How to Learn Docker and Kubernetes in 2024?

Docker makes it easy to deploy your app or Microservice on Cloud, and Kubernetes makes it easier to deploy your app on hundreds of servers.

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6 min readAug 3, 2021

Why and How to Learn Docker and Kubernetes — image_credit — Udemy

Hello folks, if you are looking to learn some in-demand software tools in 2024 to improve your profile, you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared the best tools, libraries, and frameworks for Java Programmers, and today, I am extending it to all developers.

Along with Docker, if there is another tool or technology that has caught software developers’ attention recently, it must be Kubernetes. Actually, it’s often mentioned alongside Docker because it takes what Docker offers to the next level.

If you don’t know what is Docker and Kubernetes let me give you a brief overview before going deep into why every programmer should learn Kubernetes. Many programmer also gets confused between Docker and Kubernetes, so this brief introduction is also needed.

In simple words, Docker is a container, and Kubernetes is a container orchestration tool, something which can do creating, destroying, and managing containers at scale.

Containers allow you to build your application and ship it in a container with all its dependencies, including OS like Linux or Windows, Runtime like Java, .NET, or Node, and any third-party library and framework code your application is using.

This greatly simplifies the application deployment process as you can whip up the new environment quickly, and you can just ship the docker image ( a big tar file with everything your application need) to the fellow developer or deploy it into any host or even cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, and Azure.

This simple invention, which has its roots in the logistics and shipping industry, takes an application deployment to the next level as you don’t need to deploy the application, runtime, and necessary software to run your application individually.

You also don’t need to worry about upgrading them individually and taking risks that they may not be compatible with other things in the host. This means improving development and operation and DevOps experience.

While Container does simplify both development and deployment (particularly for Microservices) but it would be a pain if you had to manually manage hundreds and thousands of containers for different processes, and that’s where Kubernetes comes into the picture. Kubernetes takes that pain away by automatically creating and deploying containers for you.

This makes scaling your application really easy which has been a major challenge for growing startups and companies of all sizes around the world. Kubernetes is in fact one of the most sought-after skills by software companies around the world and if you are looking to gain a skill that will stay with you throughout your career, much like SQL and UNIX then learning Kubernetes is a great option.

Btw, if you have already made up your mind to learn Docker and Kubernetes and just need a good resource, then you can start with Docker and Kubernetes: Complete Guide course by Stephen Grider on Udemy.

Docker and Kubernetes: The Complete Guide

If you're tired of spinning your wheels learning how to deploy web applications, this is your course. CI+CD…

udemy.com

It’s a very engaging, informative, and hands-on course to learn about both Docker and Kubernetes. It’s also very affordable, and you can buy in just $9.99 on crazy Udemy sales which happen every now and then.

Why Every Software Developer Should Learn Docker and Kubernetes in 2024

Now that you know what Docker and Kubernetes offer to software developers, it makes it easy to understand why every programmer or developer should learn Kubernetes.

The main reason is the increased adoption of the Cloud where Kubernetes plays an important role.

Every few years, there is a major trend in the tech world that shapes the landscapes of the industry. In the past, these have been things like Concurrency and cloud computing.

Then a wave of Blockchain, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence comes. They are still here, but we’ll not discuss those in this article.

Instead, we’ll focus our discussion on technologies that are getting increased adoption across the companies, both big and small, like containers and serverless computing.

Docker leads the pack with Containers but Kubernetes takes it to another level. Kubernetes drastically changes the code deployment process, making it possible to easily roll out new releases on hundreds and thousands of servers with no downtime.

As a programmer, we need to be familiar with anything and everything which is required to run and support your application. While Kubernetes is much more important and essential for a DevOps engineer who is directly responsible for managing Application deployment, a programmer can also benefit if he knows how Kubernetes works and how it manages the containers at scale.

If things go wrong on Production then it’s the developer who is often involved and if he doesn’t know how things work on Production then he can’t help and that is why I think every programmer and developer should spend some time learning Kubernetes.

Unlike DevOps engineers, who need to have hands-on knowledge of Kubernetes, you may not need to become an expert but just knowing Kubernetes fundamentals and how things are set up and work in production can make a big difference in your career, reputation as a developer, and overall your utility.

How to learn Docker and Kubernetes in 2024?

Now the question is how to learn Docker and Kubernetes? There is no better way to learn than to join an online training course. There are a lot of free materials also available to learn Docker and kubernetes online, and you can use them to kick-start your journey.

In the past, I have shared a few free Docker and Kubernetes courses and books which can be a good starting point. You can join them to learn the basics of containers and tools like Docker and Kubernetes.

This is good enough for many developers, but if you want to learn Docker and Kubernetes in-depth and for DevOps, then you need to go deeper and pick a comprehensive resource that may not be free.

If you can spend a few bucks learning something valuable like Docker and Kubernetes then I highly recommend you check out Maximilian Schwarzmuller’s Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide course on Udemy to learn both Docker and Kubernetes in depth.

best online course to learn Docker and Kubernetes

These were some of the highly recommended books and courses to learn are Docker and Kubernetes from many experts online. They are also very affordable, and you can buy them online and learn them safely from your home or office.

That’s all about why every programmer should learn Kubernetes in 2024. As I said, the future of software development is in the cloud, and Docker and Kubernetes will play an important role in application deployment and scaling.

It’s important for both full-stack developers and DevOps engineers to have a strong knowledge of container technologies in general and Docker and Kubernetes, in particular, to remain relevant in this new technology way.

Other DevOps Tools and Courses you may like

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like Kubernetes and find this article useful, then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.

P. S. — If you are want to learn Docker and Kubernetes in-depth and looking for the best online courses, then you can also check out this list of the 5 best Docker and Kubernetes courses you can join in 2024 and even in 2024 to learn these in-demand tools.

Top 15 online courses to learn Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS in 2024

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