It's very common if you're not at some big FAANG or group that is in all the partner groups (CNCF, etc) and pays to get tickets every year. I do this a lot for

It's very common if you're not at some big FAANG or group that is in all the partner groups (CNCF, etc) and pays to get tickets every year. I do this a lot for a few foss projects I contribute to because even though I'm always hired as the SME for my niche leadership will only give me tickets/flights to conferences if they have extras and none of their drinking buddies want to go. Typically what happens is I'll start at a company, ask about going to $mybigcon when a training budget is brought up, that training budget is always slashed, not real or goes somewhere else then I'll never ask again and I'll find my own way to get tickets (from conf partners, etc). The funny thing, when I have to do this not only am I really bothered that my company wouldn't spend the $1000 ($200 plane, $800 ticket) but I go out of my way to not focus on ANYTHING that will benefit my company but instead I have a good time and learn things I'm interested in and mingle with every other company/partner I can. I've actually had companies expect me to get tickets myself from the projects or from gold partners that I know. I don't have that much clout by any means and even asking partners for tickets makes me feel terrible because they're limited too.