Kubecon EU was a wild ride, filled with exciting announcements, insightful talks, and countless networking opportunities. As an attendee and representative of Botkube, I had the privilege of observing the latest trends in the Kubernetes space, and I am thrilled to share my experience and my top five takeaways with you.

Botkube in Amsterdam 

What is Botkube? 

Botkube is a collaborative Chatops tool designed specifically for Kubernetes users. With Botkube, you can seamlessly receive and act on alerts directly within your preferred messaging and collaboration platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and Mattermost. This means you'll gain instant visibility and control over your cluster resources, all without ever having to leave your messaging platform. In addition, Botkube enables you to automate actions based on events, run kubectl and Helm commands, receive recommendations for best practices and much more.

The booth experience

For starters, I had the pleasure of meeting my Product Lead, Blair, and Product Designer, Lacho, in person for the first time- it was amazing!

But the real highlight of the event was getting to connect with hundreds of Kubernetes users and hearing their feedback on Botkube. It was also great to see Botkube users out in the wild. The invaluable insights we gained over the three days were incredibly helpful, and it was so exciting to hear how Botkube has been improving people’s troubleshooting process. Plus, we were able to brainstorm some fresh new ideas to take our product to the next level.

And just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we got a surprise visit from Kelsey Hightower, a true legend in the tech world. He stopped by our booth and gave us some praise on the product, which was an absolute thrill. He even shared some expert tips on how to elevate Botkube even further!

Kubecon was an absolute blast! From the stroopwafels to the awesome people, time just flew by. Though I admit, I was exhausted, the event was one for the books. It made me realize the power of community engagement and the value of feedback for improving your product.

The energy at Kubecon was electric, and I felt so grateful to be a part of it. I learned so much about Kubernetes and gained so much insight into what people really need from our product. 

Top Five Trends at Kubecon EU 

eBPF is Growing Like Crazy

One of the most significant trends I observed at Kubecon Amsterdam was the explosive growth of eBPF, a framework for running sandboxed programs inside the Linux kernel. In particular, Cilium seems to be leading the charge, and their innovative use of eBPF promises to revolutionize the security and network layers of Kubernetes. With eBPF, organizations can achieve unprecedented visibility into their infrastructure, making it easier to detect and mitigate threats before they become a problem.

Kubernetes Adoption is Through the Roof

It's no secret that Kubernetes is taking the world by storm, and Kubecon Amsterdam provided ample evidence of its popularity. With the biggest #kubecon in Europe to date, it's clear that both startups and enterprises alike have fully embraced Kubernetes. While there are certainly challenges involved in managing and scaling Kubernetes clusters, it's clear that the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Kubernetes for Developers 

While most attendees at Kubecon Amsterdam were ops professionals, the buzz on the street was all about how we can make developers more productive. The next developer productivity tool to hit the scene are developer portals. Port.ai, a new no-code platform for managing your software development lifecycle, was a major topic of discussion. By providing developers with a central hub for all their tools and services, Port.ai promises to streamline the development process and make it easier to onboard new team members.

Multi-Cloud & Hybrid

As more and more organizations move to the cloud, managing and scaling clusters across multiple providers has become a significant challenge. At Kubecon Amsterdam, I saw two approaches emerging: using tools like HashiCorp's Terraform or Crossplane to manage infrastructure, or using Kubernetes-native platforms like Rancher, Tanzuu, or Openshift. While there is still some debate over which approach is best, it's clear that multi-cloud and hybrid environments are here to stay.

GitOps is the New Normal

Last but certainly not least, GitOps was everywhere at Kubecon Amsterdam. I saw this trend at Socal Linux a few months ago.  Argo and Flux were the dominant players, but many organizations have developed their own GitOps workflows as well. By using Git as the single source of truth for your infrastructure, you can ensure that all changes are tracked and auditable, making it easier to roll back changes or diagnose issues. While GitOps is not a new trend, it's clear that it has become the standard for managing Kubernetes clusters. 

Looking to the Future

While these five trends were certainly the most significant takeaways from Kubecon Amsterdam, I also saw two other trends emerging that are worth keeping an eye on: stateful applications (such as databases and queues) and MLOps (machine learning operations). As the Kubernetes ecosystem continues to mature, it will be fascinating to see how these trends evolve and how they will impact the Kubernetes project in the future.

In conclusion, Kubecon Amsterdam was an incredible experience, and I am grateful to have been a part of it. With so many exciting trends emerging, the future of Kubernetes looks brighter than ever, and I cannot wait to see what the next conference has in store.

Sign up now

Get started with Botkube! Whether you're a seasoned Kubernetes pro or just getting started, Botkube has something to offer. Sign up now for free and join the community of users who are already benefiting from the power of Botkube. Don't miss out on this opportunity to streamline your K8s workflow and take your skills to the next level - try Botkube today.

Feedback

We welcome developers and Kubernetes enthusiasts to explore the platform and share their valuable feedback. We want to know what you think of Botkube and how we can make it even better. We're doing quick 15-minute interviews to get your feedback, and as a thank you, we'll give you some cool Botkube plushies and t-shirts and enter you into a raffle for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card! Don't miss this opportunity to have your say - just email maria@kubeshop.io or use this calendly link to sign up.

You can also talk to us in the Botkube GitHub issues, Botkube Slack community, or email our Product Leader at blair@kubeshop.io.