FikaWorks Day 2025
We’re bringing together freelancers, consultants, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts in AI & Cloud Native space for a free, community-driven day of expert talks, hands-on workshops, unconference sessions and real conversations. This is an event where we build the agenda together and explore the best ways to work collectively. You’ll also get a chance to learn about the FikaWorks cooperative model and connect with peers shaping the future of AI &Cloud Native technologies.
Informations
| Date | Friday 10th of October 2025 |
|---|---|
| Location | Startup Village Science Park 608, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Target Audience | Freelancers, Independent Consultants, Entrepreneurs, Tech enthusiasts |
| Topics | AI & Cloud Native, Business, Personal Development |
| Admission | Free Community Event (Registration Required/Donations welcomed) |
| Expected Attendance | max 100 (active) participants |
Agenda
| Time | Session / Activity | |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 - 09:30 | Welcome & Registration Coffee and Croissants ☕ 🥐 | |
| 09:30 - 09:45 | Welcome (day schedule overview) Startup Village - Intro and vision | |
| 09:45 - 10:15 | Starting a Software Business in Cloud Native Sander Rodenhuis 
(Start-up Founder - Product Architect at Akamai Technologies)What does it take to start a business in Cloud Native, develop a product, and eventually sell it to a global IT company? In this keynote, Sander Rodenhuis shares his journey of founding Red Kubes, developing a Kubernetes based platform, securing funding and eventually selling it to Akamai Technologies. Expect honest insights into the challenges and opportunities of building a software business in Cloud Native. | |
| Room 1 [Night] | Room 2 [Day] | |
| 10:30 - 11:00 | Fighting wildfire and protecting communities with AI Andrea Giardini
(Cloud Consultant @ Overstory/FikaWorks)As wildfires become increasingly devastating due to climate change, leveraging technology for environmental protection is crucial. This talk focuses on the infrastructure needed to support AI-driven wildfire prevention systems using Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies. We will discuss the challenges of managing robust data pipelines for processing satellite imagery and environmental data, emphasizing the importance of GPU acceleration for AI. Additionally, we will explore strategies for efficient storage solutions to handle large datasets, ensuring scalability and performance. Attendees will gain insights into the architectural considerations and operational challenges of deploying an effective, resilient wildfire monitoring and prevention infrastructure. Join us in understanding how we can harness the power of technology to protect our forests and mitigate the impact of wildfires on our environment. | Workshop: Code, Coach, Conquer: Level Up Your Facilitation Game! Neha Lagoo Ratnakar
(Trainer/Speaker/Author)This engaging workshop equips the audience with practical techniques to deliver clearer, more impactful presentations and training sessions in any setting. Participants will learn simple strategies to break down complex concepts, engage their audience, and handle questions with confidence, whether it's a regular work meeting, a demo to a colleague, or a public or company workshop. Through interactive exercises, they will gain a framework for structuring content and tips to keep learners engaged. |
| 11:00 - 11:15 | Coffee Break ☕ | |
| 11:15 - 11:45 | Coordinating Image Distribution in the Age of AI Philip Laine
(Founder @ Reflektion)The adoption of existing artifact distribution technologies like OCI is well underway in the AI space. However, today's AI workloads reveal pain points in infrastructure that was never built for such extreme demands. In this session, we will explore the main challenges faced by current distribution systems, including scalability, security, and evolving needs for AI model packaging and delivery. Finally, we will discuss potential future solutions that align infrastructure with the unique demands of AI. | |
| 11:45 - 12:00 | Coffee Break ☕ | |
| 12:00 - 12:30 | How to Write a Technical Book and Sell Worldwide Luca Berton
(Platform Engineering Lead/Freelancer/Author)Ever thought about writing a tech book but didn’t know where to start? In this session, I’ll walk you through my journey from engineer to six-time published author with Apress (Springer Nature), BPB, and Packt. You’ll learn how to pick a compelling topic, pitch to publishers, structure your manuscript, and scale your impact through global distribution channels. We’ll explore how writing accelerates your career, builds authority, and creates new income streams—especially for freelancers and consultants. Expect real-world advice, actionable frameworks, and behind-the-scenes insights from publishing success stories and missteps. Whether you're eyeing your first book or your fifth, you'll leave with clarity and motivation. | |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch & Networking 🥗 Catered lunch; please note diet/allergy requests during registration. | |
| 13:30 - 14:15 | Automatic Provisioning of Bare Metal Edge Systems for AI Inference William Rizzo
(Strategy Lead CTO Office - Mirantis) &
Mauro Morales
(Staff Engineer - Spectro Cloud)Running AI workloads at the edge demands both high performance and minimal operational overhead. In this session, we’ll demonstrate how to leverage Kairos, k0s, and LocalAI to simplify the deployment of immutable edge systems for AI inference. We’ll walk through how automatic provisioning works with PXE boot and show how the same approach extends to advanced scenarios, such as using Redfish for managing larger edge or data center deployments. | Working as a freelancer & wet DBA A.M.A. session Jenne Termeer
(Watson Parker - Senior Partner)Have questions about freelancing in the tech world or the unique challenges of working under wet DBA? Join our AMA session with Jenne, a senior partner at a leading accountancy firm, who will answer all your questions. |
| 14:15 - 14:30 | Coffee Break ☕ | |
| 14:30 - 14:45 | Introduction to FikaWorks Cooperative Mission and way of working as a collective of independent Cloud Native consultants Sudesh Jethoe
(FikaWorks Board Member) | |
| 14:45 - 16:45 | Open Space We build the agenda together on the spot! 🧑🤝🧑📝🧠 Facilitator: Tim Mamo
(FikaWorks Consultant | DevOps Days Amsterdam Organizer) | Workshop: "Hands-on AI
workshop with MCP" (interactive technical workshop) [in Stark Tank] Alex Giurgiu
&
Valentin Stoican
(mcp-cloud.ai
- founders/FikaWorks Consultants)"Hands-on AI workshop building an agentic workflow that interacts with multiple MCP servers with the goal of troubleshooting and fixing Kubernetes issues | 16:45 - 17:00 | Closing remarks |
| 17:00 - Late | Drinks and Food Reception (till late) 🍹 🍺 Social gathering with drinks, beer, finger food, and snacks for networking and community building at the pub next to the venue. | |
Workshop requirements
| Hands-on AI workshop with MCP | |
|---|---|
| AI Chat Application | Claude desktop or any other LLM chat application that supports MCP connectivity |
| Node.js | npx / npm |
| Docker | Docker runtime and Docker Compose |
| Kubernetes | Local Kubernetes distribution (Kind, Docker, Rancher, Podman, OrbStack, etc.) |
| Communication | Telegram mobile/desktop |
| Tunneling | ngrok |
