Workshops and Live Panels from PlatformCon 2024: Hands-On Learning and Interactive Discussions

PlatformCon 2024’s workshops and live panels offered invaluable opportunities for hands-on learning and engaging discussions. The highly sought-after workshops showcased the strong demand for interactive training, while the live panels provided collaborative spaces for exploring current trends and the future of platform engineering.

Workshops: Deep Dives into Essential Tools and Techniques

1. Mastering Cilium, Tetragon & eBPF:

Raphaël Pinson & Dean Lewis (Isovalent) led a hands-on exploration of Cilium and its ecosystem, addressing networking, observability, and security challenges in service meshes using interactive examples and eBPF-based tools.

2. Rapid Prototyping: Building a Minimum Viable Platform (MVP) in 2 Hours:

Mathieu Benoit (Humanitec) guided participants through building an MVP for their platform engineering projects, focusing on rapid value creation and demonstrating immediate benefits to stakeholders.

3. Scaling Your IDP with Automation and Standardization:

Clemens Jütte (Humanitec) covered fundamental principles for building and scaling IDPs using automation and standardization to minimize manual maintenance and reduce operational overhead.

4. Creating a GitOps-Enabled Open-Source Playground:

John Dietz & Jared Edwards (Kubefirst) introduced a GitOps-based setup for establishing a secure and interactive open-source playground for exploring platform tools.

5. Streamlining Cloud Deployments with Backstage:

Jim McVea & Anthony Watson (AWS) showed how to use Backstage to build cloud applications, even without extensive cloud-native expertise, simplifying cloud deployments.

6. Implementing GitOps with OpenTofu and Terramate on GitHub Actions:

Sören Martius (Terramate) guided participants through creating a TACOS (Terraform Automation and Collaboration Software) workflow using OpenTofu, Terramate, and GitOps on GitHub Actions.

7. Deploying LLM Agent Applications with KusionStack:

Forest Chen & Dayuan Li (Ant Group) provided a deep dive into deploying and managing LLM Agent applications using KusionStack on Kubernetes, covering its architecture, methodologies, and functionalities.

Live Panels: Engaging Discussions with Industry Experts

1. Building Secure Platforms: DevSecOps and Platform Engineering:

This panel, featuring Alan Shimel (Techstrong Group), Bryan Finster (Defense Unicorns), Hila Fish, Hope Lynch (CloudBees), and Paul Nashawaty (Futurum Group), explored integrating security into development practices and the foundational role of DevSecOps and platform engineering in enterprise security.

2. The Interplay of Platform Engineering and AI:

Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman (Silk), Ryan Murray (Thoughtworks), Sandra Borda (Mercado Libre), and Chiradeep Vittal examined the impact of AI on platform engineering, including how generative AI is transforming IDPs and automating complex tasks.

3. Best Practices in Platform Engineering: Actionable Advice:

Luca Galante (Humanitec), Joseph Sambuco (UKG), Anna Ciula, André Alfter (Bechtle), and Nicki Watt (OpenCredo) shared key takeaways and actionable advice for platform engineers at all levels.

4. A Q&A with Kelsey Hightower and Kaspar von Grünberg:

This highly anticipated Q&A session with Kaspar von Grünberg (Humanitec) and Kelsey Hightower addressed audience questions, offering insights into the future of platform engineering.

5. Top Trends in Platform Engineering in 2024:

Luca Galante (Humanitec), Ajay Chankramath (Thoughtworks), Cansu Kavili Örnek (Red Hat), and James Brookbank (Google) discussed the most significant trends shaping platform engineering and offered predictions for the coming years.

6. Measuring the Impact of Platform Engineering:

Heather Joslyn (The New Stack), Mallory Haigh (Humanitec), Vilas Veeraraghavan (Truckstop), Nathen Harvey (Google Cloud), and Steve Pereira (Visible) explored the transformative impact of platform engineering on developer experience, productivity, and time-to-market.

7. Measuring Developer Productivity: Real-World Examples and Best Practices:

Jennifer Riggins, Abby Bangser (Syntasso), Kathryn Koehler (Netflix), Helen Greul (Spotify), and Akshaya Aradhya (Knighted) discussed developer productivity metrics and shared best practices for measurement and improvement.

PlatformCon 2024's workshops and live panels provided unparalleled opportunities for hands-on learning and engaging discussions, equipping attendees with the practical skills and insights necessary to excel in the dynamic field of platform engineering. These sessions highlighted the cutting-edge tools, methodologies, and trends shaping the future of the industry.

Workshops and Live Panels from PlatformCon 2024: Hands-On Learning and Interactive Discussions

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PlatformCon 2024’s Workshops and Live panels provided a wealth of hands-on experiences and real-time discussions, bringing the latest tools, methodologies, and trends to life. The Workshops were fully booked, showcasing high demand for interactive learning in platform engineering. Meanwhile, Live panels offered a collaborative space for platform engineers to explore trends, share insights, and discuss the future of the discipline. Here’s an overview of the top sessions.

