Community

I've been organising tech communities and events for over 15 years. Building spaces where people can learn, share, and connect is one of the most rewarding things I do.

Current Events

Elixir Sydney

Monthly meetup for the Elixir and BEAM ecosystem in Sydney. Talks, demos, and conversation about building with Elixir, Phoenix, LiveView, Ash, and related technologies.

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GraphQL Sydney

Co-organiser of GraphQL Sydney, where developers of all backgrounds and experience levels meet to discuss and learn about GraphQL.

Elixir Camp

Elixir Camp is an unconference for people interested in Elixir, Erlang, and the BEAM. A weekend of camping, talks, workshops, and collaboration at Camp Wombaroo near Mittagong, NSW.

I've helped organise multiple Elixir Camps since the first one in 2017.

Ash Summit

The inaugural Ash Summit runs September 2025 in Varberg, Sweden. A free, in-person event dedicated to the Ash Framework, featuring talks from core team members, workshops, and community collaboration.

Ash Workshops

Full-day hands-on workshops teaching Ash Framework, from fundamentals to building production-ready applications. I run these with Zach Daniel at conferences worldwide:

  • ElixirConf US: 2023, 2024, 2025 (plus the Ash AI Hackathon)
  • GigCityElixir: 2023, 2024
  • Alchemy Conf Braga: 2025
  • Informal Ash bootcamps for Alembic and Bitcrowd teams

Alembic Community Days

Technical deep-dives and community gatherings hosted by Alembic.

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ThoughtWorks Alumni

Gatherings for ex-ThoughtWorkers to reconnect and share what we're working on.

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Workshops & Training

Elixir Training at YOW! Lambda Jam

Ran Introduction to Elixir workshops at YOW! Lambda Jam with James Sadler:

  • 2019: Full-day workshop in Melbourne. Covered Elixir basics in the morning, then built a real-time game server with Phoenix LiveView in the afternoon.
  • 2020: Two-day online workshop taking participants from zero Elixir knowledge to building production-ready applications.

Conference Involvement

YOW! Conference

Track host for YOW! Sydney. I've also spoken at YOW! on GraphQL:

DDD Melbourne

Presented on GraphQL at DDD Melbourne, introducing the technology to the broader Australian developer community.

Past Contributions

Elixir Girls

Mentor and speaker at the first Elixir Girls workshop in Sydney (July 2017), founded by Cath Jones. A two-day workshop introducing women to functional programming with Elixir and Phoenix, inspired by Rails Girls. I spoke about Phoenix and Plugs. Sponsored by Alembic, Blake Education, and Expert360.

Ruby Australia

Vice President of Ruby Australia, where I helped establish the organisation and its governance. Ruby Australia runs RubyConf AU and supports Ruby communities across the country.

Sydney Ruby Conference

Lead organiser of the first Sydney Ruby Conference, bringing together the Australian Ruby community for talks, workshops, and networking.

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Stay updated on events I'm organising:

Interested in speaking at one of these events? Get in touch.