Sonia's Unforgettable Journey at KubeCon EU 2023: A Recap of Her First-Time ExperienceWhile most of us have been enjoying the summer holidays, Sonia utilized her summer travel to attend KubeCon EU, and we are elated to have her share the experience with us!

Let's welcome Sonia to the WomenInCloudNative podcast!!

So, a little prequel that Sonia gave us, it's her first time on-premise at the giant KubeCon arena with over 10,000 attendees and speakers, almost the whole ambiance felt like an exciting "Rockstar concert" by the Techies! People were being helped with badges and schedules for the specific Kube events that the individuals would like to attend per their interests. (For our Reader's reference, here's the plan from KubeCon 2023 to keep your curiosity up: KubeCon Schedule)

So, Sonia, like every other attendee, was exhilarated and had a great experience at the KubeCon, the motivation she bagged her along being "Initially, I almost felt like a nobody among everybody but by the end of the event I left deeply energized and motivated to get started and learn more on the tech of the projects being talked about."

Two cents from Sonia that I personally liked being: It seems harder to contribute, *'*cause it's not always about the code, equal baggage has to be carried by documentation of the 'what and how' of them.

As a girl in tech, my lookout has always been towards more inspiration from my fellow women and Sonia felt a considerable fraction in the gender ratio among the crowd. It was greater than a 9:1 (I think we know who gets the majority here!) and honestly as much as it raised my concern, we discussed how it isn't startling considering the lesser participation of women folks merely from our circles. However, an utterly positive silver lining Sonia boasted about was the great proportion of women speakers (NGL it did heighten up our souls for the women in cloud native somehow!)

KubeCon takes great interest in terms of diversity and inclusiveness*,* encompassing over 160+ nationalities in their arena of sharing, learning, and nonetheless getting baffled by the projects being talked about.

The last day was meant for everyone to own up and find their interests in the form of mentorship sessions with opportunities to be involved and contribute to Open Source communities.

A couple of weeks later, all the videos of KubeCon were uploaded to Youtube for free. You can go check them at : Youtube/@cncf

Being a woman in tech, especially in Cloud Native space can be a little daunting, especially given the recession and increased gap between the skills required versus cloud computing knowledge.

A huge shoutout to Sonia to have shared her evening coffee and her wholesome experience with us at @Women in Cloud Native (Twitter) and we wish her the best ahead! BTW, Nancy(Twitter) and myself (LinkedIn) had an awesome Coffee Chat with her, and if you have any further questions, feel free to catch up with Sonia on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Well, what's already missed out can't be reverted, but here's a list of Tech events coming up for you people, go check 'em out :

SAVE THE DATES!

KubeDay Israel | 19 June | Tel Aviv, Israel | Register | Sponsor | Submit a Talk

KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2023 | 6-9 November | Chicago, Illinois | Sponsor
CFP opens April 26 | Registration opens late spring / early summer

KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2024 | 19-22 March | Paris, France
Sponsorships + CFP will open in the late summer / early fall of 2023!

Does this amaze you getting to know about such insightful opportunities even if you missed them this year? We've got you covered! Join us at (Official Website, ) and keep following for more such blogs. This is me Sankita signing off for the day!

Keep Clouding, Keep soaring!! :)