Formerly DevOpsDays DC
For people who design, build, operate, and govern modern systems.
A community-driven technology conference rooted in the DC region, bringing together practitioners from engineering, operations, security, product, and adjacent disciplines to explore how real systems work in the real world. Each year, we engage with the technologies and practices shaping our industry — grounded in experience, tradeoffs, and real constraints. Substance over spectacle. Learning that carries forward into everyday work.
2026 Theme
Shipping Software in the Age of AI
AI is reshaping how software is designed, built, operated, and governed — sometimes in useful ways, sometimes not. This year's program looks at what's actually happening in practice across the stack: where AI is earning its place in real systems, where it isn't, and what's changing for the people doing the work.
Keynote
Max Kanat-Alexander
Executive Distinguished Engineer, Capital One
"Code Simplicity Applied to AI Coding Agents"
Max is an Executive Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, where he helps set the company's strategy for AI-assisted software development. Before that, he was the Chief Architect of the Bugzilla Project, then the Tech Lead for Code Health at Google, and then one of the Tech Leads for Developer Productivity and Happiness at LinkedIn. He has written two books, Code Simplicity and Understanding Software. He was the primary author of Google's code review guidelines, as well as the LinkedIn Developer Productivity and Happiness Framework.
Registration — Now Open
Grab your ticket before they're gone.
Join us September 16-17, 2026 in Washington, DC for two days of real talk from practitioners. Early bird pricing available now.
Register Now →Call for Presentations — Now Open
Got a talk in you? We want to hear it.
We're looking for practitioners sharing real experience — honest tradeoffs, things that worked, things that didn't. Ignite (lightning) and 30-minute slots available. New speakers welcome. Submissions close June 8, 2026.
Submit a Talk →Sponsorship — Now Available
Be part of something that matters.
Sponsoring DC State of the Stack is an opportunity to engage with practitioners who care deeply about how systems actually work — engineers, operators, and leaders from across the DC region doing serious technical work.
Become a Sponsor →Exploring the Full Stack
Brought to you by the same team that ran DevOpsDays DC for years. Same great community. Broader vision.