Women in Cloud Australia

When Infrastructure as Code Goes Wrong… 😱 Ever pushed a small change to your IaC repo and watched it spiral into chaos? You’re not alone. Join Kirsty McDonald, a cloud platform engineer with over a decade of experience across software development, strategy, and platform engineering, as she unpacks the power — and pitfalls — of Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Passionate about continuous learning and building resilient systems, Kirsty will share lessons from the field, real-world “horror stories,” and practical steps to make your infrastructure safer and more reliable. What to expect: - A quick intro to what IaC is and why it’s a game-changer - Real-world horror stories of IaC gone wrong - Common anti-patterns and how to avoid them - Practical steps to make your systems safer and more resilient Whether you’re new to IaC or a seasoned engineer with battle scars from 3 a.m. rollbacks, you’ll walk away with actionable insights — and maybe a few laughs. 🗓️ 23rd October, 5.30pm 📍 Level 2, 452 Flinders Street, Melbourne This event wouldn't be possible without the generous support of our sponsors: HAL Systems, Mantel and REA Group! Thank you! 🙏 Spots are limited, RSVP here https://lnkd.in/gUkqg9DH. #Iac #InfrastructureAsCode #DevOps #CloudEngineering #PlatformEngineering #TechTalk #WomeninCloud

What a night! Even with the long weekend and the AFL Grand Final coming up tomorrow, so many of you still came out to our Women in Cloud Australia meetup — and we loved seeing the energy in the room. Roya Aryanpad gave a great talk on AWS Identity and Access Management. She broke down everything from roles and temporary credentials to RBAC and federation, and made #IAM feel practical and easy. We wrapped up with a quiz — big congrats to our IAM champion Uliana Deshin who smashed the questions without any prior knowledge of IAM 🏆 and to the lucky draw (and rock paper scissors) winner Hazra Ali who scored a #DevFestMelbourne2025 ticket from our friends at GDG Melbourne! Huge thanks as always to our supporters HAL Systems, Mantel, and REA Group for helping make nights like this happen. 🙌 Looks like Melbourne can handle two epic three-letter events in one week — IAM tonight, AFL tomorrow! 🏉 #WomenInCloud #CloudSecurity #WomenInTech

#DevFestMelbourne2025 is almost here! 🎉 The amazing GDG Melbourne team is bringing our developer community together for a full day of learning, inspiration, and connection. And tomorrow at our Women in Cloud Australia meetup, we’ll be running a lucky draw for a free ticket to the conference. 😍 Find out more about #DevFest — and if you can’t make it to our meetup, grab your ticket here: https://lnkd.in/g4SACuyu #GCP #GoogleCloud #GDG

Access management goes beyond assigning permissions — it’s about building trust. Curious how AWS IAM evolves from simple user policies to advanced, enterprise-ready identity federation? At the upcoming Women in Cloud meetup, Roya Aryanpad will share hands-on strategies for creating secure and scalable access patterns with AWS Identity and Access Management. Expect insights on everything from roles and temporary credentials to RBAC and federation — all grounded in real-world scenarios that work across today’s cloud environments. With over a decade of software engineering experience and a passion for cloud security, Roya will make IAM approachable, practical, and even fun! And that’s not all — we’ll wrap up with a live quiz to test your knowledge, and the winner takes home a Prezzee prize! 📍 Mantel Group: Level 2, 452 Flinders St, Melbourne 🗓️ 25th of September 5:30 pm RSVP now, spots are limited: https://lnkd.in/gAYuaSdT Thanks to our long-term supporters HAL Systems, Mantel and REA Group for sponsoring the event! #WomenInCloud #AWS #IAM #CloudSecurity #WomenInTech

It's only one week away. We'd really love to see you there!

Access management isn’t just about permissions — it’s about trust. Ever wondered how AWS IAM scales from simple user policies to enterprise-grade, federated identity models? Join us at the next Women in Cloud Australia meetup as Roya Aryanpad walks us through practical, real-world approaches to designing secure, scalable access with AWS Identity and Access Management. From roles and short-lived credentials to ABAC and federation, you’ll learn how to build access patterns that actually work across modern cloud environments. Roya brings over a decade of software engineering experience, a strong passion for cloud security, and a commitment to making IAM approachable and practical for everyone. 📍 Mantel Group: Level 2, 452 Flinders St, Melbourne 🗓️ 25th of September 5:30 pm RSVP now, spots are limited: https://lnkd.in/gAYuaSdT Thanks to our long-term supporters HAL Systems, Mantel and REA Group for sponsoring the event! #WomenInCloud #AWS #CloudSecurity #WomenInTech

✨ This evening, I had the chance to attend the Women in Cloud – Data Platform meetup, featuring an informative talk by Carine Oliveira how a data platform comes together at Easygo. Carine’s session really broke down the journey of building a modern data platform: 🔹 Start with the big picture – pick the solution that solves your current problem and evolve from there. 🔹 The puzzle pieces – understanding the five key layers that make up the platform. 🔹 Architecture principles – focusing on simplicity, alignment, and long-term resilience. Her key takeaways were ones I’ll carry forward in my own work: ✅ Keep it as simple as possible. ✅ Always stay business-aligned (not tech for tech’s sake). ✅ Automate tests early. ✅ Build reusable patterns. ✅ Keep evolving as the tech evolves. ✅ Treat data governance as a feature, not an afterthought. It was also great connecting with peers who are just as passionate about data and cloud. A big thank you to Easygo , Mantel Group, and REA Group for sponsoring such a valuable event, and to Carine Oliveira for such clear, practical insights. Looking forward to applying these learnings and continuing to grow in this space! 🚀 #WomenInCloud #DataPlatforms #DataEngineering #CloudComputing #Networking