# QCon San Francisco 2026

> International software development conference for senior software engineers, architects, and engineering leaders. 60+ senior practitioners from innovator and early-adopter companies, 12 curated tracks, two optional training days, and the InfoQ Certified Architect Program. Patterns and practices, not products and pitches.

Organized by C4Media Inc., makers of InfoQ and QCon.

## Essential Details

- Website: https://qconsf.com
- Conference: November 16–18, 2026 · 3 days
- Training: November 19–20, 2026 · 2 days
- Location: San Francisco, CA
- Venue: Hyatt Regency San Francisco, Embarcadero waterfront
- Register: https://qconsf.com/registration/event/nov2026
- Contact: info@qconsf.com · payments@qconsf.com · sales@qconsf.com

## Week Overview

| Dates | What |
| --- | --- |
| Mon Nov 16 – Wed Nov 18 | Conference: 12 tracks, keynotes, unconferences, peer-sharing sessions, social events |
| Thu Nov 19 | Half-day trainings (AM and PM sessions) + InfoQ Certified Architect Program capstone workshop |
| Thu Nov 19 – Fri Nov 20 | Full-day and half-day trainings |

In-person tickets include 12 months of on-demand access to session recordings.

## Program by Day

12 curated tracks across November 16–18, four tracks running in parallel each day. Each track is chosen and hosted by a senior practitioner. 60+ speakers, with more being added weekly. Every conference day also includes keynotes, unconference sessions, lunch topic discussions, and extended breaks for peer conversations.

### Day 1: Monday, November 16

| Track | Track Host |
| --- | --- |
| Architectures You've Always Wondered About | Daniela Miao, Co-Founder & CTO @Momento, Systems & Observability Nerd, ex-Lightstep, ex-DynamoDB |
| Guardrails & Safety Nets (Evals) for the New Landscape | Tanya Reilly, Principal Engineer @Datadog, Author of "The Staff Engineer's Path", Likes Going Places on Trains |
| Modern API Design for Humans and Agents | Krys Flores, Staff Software Engineer @Crunchyroll, Host of O'Reilly's The Staff Engineer's Career Roadmap |
| Resilience Engineering: Everything Fails All the Time | Vanessa Huerta Granda, Resilience Engineering Manager @Enova, Co-Author of the Howie Guide on Post Incident Analysis, Board Member for the Resilience in Software Foundation |

### Day 2: Tuesday, November 17

| Track | Track Host |
| --- | --- |
| Distributed Systems in Production | Vidhya Arvind, Tech Lead & a Founding Architect for the Data Abstraction Platform @Netflix, Previously @Box and @Verizon |
| Staff+ Engineering Skills | Javier Fernandez-Ivern, Staff Software Engineer @Netflix with Over 24 Years in Software Engineering |
| Engineering AI Systems | Melanie Zhao, Engineering Lead @BlackRock, Pioneering AI Adoption in Asset Management |
| Data Platforms Reimagined | Adi Polak, Director, Advocacy and Developer Experience Engineering @Confluent, Author of "Scaling Machine Learning with Spark" and "High Performance Spark 2nd Edition" |

### Day 3: Wednesday, November 18

| Track | Track Host |
| --- | --- |
| Architecting for Agents: Beneath the Loop | Julie Amundson, Senior AI Infrastructure Consultant, ex-Googler, ex-Netflixer |
| Code Beyond Engineers & Engineering Teams | Suhail Patel, Principal Engineer @Monzo Focused on Designing and Operating Distributed Systems, Previously @Citymapper |
| Real World Platform Engineering | Daniel Bryant, Platform Engineer, Co-Author of "Mastering API Architecture", Java Champion, and InfoQ News Manager |
| Engineering the Developer Experience | Ankit Jain, Co-Founder & CEO @Aviator |

Topic areas covered across the three days: architecting AI systems, agent orchestration, evals and observability, API design, distributed systems, platform engineering, resilience, data platforms, developer experience, and Staff+ engineering skills.

