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>> Hey, welcome back to Los Angeles.
TheCube is live here at KubeCon and CloudNativeCon 2021.
We're so excited to be here in person,
Lisa Martin with Dave Nicholson,
and we are here with Priyanka Sharma,
the executive director of CNC.
Priyanka, welcome to the program.
>> Thank you so much for having me.
>> First of all, congratulations on doing an event in person
in such a safe, clean way.
I was really impressed when I walked in this morning
and was asked for my vaccination record,
my temperature was scanned.
You're proving you can do these events safely.
This isn't rocket science.
>> So agreed, and I'm so glad you appreciate
all the measures we've put in place,
because this is how we can do it.
In person interaction is essential for us as human beings,
for us as professionals.
And so we owe it to each other to just do the right thing,
have a vaccine requirement, wear your masks,
have these, what I call, the traffic light system,
where if you have a green band,
it means people can come a little closer, it's okay.
Red means please, at least six feet of distance.
And these things go a long way
in making an event successful in times like this.
>> They do, I loved that when I saw that.
Mine keeps falling off, I'm cold.
I'm green, just so you know. I'm green.
>> Yes I know you're green, what about you?
>> I am green here.
>> Ooh, can I have yours?
>> You can borrow it for a second.
>> Thanks Dave, what a guy.
>> That's my favorite,
you had the three folks that came up who were co-chairs,
>> Priyanka: Co- chairs, yeah.
>> Yeah, and they did almost a little skit,
that on the surface, people could say,
well, that's ridiculous.
And it's like, no, it's not.
It's giving everybody the guidelines
so that everyone can be comfortable,
because when I see your green wristband,
I understand that you are comfortable.
>> Priyanka: Yes.
>> Because I don't want to accidentally reach out
to give you a fist bump,
>> Right.
>> Dave: When you might be particularly,
>> Of course.
>> Dave: Yeah.
>> Visual cues make it easy.
>> Yes, and it's very very easy make it comfortable.
>> So smart. Talk about the energy at the event.
This is the second full day,
the clean room was standing room only yesterday.
>> Give us an overview of the energy and some of the things
that are happening, since you can't replicate
those hallway networking conversations on video conference.
>> I know exactly what you mean, man.
It is so lovely to be in person, to meet people.
And you know, for those who are comfortable,
there's like the fist bumps and the hugs and the big smiles.
And that energy, I haven't seen it in almost two years.
And even just standing on stage
as I was telling you folks off-camera,
I've been in this role for over a year now,
close to a year and a half.
I've done three KubeCons already,
but this was my first in person,
and being on that stage, experiencing the energy
of the people in that room.
Like when I asked everyone during my keynote,
I was like, are you all proud to be Team Cloud Native?
And I got a resounding yes
back from the audience.
That's what I'm talking about.
It was amazing.
>> What's some of the news that's breaking?
Lots of stuff going on, obviously,
you said the first one in person in almost two years,
but talk to me about some of the news that's breaking
here at the event.
>> Yes, so, so much new stuff to share
from our side on CNCF.
Our journey has been very much about celebrating our culture
and welcoming more and more people into it,
so that we can have more folks in Team Cloud Native
to take various jobs, to find fulfillment,
and all those great things, right?
And all of our announcements are around that theme
of people finding a place here,
people paying it forward in this community
and building the culture.
The first one I would like to share
is the announcement of the Kubernetes
and Cloud Native Associate's Certification.
So, this is an exam
that is going to go live end of the year.
So people sign up,
apparently the beta signups went away like this
after I announced it, so it was really cool.
>> Wow, popular by demand.
>> Yeah, very, very popular.
And it's an exam for folks who are brand new
to Cloud Native.
And the studying for it, you'll go through
the fundamentals of Kubernetes,
what is the CNCF landscape?
What are the key projects?
And ultimately, you will actually deploy an application
using Kubectl commands,
and it's such a great primer.
>> So how brand new can someone be?
When you say brand new, are you talking about someone
who already has a PhD in computer science,
but hasn't done anything in the Kubernetes space?
>> Priyanka: Sure.
>> Tell me, how brand new can you be?
>> Uh uh, that's a very good question.
And it is, literally, you can come with zero knowledge.
You would of course have to study for the exam
and go through that journey,
but the idea is that it is the gateway.
