fresh perspectives from biotech, digital health, and medical devices • A relaxed, collaborative space where ideas and introductions happen without forced small talk • Light food and beverages while you grow your network and your confidence

Want to share what you are working on? We offer quick two minute speaking spots at future Happy Hours. These spots are currently open beginning in March 2026. If you'd like to get on the list, email [email protected].

RSVP now and close out the year with the people who understand the joy of things like clean data and well formatted slide decks.

We’re back for our December monthly mixer! Come mingle with your Out in Tech PDX community. Looking to meet new friends? Searching for new opportunities? Or simply looking to mingle in a queer space with other queer humans?

Come join Out in Tech PDX at Peacock PDX on Tuesday, December 2nd from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

Whether you're interested in tech, working in tech, or you're tech-adjacent (hint: that's everyone), come mingle with us, have a beverage of choice, and meet the fabulous members of your PDX Out in Tech community.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Sip, snack, and slay... LGBTQ+ tech demos with plenty of sparkle ✨

What to expect ✨ 4 fabulous demos from your LGBTQ+ tech community 💻🏳️‍🌈, each 10–15 minutes with Q&A. After that, snacks 🥨, drinks 🍷🥤, and plenty of sparkle. Allies welcome, too 💕.

Schedule ⏰ - 6:00p — Doors and check-in 🚪 - 6:30p — Demos begin (10–15 min each + Q&A) 🎤 - 7:30p — Drinks, snacks, and mingling 🍻 - 9:00p — Close 🌙

Apply to demo 🎬 Got something fierce to show? Tell us what you’re building and why it slays 💅. Email us at [email protected]

Food & drink 🍽️ Beer 🍺, wine 🍷, and non-alcoholic options 🧃. You must be 21+ to consume alcohol 🪪.

Food available at the food cart pod next door!

Photos 📸 Event photos may be taken by OIT staff. If you’d prefer not to appear, let us know when you arrive 🙅‍♂️🙅‍♀️.

House rules 📖 - We follow the OIT Code of Conduct: outintech.com/conduct 🌐 - Be kind 💜. Ask before photos 🙋. - If you feel unsafe, find an organizer wearing an OIT shirt 👕.

Get involved 🌈 - Volunteer with OIT PDX:[email protected] - Join the community: outintech.com/join - IG/Twitter: @outintech