What are the benefits of attending conferences in the DevOps space?
It seems like a simple question—with so many conferences now in operation (and many making the shift back to in-person events), conferences are par for the course if you're a DevOps team leader or professional. Dig a little deeper, however, and questions start to emerge: What's the benefit of taking time off work to attend a two- or three-day conference? How do these events help DevOps professionals improve their skills, and where can conference takeaways be used to bolster business goals?
With DevOps World 2022 happening from September 27-29, it's worth taking a look at three of the top reasons to make the trip: learning, networking, and gaining the industry edge.
1. Learning the latest best practices
Learning is the primary goal of any DevOps conference. What can professionals learn that piques their interest, encourages them to dive deeper, or lets them improve business processes once they return?
Learning is often the focus of pre-conference discussions with supervisors: To justify budget and time investments, managers and C-suite executives want to know what their teams will gain from conference attendance that can be translated into actionable insight.
When it comes to leading-edge learning, DevOps World 2022 has you covered, whether you're a practitioner attending to gain new skills and insights or an executive looking for ways to apply new tactics and techniques at scale.
Consider practitioner sessions such as "Creating a Full Stack Developer Experience," presented by Eric Thiel of Cisco, or "How to Incorporate Your Application Data Into Your CI/CD Pipelines," from MongoDB Senior Solutions Architect Cassiano Ziegler Bein. For executives, meanwhile, sessions such as "Women in Tech: It's Our Table" from Hope Lynch, Senior Director of Product Marketing at CloudBees, and the "ADSOME MAGIC to Efficiently Create the Enterprise Digital Transformation Roadmap" session with Mark Sternberger, NTT Data Services Federal LLC, offer insight that C-suites can take back to corporate offices and leverage to create meaningful company and cultural change.
2. Networking with DevOps peers
Conferences are also a great place for networking. At DevOps World 2022, this starts with the welcome ceremony and party to help break the ice; after all, it's been a few years since everyone has been together. From food and drink to live DJs and games, the event kicks off with a bang to launch social networking and help professionals reconnect after two years of virtual meetings and endless emails.
As the conference gets underway, there's plenty of time for networking between sessions. Using dedicated alcoves outside session ballrooms, you'll get the chance to see and participate in impromptu breakout sessions both with other professionals and conference speakers to explore new topics or ask in-depth questions.
On the last day of the DevOps conference, it wraps up with an awards ceremony and after-party to help cement newly formed and recently renewed networks, provide the impetus for these networks to keep offering value through the rest of the year, and give attendees reunions to look forward to at DevOps World 2023.
3. Staying on the industry edge
Put simply, there's a DevOps remix underway. First-generation beats and melodies are giving rise to more harmonious IT interactions that help organizations effectively coordinate multiple initiatives simultaneously without any loss of speed and security.
Still, it's not enough to simply understand that this shift is underway. Instead, teams need the ability to capitalize on new developments and make the most of industry evolutions. That's why at DevOps World 2022, thought leaders, practitioners, contributors, and visionaries from around the world can explore everything from value stream management and AIOps to XOps and progressive delivery.
The result is an industry edge, as you get in on the ground floor of new DevOps developments and the thought processes that will underpin the next generation of development, operations, and security initiatives.
Get the biggest benefits of attending a conference. Check out the DevOps World 2022 schedule to plan your trip—and sign up today!