10 Years of Cloud-Native Evolution and the Emergence of AI

Ten years ago, we started the Cloud Native Night Meetup in Munich and Mainz with a simple idea: to explore, discuss, and better understand emerging technologies together with the community.

Our 10th anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the journey from containers and Kubernetes to platform engineering, cloud-native architectures, and now AI-native applications - and to discuss what the next decade of software engineering might look like.
We'll have a varied program for you. From a panel discussion about the Cloud Native journey and beyond to a Lightning talk about AI developer experience and a keynote about facilitating the Agentic Enterprise.

We are excited to celebrate this achievement with you by holding a hybrid event in Mainz and Munich simultaneously.

THIS MEETUP will be in ENGLISH and HYBRID. | Zoom Link is visible for remote attendees after registration.

*** AGENDA ***

• 6:30-6:50 PM | Doors open. Grab some snacks & drinks.
• 6:50 PM | Welcome & Intro Start of the hybrid meetup
• 7:00 PM | Panel Discussion: Beyond Cloud-Native: Rethinking Infrastructure and Platforms for the AI Era / Munich
• Break around 7:35-7:50 pm
• 7:50 PM | From AI-frustrated to AI-native – How Amazon and other industry leaders made AI coding work - Robert Hoffmann / Mainz
• 8:15 PM | The Agentic Enterprise: Architecting People, AI and Sovereignty - Sebastian Kister / Munich
• afterwards: More snacks & drinks, and a lot of time for networking with all attendees and speakers.

*** ABSTRACTS ***
Panel Discussion: Beyond Cloud-Native: Rethinking Infrastructure and Platforms for the AI Era / Munich
To mark the 10th anniversary of Cloud Native Night, we’re not planning a talk, but a conversation: an honest look back with a few people who have experienced and shaped the community and the cloud-native world over the years. The common thread is the journey — from the early days (when Docker was new, Kubernetes had only just emerged, and ‘cloud-native’ was barely a term) to the present day, where platform engineering, developer experience and now also AI and agent-based approaches are shaping the discussion. And, of course, a look ahead: what lies in store for the next ten years? The aim is a discussion that is entertaining, personal and perhaps even self-critical.

Participants:
- Mario-Leander Reimer (CTO, QAware)
- Nico Meisenzahl (COO, white duck)
- Max Körbächer (CEO, Liquid Reply)
- Matthias Haeussler (Vice President Consulting Expert, CGI)
- Sebastian Kister (Chief AI Architect & Acting Lead of Group Open Source Program Office, Volkswagen Group, assigned by Audi AG)

From AI-frustrated to AI-native – How Amazon and other industry leaders made AI coding work - Robert Hoffmann, (Senior Solutions Architect, AWS)

How did Amazon and other companies go from AI frustration in 2024 to AI-native development in 2026 and beyond? This article dives into the learnable skills and technical AI platform capabilities that help your organization go from AI slop to reliable, high-quality output. Specifically, we discuss:

• How a frustrated principal engineer at Amazon invented the precursor to spec-driven development to keep AI coding on track
• Amazon’s approach to build AI fluency across the company in a scalable way
• How the personal AI agent approach shapes your AI platform and enterprise architecture
• Why high-touch AI pair programming and autonomous software factories are not just maturity levels but different tools for different jobs
• How AI amplifies the good and bad parts of your developer experience

The Agentic Enterprise: Architecting People, AI and Sovereignty - Sebastian Kister (Chief AI Architect & Acting Lead of Group Open Source Program Office, Volkswagen Group assigned by Audi AG)

Enterprises are rushing to build "Agentic AI," but they are falling into a dangerous trap: treating human transformation, platform engineering, and data sovereignty as isolated silos. Join Sebastian Kister to discover how to avoid the "Automation Paradox," architect a zero-hallucination predictability engine, and secure your data against the hidden sovereignty threats of modern AI plumbing.

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Please note that photos are taken during the meetup. If you do not want to appear in the photos, please contact the meetup team at the beginning of the event.