Software engineering is entering a new phase as increasingly autonomous AI systems begin to take on tasks across the development lifecycle, from writing and testing code to analyzing performance and supporting operational decisions — raising new questions around engineering skills, governance, security and human oversight.
Those questions are at the heart of DevOpsDays Cairo 2026, which brought together 66 speakers, including 13 international experts from nine countries, to examine how DevOps practices are evolving in the age of Agentic AI and what the shift means for the engineers building and operating the next generation of digital systems.
Opening the ninth edition of the conference, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Raafat Hindy, highlighted the growing role of DevOps in building reliable, scalable and sustainable digital services, as AI introduces increasingly autonomous capabilities into software development and operations. He underscored the importance of developing Egyptian engineering capabilities to keep pace with these changes, positioning investment in people and technical expertise as a central element of Egypt’s digital transformation.
The conference, organized by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) through its Software Engineering Competence Center (SECC) under the theme “Sustainable DevOps in the Agentic AI Era,” brought together software engineers, technology experts and practitioners to explore the implications of AI-driven changes across the software lifecycle.
For Egypt, the discussion extends beyond technology practices. It also reflects a broader effort to deepen the country’s software engineering capabilities and strengthen its position as a key hub for global technology companies and digital services.
Ahmed Elzaher, CEO of ITIDA, said Egypt’s engineering talent is the most important factor attracting global technology companies to the country and supporting their expansion.
“Egyptian software engineers and developers are at the heart of our ability to compete in the global technology economy,” Elzaher said. “As AI changes the way software is engineered, our ability to continuously develop talent that can adapt to these technologies will be critical.”
Elzaher said conversations between ITIDA and global technology companies consistently point to Egyptian talent as a leading factor in their decisions to invest and expand in the country.
He pointed to a recent meeting with NVIDIA, where the company highlighted the capabilities of Egyptian developers and startup founders. NVIDIA’s programs in Egypt include more than 200 Egyptian startups and around 46,000 developers, underscoring the scale of the country’s emerging technology ecosystem.
“The continued expansion of global companies in Egypt to serve customers across international markets reflects growing confidence in Egyptian engineering capabilities and their ability to develop and export high-value digital and technology services,” El-Zaher said.
Preparing engineers for an AI-shaped industry
The evolution of Agentic AI is changing the role of the software engineer. Rather than simply using AI as an assistive coding tool, engineering teams are increasingly working with systems capable of planning and executing multiple tasks with greater degrees of autonomy.
That shift is forcing organizations to reconsider how software is developed and operated, while placing greater emphasis on engineering discipline, security, governance and accountability.
SECC, ITIDA’s software engineering capability center, supports this transition through specialized technical training, consulting, capability development and international certifications and accreditations, with the aim of strengthening the ability of Egyptian engineers, developers and local companies to work and compete in global markets.
A key discussion at the conference, “Shaping the Future of DevOps Talent: Skills Development and Sustainable Capabilities,” was moderated by Dr. Haitham Hamza, Chairman of SECC, bringing together international practitioners from Vodafone UK, Coca-Cola HBC, Capgemini, Deloitte and Everpure to examine how the skills required of DevOps professionals are changing as AI becomes more deeply embedded in software engineering.
The conference agenda reflects the breadth of that transition, covering four areas of sustainable DevOps: cost and environmental sustainability; human sustainability and governance; security and reliability; and tools and infrastructure.
Three main discussions focus on the future of DevOps talent and skills, workplace culture and the role of women in DevOps, and governance and accountability as AI systems become increasingly autonomous. The program also includes three specialized workshops covering developer productivity, sustainable DevOps in the Agentic AI era, and AI-assisted software development.
Cairo as a meeting point for the global DevOps community
Cairo has hosted DevOpsDays since 2018 and remains the only Arab city in the global conference series, which is held in more than 60 cities worldwide.
The 2026 edition features international speakers including Nathan Harvey, DORA research and evaluation lead and global DevOpsDays organizer in the United States; Ivo van Doorn, a global DevOpsDays organizer in the Netherlands; and Daniel Maher, a technical expert and researcher at Datadog and global DevOpsDays organizer in France.
The conference also connects engineering skills with practical innovation. Its DevOps and AI competition attracted 142 teams, with 20 teams reaching the final stage — 10 student teams and 10 teams of graduates and professionals — assessed by 12 Egyptian and international judges.
With software engineering undergoing rapid change, the discussions in Cairo point to a broader question for technology economies: how to ensure that engineers are not simply users of increasingly capable AI systems, but are equipped to design, govern and build the systems that will underpin the next generation of the digital economy.
