Cloud Native Tampa Bay

Official CNCF Community Chapter

Tampa Bay’s home for cloud native practitioners, where Kubernetes users, platform engineers, and enterprise AI leaders come together to share knowledge, solve real problems, and grow at every experience level.

This isn't a meetup about the latest models or research papers. It's about the infrastructure, compliance, cost optimization, and organizational patterns that separate successful deployments from expensive demos.

Join the Community

CNCF Community Platform (Primary)

The official Cloud Native Computing Foundation community platform for Tampa Bay. This is where we organize events, share updates, and coordinate meetups.

How to join:

  1. Visit community.cncf.io/cloud-native-tampa-bay
  2. Click the “Join” button
  3. Create a free CNCF account (or sign in if you have one)
  4. You’ll receive notifications about upcoming events

Join CNCF Community →

LinkedIn Group: Cloud Native Tampa Bay

Connect with members, share articles, and participate in discussions between meetups.

How to join:

  1. Visit the LinkedIn Group
  2. Click “Request to join”
  3. Answer the membership questions (helps us keep quality high)
  4. You’ll be approved within 24 hours

Join LinkedIn Group →

Slack: CNCF Tampa

Real-time discussions with the Tampa Bay cloud native community. Ask questions, share resources, and connect with local practitioners.

How to join:

  1. Get an invite link from a community organizer or at a meetup
  2. Visit cncf-tampa.slack.com
  3. Create your account with the invite link
  4. Introduce yourself in #general

Request Invite →

What We Cover

  • Kubernetes fundamentals through advanced production patterns
  • Cloud native AI infrastructure and deployment strategies
  • Hybrid and multi-cloud architectures
  • Enterprise governance, compliance, and security (HIPAA, SOX, PCI, EU AI Act)
  • GPU resource optimization and cost management
  • Multi-tenant platform operations
  • Strategies for regulated industries: finance, healthcare, manufacturing

Who Should Join

  • Technical Practitioners: Platform Engineers, SREs, ML Engineers, and Developers
  • Leadership: CTOs, CISOs, CDOs, VPs of Engineering, and Enterprise Architects
  • Business & Governance: Compliance Officers, Risk Managers, and Product Managers
  • Newcomers: Anyone curious about cloud native technologies

What to Expect

Hands-On Workshops

We don’t just talk about infrastructure. We deploy it. Bring your laptop, follow along, and leave with working code.

Real-World Case Studies

Learn from practitioners who’ve shipped production systems in regulated industries. What worked, what didn’t, and what they’d do differently.

No Sales Pitches

This is a practitioner community. Vendors are welcome to participate, but this isn’t a place to pitch products.

Honest Conversations

87% of AI projects fail. Let’s talk about why and how to be in the 13% that succeed.

Past Events

Fast Track AI Deployment: Master KServe in an Hour!

Production AI inference infrastructure with KServe — deploying Kubernetes, Istio, Knative, and monitoring in 60 minutes using kFabric.

Watch Recording →

Revised: Applying Lessons from the k8s Security Audit

Security best practices and lessons learned from the Kubernetes security audit.

View Event →

Stateful Sets: The Last Major Frontier in Kubernetes

Deep dive into StatefulSets for managing stateful applications in Kubernetes.

View Event →

Isle of Cats: Kubernetes Networking Revealed

Understanding Kubernetes networking from fundamentals to advanced patterns.

View Event →

KUDO: The Kubernetes Universal Declarative Operator

Building and managing Kubernetes operators with KUDO.

View Event →

Organizers

David Lapsley - Founder & CEO, Stealth Trevor Roberts Jr - Infrastructure Engineering, Capital One

Questions?

Email davidlapsleyio@gmail.com or reach out on any of our community platforms above.