DevOps is a fast moving space, so whether conferences are held virtually or in person, it's important that you participate to keep up.
You'll find the traditional educational and networking opportunities here. But attending DevOps conferences will also help you expand your skills, stay on top of the latest trends in DevOps, and hear from experts in the field.
Mark your calendars. Here's TechBeacon's shortlist of the most popular DevOps conferences of 2021.
February
Agile, Testing & DevOps: The Evolving Scene
Twitter: @UNICOMSeminars
Web: conference.unicom.co.uk/adt2021/feb1/
Date: February 10-11
Location: Virtual
Cost: £95 to £295, plus VAT
This event is mainly focused on participants from Europe and the United States. Topics to be covered include DevOps and continuous integration testing, agile software testing, behavior-driven development, cloud-based performance testing, agile test management, and web services testing.
Who should attend: Anyone interested in the business value of DevOps, as well as developers, DevOps engineers, operations professionals, security professionals, and software architects
DevOps Days
Twitter: @devopsdays / #devopsdays
Web: devopsdays.org
Dates: Various, from February to September
Locations: Various locations worldwide (some virtual)
Cost: Varies
DevOps Days is a worldwide community conference series for anyone interested in IT improvement. The series, which began in Ghent, Belgium, in 2009, is run by volunteers whose target audience is front-line engineers and their managers. Since the sponsoring group is decentralized, local organizers handle their own sponsorships, registration, and all other management tasks. For questions about a specific event, contact local organizers.
Who should attend: Developers, operations professionals, and managers
SKILup Day: Cloud Native and Serverless
Twitter: #SKILupDay
Web: https://devopsinstitute.com/cns-2021/
Date: February 25
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Cloud native and serverless is an approach to building and running applications that exploits the advantages of the cloud computing delivery model. This one-day virtual micro-conference discusses how cloud native and serverless development is about how applications are created and deployed, not where. Join on the event day to interact with other attendees, meet the speakers and visit booths in the expo hall.
Who should attend: Any DevOps or IT professional looking to connect with other DevOps humans, hear from industry leaders and/or advance their ‘how-to’ knowledge around the topic of Cloud Native and Serverless.
March
Microsoft Ignite
Twitter: @MS_Ignite / #MSIgnite
Web: microsoft.com/en-us/ignite
Date: March 2-4
Locations: Virtual
Cost: Free with registration
Microsoft Ignite is for IT pros, decision makers, implementers, architects, developers, and data professionals to explore the latest tools, receive deep technical training, and get questions answered by Microsoft experts. Ignite covers architecture, deployment, implementation and migration, development, operations and management, security, access management and compliance, and usage and adoption.
Who should attend: Developers, technical team leads, software architects, engineering directors, and project managers
SKILup Day: Value Stream Management
Twitter: #SKILupDay
Web: https://devopsinstitute.com/vsm-2021/
Date: March 18
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Value Stream Management is a combination of people, process, and technology that maps, optimizes, visualizes, and governs business value flow (including epics, stories, work items) through heterogeneous enterprise software delivery pipelines. This one-day virtual micro-conference will focus on the ‘how-to’ aspects of Value Stream Management. Join on the event day to interact with other Humans of DevOps, meet the speakers, and visit booths in the expo hall.
Who should attend: Any DevOps or IT professional looking to connect with other DevOps humans, hear from industry leaders and/or advance their ‘how-to’ knowledge around the topic of Value Stream Management.
DevOps Talk Conference
Twitter: @DevOpsTalks
Web: devops.talksplus.com/au/devops.html
Date: March 25-26
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Cost: A$878.90 to A$1,013.63
The DevOps Talks Conference brings together DevOps leaders, engineers, and architects who are implementing DevOps principles and practices in both startups and enterprises. Attendees run complex technical and cultural DevOps transformations for large and medium-size organizations.
