Valentin Rothberg’s journey into container-native Linux didn’t start with a grand plan – it started with the work. After over 8 years at Red Hat contributing to projects like Podman and bootable containers, Fedora felt like the natural home for his next chapter. In Summer 2025 he began working on Project Hummingbird, which builds directly on top of Fedora. Flock 2026 is where he wants to share what he’s learned.
His first Flock was in Budapest in 2019 – and he remembers it vividly. Stepping in at the last minute for Dan Walsh, he ended up presenting for over three hours straight on container technologies. Not a bad way to make an entrance.
For Valentin, Flock’s value isn’t primarily technical. Technical decisions tend to be made comparatively fast once a group of people rally around a cause. What matters is finding that cause together, and in-person time is what makes that possible. The implementation details, he says, are just details.
He’s also refreshingly honest about where Fedora stands in the container ecosystem. Despite being the birthplace of tools like Podman, Fedora containers don’t see wide use outside the community. Valentin has ideas about why, and how to change that. He’s coming to Flock not to present answers, but to hear other perspectives and build something together.
