Cloud Foundry Summit 2026

After 11 years working on Cloud Foundry, I still struggle to explain what I do. When meeting new people, I mumble something about "cloud platforms" and watch eyes glaze over. With my own kids (9 and 11), I haven't even tried.

The problem is that "what do you do?" has many layers. Saying "I work at SAP" doesn't explain anything. So you try "I work on a cloud platform" - blank stares. You add "it's open source" - more confusion. You attempt "it helps developers run their apps" - but what's an app? Each answer opens more questions, and before you know it, you've lost your audience.

This talk is my attempt to fix that. We'll explore analogies to explain: What is "the cloud" and what is a cloud platform? What do developers do and why do they need such a platform? Why would a company like SAP use this - and why build it together with others as open source?

This is not a technical introduction to Cloud Foundry - we have those. This is about the social challenge of communicating your work to people who will never touch a terminal. You'll leave with concrete stories you can use - whether explaining your job to your kids, your parents, or the curious stranger next to you on the bus.