TechConnect Blog — SoCal Tech Forum

5/29/26

AI's impact on product design

Andy Oliva returned to the TechConnect Podcast to continue a conversation we started six months ago around digital employees, AI agents, and the changing role of software. Andy is the founder of Lucky Day Labs, a creative AI agency he describes as an AI transformation partner for companies trying to understand strategy, build AI-enabled products, and adapt their processes as the technology moves quickly. He is also a forum leader in OpenAI's official forums and an ambassador for HeyGen. In this episode, our discussion focused on how AI is reshaping product design, why software companies need to rethink the way users interact with products, and what developers, founders, and teams should understand about building for an AI-native future.

10/24/25

Two Years of the SoCal Tech Forum: Building Community, Driving Innovation, and Looking Ahead

What began as a small local meetup has grown into a thriving community of more than 600 members, dozens of events, and a growing influence across Southern California's tech landscape. We've become the largest and most consistent technology forum in the Inland Empire, hosting monthly meetups, workshops, and podcast episodes that bring together developers, engineers, founders, and innovators from across the region; even from Los Angeles and Orange County.

9/30/25

How Disruptive Tech Is Rewiring Digital Marketing

Marketing's most visible surface area is still advertising, and AI is already changing the pace and the palette. For small and midsize brands—think two to a hundred million in annual revenue—the fantasy that AI will let you “replace the team” is just that. You still need the crew, the software, and the shared rhythm of feedback and approvals. What AI gives you is throughput. With a team of seven on a modest account, we can now create three to four times the creative volume we did before, craft sharper offers, explore more angles, and test harder and faster. You don't throw out the playbook; you run more plays.

8/15/25

Ten Vibe Coding Habits for Faster, Better Results

Vibe coding is about building software in a conversational, collaborative flow with AI tools. Instead of spending hours writing code line-by-line, you work side-by-side with AI models to quickly prototype, iterate, and refine solutions. But just like any creative process, your results depend on how you approach it. Without a plan, you can end up stuck, going in circles, or producing code that works today but fails tomorrow.

6/30/25

The Future of Game Development: A Perspective from Survios

At Survios, we cut our teeth on immersive VR titles like Creed: Rise to Glory and, most recently, Alien: Rogue Incursion. While we remain deeply invested in VR, we're now expanding that expertise into traditional “flat screen” games for platforms like PlayStation 5 and Steam. Developing for VR presents unique challenges—designing for immersion, intuitive motion controls, and user comfort in an entirely new medium. Flat screen development, by contrast, allows us to reach a broader audience in a well-established market, where players expect polish, graphical fidelity, and genre familiarity. The opportunity—and the challenge—is in striking a balance between meeting those expectations and bringing fresh, innovative ideas born from our VR roots.

5/28/25

The Future of Coding: AI Agents, Vibe Coding, and the Rise of the Developer-Manager

In 2025, most of my code is generated by AI; through agents that feel more like collaborators than tools. Not just code snippets or boilerplate, but full-scale APIs, data-driven dashboards, context-aware code generation, and design-level planning with intelligent agents that remember, reason, and respond to intent. Let me walk you through how I got here, what's changed in my workflow, and what I've learned along the way.

4/30/25

Powering the Future: Lessons from Two Decades in the Utility Industry

When people flip on a light switch, they rarely think about what makes it possible. Behind that simple act is one of the most complex and fascinating engineering and operational feats of modern civilization: the electric utility value chain. After 20 years in the industry—first as a technologist and now as a strategic delivery leader—I've witnessed firsthand how technology is reshaping utilities, and I'm excited to share these insights with the next generation of innovators.

3/31/25

Design Work With AI

Dan Harris shares how design and product work is changing with a new generation of AI tools and why this feels like it will be a great time to be a designer or product creator.

2/26/25

A Developer's Guide to Neurotechnology and Brain-Computer Interfaces

Neurotech is a rapidly evolving field with applications in healthcare, gaming, wellness tracking, and even superhuman augmentation. As software developers, we now have an unprecedented opportunity to shape the future of human-computer interaction. By integrating brainwave data into applications, we can unlock innovative user experiences that go beyond screens, keyboards, and voice commands. This blog post provides a developer-focused overview of Neurotechnology and BCIs, explaining what they are, how they work, the tools available, and how you can get started in this exciting domain.

1/30/25

The Power of Genomics: Current Applications and the Road Ahead

Genomics is the study of the genome—the complete set of genetic information in an organism, including its DNA and all its genes. This genetic code serves as the blueprint for life, containing instructions for growth, development, and function. Advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology have revolutionized the field, enabling us to convert physical DNA into digital data at unprecedented speed and scale. With this data, we can uncover insights about biology that were once unimaginable.

1/3/25

Lessons from 10 Years in Tech: Interviewing Advice for Software Developers

After spending a decade at Amazon and AWS, working on mobile apps and Amazon QuickSight, Brian Stein has been through countless interviews—both as a candidate and as a hiring manager. The tech interview landscape has changed over the years, but the fundamentals remain largely the same. Whether you're preparing for your first technical interview or striving to refine your approach, these insights can help you.