Who should attend: DevOps leaders, engineers, and architects
April
DevOpsCon London
Twitter: @devops_con / #DevOpsCon
Web: devopscon.io/london/devopscon-london-hybrid-edition/
Date: April 20-23
Location: Hybrid: London, UK, and virtual
Cost: £494 to £1,169
This is one in a series of conferences by Re-Think IT focusing on continuous delivery, microservices, containers, cloud, and lean business. Sessions cover topics such as CI/CD with GitHub actions, DevOps during COVID, and overcoming limitations in containerized applications. Workshops include exploring Go for microservices. In addition to the London conference, events will be held in Berlin, Germany (June 14-17), and New York City, New York, USA (fall 2021).
Who should attend: Developers, DevOps engineers, software architects, and managers
SKILup Day: Agile Transformation
Twitter: #SKILupDay
Web: https://devopsinstitute.com/at-2021/
Date: April 22
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Agile transformation is the process of transitioning an entire organization to a nimble, reactive approach based on agile principles. This one-day virtual micro-conference focuses on how understanding agile transformation begins with understanding what it is not: adopting agile software development methodologies. Join on the event day to interact with other Humans of DevOps, meet the speakers and visit booths in the expo hall.
Who should attend: Any DevOps or IT professional looking to connect with other DevOps humans, hear from industry leaders and/or advance their ‘how-to’ knowledge around the topic of Agile Transformation.
PowerShell and DevOps Global Summit
Twitter: @PSHSummit
Web: powershell.org/2020/11/update-2021-powershell-devops-global-summit/
Date: April 27-29
Location: Virtual
Cost: TBD
This conference is all about Microsoft's PowerShell automation and configuration tool. PowerShell and DevOps experts from around the world, including members of Microsoft's PowerShell team, will discuss and learn about maximizing PowerShell in the workplace in over 20 presentations. At the summit, attendees can explore and further their knowledge of DevOps principles and practices in a cross-platform environment, as well as make new connections and learn new techniques.
Who should attend: Developers and Windows system administrators
GOTO Chicago
Twitter: @GOTOcon, @GOTOchgo
Web: gotochgo.com
Date (2020): Conference, April 27-29; master classes, April 30-May 1
Location (2020): Virtual
Cost (2020): Conference, $725 per day; master classes, $445 to $845
GOTO conferences are organized by developers. They are highly technical and focus on the latest trends in software engineering.
Who should attend: Developers, software architects, project managers, system administrators, and DevOps engineers
May
KubeCon/CloudNativeCon Europe
Twitter: @KubeCon_ /@CloudNativeFdn / #CloudNativeCon
Web: events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe
Date: May 4-7
Location: Virtual
Cost: TBD
KubeCon and CloudNativeCon are a single conference sponsored by the Linux Foundation and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). The conference brings together leading contributors in cloud-native applications, containers, microservices, and orchestration. The conference also focuses on open-source projects, including Kubernetes, Prometheus, OpenTracing, Fluentd, Linkerd, gRPC, CoreDNS, containerd, rkt, and CNI. In addition to the Amsterdam conference, sister conferences are scheduled for Shanghai, China (July 28-30), and Boston, Massachusetts, USA (November 17-20).
Who should attend: Application developers, IT operations staff, technical management, executive leadership, product managers and product marketing pros, end users, service providers, CNCF contributors, and people looking to learn more about cloud-native
DevOps Pro Europe 2021-Hybrid Edition
Twitter: @DevOpsEU
Web: devopspro.lt
Date: May 11-13
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania, and virtual
Cost: €180 to €632
This conference focuses on the core principles and concepts of DevOps methodology and demonstrates how to use the most common DevOps patterns to develop, deploy, and maintain applications both on premises and in the cloud. The entire software delivery pipeline is covered, from approaches (continuous delivery and integration) to tools (Docker, Chef, Puppet, Kubernetes, and more) to technologies (virtualization, containerization, orchestration, and microservices).
Who should attend: Developers, hands-on IT professionals, IT managers, consultants, and trainers
Continuous Lifecycle Online
Twitter: @ConLifecycleLon
Web: continuouslifecycle.london
Date: May 11-13
Location: Virtual
Cost: TBD
Continuous Lifecycle Online is bringing containerization and continuous delivery practitioners online. In this special edition of the Continuous Lifecycle series, seasoned experts will share their practical experiences and help attendees understand concepts, processes, and tools—whether they're just starting out or looking to improve their practices.
