This is a guest article by Andrew Gelinas of RX-M
As an official Kubernetes Training Partner and Certified Service Provider we’re often asked what’s the best way for developers and DevOps teams to properly skill-up on Kubernetes.
There are a few paths future Kubernetes developers can take on their way to becoming Certified Kubernetes Application Developers (CKAD).
For Kubernetes beginners, we recommend starting first with Microservice Application Architecture.
Microservice Application Architecture
This course is designed to provide working developers, DevOps staff and other technology professionals with a comprehensive introduction to the microservice architecture pattern. It’s important to clearly understand the benefits of container-based microservices packaging as well as dynamic application management. It’s also a good idea to understand the drawbacks of microservices and how to navigate them with minimal impact.
You can get more information on our Microservice Application Architecture offering here.
If you choose to start with Microservice Application Architecture, the natural progression for developers is to follow that training with the Kubernetes Foundation course. Our foundational Kubernetes training covers all of the core features of Kubernetes orchestration and is the recommended prerequisite course for the rest of our Kubernetes curriculum.
Kubernetes Foundation
This Kubernetes training course is designed to provide technical staff with a comprehensive foundation to Kubernetes covering the installation of Kubernetes to Pod deployment and management using Controllers, Services, and mapped Volumes. When you’re finished with our Kubernetes Foundation course you’ll have a clear understanding of Kubernetes, how it operates in a container-based enterprise and will have learned the skills and knowledge necessary to begin using Kubernetes.
After the foundational skills have been built, it’s time to prepare for and get your CKAD certification. A Certified Kubernetes Application Developer can define application resources and use core primitives to build, monitor, and troubleshoot scalable applications and tools in Kubernetes. Kubernetes Developers at this stage can either choose to sign up for one of our upcoming CKAD Boot Camp dates or jump right in and prep for an online CKAD test administered by the Linux Foundation.
There may be some content overlap between the foundational class and our CKAD Boot Camps, but attending a boot camp has its advantages:
- Review the essential facets of Kubernetes as well as critical components associated with the CKAD exam
- Get carefully guided, hands-on CKAD test prep by one of our in-house CKAD certified instructors
- Opportunity to take the CKAD in-person at the conclusion of the course
While Kubernetes Foundation offers a general introduction and overview, it does not singularly focus on developer specific concerns and usage. Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that repetition breeds internalization and speed which is critical to passing the official CKAD exam.
If this learning journey is not a fit for your needs, there is an alternative to starting with Microservice Application Architecture and that’s choosing to begin with Kubernetes for Developers.
Kubernetes for Developers
With this option, you start your Kubernetes learning journey by getting a comprehensive introduction to Kubernetes resources definition. In this course, you’ll gain hands-on experience with Kubernetes manifest coding from pod basics all the way through advanced topics such as stateful services, volumes, auto-scaling, configuration, and secret usage.
When you’re finished with Kubernetes for Developers, you’ll have the skills and information necessary to begin coding effective application manifests for sophisticated cloud native applications.
This course is a great introduction to Kubernetes in its own right and is a good primer before jumping into a CKAD Boot Camp and/or taking the CKAD exam.
Author Bio: Andrew Gelinas
Andrew is the Director of Marketing at RX-M, a leading cloud native technology training and consulting firm. As participants and evangelists of the cloud native space, we share our consulting and training experience while bringing a market-neutral perspective to every client engagement. Our philosophy allows us to bring our expertise to your organization to solve challenges together or teach your team to solve them on their own.