Kubernetes Today

If the term DevOps has anything to do with your career, then it is safe to say that you have at least heard of Kubernetes. If Containers are created to make sure that your Web Applications or Micro-services don't turn into a wreck; Kubernetes is developed to make sure that the Containers don't turn into a wreck! From an impressive idea to a wave of adoption, Kubernetes easily found its way from Google's data centres to servers across the globe.

In 2018, Kubernetes was one of the most sought-after and professionally promisingskills in the IT community and 2019 doesn't seem to be any different. Although Certified Kubernetes Admins and Application Developers are still an Elite class in terms of availability, leading Cloud providers are making sure that no industry (big or small) should hesitate towards migrating to Containers. Kubernetes is now easy and economic to adapt. All of this has caused a well-expected rise in Kubernetes jobs with varying levels of skills and promising pay.

Credibility and Practices

Kubernetes (also written as "k8s" in short) is open-sourced and managed by CNCF which stands for Cloud Native Computing Foundation. It is a child organization of the Linux Foundation and it is responsible for vendor-neutral open source growth of projects like Kubernetes and Envoy as well as for providing credible certifications to aspiring professionals.

In the case of Kubernetes, CNCF provides two different certifications. CKA which stands for Certified Kubernetes Administrator (suitable for the Ops side of DevOps) and CKAD which means Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (suitable for the Dev side of DevOps). Both of these certifications are definitely one of the most credible ways of proving your proficiency with k8s. So, you might think that clearing the certification after sufficient practice and preparation should pave your way to your dream k8s job, right?

Well, No.

You can strengthen your profile significantly with these certifications but the scope of Kubernetes jobs is wider, much wider. For example, it is quite likely that your next employer firm is using a hosted k8s solution on Cloud (like GKEor EKS) instead of running turnkey solution locally. On top of that, many of the k8s applications are deployed using third-party package managers (like Helm) and monitored using external agents (like Stackdriver).

The ones mentioned above and other such tools are surely easier to learn compared to k8s itself. In fact, it is quite likely that you could be aware of 5 of such tools and your firm would end up using the 6th one. In such cases, even though learn-as-you-go would be the most efficient practice, knowing the types, basic structure and uses of such tools and plugins definitely helps a lot.

About this Test - Background, Curriculum, Guidelines and Rules

This test is a meticulous compilation and arrangement of Multiple Choice Questions which challenges your k8s knowledge and skills not just as how it is documented, but also as for how the industry has adopted it. While keeping k8s as the undeniable focal point, this exam also explores the world around it.

We gathered a team of over 15 experienced professionals from a spectrum of industries (ranging from Start-ups to MNCs) and asked them which parts of the whole k8s feature pool were most relevant and important to them. Then we collectively represented that insight as a large bunch of questions and equally divided them into 4 sets.

Each set consists of 25 questions with balanced weight on topics mentioned in the Curriculum given below.

Curriculum:

• Basics of Containers and Container Orchestration

• Kubernetes Architecture (Working, Components and Configuration)

• Kubernetes Clusters (Set-up, Solutions, Nodes, Communication between Nodes)

• Kubernetes Workloads, Networking, Load Balancing and Storage

• Basic Kubernetes Practices (Cluster Administration, Orchestration, Resource Management)

• Advanced Kubernetes Practices (Troubleshooting, Logging-Monitoring, Security, Access Management)

• Kubernetes on Cloud (Offerings, Implementation Specifics, Set-up)

• Storage, Networking and Security for Hosted Kubernetes on Cloud

• External package managers and other plugins [OPTIONAL]

What to Expect from this Exam?

Here is what you can expect in terms of the nature of the questions:

• Basic and in-depth theoretical questions

• Questions based on kubectl command line and k8s object YAML

• Questions relevant to hands-on k8s practice

• True/False and Multiple Selection questions (where more than one answers are correct) are also present

• Questions based on practical application scenarios and/or troubleshooting instances

How to prepare for this test?

Fortunately, preparing for this exam is a simple 3-step process:

1. Go through the Kubernetes Documentation thoroughly and practice your concepts and applications

2. Once you are comfortable with k8s, try to explore its hosted solutions on the cloud. Notice the similarities and differences and explore documentation wherever necessary. Optionally, you can also explore external tools like package managers and widen your scope of k8s applicability.

3. Practice, Practice and Practice!

Exam Rules

1. Each set contains 25 Questions and each question carries one mark.

2. The questions are Multiple Choice Questions (One answer is correct), Multiple Selection Questions (More than one answers are correct) and True/False statement types.

3. In the case of Multiple Selection Questions, tick all the answers which are correct.

4. The passing score per set is 80% which is deliberately kept a little higher than most of the interview passing thresholds. There is no negative marking.

5. We encourage you to attempt all the questions and you will get 45 minutes to attempt every set.

6. In case your answer is incorrect, you can use the solution hints and/or links to correct yourselves.

7. Questions regarding Hosted Cloud implementations will carry less than 15% weight in total across the sets. This has been deliberately set to serve the students who do not intend to opt for interviews or to use the cloud anytime soon.

8. You can attempt each set as many times as you desire.

9. These exam questions do not claim to spoil any interview questions for any industry. Rather they are crafted to prepare you for what you may face during interviews. Even if you are not a future interview applicant, this exam aims to serve as self-evaluation material to strengthen your Kubernetes practice.

We want this exam to be useful for a longer period of time. We also want this exam to grow with its student community. Keeping that in mind, we will add two more sets of questions before the end of 2019 based on student demands and further surveys.

We hope you have a pleasant experience and useful takeaways from this exam.

Wish you all the best, Happy Learning!

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