Hennie Francis
Cloud & Technology Strategist • AWS Community Builder • AWS User Group Leader • Technology Speaker • Mentor • 2x AWS Certified • 19x Microsoft Certified • MCT • Aviation Enthusiast
Cape Town, South Africa
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Residing in the vibrant city of Cape Town, South Africa, Hennie Francis is a driving force in the world of technology.
Hennie Francis is a highly experienced Cloud and Technology Strategist with over 20 years of commercial enterprise experience delivering transformative technology solutions. He involves himself with organizations to modernize platforms, solve complex challenges, and turn cloud strategy into measurable business impact.
He is the founder and driving force behind AWS Community South Africa. He is also an AWS Community Builder and AWS User Group Leader for the Cape Town cloud community. Known for his broad and deep technology expertise, Hennie operates comfortably across complex enterprise environments, bringing clarity, structure, and momentum to large-scale initiatives.
A seasoned keynote speaker and international presenter, Hennie has delivered both technical and non-technical talks on global stages, sharing practical engineering lessons, strategic insight, and real-world experience. His approach blends technical depth with authenticity — shaped by decades of building, scaling, and leading in fast-moving environments.
His core belief is that when you have a genuine passion for technology and a profound love for your daily work, it never truly feels like ''work''.
What truly ignites Hennie’s enthusiasm is the opportunity to learn something new, tackle challenges that look impossible at first glance, and fully immerse himself in technology. He thrives on growth, complex problems, and the energy of being surrounded by builders, thinkers, and innovators. Tech events are less “optional” and more “mission critical” in his calendar
When he’s not geeking out over cloud architecture or mentoring the next generation of technologists, Hennie is in the sky whenever possible. A true aviation enthusiast, he spends every spare moment he can flying, surrounded by jet engines, runways, and the precision of flight.
He is also a proud tech geek with a carefully curated collection of conference swag. In his defense, every hoodie has a story, every T-shirt represents a community, and somewhere in the cloud architect handbook, it clearly states: free swag is a performance bonus.
Hennie's impressive credentials include 3 AWS Certifications, AWS Community Builder, AWS User Group Leader and an astounding 19 Microsoft Certifications. He holds the prestigious titles of Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft Technology Specialist.
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Kiro: The AI Teammate That Doesn’t Break Prod
We’ve all seen the shiny AI demos on brand-new repos using Perfect prompts. Everything works first time with no edge cases, no legacy code and definitely no Friday deployments. In reality, that’s not how most of us live.
Most of us are dealing with systems that have long history. Code written three decades ago with functions nobody wants to touch. Tests that exist mostly in spirit and production environments that really don’t appreciate experimentation.
I’m going to show you how I use Kiro as a working engineer — not as a demo tool. We’ll walk through real scenarios: understanding a messy codebase, generating useful test coverage, refactoring safely, and speeding up development without turning your CI pipeline into a crime scene.
We’ll also look at where it gets things wrong, because it will (trust me). It’s fast, it’s helpful, and it’s very confident — even when it shouldn’t be. The goal isn’t to replace engineers. The goal is to reduce the boring parts of the job while keeping full control over what goes anywhere near production.
If you want to move faster without being the person who broke prod at 4:59pm on a Friday, this session is for you.
No hype or magic. Just practical lessons from someone who still double-checks everything before merging.
Decoupling HUGE monolithic systems for Dummies
Ready to break free from your monolithic system?
I’ll guide you through decoupling your monolith into smaller, more manageable components. You’ll learn practical steps to make the transition smoother, avoid common pitfalls, and ensure your system stays scalable.
This session focuses on actionable advice you can apply immediately. Whether you're starting your decoupling journey or looking to improve an existing process, you'll leave with the tools to create a more scalable and manageable system.
AI in Prod: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Everyone is rushing to get AI into production — using it to automate support, operations, incident response, and even decision-making.
But what really happens when AI stops being a cool demo and starts making real changes in live systems?
I'll share real stories — automations that ran wild at 3am, AI making wrong calls with absolute confidence, cost surprises that made finance cry, and what happens when you give an AI agent full admin access to a live environment.
Showcasing practical ways to safely deploy AI agents using selected services, covering governance, observability, cost control, and keeping humans in the loop where it matters.
You will not only learn why it's bad to give AI full admin access, but you will learn how to tame the beast safely and You’ll walk away with practical guidance on how to use AI safely — and keep both your systems and your sleep schedule intact.
Docs? I Hardly Know Her!
Developers hate writing documentation. So I made .NET 10 do it for me. In this session, I’ll show how a few lines of C# and some AI magic can make your README update itself every time you touch your code. No guilt, no outdated docs — just a lazy developer’s dream come true.
MAYDAY! Monkeys on the loose in Production!
Imagine a cheeky monkey running wild through your production environment, stirring up trouble just to see how your system holds up. Its mission? To throw everything at your app—unexpected crashes, random server shutdowns, network hiccups—just to see if it can stay standing when the chaos hits.
Unleash chaos, embrace the madness, and strengthen your system. Join me to see how intentional disruption can make your app more resilient. We’ll guide you through testing your system under pressure and using the results to build a more reliable, battle-hardened app ready for anything. 🐒💥
All aboard on the MCP Train
Ever wondered how some teams are building AI systems that are faster, cheaper, and more resilient?
Join me and I’ll walk you through the power of Model Context Platforms (MCP) and share why they’re becoming a game-changer. You’ll get insights on how MCP can boost your system’s efficiency, streamline workflows, and cut costs—plus, the challenges you need to watch out for.
Don’t miss out the chance to get on the MCP train! It could be the key in your AI strategy.
