In this bonus episode, we hear from Kubernetes superstar Kelsey Hightower. Diving into crucial elements like empathy in maintainership, succession planning, and the identification of future leaders, hosts Martin Woodward and Neha Batra explore Kelsey’s philosophy on fostering thriving open source communities—and his hopes for the future state of Kubernetes. Dedicated to GitHub’s Maintainer Month, the conversation focuses on the people behind the projects, highlighting their extraordinary effort and celebrating their impact on the community. To close out this special episode, members of The ReadME Podcast community thank maintainers who have had a positive impact on them.

Here’s what’s in store for this episode:

• 00:00 - Introduction: The hosts discuss GitHub May-ntainer Month and introduce Kelsey Hightower!
• 1:07 - The interview: Kelsey talks the hosts through how he got into tech, how maintainers can avoid burnout, the importance of identifying new leaders, what the future holds for Kubernetes and much much more!
• 32:55 - Maintainer shout-out!  ​​Aaron Francis, Cassidy Williams, Frances Coronel, Anthony Sottile, Peter Strömberg, and Brandon Ringe call in to  share their appreciation for fellow maintainers in their lives.

Special thanks to our guest, Kelsey Hightower, and to all of the maintainers who called in to share appreciation for their fellow maintainers. 

Check-out The ReadME Project, for more episodes as well as featured articles, developer stories, helpful guides, and much more! Send your feedback, questions, and ideas to thereadmeproject@github.com.