Do I really need a CKA certification?

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I am a software engineer — first — and I recently earned the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) certification. Well… good for me, right? This is a way to validate my skills in the public face. But what does it actually mean? Am I some Kubernetes (K8S) wizard now that I have it? Does it help me in the job market? These are a few of the questions that I answer below.

What does it actually mean?

Well, for one, it means that I worked. I got my feet wet with K8S back when I worked at Cricket Wireless in 2020. Currently, I use it daily. However, that wasn't enough to prepare me for the exam. We use K8S in conjunction with other technologies. One of those is Helm. For those unfamiliar, Helm is another technology that assists with some K8S tasks and is a whole other thing one could be great at and make money.

Now, back to the original question. What does it actually mean? It means that I went on killer.sh a total of nine times at $9.99 a pop to take the practice tests. I studied the K8S documentation and became good at traversing it to find what I needed. I put in hours watching the KodeKloud videos and taking their practice tests and quizzes in addition to Pluralsight's content on K8s for about eight weeks. I sat for the exam twice. The first time I failed it partly because of the skills gap and partly because I had to accustom myself to testing in Linux Foundations' virtual environment (it is that different).

You hear about people studying, sitting for it and passing it in one go. Good for them! With the exception of one person that I found online talking about their journey to passing this milestone, none of them suggested killer.sh. I learn different. I needed killer.sh. This certification requires you to be proficient at Linux and K8S as you will problem solve using both. You can't memorize a set of exam dumps and expect to pass it. No, you actually have to problem solve and execute under a time limit in an environment that you may not be accustomed to working in. This requires a developed skills set to solve the types of problems that are presented to you in the exam.

Am I some K8S wizard now that I have it?

Look, K8S has 123 API resources as of this article. Then you can turn around and add to that by making custom ones. How long of a career do you have to have to be considered a “wizard”, “SME”, or authority on K8S? I am good at K8S as a result of using it daily and having obtained this certification. I am better than most —the CKA proves it. I solve problems using it in a way that someone who does not have the cert may not. And most of all… I am still learning. I have experience using it in an enterprise setting. But if I go to some other job, I'll be learning how they use it in their environment. Having obtained the CKA means that, I have learned and my capacity for learning more K8S is great. But that's tech. Not one of us knows it all.

Does it help me in the job market?

To my knowledge, I have not been offered any positions or opportunities to interview based on me having obtained this certification. Although for some employers, there are obvious benefits. However, as a holder of the CKA, prior to receiving it, recruiters had already begun sending me DevOps related job opportunities. While I have not noticed anything “in” the job market, at work, I am much more comfortable answering questions about K8S. I am more competent and confident about various API resources. The questions I ask have changed from basic “how to” to “why have we implemented…”, “have we considered…”, and most importantly “do we truly need…” types of questions. Without a doubt, I am a better K8S administrator. And I still have capacity to learn and improve beyond my current competencies. To answer the question presented in this section, yes!

En fin

I think the following is the case, not only for this but for other certifications as well. You will learn the basics and have a great understanding of the fundamentals after having completed this exam. You will gain knowledge and skills that you may not have even gained in a year of actual K8S work, on production clusters, in an enterprise environment. Are you a software engineer who uses K8S, a DevOps engineer using it or an enthusiast? If so and you want to learn and prove your knowledge, then maybe you'd benefit from sitting this exam. It is a time-consuming investment but an investment nonetheless that will pay dividends. I am in no way promoting it, nor any other technology, or course mentioned in this article. I am simply saying that getting my CKA has helped — in one way or another.