As we move into the next year, I think it’s the perfect time to reflect on and celebrate everything we have achieved this year. Everyone has their ups and downs, but that should not stop you from moving forward. Like time, the clock never stops, and neither should you. As you read this, I encourage each and every one of you to reflect on your 2024 journey, celebrate your wins, embrace the lessons your struggles taught you, and step into a stronger 2025 with a renewed mindset, mission, and set of goals.

2024 Highlights

Launching BuildSafe

BuildSafe, a project designed to address compromised supply chains by helping organizations build tamper-proof, zero-CVE artifacts, has had a groundbreaking year. Its developer-friendly approach and compliance with government regulations have positioned it as a transformative tool in the cloud-native ecosystem.
Key milestones for BuildSafe this year:

• Zero-CVE Base and Application Images: Empowered organizations to create secure, zero-CVE images, ensuring high standards of security and reliability.

• Hermetic Builds: Introduced seamless hermetic builds for organizations to achieve superior supply chain security.

• SLSA Compliance: BuildSafe provides high quality SBOM’s and also helps you achieve higher SLSA Levels.

• Community Growth: Built a thriving community of over 250+ members, fostering collaboration and innovation.

As BuildSafe continues to evolve, the mission remains clear: to simplify supply chain security while empowering organizations to innovate securely. Join us and lets get to zero CVE and go beyond SLSA Level 3.

Kubestronaut

Kubestronaut is a title recognising individuals who have cleared the CKA, CKAD, CKS, KCNA, and KCSA certifications. This was launched at KubeCon EU 2024, and I’m honoured to be part of the CNCF certification journey. I’ve also authored two books CKA and CKS to help others on this path.

Note - Use coupon “newyear” to avail 60% off :) Happy new year!

Thanks to my CNCF Ambassador program, I received a coupon for these certifications and managed to complete all of them in just one week, it was a fun and intense experience!

This is the FREE CKS playlist that I am creating and will be completed very soon in 2025.

CNCF TAG Sustainability Lead

I became a CNCF TAG Sustainability Lead in 2024, and I’m deeply grateful to the current TAG leads, co-chairs, and the CNCF TOC for this opportunity. This role aligns perfectly with my passion for creating impactful sustainability initiatives within the cloud-native ecosystem.

Notable achievements so far:

• Initiated TAG Sustainability APAC Meetings to involve more contributors from the region.

• Actively contributing to sub-projects under the TAG, ensuring we achieve the sustainability goals.

• Encouraging the community to use existing tools and practices to create an immediate impact.

If you’re interested in sustainability, join the Slack community and explore the amazing ongoing projects!

Career Transition: New Beginnings at Loft Labs

This year marked a significant shift in my professional journey. After almost four years at Civo, where I rose to the position of Field CTO, I decided it was time for a new challenge.

In June, I joined Loft Labs as Principal Developer Advocate. I already knew a few folks from the team and was familiar with their innovation in multi tenancy space. I even streamed a demo of vCluster on Kubesimplify back in 2021.

At Loft Labs, my focus is on solving Kubernetes multi-tenancy challenges, a key technology focus area highlighted at KubeCon NA, alongside reducing Kubernetes costs. It’s been an exciting journey so far, working with a visionary team to drive innovation.

Content Creation at Kubesimplify

This year has been amazing for Kubesimplify in terms of the quality and quantity of content we’ve produced. We significantly upgraded editing and video quality to 4K, added more comprehensive courses, and conducted frequent live streams throughout the year.

Highlights:

Kubesimplify English
This year was the year of courses, with two main ones I want to highlight:

• WASM Course: Created in collaboration with Rishit, this is one of the best WebAssembly courses available, offering a unique cloud-native perspective.

  %[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYekV2Do0YU&t=11736s]

• The Complete DevOps Project:

  • Built a Golang application with PostgreSQL using CloudNativePG.

  • Instrumented the application with Prometheus, displaying metrics in Grafana.

  • Showcased load testing using K6 and scaling with HPA.

  • Secured the app with Cert-Manager and Gateway API for HTTPS.

  • Implemented CI/CD using GitHub Actions for CI and ArgoCD for CD.

  • Built a zero-CVE base and application image using BuildSafe, with builds executed via ko.