Who should attend: Development heads, architects, developers, CTOs, operations and systems engineers, DevOps practitioners, cloud-native developers, admins, infrastructure specialists, and QA professionals
DevSecOps Days
Twitter: @DevSecOpsDays
Web: mediaopsevents.com/devsecopsdays2021/home
Date: May 17
Location: Virtual
Cost: TBD
At this event, practitioners present on their DevSecOps experiences and how attendees can use those lessons in their own organizations.
Who should attend: Developers and DevSecOps practitioners
QCon Plus
Twitter: @QCon / #QConPlus
Web: plus.qconferences.com
Date: May 17-28
Location: Virtual
Cost: $399 to $599
QCon Plus is a virtual conference for senior software engineers and architects on the trends, best practices, and solutions leveraged by the world's most innovative software organizations. Organizers say attendees will hear technical talks from software leaders pushing the boundaries, talks driving innovation and change, patterns and practices, not products and pitches, and ideas they can implement.
Who should attend: Senior software engineers, architects, and team leads
GlueCon 2021
Twitter: @gluecon / @defrag / #gluecon
Web: gluecon.com
Date: May 18-19
Location: Broomfield, Colorado, USA
Cost: $995 to $1,295
GlueCon is a developer-oriented conference focused on providing the latest in-depth technical information, presented in a format that fosters community. GlueCon's topics change from year to year but include things such as APIs, DevOps, serverless, edge computing, containers, microservices, blockchain-driven applications, developer evangelism, and the newest tools.
Who should attend: Software architects, developers, mobile developers and architects, DevOps engineers, enterprise and startup executives, and team managers
DevOps Enterprise Summit Virtual - Europe (DOES)
Twitter: @ITRevDOES
Web: events.itrevolution.com/virtual/
Date: May 18-20
Location: Virtual
Cost: $390 to $650 (time-sensitive discounts available)
DOES is more than just a conference about technical and architectural DevOps practices. The event also covers the methods needed to lead widespread change efforts in large organizations. The goal is to give leaders the tools and practices they need to develop and deploy software faster. Attendees can expect to see speakers from many large companies and engage in ad hoc discussions within a great community and learning environment.
Who should attend: Leaders of large, complex organizations implementing DevOps or agile principles and practices; developers; IT operations specialists; CxOs; software architects; and systems and network admins
DockerCon Live
Twitter: @DockerCon
Web: docker.com/dockercon
Date (2020): May 28
Location (2020): Virtual
Cost (2020): Free
DockerCon is a multi-track conference sponsored by Docker, focusing on that platform and its ecosystem. It includes keynotes, workshops, hands-on labs, and a "hallway track" for conference-goers to find like-minded people with whom they can share ideas in a structured way. The family-friendly forum offers childcare services for attendees and activities for spouses.
Who should attend: Developers, DevOps engineers, CxOs, and managers
June
LISA21
Twitter: @LISAConference / #lisa21
Web: usenix.org/conference/lisa21
Date: June 1-3
Location: Anaheim, California, USA
Cost: TBD
The LISA conference positions itself as a vendor-neutral meeting place for the systems administration community, with a heavy training focus. It's organized by Usenix, the Advanced Computing Systems Association, and LISA (Large Installation Systems Administration). Usenix.org includes numerous videos from previous LISA conferences.
Who should attend: Sysadmins, systems engineers, IT operations professionals, SRE practitioners, developers, IT managers, and academic researchers
ChefConf
Twitter: @chef / #ChefConf
Web: chefconf.chef.io
Date: September (exact date TBD)
Cost: TBD
ChefConf covers DevOps topics with a focus on the open-source configuration management tool Chef. According to conference organizers, sessions are built by and for professionals who "drive innovation at the heart of digital transformation in an app-centric world."
