 Our next speaker on the community track is Emmanuel Bakari. He is speaking to us how he got his certified Kubernetes application developer and also how he became a certified Kubernetes administrator. It's an awesome experience to have him here. He's a Linux guru. So Emmanuel, are you ready? Awesome to have you. Yeah, definitely. How's it going? Good morning. Awesome. I'll hand it over to you and we'll be switching the Enterprise channel to Livestream. Over to you, Emmanuel. OK. Hello. Can you hear me? And can you also see my screen? OK. Hello, everyone. OK. Hello, everyone. How's it going? Yes. So my name is Emmanuel Bakari. And I'm an infrastructure engineer. And at the moment, I would be covering details on how I went from not having any Kubernetes certifications to taking up the CKA and CKAD. I took both exams within a period of a week. And it all worked fine. So here's how it actually works. So I'm just going to start off with an intro to what Kubernetes is because I think a lot of people might not really know what it does. So what Kubernetes basically helps you with is covering details on how your infrastructure should be, how you're going to typically move on from getting started with Kubernetes to actually using it. So Kubernetes basically helps to manage your entire application stacks, your networking, storage, all of this within a very, very compact YAMU format that you can pretty much write up. There's quite a lot of documentation about it online. It's a really, really easy process using containers and everything. But then the really good part about it are Kubernetes manages a lot of things that we have done in the past, like scaling up VMs, managing security, managing network interfaces, NATs, DIST, that's everything. It just kind of packs it all together like a really, really nice, as a very nice orchestration engine. So Kubernetes has some certifications because of the fact that the platform is really big. And it's being used across different organizations. Everyone pretty much uses it. It comes to be almost a standard for managing applications, at least from a global scale. So they have certifications that people who are starting off can actually know what they should be heading for, the kind of skills that they should have using Kubernetes, things like OK, fine, how does what are the various components that make Kubernetes work? Was it control manager? Why is that needed, DTC? So the certifications kind of assist you. We can't figure it out. But yeah, I should be focusing a lot on this and working towards getting everything up and going. Yeah. So moving on, we have what the certifications are. And then we have CKA, which is like the Kubernetes administrator certification. So what this is mostly focused on is, OK, I have some cluster somewhere. I'm getting some issues all of a sudden. I can't deploy applications on it. So you're trying to deploy the cluster and you're getting some weird errors, things like that. That's what the main focus for CKA is on. OK, without the application even working, can you actually just get the cluster running? Maximum security, maximum performance, what are the problems you would have, how many nodes do we need, things like that. That's what the CKA is really, really focused on. The CKA, on the other hand, is mostly focused on the application side. So like, OK, I'm deploying my application, what are the things I'll need. OK, I need the application to access another service in a different name space, OK, like network policies to how kind of security do I need. But I still be speaking quite a lot on network policies and later on. So things like what the application really needs. That's what the CKA is majorly focused on. It's also a new one that came out to CKS. I like to say pan-devn because 2020 is kind of like the cost for it at this point. So what the CKS is mostly focused on is the security side of Kubernetes. So in this case, I'm going to be checking out what it should be using. So things like from the node cluster level, I've not really taken so much notes of this particular certification. It's something I'm still prepping on, but it's covering a lot of the nodes security fundamentals, container security, cluster security, and network security, everything altogether so that you can manage both applications and clusters quite nicely on Kubernetes. So the main talk about is more about CKS because so around the CKA and CK, that mostly most of the Kubernetes certifications are actually hard. And to be honest, it actually is because it's a very practical exam. You're going to be working your way around actually typing commands, investigating things. So it's pretty much like you're having some production downtime for real. It's simulated to be in a live environment. That's why it's actually quite endorsed. And I can say that it's a really good exam because after getting both, I kind of got multiple job offers in weeks, which was pretty much a fun thing at one because of the fact that I just had it. So I would really say it's a good idea to actually take the exam. There are a lot of opportunities just having it. So the easiest way to actually pass this is actually by deploying the clusters manually. So a lot of the time, like when you're actually trying to manage your Kubernetes clusters, you mostly start off with getting on using AWS or some cloud provider or something like that. But for this, you're not really going to have to do that. Even during the exams, they do deploy the clusters for you, but they deploy the clusters with 40 configurations and you can never actually fix those problems unless you've actually done it yourself. And speaking from experience, it is quite a lot. So it's almost like you're managing the clusters on-prem. For those who might have done that, it's close to you. The CKS should actually be a lot easier from there. But if not, you do have some things to cover up on. It's particularly important for the CKAs, but it could also then come into the CKADs when things like, oh, you have 40 scheduled configuration and pods just can't start because they can't get scheduled. Things like that. That's where this all comes in handy. The next thing is actually to take courses on Kubernetes. So as opposed to actually a lot of courses, but the one I mostly recommend is CodeCloud. Mostly because of the fact that they have practice tests and