Full track list: https://qconsf.com/#program

## Confirmed Speakers So Far

60+ senior practitioners, with speakers being added weekly. Confirmed speakers include:

- Joseph Lynch — Principal Software Engineer @Netflix Building Highly-Reliable and High-Leverage Infrastructure Across Stateless and Stateful Services
- Joy Ebertz — Principal Engineer @Imprint, Blogger, and Speaker, Previously @Harness, @Split, & @Box
- Jyothi Nookula — Product Leader Director with 13+ Years Driving AI Product & Platform Innovation, Previously @Meta, @Amazon, and @Etsy
- Kaye Mason — Senior Staff Software Engineer @Meta, Previously @Google and @EA, 20+ Years in Real-Time Rendering, Spatial Computing, and Developer Platforms
- Shweta Vohra — Architecture Leader @Booking.com, Author of "Decoding Platform Engineering Patterns" & "Dear Software and AI Architect", 24+ Years Experience Building Cloud, Platform, and AI Systems
- Andrew Hatch — Engineering Leader and SRE Manager @Cisco ThousandEyes, With 25+ Years Building Software, Operations, SRE, and Platform Teams Across Australia, India, and the United States
- Jacob Murphy — Open Source Maintainer @Valkey & Software Engineer @Google Cloud's Memorystore Team
- Plum Ertz — Senior Director, Engineering @Ro, Specializing in Digital Accessibility, UI Development, and Scaling Systems and Teams
- Hamel Husain — Machine Learning Engineer, 20+ Years in Applied AI, Machine Learning, and Data Science
- Laura Savino — Software Engineer @Adobe Photoshop, Human Language Enthusiast and Former Language Teacher, 15 Years of Software Development
- Mallika Rao — Senior Engineering Manager @Zocdoc, Previously @Netflix, @Twitter and @Walmart

Full list: https://qconsf.com/speakers/nov2026

2026 Program Committee: Erin Doyle (Founding Engineer @Quotient), Haley Tucker (Retired Principal SWE for Platform Engineering @Netflix), Hien Luu (AI/ML Leader, Advisor, Speaker & Author), Khawaja Shams (Co-Founder & CEO @Momento), Suhail Patel (Principal Engineer @Monzo), Thomas Betts (Senior Laureate Software Architect @Blackbaud).

## Optional Trainings (Nov 19–20)

Hands-on trainings led by practitioners. Save your training seat at registration and select your specific training later: all training-day participants will be invited to choose their sessions once the full lineup is confirmed by end of August 2026. Training days are refundable until September 21, 2026.

### Thursday, Nov 19 · Morning (half day, 9:00 AM PST)

| Training | Host(s) |
| --- | --- |
| Building AI Agents: A Practical Framework for Choosing the Right SDK | Hien Luu, AI/ML Leader, Advisor, Speaker, and Author |
| AI for Java Developers | Dan Vega, Java Champion & Spring Developer Advocate @Broadcom / Nate Schutta, Software Architect @Thoughtworks, Java Champion, author of "Thinking Architecturally" and "Responsible Microservices" |
| The Human Architecture Problem: Designing Teams That Scale With AI [Half-day version] | Charlotte de Jong Schouwenburg, Co-founder of @Bravely, Business Psychologist, Executive Coach, Trainer, Speaker, 12+ Years Experience Enabling High Performing Teams and Leaders |
| Supercharge Your Work With Claude Code and Codex | Khawaja Shams, Co-Founder & CEO @Momento, previously @NASA and @Amazon |
| Measuring What Matters: Building a Developer Productivity Program Engineers Can Trust | Erin Doyle, Founding Engineer @Quotient, 20+ Years Across Full Stack Development in Web and Mobile, and Platform Engineering |

### Thursday, Nov 19 · Afternoon (half day, 1:00 PM PST)

| Training | Host(s) |
| --- | --- |
| AI-Assisted Coding Master Class: Build Your Mission Control | Sepehr Khosravi, Machine Learning Platform Engineer @Coinbase, Award Winning Instructor @UC Berkeley - Gen-AI Bootcamp, Founder @AI Squads |
| The Fundamentals of Software Engineering in the Age of AI | Nate Schutta, Software Architect @Thoughtworks, Java Champion, author of "Thinking Architecturally" and "Responsible Microservices" / Dan Vega, Java Champion & Spring Developer Advocate @Broadcom |
| Psychological Safety as Infrastructure: Building Teams That Fail Fast With AI | Charlotte de Jong Schouwenburg, Co-founder of @Bravely, Business Psychologist, Executive Coach, Trainer, Speaker, 12+ Years Experience Enabling High Performing Teams and Leaders |
| How To Write Skills That Actually Work | Baruch Sadogursky |
| Cracking the Black Box: Forensic Debugging | Ryan Scott Brown, Principal Engineer @Crunchyroll, Previously @Red Hat, @Trek10, and @Vendia |

