For our early September meetup we are pleased to welcome to the LSCC community, Senior Software Developer and Agile Coach Kirill Boiarkin who will share his ideas and talk to us about: **Soft Skills in the age of AI** Soft Skills aren't a very popular subject in the IT universe, and with the rise of AI they are being neglected even more. They are often overlooked during computer science education - thus being an important lesson that many of us never had. But the focus on mastering tools without developing the skills to use those tools effectively within a team often leads to missed opportunities for career growth, project failures, and avoidable mistakes. This talk highlights why Soft Skills are needed for IT-professionals, especially now, when AI gets more and more powerful. It explores what limitations does the AI have in the context of Soft Skills, and offers plenty of practical tips for Soft Skills to improve your day-to-day teamwork. The talk goes beyond generic suggestions - in the relaxed and entertaining manner Kirill will present interesting perspectives based not only on his own experience, but also on many books, articles, conference talks and observations that he had over two decades of dealing with software and people. Everybody, from junior to senior developer, devops, QA, PO, manager will find some useful and possibly even eye-opening ideas in this talk. Agenda: 6:00-6:30pm - arrival, drinks, pizza and networking 6:30-6:45pm - introduction to the evening by Aman Panesar, LSCC Leader 6:45-7:30pm - talk by Kirill Boarkin 7:30-8pm - Wrap up, further discussions and networking **About Kirill:** Kirill Boiarkin is a Senior Software Developer, Agile Coach at Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, based in Hamburg, Germany. Kirill holds a Master's degree in Computer Science and has 18 years of development experience across 6 different companies, working on outsource and in-house projects, startups and legacy systems, backend, frontend, desktop, and mobile apps. He has seen how teams are built and evolve, projects succeed and fail, team members and management make right and wrong decisions with the corresponding outcomes. Along the way, he took many notes on what worked and what didn't, and now it's time to share them. [LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirill-boiarkin-a9b44549/) \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- This is a great chance to get new perspectives, discuss ideas with your peers and make new connections! All levels welcome - no need to bring your laptop as this is a non hands-on session. **Food and Drinks** Pizza and drinks will be provided upon arrival sponsored by [Codurance](https://www.codurance.com/), the global software consultancy, with vegetarian and vegan options available.
