Container Days London 2026 - the first time in UK!

TLDR;

• sold out
• full packed agenda with container/kubernetes topics
• co-hosting the first MCP-Confernce!

It is February, and London is showing some rain for us. As a German located in Hamburg, it´s no big deal for me. Luckily for all others that are more sunshine-minded, the container days in London were heating the rain with the hottest in container technology that is possible.

Good Morning - 9am, let´s start!

As usual, it started with the registration part and picking up your badge. The first surprise - no conference shirt, but a cool beanie with the logo. I need to admin, after getting comfy with the orange, I really like it and wear it as often as I can. A huge thank you to the organizers.

The keynote - that I missed :(

The keynote was held by - Amanda Brock with the topic “Open Source powering the Digital Economy!”. I need to admit, I was into conversations in the exhibition area that I missed it - really sorry.

Yet another conference?

Going through all topics would be far too long and detailed. I like to point out some special Speakers and Sessions that stand out and left a lasting impression:

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 - Sarah Peters

I’m at a loss for words—music and software development have more in common than you’d think! If you get the chance to see Sarah speak, take it. It’s mind-blowing.

𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 – 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗪𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝘆? - Pieter Vincken

This talk reminded me to channel my inner coding monk more often. IaC is software development. Thank you, Pieter, for the wake-up call!

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗞𝘂𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 – 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗜𝘁 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 - Michael Schmitt

Ever considered writing an operator? Get Michael’s advice before you start. Thanks for sharing valuable insights!

𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝘀: 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗢𝗖𝗜 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗡𝗶𝘅 - Arik Grahl

Let’s challenge the status quo. Building OCI containers differently and getting familiar with Nix - thank you, Arik, for this fresh perspective!

𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗣𝗜𝘀: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼 – Hannah Olukoye & 𝘔𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘭𝘢

If you’ve ever wondered about the “castle-and-moat” model, why you’d use a service mesh like Istio, or how Ztunnel works with SPIFFE identities—this was the talk for you. A fantastic technical deep dive into Zero Trust. Thank you both!

𝗙𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺 - Nigel Douglas

If you only think about CVEs and CVSS scores, you’re only halfway there. Nigel took us on a technical deep dive into exploitability, mixing EPSS, CISA KEV, and Exploit-DB. Always a pleasure to see you speak, Nigel!

𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗠 𝗼𝗻 𝗞𝘂𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀 - Frederik Pietzko

I’ll admit—I was skeptical. My only experience with WebAssembly was in browser canvases. But this session was well worth the time! WASM in Kubernetes/containerd could be a game-changer. Seeing 200 pods spin up in a minute on a standard laptop? Impressive. Let’s see where this goes—thank you, Frederik!

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝘁 (𝗖𝗥𝗔), 𝗦𝗕𝗢𝗠𝘀, 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗬𝗢𝗨! - Bjarne Valentin Rentz and me

And of course, a special shoutout to my colleague Bjarne. He delivered this talk together with me. It is always a blast performing with you on stage! I like the enthusiasm. We even sneaked one extra slide into the deck the night before to make this a bit clearer.

Summary

I was unsure at the beginning - is it just another ContainerDays franchise? I was used to ContainerDays in Hamburg, Germany. Is this event in London something unique and different? After these two days, I can clearly say - ContainerDays London is a unique event and should be something that you might consider. It is different and feels like home at the same time. Developers, Business, Kubernetes, Containers, and a unique venue, plus London City. Do I need to say more?

If there is just one little thing to complain about (sorry, the German is taking over), try to get the speaker stages in the exhibition hall a bit quieter. That was really a challenge sometimes for the speaker as well as the attendees in these rooms.

I have my crazy early bird ticket for the next year - looking forwards and see how it will evolve.