Community

Kong Champions

Community is the DNA of Kong. As we grow, we are committed to fostering a strong community by providing a structure so that Kong users know who to talk to and where they can look for guidance. Kong is driven by the Community and we are devoted to helping our users learn, grow and be successful.

We created the Kong Champions program as a way to acknowledge and encourage community members, such as developers and advocates, who are going above and beyond in the Kong community. They help us to grow, learn, and create better tools and products as a company.

Kong Champions

Who are our champions?

Our Champions are frequent contributors who play a key role in developing and engaging with Kong’s community all around the globe. You will often find them sharing their expertise and passion through forum discussions, blogging, speaking at local events and at our monthly User Calls. They are the core foundation of our community. With 23 Champions all over the world, the program is expanding rapidly to make a global impact. Our Champions are from all over the world – Germany, USA, Turkey, Brazil, England, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Greece and India.

Our differences and different cultural backgrounds make us who we are, unique! Read more: United as One: Our Kong Champions Program

Why become a champion?

Being one of our Champions is a fantastic professional development opportunity for everyone who loves Kong and our OSS projects. If you are already working with our products, you are halfway there! Whether you’re looking to stay informed about the latest releases, get sneak peeks of upcoming features, have a direct line to the team building Kong products or even for the swag, there’s something for everyone. We will help amplify your voice through our networks and provide dedicated support for our collaborations.

What are the expectations?

Contribute at least 1 activity per quarter. As a Champion, you will create content that helps our global community grow. You will be an ambassador for us and our products. You will have access to dedicated support for all of these activities, and we look forward to working with you in a collaborative way. Below are some examples of what a Champion can do:

  • Write a (technical) blog post 
  • Submit a talk a industry event 
  • Record a video / tutorial               
  • Speak at an event (in-person or virtual) 
  • Host a Meetup / User Call      
  • Contribute to our code or documentation

What are the perks?

At Kong, we always strive to keep our Champions engaged and motivated, either by providing them with free training courses, free access to paid tools, direct link to our Engineering or Developer Relations teams for feedback.

As a Kong Champion, you will be rewarded with our coolest Kong swag! Next to that, you will have beta access to new features, our exclusive network of speaking and meetup opportunities, VIP access to Kong Summit, ongoing development workshops, plus a dedicated support team to collaborate with. Does that sound interesting to you?

Kong Champions

Vincent Behar

Senior Engineer, Ubisoft

Sven Bernhardt Chief Architect OPITZ CONSULTING

Sven Bernhardt

Chief Integration Evangelist / Chief Architect, OPITZ CONSULTING Deutschland GmbH

Benjamin Bertow

Senior Technical Lead, Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation

Marcelo Bezerra API Specialist & Backend Developer LuizaLabs São Paulo

Marcelo Bezerra

Tech Lead of B2B Plattform, Grupo Boticario

Nitya Bourdel

Tech Lead, API Management

Perfil

Leandro Carneiro

SRE Specialist, iFood

Kong Champion 2022

Samuele Chiocca

Senior Solutions Engineer, SIGHUP

Frederico Dionisio

Senior Integration Consultant, Link Consulting

Ervis Duraj

Principal Software Engineer, MMS Technology

Claudio Eduardo de Oliveira

Claudio Eduardo de Oliveira

Solutions Architect, Tribal

João Esperancinha

João Esperancinha

Software Engineer, Vereniging COIN

André Fernandes

Founder & Chief Product Officer, Vertigo Tecnologia

Jeremy Glassenberg

Product Leader (APIs), DocuSign

Fabian Hardt

Fabian Hardt

Senior Consultant, OPITZ CONSULTING Deutschland GmbH

Tilmann Hars

Technical Lead, Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation

João Henriques

Technical Leader, Link Consulting

Patrick Huck

Senior Computer Systems Engineer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)

Gregory Hunt

Gregory Hunt

FHIR Architect, SemanticBits

Akshay Jha

Principal Solutions Architect, Positive Thinking Company

Pavan Keshavamurthy

Founder & CTO, Platformatory

Andrew Kew Director QuadCorps Ltd

Andrew Kew

Director, QuadCorps Ltd

Kong Champions

Daniel Kocot

Head of API Experience & Operations, codecentric AG

Mateus Lima Fonseca

Mateus Lima Fonseca

Senior Developer, Luizalabs

Pablo

Pablo Loschi

Principal Systems Engineer, Verve

Denis Magda

Director Developer Relations, Yugabyte

Guilherme Oliveira

Site Reliability Engineering L5, PicPay

Deepanshu Pandey

IT Solution Expert, Siemens Energy

Ludovic Pourrat

Ludovic Pourrat

API Architect & API Catalyst

Siddharth Saikumar

Cloud Security Engineering, Vanguard

Dominik Schmid

Senior Technical Lead, Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation

Ayush Senapati

Ayush Senapati

Software Engineer, Maersk

Kong Champ

Mert Simsek

Senior Software Engineer, Beyn Tech

Alexander Suchier

Senior Managing Technical Consultant, NTT DATA Deutschland

Ragunath Sudalaimuthu

Senior Digital Engineer, CVSHealth

Avinash Upadhyaya

Senior Consultant, Platformatory

John Williams S P

Technology Architect, Accenture

Adam Zareba

Senior Software Engineer, Raiffeisen Bank International AG