The past few weeks have been buzzing for the AWS community across the UK and Ireland. Between the AWS Community Summit in Manchester and AWS Cloud Day in Dublin, we’ve seen first-hand how practitioners, engineers, and leaders are shaping the next wave of serverless, AI, and cloud-native adoption.
1. Psychological Safety in the Age of AI
One of the most resonant themes was the need for psychological safety in engineering teams.
With the surge of AI tools, LLMs, and generative solutions, teams are under pressure to adopt quickly — sometimes without the guardrails. Dave Anderson highlighted the importance of creating an environment where engineers can challenge assumptions, ask hard questions, and avoid blindly applying AI to every problem.
Respectful challenge isn’t conflict — it’s how innovation stays grounded.
2. Event-Driven Architecture & Domain-Driven Design
Across both events, there was a strong return to software fundamentals. Talks on event-driven architecture (EDA) and domain-driven design (DDD) underlined the reality: before experimenting with AI, teams must get their foundations right.
Good schemas, clear boundaries, and solid system design reduce the blast radius when adopting new tech. As Mark McCann put it: AI can be a superpower — but only on top of a strong, well-architected platform.
3. Modernisation Beyond Code
Modernisation isn’t always about rewriting software.
Speakers at Manchester and Dublin stressed the value of remodelling systems, strengthening APIs, and creating modular architectures that align with business outcomes. This echoes the shift from code-first thinking to design-first and spec-driven development.
In fact, GitHub’s SpecKit and AWS-focused tools like Kira and Bmad are pushing this back into the mainstream.
4. The Reality of AI in the Enterprise
Despite the hype cycle, AI adoption in production remains early.
Enterprises are experimenting, but questions remain around:
- Security (e.g. OWASP LLM Top 10)
- Repeatability and consistency
- Testing and confidence in production
The consensus? It’s fine to explore — but don’t let AI replace the fundamentals of resilient engineering and system design.
5. AWS Cloud Day Dublin & Bedrock AgentCore
At AWS Cloud Day Dublin 2025, the spotlight was firmly on agents and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore.
This relatively new service enables organisations to experiment with agent-based systems, opening up conversations about agentic user experiences and how we interact with software beyond screens and APIs.
It’s still early, but the direction is clear: agents will reshape cloud-native applications.
6. The Power of Community
Both Manchester and Dublin proved the same point: community accelerates learning.
With so much change in cloud, AI, and serverless, no single company or individual has all the answers. The fastest way to stay ahead is by connecting with peers, sharing experiments, and learning what’s working (and what’s not).
As Dave noted: “Anyone who says they’ve got it all figured out is making it up. Everyone’s learning in real-time.”
Final Thoughts
The AWS Community Summit Manchester 2025 and AWS Cloud Day Dublin 2025 were more than just events — they were snapshots of where cloud-native engineering is heading.
👉 Get the fundamentals right.
👉 Build environments where engineers can speak up.
👉 Experiment with AI, but don’t let hype override design.
👉 And above all — keep learning from the community.
🔗 Resources & Mentions
The Serverless Edge GitHub – SCORP: https://github.com/ServerlessEdge/SCORP
Amazon Bedrock & AgentCore: https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/
Event Catalogue: https://eventcatalog.dev/