Who should attend: Anyone interested in DevOps and continuous automation
Agile + DevOps West
Twitter: @TechWell / #AgileDevWest
Web: agiledevopswest.techwell.com
Date: June 6-11
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Cost: Free to $999
Agile + DevOps conferences offer the latest in the methods, process, technology, tools, and leadership principles to help newbies and seasoned pros deliver software with greater speed and agility while meeting quality and security demands. No matter your level of agile or DevOps adoption, conference organizers say, you will find thought-provoking keynotes, deep-dive training classes, engaging tutorials, and session topics that will guide and inspire you.
Who should attend: Agile teams and leadership; digital transformation teams; automation, development, test, and release staff; product owners; and managers
Monitorama
Twitter: @Monitorama / #monitorama
Web: monitorama.com/2021/pdx.html
Date: June 21-23
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Cost: $700
Monitorama has become popular thanks to its commitment to purely technical content without a lot of vendor fluff. The conference brings together the biggest names from the open-source development and operations communities, who teach attendees about the tools and techniques used in some of the largest web architectures in the world. Its focus is strictly on monitoring and observability in software systems, which the organizers feel is an area in much need of attention. The goal of the organizers is to continue to push the boundaries of monitoring software, while having a great time in a casual setting.
Who should attend: Developers and DevOps engineers, operations staff, performance testers, and site reliability engineers
GOTO Amsterdam
Twitter: @GOTOcon
Web: gotoams.nl
Date: June 15-18
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Cost: Conference, $445 per day, plus 21% VAT; master classes, $645 to $665
GOTO conferences are organized by developers. They are highly technical and focus on the latest trends in software engineering.
Who should attend: Developers, software architects, project managers, system administrators, and DevOps engineers
July
Netdev 0x15
Twitter: @netdev01 / #netdevconf
Web: netdevconf.info/0x15/
Date: July 20-23
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Cost: TBD
NetDev is a technical conference about Linux networking organized by the NetDev Society, a Canadian nonprofit organization. The event focuses on Linux kernel networking and user-space utilization of the interfaces to the Linux kernel networking subsystem. If you are using Linux as a boot system for proprietary networking, then this conference may not be for you.
Who should attend: Members of the Linux community, network engineers, and security professionals
September
DevOps World
Twitter: @devopsworldconf / #devopsworld
Web: cloudbees.com/devops-world
Date (2020): September 22-24
Location (2020): Virtual
Cost (2020): Conference, free
This conference attracts thousands of practitioners, developers, managers, and leaders from around the world. DevOps World, previously held with Jenkins World, offers keynotes from industry thought leaders, hundreds of breakout sessions helmed by DevOps leaders, and in-depth training courses and technical workshops.
Who should attend: CxOs, managers, developers, DevOps practitioners, and Jenkins users and partners
October
DevOps Enterprise Summit Virtual - US (DOES)
Twitter: @ITRevDOES
Web: events.itrevolution.com/virtual/
Date: October 5-7
Location: Virtual
Cost: $390 to $650 (time-sensitive discounts available)
DOES is more than just a conference about technical and architectural DevOps practices. The event also covers the methods needed to lead widespread change efforts in large organizations. The goal is to give leaders the tools and practices they need to develop and deploy software faster. Attendees can expect to see speakers from many large companies and engage in ad hoc discussions within a great community and learning environment.
Who should attend: Leaders of large, complex organizations implementing DevOps or agile principles and practices; developers; IT operations specialists; CxOs; software architects; and systems and network admins
Interop Digital
Twitter: @interop / #Interop
Web: interop.com
Date (2020): October 5-8
Location (2020): Virtual
Cost (2020): Free business hall pass; $1,099 conference and certification pass
A venerable tech conference, Interop delves into topics including networking, security, automation/IT management, cloud environments, collaboration, data and analytics, DevOps, hardware/systems, infrastructure, talent/teams/tactics, and wireless/mobility. The first two days of the conference are training workshops, certifications, and deep dives, and the last two offer a smorgasbord of sessions that allows attendees to build a personal program that meets their business objectives.
