Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) in 2022
Tags: kubernetes, ckad, learning
Published: 2022-02-11 12:00:25

---
title: Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) in 2022
published: true
date: 2022-02-06 00:00:00 UTC
tags: kubernetes, ckad, learning
canonical_url: https://hugomartins.io/essays/2022/02/ckad-in-2022/
---

May 2021 in sunny Portugal. I _virtually_ attended [KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2021](https://events.linuxfoundation.org/archive/2021/kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe/), writing a [series](https://hugomartins.io/essays/2021/05/kubecon-europe-2021-highlights-1/) [of](https://hugomartins.io/essays/2021/05/kubecon-europe-2021-highlights-2/) [daily](https://hugomartins.io/essays/2021/05/kubecon-europe-2021-highlights-3/) [highlights](https://hugomartins.io/essays/2021/05/kubecon-europe-2021-highlights-4/) about this experience. It focused on the talks I most enjoyed, what I learned and technologies I’d keep an eye on. I even took the time to write some tweets, even though I barely use Twitter.

> [#KubeCon](https://twitter.com/hashtag/KubeCon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) setup. Starting off with LitmusChaos office hours. [pic.twitter.com/c7Q24gl6Dd](https://t.co/c7Q24gl6Dd)
> 
> — Hugo Martins (@caramelomartins) [May 4, 2021](https://twitter.com/caramelomartins/status/1389510179021017089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

At the time, I was using Kubernetes extensively. I was working as an SRE, which was really more a Platform Engineer, working on tooling in the Software Development Life Cycle ™️ domain, following the hype of [Internal Platform Teams](https://humanitec.com/blog/internal-platform-teams-what-are-they-and-do-you-need-one). Kubernetes was quickly becoming, if it wasn’t already, the _de facto_ standard framework to build these sorts of platforms on. Kubernetes serves as the underlying “OS” of sorts, while a lot of applications and customization are baked on top of it.

Due to the type of work I had been doing, and because it is a domain that interests me and I want to keep working on it, I ended up making the decision to enroll in the [Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)](https://training.linuxfoundation.org/certification/certified-kubernetes-application-developer-ckad/). I racked in an hefty discount from attending [KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2021](https://events.linuxfoundation.org/archive/2021/kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe/) and had an entire year to study for, register and pass CKAD. What could go wrong?!

It was all very promising and hopeful but I ended up not being able to study for CKAD and ended up not registering to take the exam after almost a year. To make matters worse, CKAD went through [a series of program changes](https://training.linuxfoundation.org/ckad-program-change-2021/) just four months after I enrolled. It now includes questions about Helm, more security-oriented aspects, deployment strategies and CRDs, among other changes.

Although I no longer feel the same motivation and excitement towards passing the exam, mostly because I’m not working as closely with Kubernetes anymore, I have spent quite some €€€ enrolling in it and I feel that it can still teach me a lot of relevant concepts about Kubernetes that will be useful, as well as help me improve my `kubectl` proficiency, which I still use everyday.

Because of the reasons above, I’m going to try and complete [Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)](https://training.linuxfoundation.org/certification/certified-kubernetes-application-developer-ckad/) in 2022, more specifically, in the last few months I have until May. This means that I’ll have to dive into Kubernetes concepts and tooling, while studying, and write more about it which I’m hoping I’ll share in the form of small snippets and notes.

I don’t want it to become a reference guide to Kubernetes but I believe that sharing notes and small essays might help me get more motivated towards studying for CKAD. In this way, I believe, I’ll probably start a small series of notes on Kubernetes. I’m not yet sure on what this series will be in terms of structure, or its name, but I’m hopeful that it will give me the extra boost I need in order to successfully study and complete CKAD.