QCon San Francisco 2026: 11 Things Senior Engineers (and the Vendors Who Sell to Them) Should Know

Alongside the tracks, QCon runs unconference sessions, where attendees choose topics and work through problems together.

The optional training days on November 19 and 20 are hands-on and need separate registration. Sessions include Building AI Agents: A Practical Framework for Choosing the Right SDK, a Claude Code and Codex productivity workshop, an Agent MCP workshop on building a Java-based MCP server, The Incident Lab on learning from production failures, and the InfoQ Certified Architect Program.

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Who's speaking at QCon SF 2026?

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QCon SF 2026 has 60+ speakers, almost all working engineers and engineering leaders. The four keynotes are:

• Plum Ertz, Senior Director of Engineering at Ro, on how to (unsuccessfully) 10x in a week and (successfully) 10x in a year
• Laura Savino, Software Engineer at Adobe Photoshop, on learning out loud under near-existential pressure
• Charlotte Mestwerdt, Co-founder of Bravely, on why great teams are built, not hired
• Manju Rajashekhar, Founder and CEO of Mad Labs, with a talk titled "The Harness Is the New Operating System"

Track hosts include Tanya Reilly (Datadog, author of The Staff Engineer's Path), Vidhya Arvind (Netflix), Daniel Bryant, Adi Polak (Confluent), and Suhail Patel (Monzo). Speakers include Joseph Lynch (Netflix), Kaye Mason (Meta), Shweta Vohra (Booking.com), and Hamel Husain.

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How much does QCon SF 2026 cost?

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A three-day QCon SF 2026 conference ticket costs $2,995 until November 10, then $3,250. Training add-ons, certification, and a video-only pass are also available.

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Every conference ticket includes all tracks and keynotes, breakfast, lunch and coffee breaks, social events, the exhibitor area, 12 months of on-demand recordings, and downloadable slides for most talks.

Group discounts apply to three or more people from the same company:

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A few things to know before you buy:

• Alumni discount: returning attendees can ask for one. Discounts can't be combined.
• Transfers: conference tickets are non-refundable, but you can transfer yours for free until November 13.
• Training seats: refunds closed September 21, but you can switch or transfer a training seat until November 18.

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Who attends QCon SF?

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QCon attendees are mostly senior. According to QCon, 34% are technical team leads or higher and software architects, 23% are senior developers or lead engineers, and 24% are software developers. Third-party listings put QCon SF attendance at around 1,500 people, and QCon says more than 4,500 senior developers attend its conferences each year.

Past attendees come from companies like Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, Google, Uber, Spotify, Salesforce, JPMorgan, and PayPal. It's a room full of people who make or heavily influence technical decisions.

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Is QCon SF worth it?

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QCon SF is worth it if you're a senior engineer, architect, or technical leader who wants honest production stories from peers, without vendor pitches. At $2,995 to $3,250, it's harder to justify if you're early in your career or mainly want hands-on product training from one cloud vendor.

QCon SF is worth it if:

• You make architecture, platform, or AI engineering decisions and want to learn from teams who've already made them
• You want a smaller room where you can talk to speakers
• You'll use the 12 months of recordings to share talks with your team
• You sell developer or infrastructure tools and want to understand how senior engineers think

It's probably not worth it if:

• You're early in your career and need fundamentals
• You want a big expo with lots of vendor demos
• You can't attend in person and would be fine with the $590 Video-Only Pass

Here's how QCon compares with two other engineering events this season:

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If you want the cloud native community instead, read our KubeCon NA guide.

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How do devtools vendors build relationships with senior engineers at QCon?

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Devtools and infrastructure vendors build relationships at QCon by acting like peers, not sellers. This audience picked QCon because it promises no hidden product pitches, so anything that feels like a pitch backfires. What works is technical substance, letting engineers explore on their own terms, and staying useful long after the conference.

QCon's attendees are often the people who evaluate tools, recommend them, and influence the final decision. They won't buy at a booth. But if you earn their trust in San Francisco, you're the vendor they mention when their team starts looking.

Lead with patterns, not your product

QCon labels sponsored talks clearly, and attendees appreciate knowing what they're walking into. If you give a sponsored talk, make it a real engineering story with trade-offs and failures, not a feature tour. At the exhibitor area, open with the problem your product solves and how other teams handle it, not a demo.