### Friday, Nov 20 · Full day (9:00 AM PST)

| Training | Host(s) |
| --- | --- |
| Effective AI-Native Development with Harness Engineering | Zichuan Xiong, Head of AIOps @Thoughtworks / Premanand Chandrasekaran, Head of Technology @Thoughtworks |
| Agent MCP Workshop: Building Your Own Java-Based MCP Server | David Parry, Principal Architect @Qodo |
| The Human Architecture Problem: Designing Teams That Scale With AI [Full-day version] | Charlotte de Jong Schouwenburg, Co-founder of @Bravely, Business Psychologist, Executive Coach, Trainer, Speaker, 12+ Years Experience Enabling High Performing Teams and Leaders |
| The Incident Lab: Responding to and Learning From Production Failures | Courtney Nash, Co-founder @The VOID, Previously @Verica, @Holloway, @Fastly, @O’Reilly Media, @Microsoft, & @Amazon / Sarah Butt, Principal Engineer @Salesforce / Eric Dobbs, Principle Incident Analyst @Oracle / Hamed Silatani, Co-Founder and CEO @Uptime Labs / Alex Elman, Staff Software Engineer @Slack, Site Reliability Engineer @Indeed |

Full training list: https://qconsf.com/training/nov2026

## InfoQ Certified Architect Program

Attend all 3 conference days, complete the capstone workshop on the fourth day, and achieve the ICSAET certification (InfoQ Certified Software Architect in Emerging Technologies). You work through QCon as part of a small cohort of senior engineers and software architects with a minimum of five years' experience, facilitated by Luca Mezzalira, author of "Building Micro-Frontends".

- Details: https://qconsf.com/training/nov2026/infoq-certified-architect-program-qcon-san-francisco
- Pricing: Conference (3 days) + Certification (half day) — see pricing table below

## Pricing

Pricing changes on each deadline below. All amounts in USD. The pricing table is subject to change without notice. Video-Only pass pricing may be subject to sales tax.

| Deadline | Conference (3 days) | Conference (3 days) + Trainings (1 day) | Conference (3 days) + Trainings (2 days) | Conference (3 days) + Certification (half day) | Trainings only - 1 day | Trainings only - 2 days | 📹 Video-Only Pass to QCon recordings |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Until August 11th | $2,715 | $3,455 | $4,150 | $3,455 | $795 | $1,490 | $590 |
| Until September 8th | $2,835 | $3,575 | $4,270 | $3,575 | $795 | $1,490 | $590 |
| Until October 13th | $2,955 | $3,695 | $4,390 | $3,695 | $795 | $1,490 | $590 |
| Until November 10th | $2,995 | $3,735 | $4,430 | $3,735 | $795 | $1,490 | $590 |
| After November 10th | $3,250 | $3,990 | $4,685 | $3,990 | $795 | $1,490 | $590 |

Live table: https://qconsf.com/pricing-table/nov2026

### Group and Alumni Discounts

- Group discounts are available for teams of 3+ attending in person. Email info@qconsf.com with your group size for details.
- Returning QCon attendees qualify for an alumni discount.
- Discounts must be applied at the time of order. They cannot be combined or applied retroactively.

## Procurement, Payment, and Deadlines

- Payment by invoice (NET 30): available online until Thursday, October 19, 2026. Payment is due 30 days from order. Pricing is based on the date payment is received, so an invoice paid after a pricing deadline is charged at the new tier. Credit-card payments lock in that day's price and generate a receipt marked paid.
- After October 19, 2026: email payments@qconsf.com to request invoice payment, though credit card is recommended close to the event.
- Conference tickets are non-refundable. Two options if you can no longer attend in person: transfer the ticket to another person (deadline Friday, November 13, 2026, transfer fee waived, email info@qconsf.com), or watch the sessions through the 12-month online access included with the in-person ticket.
- Training refunds: trainings are refundable up to and including Monday, September 21, 2026, no questions asked. No training refunds from September 22, 2026.
- Visa invitation letters: request at least five business days before the event. Apply for your visa before buying a ticket, as registration fees are not refunded if a visa application is declined.
- Payment questions: payments@qconsf.com
- Only participants who have paid in full before the event start date are admitted or receive access credentials.

