I'm excited to announce that my application to join the [CNCF Ambassadors](https://www.cncf.io/people/ambassadors/) has been accepted. I'll be *volunteering* some of my time along with around 100 others to help people access the Cloud Native technology and CNCF projects.

I'm excited to say that I'm now a CNCF Ambassador. I'll be volunteering my time to help developers and companies understand the Cloud Native landscape and CNCF projects.

See you on CNCF Slack 🤓 https://t.co/UuwLZjgkik @CloudNativeFdn pic.twitter.com/xF6Q2PNOKD
— Alex Ellis (@alexellisuk) 11 June 2019

## What is the CNCF? The [Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)](https://www.cncf.io/) is part of the [Linux Foundation](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/) and is the home of many Cloud Native projects. Kubernetes was the first project to join the foundation and it was followed by several other key projects such as Prometheus and Envoy. The landscape and trail-map are designed to help you navigate the projects which are part of the CNCF, and those which are closely related, but not member-projects. Member projects find a neutral home in the CNCF and come in at different levels. This usually starts at *Sandbox*, moves on to *Incubating* and if successful, can be voted up to Graduated by the steering committee. An example of a CNCF project is Harbor. [Harbor](https://github.com/goharbor/harbor) is an enterprise-grade container registry which allows companies to host Docker images on-premises or in the cloud. It was originally created by a vendor (VMware), but now lives in a neutral home to foster additional collaboration.

Click above to view the landscape, or view the [trail-map](https://github.com/cncf/landscape#trail-map). Whilst not self-sufficient, these documents can act as a guide and starting point. From there you can get more help on [CNCF Slack](https://slack.cncf.io/), from CNCF Ambassadors, blogs, newsletters and a wealth of consultants and vendors. This means that help is available, wherever you are on your Cloud Native journey. > Why not [subscribe to DevOps'ish](https://devopsish.com/) by fellow CNCF Ambassador [Chris Short](http://twitter.com/ChrisShort/)? ## What's the program? This program aims to recognise, empower and equip those who are committed to sharing their knowledge and expertise of CNCF projects. Most CNCF Ambassadors also run a meet-up group and get a small allowance each month towards the running-costs. > It's important to state that all CNCF Ambassadors are unpaid and volunteer their time. They have other full-time commitments, but balance them to build and engage with the community. From the [official page](https://www.cncf.io/people/ambassadors/), Ambassadors do the following: * "Promote cloud native projects and technology" * "Educate a local community on the CNCF mission" * "Contribute to CNCF projects" > Between 2016-2018 I was a member of the Docker Captains influencer program. It helped me to build my network, make many friends and to connect with developers all around the world. It was through this program that I developed an interest in distributed computing and Serverless technology. I'm glad to be able to take up the Cloud Native mantle and to get even more involved in CNCF projects such as [CloudEvents](https://github.com/cloudevents/spec), Kubernetes, [Linkerd](https://linkerd.io/), Prometheus, Helm and many others. I gained experience with many of these projects whilst building out [OpenFaaS](https://github.com/openfaas/faas) - a vendor-neutral, community project that brings a Serverless architecture to Kubernetes. > This gives me a developer's perspective and the additional operational experience with customers helps me relate the pros and cons to adopting the various projects. ## What does it mean for you, and for me? The CNCF Ambassadors program comes with some benefits such as free access to the [CKA and CKAD examinations](https://www.cncf.io/certification/cka/faq/), but it is a voluntary role. I'll still be volunteering my time to [lead the OpenFaaS project](https://www.openfaas.com/), but will make more time for a broader focus in the Serverless space. Some of this has included working more closely with the Google / RedHat Serverless teams and co-organizing the [Serverless Practioners Summit at KubeCon, EU](https://www.openfaas.com/blog/meet-us-at-barcelona/). I'll be available on CNCF Slack (see link) in the public channels and you may find me at your local CNCF meet-up or Kubernetes / Container event, such as KubeCon or Kubernetes Days. Sometimes you may need more help than you can find from community support. I’m available for landscape updates, training, longer day-rate engagements and hourly consultations. I can help your company market to developers; this can be anything from providing a report on your beta product or helping you with your Open Source strategy. * [View my profile](https://www.alexellis.io/) or [book a consultation in my Calendar](https://calendly.com/alexellis/). ### What are the other ways you can support the work on OpenFaaS? Leading, organizing and shepherding the OpenFaaS community is a full-time commitment. There are over 5-dozen end-user companies listed on [openfaas.com](https://www.openfaas.com/) who are using the project in production. I would love to be able to continue my work and empower and grow the [community team](https://www.openfaas.com/team/). * [Buy an Insiders Updates Subscription](https://github.com/alexellis) You can buy an Insiders Updates Subscription via GitHub Sponsors from 5 USD / mo. All sponsorship money contributes towards my time spent on building and maintaining OpenFaaS, inlets and my other OSS work for both companies and the community to benefit from. You'll also get a weekly digest on all the latest updates, security patches, tutorials, events, contests, and new features. * [Your logo on openfaas.com](https://www.openfaas.com/support/) ![EL6KRG5WoAUxd8O](/content/images/2020/02/EL6KRG5WoAUxd8O.jpeg) Secure a place on the project's homepage with a Gold or Platinum sponsorship to connect your brand and product to one of the fastest growing Open Source communities in Cloud Native. * [Buy a license for inlets-pro](https://github.com/inlets/inlets-pro)

inlets-pro is a Cloud Native tunnel that makes it easy to share and collaborate on services, or to get a public IP behind NAT or restrictive firewalls. inlets-pro is a L4 TCP tunnel with built-in, automatic TLS and support for Kubernetes, Docker and systemd. * [Book a drop-in consultation](https://calendly.com/alexellis) If you'd like help with migrating to the cloud, debugging a tricky problem with containers, Kubernetes, or Go, then feel free to reach out. For advice on growing community, or the reach of your OSS project or developer-product, book a 50 min coaching session. ## Get connected Here are my top three ways for getting connected and on track with your Cloud Native journey: * Find a [local CNCF meetup](https://github.com/cncf/meetups) * Attend [KubeCon](https://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2019/attend/) - hosted in EU, USA and China once per year. Smaller, local events called Kubernetes days are also not to be missed. * Join [CNCF Slack](https://slack.cncf.io/) in 30 seconds Finally, a great way to get up to speed is to read the blogs and tweets of the other 100+/- [CNCF Ambassadors](https://www.cncf.io/people/ambassadors/). > Follow me on Twitter [@alexellisuk](https://twitter.com/alexellisuk) To hire me, [connect with me on LinkedIn](https://www.alexellis.io/) or [book a meeting with me on Calendly](https://calendly.com/alexellis/).

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