Instruqt year in review: How customers powered hands-on learning at scale
When I look back on this year, one thing stands out above everything else: the privilege of watching our customers bring their products to life through hands-on experiences.
From upgraded universities and academies to packed workshops, capture the flags (CTFs), and certification programs, you used Instruqt to turn “let me show you” into “let me try it myself.” And that’s the heart of what we’re here to do: help you make complex technology feel real, approachable, and impactful through hands-on labs.
On behalf of everyone at Instruqt: thank you. This recap is a celebration of you; your training programs, your demos and POCs, your workshops, and the communities you’re building.
Universities and academies built on hands-on practice
This was a big year for customers who are rethinking education with real-world lab experiences.
Redpanda University leveled up its learning experience
Redpanda launched an upgraded Redpanda University, now powered by Instruqt, with a fresh look, updated hands-on courses, and a focus on helping developers build real-time data applications with confidence.
Dapr University made durable execution feel simple
At Diagrid, Dapr University continues to help developers learn durable execution patterns with self-paced tracks powered by Instruqt. Marc Duiker’s call to “start the free & self-paced Dapr Workflow learning track” highlights exactly what we love to see: education that’s always-on, practical, and accessible.
Harness hit 3,000+ certifications (and counting)
Harness reached an incredible milestone: 3,000 certifications issued through their Harness Certified Expert program, combining free self-paced content and immersive instructor-led labs built on Instruqt. Those labs help developers learn the real workflows they’ll use in production—not just theory.
Grafana Labs launched Grot Academy with Skilljar + Instruqt
Grafana Labs launched Grot Academy on learn.grafana.com—a dedicated learning platform for observability and monitoring skills. Instruqt powers the hands-on labs behind the experience, working alongside Skilljar to deliver guided, browser-based environments that mirror real-world Grafana use cases.
These initiatives all share a common thread: they use hands-on labs to make advanced topics intuitive, so learners can build confidence quickly. That’s exactly the kind of education Instruqt was built to support.
Workshops, conferences, and in-person moments we’ll never forget
This year we spent a lot of time on the road with you, supporting workshops, booth demos, and live events across the globe.
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe: Working code wins
At KubeCon Europe 2025 in London, hundreds of developers got hands-on with Instruqt-powered workshops and demos across companies like Sysdig, SUSE, Portworx, Red Hat, and more. Our recap captured how these experiences turned conference rooms into real labs, not just lecture halls.
One standout moment: Abby Bangser (Syntasso) and Phillip Morton (The Access Group) ran their “Working Code Wins” hackathon starter workshop—200+ lab environments, 25 minutes of setup time saved per attendee, and over 120 hours of real-time, hands-on learning.
KubeCon North America: From SUSE Rancher Day to Cloudsmith’s CTF
In Atlanta, we were thrilled to see Instruqt powering SUSE Rancher Day and other KubeCon North America experiences—from workshops to booth demos. Cloudsmith took things to another level with their “Defend the Pipeline” CTF, self-serve labs at the booth, and real-world DevSecOps workflows—letting developers experience secure artifact management, not just hear about it.
See Instruqt in Action with SUSE on YouTube →
Watch the interview with Nigel Douglas on YouTube →
Datadog DASH: 20+ workshops, one platform behind the scenes
At DASH 2025 in New York City, Instruqt powered 20+ hands-on workshops, helping Datadog turn deep product training into live, interactive labs. Seeing rooms full of participants exploring real environments in the browser—no laptops configured, no clouds misbehaving—was a highlight of our year.
MongoDB Local, ElasticON, IBM TechXchange, JFrog, Codefresh & more
- MongoDB Local NYC - MongoDB ran some of their largest hands-on sessions to date on Instruqt, and even gave us a shout-out for years of partnership across functions and regions.
- ElasticON NYC - ElasticON attendees got hands-on with Elastic’s observability and search tools through guided, browser-based labs powered by Instruqt.
- IBM TechXchange - In Orlando, HashiCorp and Red Hat labs built on Instruqt helped practitioners get hands-on with infrastructure and automation.
- Codefresh by Octopus Deploy - At the State of GitOps event in Amsterdam, Codefresh showed how their GitOps Certification program scales globally on Instruqt.
- JFrog swampUP - AppTrust training sessions used Instruqt labs to guide teams through managing the services version lifecycle—fully hands-on, highly practical.
Across all these events, one thing was clear: when people can build, break, and fix things themselves, they learn faster and remember more. That’s the value of learning by doing.
What it’s like seeing Instruqt in real life: perspectives from the team
One of the best parts of my role is being on-site with customers. A few reflections from the team:
“Walking the floor at MongoDB Local NYC and IBM TechXchange, I kept hearing the same thing from attendees: ‘Wait, this is running in the browser? I didn’t have to set anything up.’ That’s the moment I know we’re doing our job: your content shines, and the tech just gets out of the way.”
— Josh Clough, VP of Customer Success & Solutions Engineering at Instruqt
“At Datadog DASH, I was in the room as dozens of workshops kicked off at once. Instructors weren’t fighting Wi-Fi or local setups. They were focused on coaching, answering questions, and telling the product story. You could feel the stress level drop and the engagement level spike.”
— Patrick Jamross, Senior Customer Success Manager at Instruqt
“This year I moved into a Customer Success Manager role, and it’s been incredible to see labs I helped design show up at KubeCon, SUSE Rancher Day, and MongoDB events. There’s nothing like seeing someone click a link, launch a lab, and say, ‘Oh, I get it now.’ That’s the magic moment.”
— Matt Baker, Customer Success Manager at Instruqt
Those in-person conversations, hallway chats, and “aha” moments are what keep us energized as a team.
Thank you for building with us
Whether we met this year in Austin at CEdMA EmpowerED, in London at KubeCon Europe, in New York at DASH and DevRelCon, in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Orlando, or online, we’re grateful you chose Instruqt to power your experiences.
Your creativity is what makes our platform meaningful. You’re turning advanced software into something people can actually touch, experiment with, and fall in love with.
Here’s to everything you built this year and to even more hands-on learning, smoother demos, and unforgettable workshops in the year ahead. 💙
