Have you ever wondered what it actually takes to deploy your Python/Django or any application to Kubernetes - and build a platform around it? Or if you already have one, whether you'd build it the same way in 2026? This talk introduces Kubernetes as LEGO: building a real platform one block at a time, starting from raw primitives, layering Helm and Kustomize where they genuinely earn their place, and finally writing a custom operator in plain Python using kopf. At each step, we ask: Does this next block solve a real problem, or create a new one? You'll leave with a composable mental model and a sharper instinct for when to stop.
Platform engineering has a complexity problem. The default playbook - install everything, abstract it all away - produces platforms that are expensive to operate and painful to debug. This talk is for Python developers who are Kubernetes-curious but find the ecosystem overwhelming, and for engineers already using Kubernetes to visually reflect on and revisit their experience with it.
The talk progresses through three levels, each justified by what the previous one couldn’t handle:
The through-line is a single question asked at every layer: what problem does this solve that the previous level couldn’t? That question is the decision framework attendees take home. No prior Kubernetes experience assumed; familiarity with Python or Django is helpful.
Dipendra is an Engineering Lead at Cater Care, based in Sydney. He’s spent over eight years in the enterprise landscape, working across financial accounting, system support, data warehousing, and integration pipelines before moving into full-stack application and platform engineering. His core stack is Python, React/TypeScript, and serverless architectures, with a particular interest in cloud-native platform design on Google Cloud and Kubernetes Engine. He cares deeply about developer experience, building systems that scale and that small teams can understand, maintain, and build on.
A passionate advocate for open source and developer culture, Dipendra is an active member of the Sydney Python community. He believes in building in public and sharing what works, and what doesn’t.
