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Andreas Botsikas

CTO @ PwC
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Speaker's Bio

Andreas Botsikas is the Chief Technology & AI Officer at PwC, leading the firm’s technology, AI, cybersecurity, and digital transformation strategy. He focuses on turning emerging technologies into trusted business capabilities that enhance efficiency, strengthen governance, and deliver measurable value. Previously, he headed PwC Greece’s Analytics & AI Hub, building a modern AI engineering practice and driving profitable growth through enterprise-grade solutions. Before PwC, Andreas spent over a decade at Microsoft in Azure, Data & AI, and Consulting Services, helping global organizations accelerate cloud adoption and modernize critical platforms. He holds a Ph.D. in Optimization and Artificial Intelligence from NTUA and is the author of the Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification Guide. His background spans research, engineering, consulting, and executive leadership, with a strong commitment to responsible AI and technology-enabled transformation.

Andreas Botsikas is the Chief Technology & AI Officer at PwC, leading the firm’s technology, AI, cybersecurity, and digital transformation strategy. He focuses on turning emerging technologies into trusted business capabilities that enhance efficiency, strengthen governance, and deliver measurable value. Previously, he headed PwC Greece’s Analytics & AI Hub, building a modern AI engineering practice and driving profitable growth through enterprise-grade solutions. Before PwC, Andreas spent over a decade at Microsoft in Azure, Data & AI, and Consulting Services, helping global organizations accelerate cloud adoption and modernize critical platforms. He holds a Ph.D. in Optimization and Artificial Intelligence from NTUA and is the author of the Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification Guide. His background spans research, engineering, consulting, and executive leadership, with a strong commitment to responsible AI and technology-enabled transformation.

2026
Software Craftmanship

Anyone Can Build: What Makes a Senior Engineer in the Age of AI?

Sat 21 Nov 2026 • 14:55 (CET) • Basic
Auditorium

AI is transforming software development, making coding, knowledge, and execution more accessible than ever. As AI evolves from a productivity tool into the interface between human intention and creation, a deeper question emerges: what does it mean to be a capable human in the age of AI?
When a junior engineer can achieve in hours what once required years of experience, what truly distinguishes a senior professional? Is it technical expertise, or the ability to exercise judgment, ownership, critical thinking, creativity, and empathy?

This panel explores how AI is reshaping careers, learning, leadership, and human value. Where does deep expertise still matter? What skills remain scarce when knowledge and execution become abundant? And how should developers, students, HR leaders, and CTOs prepare for a future where anyone can build, but not everyone can create value?

Audience takeaway: Understand how the definition of talent, expertise, and impact is changing, and what skills will matter most in the AI-native world.

Samantha Matsa Yiannis Kanellopoulos Andreas Botsikas Grigoris Lemonis
  • 13:50 - 14:40
  • Auditorium - Stage 2
  • Theme: Other

Lunch Break

  • 10:20 - 10:40
  • Auditorium
  • Theme: Tech with Impact

Day oppening: Impossible is Nothing

  • A discussion of building global success and how artificial intelligence is transforming the world.

A discussion of building global success and how artificial intelligence is transforming the world.

  • 16:15 - 16:25
  • Auditorium
  • Theme: Other

Closing

  • 16:00 - 16:15
  • Auditorium
  • Theme: Other

Hackathon Final Pitching

  • 15:40 - 16:00
  • Auditorium
  • Theme: Other

Open Award

  • 14:55 - 15:40
  • Auditorium
  • Theme: Software Craftmanship

Anyone Can Build: What Makes a Senior Engineer in the Age of AI?

  • AI is transforming software development, making coding, knowledge, and execution more accessible than ever. As AI evolves from a productivity tool into the interface between human intention and creation, a deeper question emerges: what does it mean to be a capable human in the age of AI? When a junior engineer can achieve in hours what once required years of experience, what truly distinguishes a senior professional? Is it technical expertise, or the ability to exercise judgment, ownership, critical thinking, creativity, and empathy? This panel explores how AI is reshaping careers, learning, leadership, and human value. Where does deep expertise still matter? What skills remain scarce when knowledge and execution become abundant? And how should developers, students, HR leaders, and CTOs prepare for a future where anyone can build, but not everyone can create value? Audience takeaway: Understand how the definition of talent, expertise, and impact is changing, and what skills will matter most in the AI-native world.

AI is transforming software development, making coding, knowledge, and execution more accessible than ever. As AI evolves from a productivity tool into the interface between human intention and creation, a deeper question emerges: what does it mean to be a capable human in the age of AI?
When a junior engineer can achieve in hours what once required years of experience, what truly distinguishes a senior professional? Is it technical expertise, or the ability to exercise judgment, ownership, critical thinking, creativity, and empathy?

This panel explores how AI is reshaping careers, learning, leadership, and human value. Where does deep expertise still matter? What skills remain scarce when knowledge and execution become abundant? And how should developers, students, HR leaders, and CTOs prepare for a future where anyone can build, but not everyone can create value?

Audience takeaway: Understand how the definition of talent, expertise, and impact is changing, and what skills will matter most in the AI-native world.

