Bart Farrell (00:01.635)
Alright, Divya, as we’re getting close to KubeCon, a lot of people out there may not know CNCF Ambassadors or really know what it is that we do. You are a CNCF Ambassador—what is your area of focus? How did you become one? What are you doing now to maintain your ambassadorship?

Bart Farrell (00:20.375)
Divya, we’re getting close to KubeCon. Everyone contributes differently to this ecosystem. In your particular case, what is it that you do? What do you work on? How are you paying it forward? Tell me about the work that you do.

Divya Mohan (00:35.818)
That’s a very good question. I get asked all the time, and sometimes I don’t really have a TLDR version. So please bear with me if this sounds like a lot. First up, I’m one of the maintainers for documentation on the Kubernetes project. I help maintain the content that you see on kubernetes.io, which is the website for the Kubernetes project. This includes documentation, reference documentation, blogs, all the design aspects—everything. I get to do that with a really stellar team on board, who I’m also going to be meeting at KubeCon SLC.

Outside of that, I’m also involved in the intersection of cloud-native and WebAssembly. It’s an interesting space for me, particularly because I come from a background where I’ve noticed multiple performance inconsistencies and seen a lot of issues with application redundancies and portability. I’m really excited about how this niche intersection grows, and I’ve been involved in this space for around three years now. So that’s another thing that I do. I don’t particularly lead anything in this space; I’m just a participant, trying to grapple with all the information that comes through and advocate for it in the wider community.

And one of the last things that I do in the CNCF space is participate in a working group—or initiative—around non-code efforts in the larger CNCF ecosystem, not just Kubernetes. I believe open source, and cloud-native as a subset, is so much more than code. Technology is important, but as important as the technology is the community, the project management, the documentation, and all the non-code efforts as well. I help co-host and co-manage some of the efforts under this initiative, which is part of the TAG Contributor Strategy in the CNCF Slack, if you’re interested in joining. So those are broadly the three things that I do currently.

Bart Farrell (03:30.401)
And you make it sound easy.

I want to specifically speak to the third one because I have directly benefited from your efforts. If it weren’t for you and Savitha, I never would have gotten involved as a non-code contributor in the CNCF in 2020, early 2021. So I’m extremely grateful for your work there because it’s the reason why we’re having this conversation today and how I became a CNCF Ambassador and really got connected. It’s my privilege to be able to help others in a similar position now.

As we’re getting close to KubeCon, you’re a maintainer working on docs. What are some of the projects that you’re going to be checking out at KubeCon? Can you give me a couple of examples of projects that you find particularly interesting?

Divya Mohan (04:14.474)
So, obviously, Kubernetes is a project I find interesting—that’s without a doubt. But outside of that, I also think some of the newer projects, particularly projects that maybe my company doesn’t sponsor, are interesting. Projects like Conveyor and KubeEdge—KubeEdge isn’t new, but still—things that deal with application modernization in general, because that’s what I used to do in my previous role. That’s really interesting to me. Edge computing is another focus area, primarily because I think everything is really moving closer to our customers and consumers. So edge computing is a specific focus for me. I think anything to do with edge and cloud-native is also an interesting area, and top projects around that, like KubeEdge, are ones I’m interested in checking out.

Another project I’d like to mention is our own projects. I think they’re pretty cool too. I’m not necessarily checking them out because I’ll be at the booth talking about them, but I’d love to chat about them if you stop by and say hi.

Bart Farrell (05:58.083)
Alright, good. Now, in terms of other KubeCon plans, you’re going to be working at the booth, doing a lot of different things. Are there any talks you’re looking forward to checking out or anything else on your agenda for the upcoming event in Salt Lake City?

Divya Mohan (06:13.962)
Yeah, one of the things I’m really looking forward to this time around is attending the keynotes in person because I’ve never managed to do that due to various reasons. So this is something I want to start doing this time around, and hopefully not catch up on Twitter threads—or X threads, as they call it now. I actually want to be able to see it in person.

Another thing I’m really looking forward to is the maintainer track talks, primarily because CNCF is such a wide ecosystem. It’s very difficult to keep track of all the projects and all the happenings within those projects. Some of the maintainer track talks—not just Kubernetes but the wider ecosystem—are things I’m looking forward to catching up on if and when I get the time.

My co-worker Orlin, I believe, is doing something—I’m not exactly sure of the term though—he and George are doing this…

Bart Farrell (07:42.391)
Walking tour, yeah.

Divya Mohan (08:10.354)
Yes, that’s it! I’m looking forward to hearing about his experience because I’m no longer a CNCF Ambassador, but one of the things I would have loved to do as an Ambassador—or just in general—would have been to do that project walking tour. I think it’s so interesting to gather insights from various projects, understand where they’re at, and learn about their pain points and stuff like that. I don’t think this has been done very many times before, so that’s another experience I’m looking forward to hearing about secondhand from Orlin.

Bart Farrell (08:32.323)
Very good.

I agree, I think it’s a wonderful addition to the program. We’ve spoken to George and some other people involved in that. Getting more hands-on visibility in the project pavilion helps people know more about those projects. It’s a big landscape, right? It can be overwhelming for a lot of people, and this makes it more tangible and personal in terms of getting to know people. That being said, Divya, it sounds like you’ve got a busy KubeCon planned. I look forward to hanging out with you in person, and best of luck with all your travels getting there. I know it’s a lot of flights and a lot of jet lag, but I look forward to hanging out with you.

Before kubectl get started, and then in the main event itself. Take care, and we’ll speak soon. Cheers.

Divya Mohan (09:09.838)
Speak soon, bye.