/dev/world 2026

What the f**k is Kubernetes, and Why Should I Care?

Kubernetes has been around since 2015: over a decade now. It's easy to forget that the average person only knows about Containers, Pods, Deployments, Services, Ingresses, writing YAML manifests, and PVCs. Oh, and CRDs. (Right?) Clearly not. Those terms may mean nothing to you. For most of the last decade, they meant nothing to me. Please be assured that not knowing these terms is, in fact, totally normal and cool! But this talk is not a term-explainer, nor is it merely an introduction to Kubernetes. I argue that Kubernetes is a _language_ that provides a unified way to describe containerised apps and their dependencies, independent of where (what cloud, hosting provider, or physical machine) they are run. In this framing, I will demonstrate some practical uses for Kubernetes in my home lab made out of small commodity machines. These practical demonstrations would be straightforward without Kubernetes, and they are not made any more efficient or secure by adopting Kubernetes. But that's actually the point: a key value of Kubernetes is actually in the language for describing how they work, which makes them easier to talk about, share, inspect, and maintain over time - once you know enough of the language.

About the presenter

Josh is a software developer, mathematician, and cat parent living in lutruwita / Tasmania. They have worked for such companies as Google and Buildkite. But don't let any of that fool you. Their current hobbies include recreational Kubernetes sysadmin, after all. At this point, Josh may as well be part of the /dev/world furniture, but please do not sit upon Josh without their permission.