Cloud Native Aachen Meetup January 2026

PSA: We are now an official CNCF chapter so we REQUIRE attendees to register via our new Event Page
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Hello fellow Cloud Native and Kubernetes enthusiasts,

we are thrilled to announce our next Kubernetes & Cloud Native Aachen Meetup! Since we are hosting our events under the umbrella of an official CNCF chapter we also changed how we handle signups. Please head over to our event page CNCF Cloud Native Aachen presents Cloud Native Aachen Meetup January 2026
on the CNCF Community Portal and RSVP there.

Talks
Our first talk by Ugochukwu Mgboji is titled “My Kubestronaut Journey: Navigating the Cloud Native Universe”.
Completing the Kubestronaut program has been an exciting and eye-opening journey into the world of Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies. In this talk, I’ll share my personal experience — from how I got started with the program to the lessons, challenges, and key insights I gained along the way.I’ll discuss how the Kubestronaut experience deepened my understanding of CNCF projects, helped me connect with an inspiring community, and opened new opportunities for learning and collaboration. I’ll also share practical tips and resources for anyone interested in starting or advancing their own cloud-native journey.Whether you’re just beginning to explore Kubernetes or already part of the CNCF ecosystem, this session aims to inspire you to keep experimenting, learning, and growing within the ever-evolving cloud-native space.

Our second talk by Benedikt Bongartz & Sebastian Rabenhorst is "Safe Schema Evolution for Observability”.
As observability systems scale, schemas and conventions breaking queries, alerts, or dashboards. Overcoming this requires strategies like automated ingest-time translation, query-time aliasing, and compatibility-aware upgrades. This talk shares practical approaches based on OpenTelemetry, followed by a demo how Shopify's automation-driven workflow to safely manage schema evolution can and reduce
maintenance risks.

Venue Information
We are pleased that SOPTIM AG will host the January edition of Cloud Native Aachen at:

📍 SOPTIM AG
Im Süsterfeld 5-7,
52072 Aachen

For organizational purposes, its REQUIRED to register through the event page until 19.01.2026. No detailed compliance information is required, but your name should be included when signing up. We will share attendee names with SOPTIM to prepare visitor badges. You will NEED a valid ID card to pickup your visitor badge.

We look forward to seeing those of you who attended one of our past meetups and are excited to welcome new participants on this journey! Feel free to invite your colleagues and friends to join us. If you're interested in attending, please sign up via the new Event Page so we can ensure there’s enough food and drinks for everyone. The event will be held in English. Doors open at 6:30 PM, talks begin at 7 PM.

Additionally, we are always looking for speakers for future meetups. If you’re interested in speaking, please reach out to us at meetups@cloudnative.ac.

Sponsors:

• SOPTIM AG: meetup location, drinks and food