2025-09-16 –, Bierstadt Lagerhaus Stage
In this Ignite talk, we will decode cryptic cloud bills that Finance received in their inbox last month - and possibly gave someone a mild heart attack. We will explore how seemingly innocent decisions - like a single engineer forgetting to turn off a test cluster - can lead to a line item - "$4598.23-us-east-1 NAT Gateway #14". We will touch on the cultural, technical and architectural pitfalls that lead to budget blowouts and what platform teams can do to build better cost visibility and accountability. Whether you’re in engineering or finance, this talk offers a shared language and actionable insights to start bridging the gap between “move fast” and “stay on budget.”
Cloud spend isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s a communication one. This talk mixes dark humor and real-world horror stories (like zombie infrastructure and infinite NAT bills) with practical lessons on how platform teams can enable cost-aware development without becoming the "Department of No."
Through fast-paced storytelling, we’ll explore how cost shows up in architecture, culture, and behavior—and how cloud bills can become feedback loops instead of finger-pointing exercises. If you've ever had Finance ping you about a $10K line item no one owns, this one’s for you.
Shivani Shukla is an Engineering Manager for Platform and Cloud Engineering at Apex Fintech Solutions. With a strong background in cloud infrastructure, DevOps and development, she leads initiatives to enhance platform scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency in highly regulated environments. Her approach to platform engineering is shaped by years of hands-on experience building cloud-native systems at hyper scale, and she brings that same rigor to helping teams balance velocity with visibility.
Shivani is a frequent speaker on topics like developer platforms, platform as a product, scaling DevOps practices across organizations, and cloud cost culture. She’s passionate about mentorship, technical leadership, and creating engineering cultures where people—and platforms—can thrive.