Spring AI Lands at Tampa JUG as Data and AI Meetups Stack the Week
RCThe week leans hard into AI and data, with Dan Vega bringing Spring AI to the Tampa Java User Group on Wednesday — a rare chance to see one of Spring's most visible advocates walk through building intelligent apps on the JVM. Around it, the Data Analytics & AI Tampa Bay crew and Tampa Bay Data Engineering Group anchor a busy midweek, and Tampa Bay Wave opens its 2026 Tech|X cohort to the community Thursday in Ybor. If you build with AI, work in data, or want a window into the next accelerator class, this is a week to clear the calendar.
The Week Ahead
| Event | When | Host |
|---|---|---|
| TBDEG - Data Engineering Lifecycle Monthly open discussion walking through the data engineering lifecycle end-to-end. | Mon, Jun 8, 6:00 PM ET | Tampa Bay Data Engineering Group |
| Building Intelligent Applications with Spring AI Dan Vega on wiring AI into Spring apps — food, networking, and a deep technical talk for Java developers. | Wed, Jun 10, 5:30 PM ET | Tampa Java User Group |
| Data Analytics & AI - Tampa Bay - June MEETUP USF Muma's monthly gathering for analytics and AI practitioners, hosted by Dr. Tom Stablein. | Wed, Jun 10, 6:00 PM ET | Data Analytics & AI - Tampa Bay |
| 2026 Tech|X Accelerator Welcome Reception Meet the incoming Tech|X cohort at Lion's World Vision Institute in Ybor City. | Thu, Jun 11, 5:30 PM ET | Tampa Bay Wave |
| Topic: Agents - OpenClaw and Hermes Working session on agent frameworks OpenClaw and Hermes with two tentative speakers. | Wed, Jun 17, 6:00 PM ET | Tampa AI Applications Meetup Group |
| Design Hangout @ New World Brewery Casual designer hangout — drinks, shop talk, no agenda. | Thu, Jun 18, 6:00 PM ET | Tampa Bay Designers (Formerly Tampa Bay UX) |
| Vibe Coding with Claude: Getting Started Four-hour paid intro to building with Claude on a Saturday morning in Tampa. | Sat, Jun 20, 9:00 AM ET | Tampa AI Applications Meetup Group |
| TBDEG - Pipes, Pipes, Pipes Building trustworthy data pipelines in 2026 — patterns, pitfalls, and open discussion. | Mon, Jun 22, 6:00 PM ET | Tampa Bay Data Engineering Group |
Editor's notes
The signal this week is convergence: AI tooling is no longer a side conversation at the data and Java meetups — it's the headline. Spring AI on Wednesday, agents talk the following week, and a June meetup from Data Analytics & AI Tampa Bay all point at the same thing: practitioners are past the demo phase and into the "how do we actually ship this" phase.
That's why Building Intelligent Applications with Spring AI is the one to clear your calendar for. Dan Vega doesn't come through Tampa often, and Spring AI is the kind of framework that quietly becomes load-bearing in a lot of enterprise Java shops over the next year. Get the talk, stay for the bar conversation after — that's where the real questions get asked.
Beyond the AI thread, Thursday's Tech|X Welcome Reception at Lion's World Vision Institute is your annual look at who Tampa Bay Wave just bet on. If you're founder-curious, investor-adjacent, or just want a read on what the ecosystem thinks is fundable in 2026, Ybor on Thursday evening is the room to be in.
One housekeeping note for the women-in-tech crowd: Women in Tech & Entrepreneurship has chapter happy hours stacking up across Florida over the next two weeks — Ft. Myers, Gainesville, Ft. Lauderdale, then Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Palm Beach. The table has the Tampa-relevant ones; check WTE directly if you're traveling.