Who should attend: CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, developers, software architects, site reliability engineers, and system architects
Agile India
Twitter: @agileindia
Web: 2020.agileindia.org
Date (2020): October 11-18
Location (2020): Virtual
Cost (2020): Conference, Rs15,000 to Rs45,000 (4-day pass); workshops Rs5,000 to Rs30,000
Agile India bills itself as Asia's largest conference on leading-edge software development methods. It's hosted by the Agile Alliance and organized by the Agile Software Community of India. The forum includes an agile coach camp and workshops before the start of the event and more workshops after it's finished. Each day focuses on a theme, including agile mindset day, business agility day, design innovation day, and continuous delivery and DevOps day.
Who should attend: Developers, agile practitioners, consultants, software engineers, thought leaders, DevOps team members and leaders, line-of-business managers, project managers, business analysts, programmers, testers, Q&A practitioners, and UX designers
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2021
Twitter: @CloudNativeFdn / #KubeCon / @CloudNativeCon
Web: events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-north-america/
Date: October 12-15
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA or virtual
Cost: TBA
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s flagship conference gathers leading technologists from open source and cloud native communities to further the education and advancement of cloud native computing.
Who should attend: Application developers, IT operations, technical management, executive leadership, product managers and product marketing, end-users, service providers, CNCF contributors, individuals looking to learn more about cloud native
SRE Con Europe, Middle East, Africa
Twitter: @SREcon / #SREcon
Web: usenix.org/conference/srecon21emea
Date: October 12-14
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Cost: TBD
The SRE conferences are a series of forums for site reliability engineers. The forums focus on resilience, reliability, and performance in complex distributed systems.
Who should attend: SREs, software architects, and developers
AnsibleFest
Twitter: @ansible / #ansiblefest
Web: ansible.com/ansiblefest
Date (2020): October 13-14
Location (2020): Virtual
Cost (2020): Free
Red Hat's Ansible is an open-source framework for configuration management and automation (infrastructure as code). AnsibleFest brings together members of the Ansible community to share information and learn about the latest developments.
Who should attend: Ansible users, developers, and operations professionals
DevSecCon London
Twitter: @devseccon / #DevSecCon
Web: devseccon.com/london/
Date: October 20-21
Location: London, UK
Cost: TBD
This conference is run by practitioners for practitioners. At the event, attendees will learn how to implement security in the overall development process, from the supply chain to the customer experience. Sessions cover topics ranging from security automation and secure development to threat modeling, serverless, and container security.
Who should attend: DevSecOps and IT security professionals
All Day DevOps
Twitter: @AllDayDevOps / #AllDayDevOps
Web: alldaydevops.com
Date: October 28
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
All Day DevOps is the largest conference in the world dedicated to sharing DevOps best practices. Organized by advocates in the DevOps/DevSecOps community, the conference offers a variety of sessions and speakers from all over the world to show practical usage and technical solutions of DevOps in small and large enterprises.
Who should attend: DevOps/DevSecOps practitioners, thought leaders, anyone in the DevOps community
November
Agile + DevOps East
Twitter: @TechWell / #AgileDevEast
Web: adceast.techwell.com
Date: November 14-19
Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
Cost: Free to $999
Agile + DevOps conferences offer the latest in the methods, process, technology, tools, and leadership principles to help newbies and seasoned pros deliver software with greater speed and agility while meeting quality and security demands. No matter your level of agile or DevOps adoption, conference organizers say, you will find thought-provoking keynotes, deep-dive training classes, engaging tutorials, and session topics that will guide and inspire you.
Who should attend: Agile teams and leadership; digital transformation teams; automation, development, test, and release staff; product owners; and managers
December
SRE Con Americas
Twitter: @SREcon / #SREcon
Web: usenix.org/conference/srecon20americas/
Date (2020): December 7-9
Location (2020): Virtual
Cost (2020): $60
The SRE conferences are a series of forums for site reliability engineers. The forums focus on resilience, reliability, and performance in complex distributed systems.
Who should attend: SREs, software architects, and developers
And that's our list. Not all dates, locations, and pricing were available at publication time, especially for events taking place later in the year. In those cases, we provided historical information about the event to give you an idea of what to expect and what you'll get out of attending—and we'll continue to update this list throughout the year.
Mark your calendars and make your choices soon. Prices may vary based on how early you register. Also, remember that hotel and travel costs are generally separate from conference pricing.
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