And so it is possible you're a PhD in computer science,
but you've studied some esoteric part of computer science
that's very unconnected to what we do.
Sure, go ahead and take it.
But maybe most likely,
you would like the more advanced certifications better.
But if you are, let's say, a marketer,
looking to break into the Cloud Native industry.
This is the move.
Take this exam, and suddenly, all these employers,
you'll speak their language.
They will be pressed that you took it,
and it's an opportunity to advance your career.
>> The community is huge,
I was looking at the website the other day,
138,000 contributors to more than 177 countries.
>> 186 is the latest number.
>> 186 also 289 plus million lines of code written.
This community is really so productive and so prolific,
and it's great that you're offering more folks
that don't have the background, like you were saying,
to be able to get in and get started.
>> Absolutely, it's our whole thing
of bringing in more people,
because as you all probably know,
there's so much demand for Cloud Native skillsets
across job functions.
So that's what we are here to help with.
>> Yeah, I want to double click on this as we say,
>> Priyanka: Yeah.
>> Because you hear the word inclusive associated
with this whole community so much,
you're talking about something that is a certification.
Yeah, a marketer, okay, fine.
But we're really talking about anyone who has the drive,
>> Priyanka: Yes.
>> To potentially completely transform their lives,
>> Priyanka: Yes.
>> And in this age where things can be done remotely,
you don't necessarily have to live in Silicon Valley
or Cambridge, Massachusetts to do this,
or in one of the other global centers of technology.
>> Priyanka: For sure. Anywhere, yeah.
>> So kind of energy that's part of this,
that isn't a part of any large industry focused conference,
because you really are making opportunities for people
of all backgrounds to change their lives.
So I don't know, am I extending a virtual thank you
from all of those people whose lives have been changed,
that will be changed in the future?
Maybe I am.
But talk about inclusiveness from other perspectives.
>> Yes, I think that talent, drive, skills,
none of these are exclusive to a certain zip code.
People everywhere have great qualities and deserve chances.
And why shouldn't they be part of a community,
that as you said, is especially inclusive,
feels especially nice to be a part of?
And that's what I exhorted the community to do
in my keynote yesterday,
which is that our ranks will grow,
and we should go out of our way to make sure our ranks grow.
And we do that by shining a light on our culture,
telling people to join in, lending a hand,
and letting people's personalities shine.
Even then, they'll be different from who we are,
whether in terms of job function or skillset, whatever.
And I think that's the top level paradigm
that we want to have, right?
Where we are always welcoming people.
When we think of inclusiveness,
there is certifications like KCNA that do a great job.
There are also efforts that we must always be doing.
So something that we work on constantly, consistently,
is contributor strategy,
where we're working on creating ladders and pathways
for folks to become open source contributors.
It is known now that open-source contributions
lead to job advancement in your career, right?
And so the whole goal is bring people in,
not just to hang out, not just to talk,
but to actually grow.
And actually KubeCon, CloudNativeCon, is a great example
of another little thing we do,
which is we award underrepresented minorities
and people who need need-based funds,
scholarships to attend.
>> Lisa: Nice.
>> Yeah, and it's changed 1,518 lives already.
And we actually, in this event, have announced,
that we are renaming the scholarship
to the Dan Kohn Scholarship Fund.
Do you folks know Dan?
>> Yes, yes.
>> Yeah, so Dan, he breathed life
into Team Cloud Native, right?
He built this organization
to have the impact that it does today.
And all the while, he was relentlessly focused
on diversity, equity, inclusion.
So it was just like the idea came from within the team,
and the minute someone said it,
it just struck a chord with all of us.
We're like, we're doing this, no question.
And it was one of the fastest decisions we've ever made.
>> I saw some results of a DEI micro survey on the website,
where 75% of respondents say this community
is becoming more inclusive.
There's obviously work to go.
But as a female in technology,
you feel that, you see that as well?
>> Yes, I'm very proud of that survey that we did
by the way, because it's our way,
we're going to keep doing it.
It's our way to keep a pulse on the ecosystem,
because you can keep doing initiatives, right?
But if people are not feeling great, then who cares?
I think DEI is a journey.
There is no destination, right?
Always, we have to be thinking harder, trying harder
to, I think for example, something CNC has done a great job
is identifying particularly gender diverse folks
who are in the community
and maybe could deserve a role of high responsibility.
