As I entered the Pasadena Convention Center for the Southern California Linux Expo, I felt a buzz in the air that set this event apart from others I'd attended before. This time, I was there to represent Botkube solo, which brought an added level of excitement.

First Day - GitOps Workshops

On the first day of the event, I attended a GitOps workshop hosted by the Kubernetes Community Day. In simple terms, GitOps is a development methodology that uses a Git repository as the source of truth to manage and deploy applications and infrastructure. It automates the deployment process by using tools to trigger changes whenever there are updates to the Git repository. GitOps has become increasingly popular because of its ability to streamline the deployment process. This was reflected in the wide variety of attendees at the GitOps event. There were people from all sorts of industries and levels of Kubernetes proficiency in attendance. We are all tied together by our desire to learn more about GitOps deployment and an absence of plans on a Thursday afternoon. It was beginner-friendly, requiring only a laptop, a GitHub account, and a desire to learn more about GitOps. Although I had a basic understanding of GitOps development, I had never worked with it in a hands-on environment. But after just three hours, I was able to walk away with an intermediate understanding of how to use Flux and deploy a Go app successfully. Throughout the workshop, we went through topics like granting permissions, working with GitHub Actions, and creating alerts for events.

During the workshop; I gained a deeper appreciation for the practical benefits of using Botkube. Manually setting up web hooks for slack alerts can be a tedious and downright frustrating task, especially when you're dealing with large-scale projects. Its streamlined approach to slack alerts is intuitive and user-friendly, making it a valuable tool to have in your arsenal. However, the most important thing I took away from the workshop was a sense of empowerment. It reminded me of the feeling I had when I first installed Botkube - that I could achieve more than I thought possible. A Flux integration is definitely in the cards for my upcoming Botkube plug-in development series.

Second Day - Helping the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) Booth

The following day, I took up my position at the CNCF booth, armed with stickers, Legos, and a deep passion for open source. While working at the booth, I had the opportunity to observe the state of the community and the latest trends. Unlike other exhibitors, I wasn't there to sell anything, which allowed me to take a step back and analyze the bigger picture. One trend that caught my attention was the continued strength of the Argo and Flux communities. These platforms are helping to make continuous deployment more accessible to developers of all skill levels. This reinforces my belief that GitOps and platform engineering are here to stay and will only become more important in the years to come.

I also noticed that security remained at the forefront of everyone's minds. Talks on supply chain security and role-based access control (RBAC) were particularly well-attended. This further emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity in the cloud native space.

Conclusion

Beyond my community research, I had a blast connecting with other members of the tech community at SCaLE 20x. One standout encounter was with a high school robotics team that had developed an open-source streaming server. I was truly impressed by their ingenuity and dedication to the craft, and it was a great reminder that the future of open source is in good hands.

Overall, despite the rainy weather, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at SCaLE 20x and am eagerly looking forward to what Kubecon EU has in store!