Infometis at DevOpsDays Zurich 2026
Two days full of energy, openness and genuine community
On May 6th and 7th, 2026, the Alte Kaserne in Winterthur once again became the meeting place for one of Switzerland's most vibrant tech communities – and we were there. As a Silver Partner of DevOpsDays Zurich 2026, we had the privilege of experiencing two extraordinary days firsthand. A brief summary upfront: Anyone who views DevOps as a purely technical topic will be proven wrong here.
A venue that fits the spirit of the event
The Alte Kaserne in Winterthur, just a 25-minute S-Bahn ride from Zurich's main train station and 20 minutes from the airport, is a memorable venue – historic, spacious, and open. It's the perfect setting for a conference focused on exchange and interaction. The organizers had carefully tailored the various areas – main stage, workshop rooms, sponsor booths, catering, and open-plan spaces – to the needs of the participants. Everything felt well-planned without being stiff or formal.
Content-wise, it's up-to-date
The program included two keynotes, eight talks, 15 Ignites and six workshops – a deliberately curated mix that covered both technical depth and cultural and organizational perspectives.
The event kicked off with Bertrand Delacretaz's keynote address, "Engineering & Ethics: Responsibility by Design"—a strong signal that at DevOpsDays, the human dimension of engineering is just as important as the code itself. On the second day, Limor Bergman Gross opened with "Your Systems Aren't Stuck – Your Teams Are: The Leadership Patterns Behind Scalable DevOps," striking a chord with his audience: it's not just about pipelines and infrastructure, but about people and how they collaborate.
Talks like Maria-Hendrike Peetz's "Agents in Action: How Google is Automating Operational Tool," Egor Savochkin's "From Gut Feel to Evidence: What DORA Metrics Actually Tell Us," and Florian Mair's "When Your 'New Teammate' Hallucinates: Observability as the Safety Net for AI Code" provided particularly ample material for discussion. The latter perfectly captured the spirit of the times: AI-driven development is a reality – but without robust observability, it remains a risk.
The Ignite Talks were also refreshingly direct – five-minute short presentations that provided entertainment and food for thought with topics such as “Cutting 2/3rds of your cloud costs with common sense”, “Neurodiversity: An Underrated Superpower in Business” or the amusing “Dr. Strangepod or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the AI”.
The centerpiece: Open spaces and workshops
The open spaces remain one of the best elements of DevOpsDays. Some of the most valuable conversations take place outside of the official talks: spontaneous discussions in the hallways, small groups debating architectural decisions, or people openly sharing what went wrong in production. This willingness to share experiences without pretending everything is perfect is what makes community events like this so valuable.
The afternoon workshops provided practical depth: from "Maintaining Legacy Applications using AI Tooling" to "Platform Engineering in the Age of AI: Secure the Software Supply Chain" to a Kubernetes Capture-the-Flag competition – here participants could get their hands dirty.
An atmosphere you can feel
What sets DevOpsDays Zurich apart from many other events in the region is its palpable openness. The conference has grown over the years without losing its open and community-driven spirit. The core idea remains the same: bringing people together, sharing real-world experiences, openly discussing challenges, and learning from one another.
Anyone who regularly attends tech events in Zurich knows the phenomenon: many conferences primarily attract a local audience. DevOpsDays Zurich is different. As part of the global DevOpsDays community, it brings together leaders from software development, IT operations, QA, InfoSec, and IT management – from all over Switzerland, the German-speaking world, and far beyond. English as the conference language is not a hindrance, but rather a mark of quality: it opens doors to international voices and perspectives that you wouldn't find at a purely local event.
Thank you – it was an honor!
As a Silver Partner, we weren't just spectators, but active participants in this community. The hospitality of the organizing team was exceptional: from the seamless coordination beforehand to the warm atmosphere on site. Some of the best ideas and contacts arise outside of the presentations themselves – somewhere between coffee breaks, sticker exchanges, and spontaneous conversations at the booth. That's exactly what we experienced.
A huge thank you to the entire DevOpsDays Zurich team for the outstanding organization and the invitation to be part of this special event. The 9th edition of DevOpsDays in Zurich/Winterthur has once again demonstrated why this event has become such a vital fixture for the community. We're already looking forward to next year – and especially to what the 10th anniversary in 2027 will bring.