So, I'm really proud that our technical oversight committee,
which is our, really the top technical people,
in the ecosystem, who decided to decide project staff.
They are led by a woman. There's many women on that.
And they're all very exemplary, awesome technologists.
I think the diversity survey gives us a hint
into the things people do like,
and the fact remains, we need to do more
to source more people to come into the ecosystem.
We need to always be changing and evolving
with the needs of the community.
>> Right, as I mentioned, the community is 138,000 strong,
6.8 million plus contributions so far.
You can imagine, by opening that DEI door,
just the thought and diversity that comes in alone,
and the number of projects that will come from folks
that just come in with a different mindset.
>> Oh, a hundred percent. We are already seeing that.
We started off as folks who had lots of projects
from the great big tech companies,
people who had web scale problems, as I call it.
And that was great,
but in recent years, the end users,
who were initially just consuming this technology,
and that, too, slowly, are now hook, line, and sinker in,
and we have like Argo CD came from Intuit,
which is an end-user.
Backstage came from Spotify, which is an end user.
So this trend is growing.
And the diversity, as you said, is continuing.
>> I'm particularly interested in the dynamic,
where you have people who have their day job, if you will,
where their employer is absolutely 100% encouraging them
to participate in the community
to develop things that will not only help the employer
and that mission,
but also building solutions for everyone,
and providing enrichment for the person.
I'm going to make a little bit of a prediction.
I want to get your thoughts on this.
>> Yeah.
>> I think that one of the silver linings
of what we've been through in the pandemic,
having a lot of people at home,
having that relationship with your primary employer,
be just a little bit different
and just a little bit more removed.
I think everyone is realizing,
that you know what, we all need a passion play
to be a part of, in addition to, whatever we're doing
to put bread on the table
in the immediate future.
And so I think, but I want to hear your thoughts,
there's going to be an explosion
in contributions from people,
and hopefully, a lot more openness
on the part of employers
to let people dedicate their time to this.
Do you do see that? Do you think that?
>> Yes, I think you're really onto something here.
Something I mentioned in my keynote, right,
was this conversation I've had with so many
that we in this community,
our identity is Cloud Native first.
So we are folks who are in Team Cloud Native
before we are working at insert company name,
Google, AT&T, Spotify, whatever.
It's not a dig on the companies.
It's actually a celebration of those companies
because they are liking the developments
that happen in open source.
They are appreciating the value these people are creating
and they're employing them.
So absolutely, there is this ongoing trend of folks
seeing great value in folks who understand
this Cloud Native Project in particular.
And of course, because we have been such a great place
for industry collaboration,
lots of vendors have great products, make lots of money,
on these projects,
and that's as it should be.
And so the value of the people contributing
to these projects is very high.
>> And it will only continue to grow, I imagine.
So here we are in Los Angeles,
at KubeCon CloudNativeCon '21, what's next?
>> Well, the good news is,
this was the first of many to come hybrid events,
in person plus virtual.
And the next one is happening in end of May in Valencia,
for Europe, '22.
Valencia, Spain.
And I have heard beautiful weather, very nice people,
amazing food.
So, just for that.
>> Lisa: That alone is worth registration.
>> Yes, I know right?
It's going to be amazing. I'm so excited,
And I hope I will see you folks there?
>> Sign me up.
I've never been to Spain, I'm there.
>> Me too. >> Let's do it
>> I'm so excited! >> Let's do it!
>> For our Spanish speaking viewers,
I would say, claro que si,
es la verdad.
>> What can't you do? You can do it all.
He can speak Spanish on the Cube, he can host the shows.
>> He was like, I'm going to speak Spanish.
>> I'm impressed, I can't do that.
And you donated your green card, so thank you so much.
>> Priyanka: So nice.
>> Priyanka, congratulations on the event.
>> Thank you.
>> For growing the community,
for growing the diversity of it,
and for the projects that are going on now,
and we're sure many more to come.
We look forward to seeing you in Valencia in May.
Thank you so much. See you in Valencia.
>> All right. We'll see you there.
For Dave Nicholson, I am Lisa Martin.
We are live in Los Angeles.
TheCube is covering KubeCon and CloudNativeCon '21.
Stick around, we'll be back after a short break
with our next guest.
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