At the end of the month, Jenkins users and DevOps professionals from around the world will head to San Francisco for the annual Jenkins World conference, taking place Aug. 28-31. The conference lasts four days, but time flies when you’re attending trainings, keynotes, sessions and networking events. To make sure you get the best of everything at Jenkins World, we’ve put together a guide that will ensure you have the most productive and enjoyable experience.
NOTE: DevOps.com readers can get 20 percent off registration with the code JWDEVOPSCUST.
Take the Time to Develop Your Skills
The first two days of the conference will be full of workshops and training sessions. Regardless of skill level, there are trainings for everyone. Those just getting familiar with Jenkins can attend an “Introduction to Jenkins” training for free and learn how to easily create pipelines while putting in place best practices for continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD).
Those a bit farther along their Jenkins journey can attend workshops such as “The Final Mile: Jenkins Pipeline and Patterns for Operations,” where attendees will review patterns of common problems and solutions specific to operations teams in a CD environment , as well as how to create Jenkins pipelines that address the needs of operations.
Don’t Miss These Essential Sessions
All attendees should make sure they make it to each of the keynotes, of course! Keynote speakers include Sacha Labourey, CEO of CloudBees; Kohsuke Kawaguchi, founder of the Jenkins project; and Jez Humble, CTO at DevOps Research and Assessment LLC.
In addition to top-notch keynote speakers, there are a number of DevOps professionals you’ll want to hear from while at the show. Try to attend at least one of these sessions:
- DevOps Leadership Panel – Will feature Kolby Allen, WatchGuard Technologies; Andrey Falko, Salesforce; George Swan, Autodesk; Stas Zvinyatskovsky, Accenture; and Rob Stroud, Forrester (moderator).
- Talk DevOps to Me: Jenkins and Alexa for Voice Activated Deployments – Led by Accenture’s Patrick Hampton, senior ISV evangelist Alexa, Amazon.
- DevOps at Enterprise Scale – With Ashish Kuthiala, senior director, ADM product marketing at HPE.
Keep an Eye Out For …
Make sure you listen in to find out who the winners are of the first annual Jenkins World Awards Program. There are two awards tracks: Jenkins Community Awards and CloudBees Innovation Awards. Each track has several categories including Jenkins Contributor Award, DevOps Automation Excellence Award and more. Winners will be announced Thursday, Aug. 31, at the show.
You’ll also want to stop by the sponsor expo hall to check out dozens of great vendors. As with any good conference, there will be plenty of swag passed out. Exhibitors will include GitHub, BlazeMeter, Docker, JFrog, Fugue, Sonatype and others. Don’t miss out on taking a photo with the famous Jenkins butler at the CloudBees booth!
Can’t Forget to Network
With so many great sessions to attend, don’t forget to make time for networking events. It would be a waste to not take advantage of dedicated networking time to speak with experts and peers who have likely dealt with some of the challenges your organization may be facing. There will be several networking opportunities, including a reception Aug. 30 sponsored by CA BlazeMeter. Or if you’re looking for ways to stay active, attend a scheduled walk or yoga class.
If you can check off all of the above activities, you’re bound to leave Jenkins World a better professional! Make a checklist at the start of the conference to ensure you hit all the events and sessions you’re most excited for.
If you haven’t registered yet, there’s still time! Use the promotional code JWDEVOPSCUST for 20 percent off.
About the Author / André Pino
André brings more than 20 years of experience in high technology marketing and communications to his role as vice president of marketing at CloudBees. He has experience in several enterprise software markets including application development tools, middleware, manufacturing and supply chain, enterprise search and software quality and testing tools. André has particular expertise in working with the executive teams of enterprise software companies to create unique competitive positioning, build pipeline and establish sustainable market leadership. Prior to joining CloudBees, he served as principal analyst serving technology marketers at Forrester Research. He has also held a number of senior management positions in marketing and communications with companies such as Segue Software, Hewlett-Packard, Unisys Corp. and Bluestone Software. André holds a BS from Eastern University.
