In this chapter, we're going to discuss how to get involved in the softer, social side of the Kubernetes ecosystem. We'll go into detail on how the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) works, and the various efforts being made to orchestrate open source software at a global level. There's interest in our ecosystem at every level, from the individual contributor all the way up to the Fortune 100 mega-corporation.

We'll explore how the CNCF and its predecessors, the Linux and Apache Foundations, guide interest and contributions into the people and software economy. Some of the key areas will manage governance, tracking, and processes that are designed to keep people, process, and technology evolving in a sustainable, reliable model. In this chapter, we'll explore several key areas:

• How is the community around the Kubernetes ecosystem constructed? How is it different from the traditional Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) or Open Source Software (OSS) movements?
• How can you get involved with the discussion in order to understand and participate in the evolution of the ecosystem?
• What are the major projects, and how are they categorized?
• How can you chose the right tools for the job, given all of the change?
• How can you get involved with open source software in general?