Start with the engineers you already know

Senior engineers move between companies, speak at the same conferences, and know each other. Before November 16, check who on your team or in your customer base already knows the engineers and leaders you'd like to meet. Knock AI's Private Relationship Graph can surface those warm paths so your first conversation isn't cold.

Offer a conversation, not a demo

A senior engineer who likes what they heard will want to read your docs, try the product, and ask questions. They won't want a sales call. In The Anonymous Buyer, our 12-month study of 90+ B2B software websites, buyers who started a conversation reached a meeting about 13 times as often as people who filled out a demo form (11.7% versus 0.9% within 90 days).

A Knock Marketing Card can put your docs, GitHub, and a chat behind one QR code, and Knock Chat keeps the conversation going on Slack, LinkedIn, or your website after the conference. We wrote about why docs are a pipeline source for technical products.

Expect their AI agents to research you first

Engineers increasingly use AI coding and browsing agents to evaluate tools. In our data, signed AI-assistant browsers in agent mode became visible in mid-August 2026 and made 18,400 visits to the B2B sites we track in September alone. When an engineer you met at QCon asks an agent to compare your product, your docs and site need to give it accurate answers. Our AI discoverability playbook covers how.

Plan for a long, multi-person evaluation

Engineering teams at large companies don't buy quickly. In our data, enterprise accounts researched about 8.7 times longer than small companies, averaging 30.3 sessions per account versus 3.5. The engineer you meet at QCon is probably one of several people from their company who'll look at your product.

Knock keeps every conversation, follow-up, and website visit from the same account in one relationship history, so whoever picks up the thread in January knows what was discussed in San Francisco. Our customer Port, which builds an internal developer portal for platform teams, cut its response time from 2 days to 30 minutes with Knock, which matters when a curious engineer asks a question and expects an answer the same day.

For more on this audience, read the technical buyer GTM playbook, how to win technical buyers who already know what they want, and our breakdown of lead conversion for developer tools companies.

Best ways for vendors to build relationships at QCon: the shortlist

• Knock AI: Best for turning conference conversations into ongoing relationships with engineers on Slack, LinkedIn, and your website, without forcing a sales call
• A genuine sponsored talk: Best for showing technical credibility, if it's a real engineering story
• Unconference sessions: Best for joining conversations as a peer
• Social events: Best for relaxed conversations with people you met in sessions

Sponsoring QCon SF? Set up your card and chat links with Knock AI before November 16. It takes minutes.

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FAQs

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When is QCon San Francisco 2026?

QCon San Francisco 2026 runs November 16 to 18, 2026, with optional training days on November 19 and 20.

Where is QCon San Francisco held?

QCon San Francisco is held at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, 5 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111.

How much is a QCon San Francisco ticket?

A three-day conference ticket costs $2,995 until November 10, 2026, and $3,250 after that. Conference plus training packages range up to $4,685, and a Video-Only Pass costs $590.

Who organizes QCon?

QCon is organized by C4Media, the company behind InfoQ, which also runs QCon London and QCon AI events.

Who attends QCon San Francisco?

QCon attracts senior engineers, architects, and technical leaders. About 34% of attendees are tech leads or higher and software architects, 23% are senior developers or lead engineers, and 24% are software developers.

Are QCon talks recorded?

Yes. Most QCon SF talks are recorded, and in-person attendees get 12 months of on-demand access. The Video-Only Pass gives the same access from December 21, 2026.

Does QCon have vendor talks?

QCon has sponsored talks, but they're labeled and kept separate from the main program, which is chosen by a committee of senior practitioners.

Is there a group discount for QCon?

Yes. Teams of three or more from the same company save up to $100 to $200 per conference ticket, depending on group size. Email info@qconsf.com for a code.

What other QCon events are coming up?

Upcoming QCon events include QCon AI New York (December 15 to 16, 2026), QCon London (April 13 to 16, 2027), and QCon AI Boston (July 8 to 9, 2027).

How do I convince my manager to send me to QCon?

QCon publishes "convince your manager" templates you can customize. Tie the conference to a decision your team is facing, point to the relevant tracks, and mention the group discount and the 12 months of recordings.

How should devtools vendors follow up after QCon?

Devtools vendors should follow up after QCon with something technically useful, like a relevant talk recording or a deep-dive post, in the channel each engineer prefers. Knock AI keeps every conversation, follow-up, and website visit in one relationship history, so the right person follows up with full context.

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One thing to remember about QCon

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The engineers at QCon came to avoid sales pitches.

Earn their trust as a peer, and they'll remember you when their team starts looking.