Workshops: Hands-On Training and Skill Building

1. Exploring the World of Cilium: A Hands-On Workshop on Cilium, Tetragon & eBPF

   • Instructors: Raphaël Pinson & Dean Lewis, Isovalent
   • Description: This workshop delved into Cilium and its related projects to address networking, observability, and security challenges in service mesh environments. Participants learned through interactive examples to integrate Cilium with eBPF-based observability tools.

2. Build a Minimum Viable Platform (MVP) in 2 Hours

   • Instructor: Mathieu Benoit, Humanitec
   • Description: Attendees learned to create an MVP for their platform engineering projects, emphasizing rapid value creation with “golden paths” that showcase immediate benefits to stakeholders.

3. Best Practices in Infrastructure Platform Engineering

   • Instructor: Clemens Jütte, Humanitec
   • Description: This workshop covered the fundamentals of building and scaling an IDP with automation and standardization, aimed at reducing manual maintenance and ticket operations.

4. Building an OSS Playground in 1 Command

   • Instructors: John Dietz & Jared Edwards, Kubefirst
   • Description: Dietz and Edwards introduced a GitOps-enabled setup for creating an open-source playground, offering a safe environment for participants to explore platform tools interactively.

5. Build Runtime Environments and Deploy Applications in the Cloud with Backstage

   • Instructors: Jim McVea & Anthony Watson, AWS
   • Description: Using Backstage, participants built cloud applications without extensive cloud-native knowledge, learning to leverage Backstage for streamlined cloud deployments.

6. GitOps with OpenTofu and Terramate on GitHub Actions

   • Instructor: Sören Martius, Terramate
   • Description: Martius guided participants through building a TACOS (Terraform Automation and Collaboration Software) workflow using OpenTofu, Terramate, and GitOps principles on GitHub Actions.

7. Deep Dive: Delivering and Managing an LLM Agent Application with KusionStack

   • Instructors: Forest Chen & Dayuan Li, Ant Group
   • Description: This deep dive explored how to deploy and manage LLM Agent applications using KusionStack on Kubernetes, covering KusionStack’s architecture, methodologies, and core functionalities.

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Live Panels: Real-Time Expert Discussions

1. DevSecOps and Platform Engineering: The Recipe to Sleep Well at Night?

   • Panelists: Alan Shimel (Techstrong Group), Bryan Finster (Defense Unicorns), Hila Fish, Hope Lynch (CloudBees), Paul Nashawaty (Futurum Group)
   • Description: This panel covered integrating security into development practices, discussing how DevSecOps and platform engineering provide a solid security foundation for enterprises.

2. Platform Engineering and AI – How They Impact Each Other

   • Panelists: Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman (Silk), Ryan Murray (Thoughtworks), Sandra Borda (Mercado Libre), Chiradeep Vittal
   • Description: Experts examined the impact of AI on platform engineering, highlighting how generative AI shapes IDPs and helps automate complex tasks.

3. Best Practices in Platform Engineering

   • Panelists: Luca Galante (Humanitec), Joseph Sambuco (UKG), Anna Ciula, André Alfter (Bechtle), Nicki Watt (OpenCredo)
   • Description: This discussion highlighted platform engineering best practices gathered from the week’s sessions, providing actionable advice for platform engineers at all stages.

4. Platform Engineering Q&A with Kelsey Hightower and Kaspar von Grünberg

   • Panelists: Kaspar von Grünberg (Humanitec), Kelsey Hightower
   • Description: In this highly anticipated Q&A, Hightower and von Grünberg addressed audience questions, providing their perspectives on platform engineering’s future and strategic growth.

5. What’s Hottest in Platform Engineering (and at PlatformCon) in 2024

   • Panelists: Luca Galante (Humanitec), Ajay Chankramath (Thoughtworks), Cansu Kavili Örnek (Red Hat), James Brookbank (Google)
   • Description: This closing panel recapped the event’s top trends, discussing what’s driving innovation in platform engineering and what to anticipate in the coming years.

6. The Impact of Platform Engineering

   • Panelists: Heather Joslyn (The New Stack), Mallory Haigh (Humanitec), Vilas Veeraraghavan (Truckstop), Nathen Harvey (Google Cloud), Steve Pereira (Visible)
   • Description: This session explored platform engineering’s transformative impact on developer experience, productivity, and time-to-market.

7. Measuring Developer Productivity IRL

   • Panelists: Jennifer Riggins, Abby Bangser (Syntasso), Kathryn Koehler (Netflix), Helen Greul (Spotify), Akshaya Aradhya (Knighted)
   • Description: Panelists discussed developer productivity metrics and real-world examples, offering best practices for measuring and improving productivity.

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PlatformCon 2024’s Workshops and Live panels emphasized practical learning and expert insights, equipping attendees with hands-on skills and actionable strategies to drive platform engineering success. These sessions highlighted the essential tools, methodologies, and trends shaping the future of platform engineering.