IBM Tech 2026: a week in San Diego
Nominated for my work on CP4I AI agents, I spent a week among the top 1,000 technical IBMers — deep dives on AI and quantum, keynotes on bionics and learning, and a bit of go-karting.
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of attending IBM Tech 2026 in San Diego. This is IBM's annual, invite-only gathering of its top technical talent, bringing together roughly a thousand engineers, architects, and researchers from across the globe who were nominated for the impact of their work. Unlike TechXchange, IBM's major public conference, this event is entirely internal: a week dedicated to celebrating and rewarding the people building the future of IBM's technologies.
My nomination came from my work on CP4I AI agents, the agentic AI systems I've been building into Cloud Pak for Integration. Joining the top 1,000 technical minds at IBM was a genuine honor. It was one of those rare, welcome moments where you get to step back, zoom out, and see how your daily coding fits into the massive puzzle of what the company is building globally.
The technical deep dives
The sessions struck a brilliant balance, blending deep technical grit with deliberate personal growth.
On the technical side, a few highlights stood out:
- IBM Bob, in detail. I got a much deeper look at Bob, IBM's AI-first development tool, and its expanding role across our engineering workflows. As someone who builds agents for a living, exploring the architecture behind a product of this scale was easily a highlight of the week.
- AI research inside IBM. A fascinating tour of what IBM Research is cooking up beyond our immediate product roadmap. Much of this work is years away from shipping, which is exactly what makes it so exciting to preview.
- Quantum computing. Hearing about the latest breakthroughs straight from the hardware and software teams. Quantum is an area where IBM's long-term bet is easy to underestimate, right up until you see the physical progress laid out in front of you.
- Communication workshops. Practical, hands-on sessions focused on presentation and technical storytelling. It was a great reminder that communication is the quiet skill that ultimately dictates how far your technical work can travel.
The human side
Two keynotes in particular have really stuck with me.
Hugh Herr of the MIT Media Lab delivered a powerful talk on bionics and human augmentation. After losing both of his legs below the knee in a climbing accident, Herr went on to lead the very field that designs advanced bionic limbs, including his own. Hearing him reframe disability as a technology deficit rather than a human limitation was easily the most inspiring concept of the week.
Dr. Barbara Oakley of Oakland University hosted an incredibly engaging session on the neuroscience of learning and how human cognitive patterns mirror modern AI development. Since I spend my days thinking about how machine learning models reason, hearing the biological side of that coin was incredibly eye-opening.
Beyond the sessions
Of course, the week wasn't spent entirely inside lecture halls. Half the magic of gathering a thousand engineers in one place lies in the downtime. San Diego served as the perfect backdrop for this; we raced go-karts, caught a game at Petco Park, and were left entirely speechless by mentalist Oz Pearlman.
At the end of the day, though, the best part was simply talking to people. I met peers from entirely different corners of the business, working on problems I would never normally encounter in my day-to-day, all of whom were incredibly generous with their insights and experiences.