5 Steps to pass your Kubernetes exam

As the CEO of Kubewiz, I spend a good deal of my time talking to people who want to pass Kubernetes exams: Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certifies Kubernetes Security Specialist(CKS). A lot of people have documented their journey to earn these certificates. Their stories are very helpful to the community as they allow us to avoid pitfalls and optimize our learning experience. Instead of writing about my personal journey tough, I’ll try to synthesize what we at Kubewiz have learned from the many conversations we had had with people who were preparing for their Kubernetes exams.

When I think about the CKAD / CKA / CKS learning journey I distinguish 5 steps:

1. Decide if you want to become Kubernetes certified.
2. Learn Kubernetes.
3. Practice exam problems.
4. Master the exam environment.
5. Day of the exam.

In this post, I’ll cover Step #1 — Decide if you want to become Kubernetes certified.

Members of the IT community have different opinions on professional certificates. For some, certificates are worthless, as they test theoretical knowledge but don’t predict well if a candidate will be successful when facing a real problem. As Albert Einstein once said:

“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not”.

Others say that certificates show commitment to learning. Sure, certificate takers might be a little heavy on the theory and light on the practice, but they have made an effort to absorb a certain body of knowledge and did it reasonably well. Certificates are especially helpful for people who are starting their careers and do not have any experience to demonstrate.

If you already have a few years of experience using or managing Kubernetes infrastructure, you can skip getting certified. For everybody else, consider the following arguments in favor of Kubernetes certificates:

• Demonstrate hands-on Kubernetes knowledge — K8s exams are different from the dominant, multiple-choice pattern. Kubernetes exams are performance-based. You are presented with tasks that you have to solve in a web-based terminal. You interact with real Kubernetes infrastructure using your Linux and kubectl skills. Also, it’s an open book exam — you can use the official Kubernetes documentation website. If there are any certificates that prove practical skills, it’s the Kubernetes ones.
• Be visible on LinkedIn — Whenever I get invitations to apply for a job through LinkedIn, most of the time recruiters and hiring managers complement my Kubernetes certificates. I get the same feedback from Kubewiz alumni.
• Advance your career — sometimes, we already have a job in IT Operations but we don’t get to work on future stuff. Perhaps certain technologies like Kubernetes have not been fully deployed yet. Maybe your company is too busy putting out fires and it thinks it can’t afford to automate operations. Learning Kubernetes and getting certified is a great way to demonstrate to your employer that there is knowledge within the company to help its transformation efforts.
• Rebrand yourself as an automated ops person / SRE — you might be looking for a new job but don’t want the same manual ops work you have been doing forever. A Kubernetes certificate is a great way to demonstrate you are exercising the automation muscle.

Whether you are looking for your first job in IT, looking to advance your career with your existing employer, or change jobs, having Kubernetes certificates on your resume can only help.

If you decided that you want to get certified go to Step #2 — Learn Kubernetes.

About Kubewiz
https://kubewiz.com/ offers realistic practice exams for CKAD, CKA, CKS (coming soon).