  • Hosted the app on managed Kubernetes clusters (AKS or GKE) created with ksctl.

Spooky Halloween Series
Inspired by Saloni’s imagination, we created a fun and spooky Kubernetes troubleshooting series. This was a labor of love to simplify Kubernetes troubleshooting for the community.

Content Summary for 2024:

• 38 videos

• 8 live streams

• 30 shorts

Kubesimplify Hindi

I elevated the Hindi channel to the next level with a mission not just to simplify Kubernetes but also to dive deeper into its complexities. The Kubernetes Bootcamp Live series has been a standout, with daily messages from viewers appreciating its detail and depth. This long-term commitment: 3-4 months of weekly detailed live streams, has been incredibly rewarding.

Overall stats for Kubesimplify Hindi - Although I was hoping for more on this particular channel

• 5 videos

• 16 shorts

• 15 live streams

Special New Year 2025 Surprise: "Let’s Get Certified Together"
Starting in January, I will launch a members-only live stream series to help participants achieve Kubernetes certifications. This includes access to a private Discord server for members, and to my surprise, we already have 10+ members signed up!

If you want please follow this livestream

Note: All members-only live streams will be made public for free one month later.

Conferences

Attending and speaking at conferences remains a highlight of my year. Being remote, these events provide a fantastic opportunity to meet people, share my work, and learn from others.

Key Themes of 2024 Talks:

1. Cloud-Native and AI

2. Sustainability

3. Multi-Tenancy and Cost Optimization

4. WebAssembly (WASM)

Below is the list of talks I have done this year:

• Civo Navigate US(Feb)- Generative AI in the Kubernetes Era with Kubeflow with Saiyam Pathak

• Wasm I/O 2024(March):
  - Accelerating ML Inferencing with WebAssembly & Spin 2.0
  - Sustainability with WASM? - faster, greener computing [Panel]
  - Create Production-Grade Wasm Applications on Kubernetes [Workshop]

• KubeCon EU 2024(March):
  - Building a Tool to Debug Minimal Container Images in Kubernetes, Docker and ContainerD
  - Heating Pools with Cloud Power: A New Wave in Green Computing

• KCD Pune(April) - Keynote: Let’s do Generative AI on Kubernetes (Not Recorded)

• KCD Hyderabad(June) - Keynote: Supply Chain Security in 2024 - Saiyam Pathak, Loft Labs - KCD Hyderabad

• ContainerDays 2024(September) - Building Scalable Cloud Native AI Apps with WebAssembly

• WasmCon 2024(November) - Exploring the Landscape for Open Telemetry for Wasm

• KubeCon NA 2024(November):
  - Cloud Native Sustainability Speedrun: Tools from Infrastructure to Application
  - The Spice Must Flow Green: CNCF's Environmental Sustainability TAG

• SOSS Community Days 2024(December) - Cooking up Secure OCI Artifacts with SLSA

• KubeCon India 2024(December) - Cell-Based Kubernetes - The Secret to Scalable, Repeatable and Resilient Cloud Architecture

Meetups

• CNCG Chandigarh - 10 years of Kubernetes

• CNCG Delhi - Secure Multi-Tenancy with vCluster and Falco

• GDG Bengaluru - Celebrating 10 Years of Kubernetes: Innovating Multi-Tenancy with vCluster

• Platform Meetup Bengaluru - Kubernetes Multi Tenancy.

Webinars

I also conducted webinars with Sysdig, SUSE, and PerfectScale, focusing on Kubernetes, sustainability, and multi-tenancy.

Personal Growth

2024 wasn’t just about professional milestones. I prioritised health and family this year:

• Health: Focused on yoga and dietary changes to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

• Family: Spent more quality time with my family, It’s always rewarding.

Additionally, I created a lot of content for vCluster on the Loft Labs YouTube channel, further contributing to the community.

In the end I would like to say a huge thanks to the community for appreciating the content I have been creating. If you want to support, just hit that subscribe button on YouTube channels and follow us everywhere:

• KubeSimplify English Youtube

• Kubesimplify Hindi Youtube

• Kubesimplify Blogs

• Kubesimplify Discord

• Newsletter

• Instagram

Here’s to an even more impactful 2025! 😊