## Video-Only Pass

Can't attend in person? The Video-Only Pass ($590) gives 12 months of on-demand access to 60+ practitioner talks. Recordings become available starting December 21, 2026. There are no live-streamed sessions. Recommended browser: Google Chrome (Safari is not supported).

Details: https://qconsf.com/video-only

## Venue & Hotel

Hyatt Regency San Francisco, on the Embarcadero waterfront. Conference venue and hotel in one location, close to BART and downtown attractions. A QCon-exclusive room rate is available through the venue page.

Book: https://qconsf.com/venue

## The QCon Experience

- 12 curated tracks with 60+ peer-selected international speakers
- Technical sessions that cover what failed, not just what worked
- Unconference sessions for solving problems with peers: https://qconsf.com/unconference
- Extended breaks, lunch discussions, peer-sharing activities, and conference socials
- 12 months of on-demand video access with every in-person ticket
- Sponsored talks are clearly separated from the editorial program

### We Care

Enforced Code of Conduct, all-gender restrooms, prayer room, lactation room, quiet areas, accessible event space, detailed food labels with vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and special-diet options, diversity scholarships, and all-day coffee. Details: https://qconsf.com/qcon-cares

### Who Attends

Technical team leads and higher plus software architects (34%), senior developers and lead engineers (23%), and software developers (24%). Attendees come from companies including Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, eBay, Uber, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and NASA.

## Volunteering

Students, early-career professionals, and others interested in software development can volunteer at QCon San Francisco 2026 and receive free access to the conference in exchange for on-site logistical support: assisting with registration, directing attendees, and monitoring conference and training rooms. Room monitors can attend select presentations and training sessions for free.

- Requirements: must be 21 or older. Availability for all 5 days (Monday–Friday) is highly preferred, minimum 3–5 full days. Typical days run 7 AM–6 PM Monday–Wednesday and 8 AM–5 PM Thursday–Friday. Volunteers arrange their own travel and accommodation.
- Confirmed volunteers receive: free access to most QCon San Francisco 2026 recorded sessions, free access to InfoQ Live 2026 events, breakfast and lunch at the venue, volunteer t-shirts, access to the conference social events, and a volunteer certification on request.
- Not eligible: representatives from sponsor companies.
- Details and application: https://qconsf.com/volunteers

## Links

- Website: https://qconsf.com
- Register: https://qconsf.com/registration/event/nov2026
- Tracks: https://qconsf.com/#program
- Speakers: https://qconsf.com/speakers/nov2026
- Training: https://qconsf.com/training/nov2026
- Teams: https://qconsf.com/teams/nov2026
- Certification: https://qconsf.com/training/nov2026/infoq-certified-architect-program-qcon-san-francisco
- Schedule format: https://qconsf.com/schedule-format
- FAQ: https://qconsf.com/faq
- Convince your manager: https://qconsf.com/convince-your-boss
- We Care: https://qconsf.com/qcon-cares
- Volunteers: https://qconsf.com/volunteers
- Sponsors: https://qconsf.com/sponsors/nov2026
- Code of Conduct: https://qconferences.com/code-conduct
- Terms of Participation: https://qconsf.com/terms-conditions
- Privacy notice: https://qconferences.com/privacy-notice
- Alumni: https://qconferences.com/alumni
- Past events: https://qconsf.com/past-events
- About QCon: https://qconferences.com/
- 2025 recap: https://qconsf.com/recap/nov2025

## Related Events

- QCon London 2027: April 13–16, 2027, The QEII Centre, London — https://qconlondon.com
- InfoQ online certification cohorts: https://certification.qconferences.com
  - AI Engineering Certification — cohort starts July 25, 2026
  - Software Architecture Certification — cohort starts September 14, 2026
  - AI Security & Privacy Engineering Certification — cohort starts August 26, 2026

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© 2026 C4Media Inc. · QCon San Francisco · Nov 16–20, 2026 · Hyatt Regency San Francisco