Is .NET Aspire really that inspiring?
Join me as we dive into the world of .NET Aspire and explore whether it lives up to its inspiring reputation. As a software engineer navigating the ever-evolving tech landscape, I’ll share my insights on the event's impact on professional growth, networking, and skill enhancement. From real-world experiences to key takeaways, we’ll uncover how .NET Aspire can empower developers to embrace innovation and elevate their careers. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, let’s discover together if this platform is the spark that ignites your passion for .NET development!
Navigating GitHub CoPilot: Piloting Your Code Safely
In today's day and age where GitHub CoPilot's new home is in your IDE, Engineers and Developers run the risk to hand over the controls over to GitHub CoPilot and just expect to run awesome code... well... that might not work out as expected.
Come hear why we never should trust the output of GitHub CoPilot, and always be in full control of your code's flight path! AI is here to help, not to take over!
AWS Secrets: How to read your cloud resources bedtime stories
Want to save big on your AWS bill? We found the secret: teach your resources to take naps! By using AWS scheduler to shut down and start resources in our non-production account, we cut our operational costs by over 50%.
Come hear the inside scoop from morning wake-up calls to start the day to night-night lullabies. This recipe will repeat and save you every day! Let your resources get their beauty sleep!
Infrastructure as Code: The Developer's Secret Weapon
In today's fast-paced world of software development, agility and efficiency are paramount. Developers are constantly seeking tools and practices that can help them deliver high-quality software quickly and reliably. Introducing Infrastructure as Code: The Developer's Secret Weapon. In this engaging presentation, we'll delve into the world of IaC and explore how it empowers developers to supercharge their productivity, streamline workflows, and elevate their impact on the development process.
Innovating at Scale: How Cloud is Redefining Business Success
Explore with me how cloud technologies are revolutionizing business innovation, enabling organizations to scale, adapt, and lead. This session will uncover how AWS tools like AI, machine learning, and serverless computing are transforming industries, offering practical insights into how to leverage cloud for continuous innovation and competitive advantage.
AWS EKS Masterclass: Enterprise EKS at Scale in FinTech
Running container platforms in Financial Services introduces a different class of challenges than initial deployment. While Amazon EKS provides a robust and scalable control plane, the complexity of operating it in a regulated environment emerges over time — driven by requirements from security teams, auditors, and regulators, as well as the need to support multiple development teams safely and efficiently.
This session focuses on lessons learned from operating EKS at scale in FinTech environments. We will explore how early architectural decisions around cluster topology, identity design, and workload isolation can significantly impact long-term operability, auditability, and risk posture.
From managing IAM and Kubernetes RBAC at scale, to implementing preventive controls through policy enforcement, and designing for audit-ready evidence across Git, CI/CD, and runtime systems — this talk provides a practical view of what it takes to move beyond Day One.
Attendees will gain insight into common failure modes, trade-offs between shared and isolated cluster models, and patterns that help establish clear boundaries, improve traceability, and reduce operational friction.
The goal is to provide a grounded, technical perspective on building and operating an EKS platform that meets the expectations of both engineering teams and regulatory stakeholders.
AWS re:Invent 2025 re:Cap 2026 Community Edition
This session is a community-focused re:Cap of AWS re:Invent 2025, cutting through the noise to focus on updates that actually impact builders, developers, and AWS partners.
Instead of rehashing announcements, we break down what these updates mean in practice — how you use them, where they fit, and why they matter.
🔹 Builders & Developer Experience
We start with the new AWS Builder Center, walking through how developers can sign up, what value it provides, and how it fits into the broader AWS ecosystem for learning, building, and showcasing skills.
🔹 Partner Updates
A strong focus on the AWS Partner ecosystem, including:
Partner Central now available directly in the AWS Console, improving visibility and day-to-day usability
IAM delegation for partners and Amazon, enabling better access control and collaboration models
🔹 Edge, Networking & Content Delivery
We explore JWT verification support in Application Load Balancer (ALB) — a practical improvement for modern architectures, especially around authentication at the edge without custom logic.
🔹 Analytics
A long-awaited usability improvement:
Viewing Kafka topics directly in the Amazon MSK Console, simplifying operations and visibility for streaming workloads
🔹 Application Integration & Serverless
AWS Lambda adds GA support for Rust, opening the door for high-performance, low-latency serverless workloads with strong memory safety guarantees
🔹 Developer Tools, Management & Governance
A mix of interesting shifts and improvements:
AWS CodeCommit returning to GA
Billing transfer support for AWS Organizations, improving cost management across accounts
Kiro reaching GA, and what that means for developers experimenting with new tooling
🔹 Security, Identity & Compliance
Updates around AWS login experience, simplifying authentication flows and improving usability across accounts and environments
🔹 What You’ll Walk Away With
A clear understanding of the most relevant re:Invent updates
Practical insight into where these features fit in real architectures
Awareness of changes that impact partners, developers, and platform teams
This is a builder-first, no-marketing re:Cap, designed to help you quickly understand what’s worth your time — and what you can start using immediately.
.NET Conf MSDUG South Africa 2024 Sessionize Event
WeAreDevelopers Live 2024 (Season 8) Sessionize Event
Season of AI JHB Sessionize Event
Season of AI CPT Sessionize Event
GDG Cape Town July Meet Up User group Sessionize Event
.NET Conf MSDUG South Africa 2023 Sessionize Event
Hennie Francis
Cloud & Technology Strategist • AWS Community Builder • AWS User Group Leader • Technology Speaker • Mentor • 2x AWS Certified • 19x Microsoft Certified • MCT • Aviation Enthusiast
Cape Town, South Africa
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