DevBP 18: Show, Don't Tell

Building on the success of the previous events, the DevBP series is back for the 18th time with two great talks: what 100+ coffee chats with developers say about the job market, and how we build avatars that mean what they say.

=== === === ===

State of the Developer Job Market - Notes From 100+ Coffees
Imre Nagy VP of Product and Engineering @ Colossyan

In the past few months I’ve had more than 100 coffees with developers, each with a real role on the table. This talk shares what I learned: which skills companies are actually hiring for right now, what developers want in return, and what the person hiring you is really thinking.

Beyond Generic Gestures - Building AI Avatars That Perform with Intent
Shahzaib Aslam VP of Research @ Colossyan

Today’s avatar models can talk convincingly, but their bodies mostly don’t follow what they are saying. The gestures they produce are generic: rhythmic hand movement that keeps time with the audio but has no link to the meaning of the words. In this talk I will introduce NEO3, our next generation of avatar models, which aims to close that gap. Our goal is an avatar whose performance is intentional, meaning each gesture has a purpose. It should also be relevant, so the gesture fits what is being said, and in context, so it suits the moment, the content and the speaker. I will explain why generic gestures fall short, what it takes for a model to understand when and how to gesture, and how we are building NEO3 to produce avatars that perform rather than just move.

=== === === ===

This English-language event will be held at the Colossyan office, where we'll provide snacks and drinks to fuel conversations.

Arrival is from 17:30, Announcements and agenda at 17:55, the first presentation will start at 18:00.

Come learn and connect with other tech enthusiasts. See you there!

You can also find the recordings of previous events on the DevBP Meetup YouTube channel.

Also join our brand new Discord server for some online discussions here!