What Breaks First at Scale: Lessons from Real-World Distributed Systems

Hybrid event on Zoom and YouTube

If you want to join discussion remotely, you can submit questions via Zoom Q&A. The zoom link:
[https://acm-org.zoom.us/j/94932457090?pwd=SzCaJbWEJpzEpJl7wYa1aSrHa8G15r.1](https://acm-org.zoom.us/j/94932457090?pwd=SzCaJbWEJpzEpJl7wYa1aSrHa8G15r.1)
Join via YouTube:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=t15Ca-KblbE

AGENDA
6:30 pre-sign in to test and chat
**7:00** SFBayACM upcoming events, introduce the speaker
7:15 speaker presentation starts
8:15 – 8:30 finish, depending on Q&A

Join SF Bay ACM Chapter for an insightful discussion in person at VRP

**Abstract:**
As modern AI-powered and real-time applications grow, they increasingly rely on complex event-driven infrastructure. This session explores practical lessons learned from operating large-scale messaging and distributed systems in production. We will dive into the critical trade-offs regarding reliability, scalability, and observability in asynchronous environments, and discuss how architectural decisions compound when systems reach global scale.

**Speaker Bio:**
*Ajinkya Kher is an Engineering Manager at Meta and former Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft with over 15 years of experience building and leading large-scale distributed systems. Throughout his career, he has worked on highly scaled platforms, including real-time messaging platform powering Microsoft Teams & AI-powered experiences supporting hundreds of millions of users worldwide. At Meta, he leads engineering teams building youth-focused experiences across Facebook and Messenger, with a focus on trust and safety.*

*Ajinkya is currently authoring a book with Manning Publications on designing and operating event-driven systems in production. He previously authored a book on high-performance TypeScript programming and enjoys sharing practical lessons from building software at scale. Beyond his day-to-day work, he enjoys mentoring engineers and supporting technology and innovation programs that help develop future engineering leaders.*
**LinkedIn:** [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajinkyakher](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajinkyakher)
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