Kubernetes Certificate like any other certificate you receive is worthwhile because it gives credibility to your skills. Certifications demonstrate that you have gotten hands-on expertise with a specific technology and have worked on a variety of industry-standard projects, demonstrating to recruiting professionals that you can hit the ground running due to your domain knowledge.
The industry, particularly with Kubernetes, is seeking individuals who have worked in the domain, and that level of competence can only be gained by hands-on experience with industry-standard projects, which any decent online certification-based training will deliver.
Certainly, Kubernetes is one of the most exciting areas of the DevOps area right now – you’ll want one of these, but is CKA certification worth it, and how to prepare for CKA exam? In this article, we’ll explain what is the value of the Kubernetes Certificate and how to pass the Certified Kubernetes Administrator practice test.
The research was conducted using a poll of a group of students who took the CKA practice exam and gave their practical advice.
- What is CKA Certification?
- What is the Certified Kubernetes Administrator salary?
- What is LFS258 Kubernetes Fundamentals and who is it for?
- What is the Certified Kubernetes Administrator CKA Exam?
- Kubernetes Certificate – Is CKA certification worth it?
- How difficult is CKA Exam to pass?
- Getting started with CKA Practice Exam
- 3 Golden Rules of how to prepare for the CKA exam
- Recommendations during the test
- Conclusion
What is CKA Certification?
The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) curriculum ensures that Kubernetes Administrators have the necessary skills, knowledge, and competence to carry out the tasks as Kubernetes administrators.
A certified Kubernetes administrator has proven fundamental installation skills as well as the ability to configure and manage production-grade Kubernetes clusters.
What is the Certified Kubernetes Administrator salary?
According to Payscale the average salary for qualified Kubernetes Administrators in the U.S. is $116.000 per year.
What is LFS258 Kubernetes Fundamentals and who is it for?
With LFS258 Kubernetes Fundamentals qualification you will be able to configure a production-grade Kubernetes cluster, from network setup to upgrades to having clusters available through utilities. Kubernetes Fundamentals LFS258 also covers essential topics like pods, deployments, replicasets, utilities, and will provide you enough understanding to get started with Kubernetes on your own.
The training sessions are a combination of videos, slides, and labs with a strong emphasis on the Certified Kubernetes Administrator CKA exam requirements.
Kubernetes for Beginner – Administrator Training Course (LFS258)
LFS258 Kubernetes Fundamentals qualification is useful for Kubernetes administrators, server administrators, and other IT professionals that manage Kubernetes who would like to manage application infrastructure using container management software used by companies like Google.
What is the Certified Kubernetes Administrator CKA Exam?
The Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam is to certify that the candidate possesses the necessary skills, knowledge, and competence to execute the functions of a Kubernetes administrator.
The CKA assesses both your competence to create and configure a Kubernetes cluster and your knowledge of fundamental concepts. Candidates have three hours to complete the test and must get a score of at least 74% to gain certification.
The exam is a performance-based, online, proctored exam that needs you to solve numerous tasks from a command line using Kubernetes. The tasks must be completed within 2 hours.
Candidates will be given two attempts (one per exam registration) on an exam simulator. Later in this article, I will explain how to prepare for CKA exam.
Certified Kubernetes Administrator CKA exam fee is $375. You need to pass the exam to earn Kubernetes Certificate.
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Cert Exam
Kubernetes Certificate – Is CKA certification worth it?
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) is highly useful, mainly due to the following:
Demand and Supply: Since Kubernetes has already established itself as the new platform, there is a high demand for individuals who can deploy Kubernetes solutions right now, and this will continue for the next several years.
Complexity: Learning how to utilize Kubernetes correctly is still a challenge. The learning curve is rather steep.
Test Difficulty: The Certified Kubernetes Administrator CKA exam has remained relatively tough to date. It is practical rather than theoretical that gives a reliable confirmation of working skills for those who pass the exam.
How difficult is CKA Exam to pass?
The CKA practice exam is demanding, taking 3 hours of serious work to tackle 24 questions, but it feels incredibly beneficial if you like solving issues. So, if you’d like to manage Kubernetes and thinking about taking this test but have some doubts, the real suggestion is to simply do it!
