DevOpsDays Zurich 2026 – Still One of the Best Community Events in Tech

On May 6 and 7, 2026, the Swiss DevOps and cloud native community gathered once again at Alte Kaserne Winterthur for DevOpsDays Zurich 2026. Once again, it reminded us why this event has become such an important part of the community over the years.

For us at VSHN, DevOpsDays Zurich is something special. We have been part of it since the very first edition in 2016 – as sponsors, participants, speakers, and community members. Watching the event grow over the years, while still keeping its open and community-driven spirit, has honestly been pretty amazing.

And somehow, despite the industry changing massively over the last decade, the core idea of DevOpsDays still feels just as relevant as it did back then: bring people together, share real experiences, talk openly about challenges, and learn from each other.

This year’s edition once again had exactly that feeling.

Real Talks Instead of Buzzwords

The program covered many of the topics currently shaping our industry – from platform engineering and AI to software supply chain security, observability, developer experience, and organizational culture. But what made the event valuable was not just the topics themselves, it was the way people talked about them: practical, honest, and grounded in real-world experience.

Some talks focused on scaling engineering organizations and platforms, others on AI-assisted operations and the growing importance of observability and verification. Security and software supply chain topics were also everywhere this year – from SBOMs and dependency management to secure coding practices in the age of AI-generated code.

One thing that stood out across many sessions was how much the industry is shifting from “just running infrastructure” towards building platforms, workflows, and ecosystems that actually help developers move faster without losing control or reliability. Platform engineering clearly continues to mature from a trend into a real discipline.

Really Fun Ignite Talks

One highlight this year were definitely the ignite talks. The new format with auto-advancing slides made the sessions feel even more dynamic, entertaining, and challenging for the speakers at the same time.

The format forced people to get straight to the point, which led to many talks feeling more personal, honest, and memorable. From AI and security to team culture and engineering realities, the ignites brought a great mix of technical insights, humor, and community spirit.

Aarno Aukia’s Sponsor Talk About VSHN

DevOps Is Still About People

At the same time, many talks also reminded us that DevOps has never only been about tooling. Sessions around leadership, collaboration, communication, and team dynamics showed once again that most technical challenges eventually become organizational challenges at scale.

That has honestly always been one of the strengths of DevOpsDays: it is one of the few technical conferences where people openly talk not only about successes, but also about failures, friction, and the messy reality behind engineering work.

And that openness continues outside the talks themselves.

Our Booth, Great Conversations, and the LEGO Winners 🎁

Of course, we also want to thank everyone who stopped by our booth. It was two days full of really interesting conversations – about Kubernetes, Servala, Codey, platform engineering, open source, AI, digital sovereignty, community topics, and everything in between.

That is honestly what makes events like DevOpsDays so valuable for us every year. Some of the best ideas and connections happen outside the talks themselves – somewhere between coffee breaks, sticker exchanges, and spontaneous discussions at the booth.

We were also very happy about the huge interest in our LEGO giveaways 👀

The winners of the two LEGO sets:

• LEGO The Simpsons Krusty Burger
• LEGO Red Hat Fedora

Congratulations again to the winners and have fun building. 😊

The Community Aspect Matters

The open spaces are still one of the best parts of DevOpsDays. Some of the most valuable conversations happen outside the official talks: spontaneous discussions in hallways, small groups debating architecture decisions, or people openly sharing what did not work in production.

That willingness to exchange experiences without pretending everything is perfect is what makes community events like this so valuable.

It was also simply great seeing so many familiar faces again and many new ones joining the community for the first time. The Swiss cloud native ecosystem has grown enormously over the last years, and DevOpsDays Zurich has definitely played a role in that journey.

Looking Ahead to 2027

A huge thank you to the organizers, volunteers, speakers, sponsors, and everyone involved. Community events like this require a massive amount of work behind the scenes, and it showed throughout the entire two days.

And now we are already looking forward to next year: the 10th anniversary of DevOpsDays Zurich. That is honestly quite wild to think about.

See you in 2027. 🎉