See the Full Agenda
  • 15:55-16:50
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Tags: #WordPress #web design #AI #MCP

Beyond the Prompt: Building AI-Powered WordPress Sites

  • Artificial intelligence is fundamentally revolutionising how we build apps, digital services, and websites. WordPress powers over 40% of the web and stands as the most robust, open, and flexible foundation for building modern websites. And it is fully AI-ready. In this fast-paced, hands-on workshop, we will dive into the practical core of combining these two powerhouses.

A hands-on workshop on using modern AI tools with WordPress for design, development, site management, and context-aware user experiences.

  • 14:50-15:45

Double trouble: AI and security, now and in the future

  • AI is transforming software development by changing the way applications are built and by redefining the skills expected from software professionals. As the development environment evolves from AI coding assistants into increasingly autonomous AI agents, one question becomes harder and harder to ignore: Will AI replace software developers, or fundamentally change their role? This interactive workshop is about you and your professional future. As AI permeates more business functions that have required human expertise, the big question still looms: Can – and will – AI replace you or will you manage to stay relevant and important? Join two experienced tech professionals, who are currently architecting and deploying next generation AI solutions, and will try to tackle this crucial topic for software engineers. Spiros and Konstantinos will present and debate what comes next, based on hard facts and realistic expectations rather than wishful thinking. By taking an active part in this interactive workshop, you’ll gain valuable insights while helping others prepare for the future. Through engaging discussions, practical scenarios, and audience participation, we’ll challenge assumptions, exchange perspectives, and explore how to stay relevant in an AI-driven industry.

An interactive workshop examines how AI coding assistants and autonomous agents are reshaping software development, developer roles, and the skills needed to remain relevant.

  • 12:50-13:45
  • Level: Basic
  • Tags: #AI-augmented #development #Agentic Engineering #Tailwind CSS #Next.js

Zero to MVP: Build & Deploy an Airbnb Clone with AI in 60 Minutes

  • The traditional barrier to entry for building software is gone. We have officially entered the era of “Vibecoding” and Agentic Engineering, where AI agents act as your personal development team, and your main job is to orchestrate them. In this highly interactive, 60-minute code-along workshop, we will demystify AI-Augmented Development. You don’t need months of tutorials to build a startup MVP. Together, we will build a functional booking platform UI (an “Airbnb clone”) from scratch using Next.js and Tailwind CSS, entirely guided by AI. Zero Setup Required: We will use browser-based AI IDEs (like Replit Agent or v0 by Vercel) so you can start building immediately without installing anything.

A 60-minute AI-guided workshop builds and deploys an Airbnb-style booking MVP with Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and browser-based AI IDEs.

  • 11:35-12:30
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Tags: #architecture leadership #architectural judgment

Architectural Katas: Practicing System Design

  • Architectural Katas were created by Ted Neward to solve a problem: architects rarely practice their craft. Most people design systems only a handful of times in their careers, so they never develop the judgment that comes from repetition. The kata format creates those practice opportunities. Teams work on realistic architectural problems, make design decisions, and defend those decisions when challenged. The learning happens when you see other teams solve the same problem differently and understand the assumptions behind each approach. We run these sessions at Epignosis because our engineers need that practice too. It’s one of the few ways to develop architectural judgment outside of production systems.

Architectural Katas give teams repeated practice designing systems, defending decisions, and learning from alternative approaches to develop architectural judgment.

  • 15:40-16:35
  • Level: Basic
  • Tags: #Lean #VerticalSlicing #IncrementalDelivery #ContinuousDelivery #Developers #TechLeads

Elephant Carpaccio: the art of thin slicing

  • Most features arrive late, break things, and hide complexity until it hurts. Branch deployments are a rigged game: merge early and you break things, merge late and integration becomes a nightmare. Whatever you do, you lose. The only way to win is to stop playing. Enter Elephant Carpaccio, a software development exercise that teaches vertical slicing, incremental delivery, and how to keep software deployable at all times. Instead of delivering the whole elephant at once, you learn to carve it into the thinnest possible slices: each one small, end-to-end, deployable, and providing visible progress. The goal isn’t to finish the feature. It’s to learn how to evolve software safely. If you’ve got PTSD from releases, this one’s for you. Disclaimer: No actual elephants will be harmed during this workshop.

A hands-on workshop using Elephant Carpaccio to practice vertical slicing, incremental delivery, and keeping software deployable through small end-to-end changes.

  • 14:35-15:30
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Tags: AI-Native Engineering

Context Engineering Workshop: Make the most out of your AI Tools

  • Most developers use AI coding tools like a search engine: type a question, hope for a good answer. But the teams getting real results are engineering the context: configuring system prompts, structuring project knowledge, and managing the AI’s working memory like a first-class architectural concern. This workshop is built around a real coding project. Participants will receive a small application to build – and throughout the session, they’ll apply each technique as they learn it, experiencing firsthand how context engineering transforms their AI’s output quality.

A hands-on workshop teaches context engineering for AI coding tools through prompts, project configuration, context management, and grounded retrieval.

See the Full Workshops Agenda