Despite having access to the official Kubernetes documentation, the CKA emphasizes hands-on experience, therefore multiple attempts are sometimes required to pass the examinations. Consequently, it is crucial to be well prepared for the test. The following are some valuable tips on how to prepare for CKA exam and increase your chances to pass it.
Getting started with CKA Practice Exam
If you’re new to the container world, you can take a free course on the following learning platforms:
The Linux Foundation also offers a paid course – Kubernetes Fundamentals and CKA exam with a $100 discount on the exam bundle.
This training course is aligned with Certified Kubernetes Administrator CKA exam requirements as a part of CKA practice exam preparation process. A lot of the stuff goes into great depth in this paid session with a special focus on practical workshops and problem-solving useful on the final CKA test.
LFS258 Kubernetes Fundamentals and CKA Exam Bundle Top Value
You may skip these training classes if you have worked with Kubernetes for at least a few months and have a solid knowledge of the Kubernetes fundamentals. But remember, there are certain things you could miss if you’ve been operating your own Kubernetes systems for a while and haven’t been keeping up to date with all the recent developments.
Review the following prerequisites for the CKA test to see whether you meet them and decide on potential training needs:
- Storage 10%
- Troubleshooting 30%
- Workloads & Scheduling 15%
- Cluster Architecture, Installation & Configuration 25%
- Services & Networking 20%
The following are skills covered while taking the Kubernetes Fundamentals training course:
- Kubernetes Architecture,
- Kubernetes Installation,
- Kubernetes Configuration,
- APIs and Access,
- API Objects,
- Managing State with Deployments,
- Volumes and Data,
- Ingress,
- Logging,
- Troubleshooting,
- Security,
- Helm,
- Container Management Platform
3 Golden Rules of how to prepare for the CKA exam
How to pass the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam? Apart from working experience with Kubernetes supported by the dedicated training course, the following are the key rules to be successful:
1. Read official CKA exam resources:
- Candidate Handbook
- Quick Guide to Register-Schedule-Take Exam
- Important Instructions: CKA and CKAD
- Curriculum Overview
- Frequently Asked Questions
2. Allow a few weeks before the test date to begin studying official Kubernetes resources. The following is recommended learning path:
- Install and Configure Kubernetes
- MicroK8S
- Kubectl cheat sheet
- RBAC authorization
- Kubernetes objects
- Kubectl to Create a Deployment
- Scale Your App
- Kubernetes Networking
- More about Network Policies
- Ingress Controllers
- Kubernetes Logging
- Kubernetes Storage
- Operating etcd
3. Very important! Practice, practice, practice.
Most significantly, you will be able to use the documentation for the exam. As a result, studying the official documents is essential for the test. Don’t forget to practice each topic as the exam is performance-based that needs you to solve numerous issues. The following materials are great for practical exercises:
Recommendations during the test
The exam is not an easy one, taking 3 hours of serious work to complete 24 questions. Have a strategy for the exam. The following are some tips for you to consider:
- Don’t start with difficult questions. Complete ten simple questions during the first hour, eight medium questions in the second hour, and the last six difficult questions in the last hour. Don’t forget to save the outputs after the completion of each question.
- Try not to read all questions upfront. If you feel you need more time to resolve the problem or are not sure how to answer, put the question in the appropriate section medium or difficult and come back to this question later.
- To save time, create appropriate resources using kubectl and not from manifest files.
- Don’t be nervous and remember – you have one free re-take if something went wrong. Not passing the exam is not the end of the world – take this as lessons learned and use it as an opportunity to improve.
Conclusion
Kubernetes is the most exciting technology of a decade and is worth knowing since it is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Even if you aren’t qualified with official certification, demonstrating that you understand it well can greatly benefit your career.
However, the additional benefit of holding an official Kubernetes certificate (CKA) is invaluable as it enables qualified administrators to effectively demonstrate their authority and value in the professional world, while also helping companies to employ high-quality employees.
Finally, keep in mind that showing the Kubernetes certificate itself will probably not land you a job. Most likely you will be shortlisted during the recruitment process and the company will verify your skills during an interview. So that the main goal is not a certificate as a piece of paper, but rather acquiring the skills and expertise required by the company confirmed by a certificate.
I hope this article was helpful and answered the question of how to prepare for CKA exam? With the above in mind, I encourage you to remember the following formula that is equally applicable for any other kind of professional certification:
Knowledge + Skills + Certificate = Success
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