Background
Certified Kubernetes Application Developer - CKAD is an exam developed by The Linux Foundation f.t Cloud Native Computing Foundation to certify your knowledge of Kubernetes (k8s) as a developer.
What I like about this exam is that it is a performance-based exam, means no multiple choise questions. Just you, a Linux command line (with Vim and kubectl installed) and a single tab for kubernetes.io. You make it or break it.
You have to complete 19 questions in 2 hours. Each question has a weighted score, the passing threshold is 66%. Questions will look like:
Create a cron job with image busybox that runs on a schedule of "*/1 * * * *" and writes 'date; echo Hello from the Kubernetes cluster' to standard output
- Cost: $300 with 1 free retake
- Exam scope: https://github.com/cncf/curriculum
Preparation
- I spent about 1 month to prepare for the exam. There is no required prerequisites but it would be easier if you have some prior k8s experience.
- Resource:
- Udemy course to sharpen the knowledge: https://www.udemy.com/course/certified-kubernetes-application-developer/
- Exercises to practice: https://github.com/dgkanatsios/CKAD-exercises
- https://github.com/twajr/ckad-prep-notes
Tips
- It is all about how fluently you can use kubectl. Make sure you practice all the exercises at least 3 times.
- It is average 6 mins you have for each question, but believe me, time flies really fast in the real test. If you approach a question and somehow it failed to run, you try again, still fail => give up, move on to next question. You will not have enought time for a second troubleshooting.
- Use the build-int note to note down questions and its percentage if you want to skip the question for later.
- Try to use kubectl command as much as possible instead of using yaml config file. At least, don't write YAML files from scratch, use kubectl to generate then edit:
kubectl run ... -o yaml --dry-run > file.yaml
- Define and use alias
alias k=kubectl
- Vim mastery will save you some time.
- You are allowed to use k8s documentation => bookmark important pages for quick access.