With curiosity and no prior background in Kubernetes, I was excited to watch Kelsey’s panel at ContainerDays Conference 2024 to gain a better understanding of how the movement began. Having organized conferences for over seven years with a primary focus on cloud-native and Kubernetes topics, I’ve often found that most sessions are highly technical. This made me especially happy to learn more about the importance of this technology and how it all started.

These are my key takeaways from the session:

Today, Kubernetes is a cornerstone of cloud-native applications. It has become an essential tool for developers and companies worldwide.

But… How did it start gaining traction?

Kelsey Hightower played a crucial role in driving Kubernetes adoption and community growth from the early days.

When questioned about the beginning of his journey with Kubernetes, Kelsey attributes it to a stroke of luck.

While working at CoreOS, Kelsey was contacted by Google for their announcement of the release of Kubernetes. Recognizing the potential of this project, Kelsey quickly made Kubernetes run on CoreOS and prepared a detailed tutorial on how to do it. The next day, this tutorial became even more popular than Google’s announcement on Hacker News. This was an early indication that simple guides could be a powerful tool to drive Kubernetes’ adoption.

Kelsey realized early on that Kubernetes solved a challenge that companies and system architects had been struggling with for a long time. This realization motivated him to start contributing independently to the project, even before CoreOS officially supported it. Like other passionate community members, Kelsey started contributing on nights and weekends, driven by his genuine interest in building a useful tool for the whole community.

The turning point for Kubernetes

For Kelsey, the moment when it became clear that Kubernetes was going to be the future was when Microsoft announced its support. Soon after, all the big vendors followed, solidifying the project’s status as the future of cloud infrastructure.

Despite his conviction about Kubernetes’ potential from the start, Kelsey couldn’t have predicted it would become such a cornerstone for the cloud-native community. In fact, Kelsey initially approached Kubernetes as a fun, interesting project, which he wanted to share with the community.

Igniting a movement

In his early talks, Kelsey would simply (and enthusiastically) explain how Kubernetes worked, breaking down the difficult components into easy-to-grasp concepts. Eventually, his enthusiasm and approachable style ignited a spark that encouraged the community to not just adopt Kubernetes, but to actively contribute to its development.

While some players focused on building up credibility through white papers and highly technical content, Kelsey chose an educational path. By breaking down complex concepts into accessible information, and meeting people where they were in terms of knowledge, Kelsey gradually managed to build momentum and encourage more community involvement. This approach not only allowed the community to truly understand the technology, but it also inspired many to become contributors themselves.

The secret for Kubernetes’ success: community

Kelsey’s educational approach, combined with his previous contributions to the open-source community, allowed him to lend some of his own credibility to Kubernetes, which further fueled the project’s growth.

As it turns out - there was no master plan to grow Kubernetes. Instead, it was Kelsey’s accessible, educational approach that inspired a whole community to collectively build what is now a cornerstone of cloud computing.

In essence, from my personal perspective after watching this talk, the secret to Kubernetes’ success can be summarized in three elements: demystifying complex concepts, an engaged community, and, as always, a dash of luck.