UUIDs and levelling up
5:10pm Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026

Talks

The ID Problem Nobody Talks About (Until It's Too Late)

Gordon Chan — Staff Software Engineer at Buildkite

Every Rails app starts with id: integer. It works, until it doesn’t. In this talk, we’ll trace the evolution of database identifiers from humble sequential integers to the emerging UUIDv7 standard. Along the way, we’ll unpack why UUIDv4, despite being widely used, can quietly destroy your write performance.

Drawing from Buildkite’s journey, you’ll hear how we went from a dual-key system (integers + UUIDs) to UUIDv7 as the primary key for all new tables. You’ll also hear war stories along the way, including how we bought ourselves more time with 32-bit integers by using negative IDs.

Whether you’ve never thought twice about database identifiers, or you’re mid-way through sharding a Postgres database, this talk has something for you.

Slides ↗ Recording ↗

Senior to Staff

Thong Kuah — Principal Engineer at GitLab

Ready to move beyond Senior but not into management? Thong sets out a practical framework for aspiring Staff engineers, and current ones. Learn how to demonstrate Staff-level impact in your role, and how to increase your impact as Staff+.

Slides ↗ Recording ↗

Details

Come along to Ruby Wellington - it’s a chance to learn together then share some pizza and a drink together!

Everyone is welcome - whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned professional! While we’re primarily a Ruby/Rails meetup, many of the topics will be applicable to all tech stacks.

Schedule
- 5:00pm Doors open
- 5:20pm Introduction & Job Openings
- 5:30pm The ID Problem Nobody Talks About — Gordon Chan
- ~6:15pm Senior to Staff — Thong Kuah
- 7:00pm Food + Drinks
Location
Hnry, Level 2/45 Johnston Street, Wellington
Access
Access is through Johnson St and the office is wheelchair accessible (via lifts). The Hnry team will have someone helping you into the office.
Supported by
Hnry
Hnry is New Zealand’s largest tax automation and accounting service, just for sole traders - like a business account and an accountant that also pays your taxes. They have a Wellington based engineering team and are currently hiring for roles at various levels, as well as being keen to hear expressions of interest from great people!

Hnry Website ↗
Organised by
Jordan Crawford

Meetup page ↗

About Ruby Wellington

Ruby Wellington is an in-person meetup which runs about five times a year in the Wellington CBD.
Ruby and it's associated ecosystem is our primary focus but our topics tend to be broad and appeal to a wide audience - everyone is welcome!

We record most talks and put them on the Ruby Wellington YouTube channel within about a week.

See all recordings →

For upcoming announcements and to RSVP, please join the event through Meetup.com and chat with us in the #meetup-wellington channel in the Ruby Oceania Slack.

About Ruby Wellington →

Code of Conduct

At Ruby Wellington events we expect attendees to follow the Ruby NZ code of conduct.

Ruby NZ Code of Conduct ↗