AWS UG - Stop Guessing, Start Scaling | 09 June 2026

AGENDA*

NOTE: This event is NOT happening at the Button Factory :) We have limited capacity of only 70 people, so RSVP now to secure your free slot.

Two senior AWS practitioners sharing hard-won production lessons, focused on real-world patterns, not just demos. Prize Draw, AWS Credits and Refreshments available.

Don't miss this one.

Venue: DUB14 - ROOM 00.500

5:45 PM - REGISTRATION & NETWORKING

6:00 PM - START
Ronan Guilfoyle, AWS Lead Solutions Architect
Ronan Ó Caollaí, AWS User Group Dublin

6:10 PM - Luis Guirigay
Stop Guessing, Start Testing: Performance Engineering on AWS
Over-provisioned to feel safe? Under-provisioned and hoping for the best? This session makes the case for performance testing as the feedback loop that closes the gap between architecture assumptions and production reality. We'll cover how to map load testing methodologies to specific reliability and cost risks on AWS, simulate diverse traffic patterns across workloads including AI inference and RAG pipelines, and build a repeatable framework for right-sizing with confidence, not gut feel.

6:40 PM - BREAK / NETWORKING

7:00 PM - Christian Melendez
Autoscaling Isn't Set-and-Forget: Tuning KEDA & Karpenter for Real Workloads. You've deployed KEDA and Karpenter—now what? Most talks stop at "it scales." This one starts there. We'll dive into the advanced configurations, failure modes, and optimization patterns that separate demo clusters from production workloads. On the Karpenter side: Node Disruption Budgets to control voluntary disruptions, how to survive Spot interruptions gracefully, and bootstrap optimizations that shave minutes off node startup. On KEDA: scaling modifiers that combine multiple metrics into smarter decisions, cooldown tuning to prevent thrashing, and the shift from reactive scaling to proactive workload sizing. We'll show how EKS Auto Mode changes the equation—what you get out of the box, what