instructors doesn't have it, was actually really, really thorough in terms of his explanations of what this does, the various components, how they apply it. And anyways, they can actually use them. So you're not just like doing a course, you're actually doing a practical exam across the course as you move along. And also it's really helped because imagine like you are learning something and you're doing it at the same time. And then you also now have like some simulated environment that's close to the CKAs and CKAD environments that's the exam environment. So it's almost like you are actually practicing to write the exam. So like you have two courses here, the Kubernetes administrator with practice tests and also the certification course which is back in on your own or both of them. So I must have this advice that you use CodeCloud is actually prepared for the CKAs and CKAs. You can't go wrong, I'm taking that. The next thing is to actually practice with a natural platform that was built to help you pass it. So CodeCloud basically has the simulated environments, but the questions don't really cover the full depth of the exam. So why not take a practice exam that is exactly like CKAs? That's what killer.sh really provides. So killer.sh is literally spells killer shell. So what they do there is they basically have resources and some questions that are almost similar to the ones you would actually have in the CKAs and CKAD. When I took them, so I took the CKAs and CKAD like between weeks. So I basically practice for like maybe a month on the CKAs then I use killer.sh a week before my CKAs, I got in 92 there, I did my CKAD, I got in 90 there and then pretty much it just went like that. So killer.sh was actually the CKAs exam. You get proctored, you have a shell, the exact environment like what you see during the CKAs exam. It's the best thing you can actually use for preparing for any of the exams. They also have a CKAs simulation. So it's kind of like everything that you actually need. I always recommend this for anyone that asks about writing an exam because it's really the best. It is a bit pricey, depending on which part of the world you are in. It's about 30 euros. So depending on like how where you are, it's not really that expensive, but the fact that you have three exams in like one single payment and then you can like schedule it over a year, kind of like makes it very easy for you to, you know, take some time, do the cloud courses, take some time, do a test exam and see how you perform. And then down the line in the exams, you'd actually do quite great. And also one of the really good parts that really saved me a ton of time because it's actually, because you have a lot of questions. Some questions carry a lot more parts and you also then have to finish the question with like a certain time limit. So the best thing to do is actually to shorten the commands. I know that this saved me a ton of time because while working through most of the exams and everything I pretty much was able to walk around and get things done, finishing up on everything. So you can shorten the commands. I didn't do an example right here where you can do something like, you know, you can do an alias into your bash R or C and then you can use that command as you move along. This really, really, really helps, especially if you are not faster typing. So like during my CKA, I know I forgot to do this, but I'm pretty fast, so it was pretty easy for me to like walk around, getting everything done. But if you know you're not that fast, then this could be a very, very nice hack to pass the exam. And also then also, because you have a lot of questions. And when you're under tension, typing those long commands and making typos can really offset your mental dynamic and getting like, you know, getting through it. So this is actually really great. And then the last thing is actually to practice. So we quibble me in here, because, you know, it kind of like bands and I'm like into niggles and all that. So practice makes perfect. You actually can't scan the way through this exam. You can't read a couple books, you know. It's not like most certifications exams. This one, they really, really, really have a high priority check on pragmatism. And also you're prompted by an external examiner. So, you know, you can't just bring your friend in there or be like, oh, I need to Google a book. You can't Google some things, but it's very limited to just the docs and API references. So it's not like you can just go up and copy some, you know, YAML. You actually have to learn what's fields are there and the various parts are needed. So you have to really, really practice to pass the exam. But the part that I can say is that if you use killer.sh really well, I really, because you can't really, like you actually have to type most of the commands there. You really would have many issues with going through most of the exams and everything. Just gets started and right to the end. So there's really not much here because it's a lot of work from your end, you got in like working over through the exams, through the test questions, through some of the materials that will be online. And most of the time, if you do check online for like how people pass theirs, there's most times the same advice. But the most times leave out the practice tests platforms, which is what I actually added here. And if you just use those, you're pretty much good to go. Yeah, so if there are no more, if there are any questions, then they'll be a good time. Yeah, go, go. Yeah, how's it going? Okay, any questions? Awesome, yeah, that was an awesome session. Do we have any questions? I think the chat has been posing since. Let's see if there have been any questions. Okay, perfect. It was an awesome session. Okay, how do you manage time? Yeah, no. Okay, so we got in managing time. Okay, someone is asking how you manage your time. Yes, okay, so Radu and Asakra, so we got in managing time. One of the easiest ways to manage time during the exam is, so there's this hack, do all the simple questions first because when you're writing the exam, you have various questions with different levels. So you pretty much have to do the easy questions first. I always advise that because those are the ones that really waste your time. Like they're very simple, but they're also like very repetitive. So as you move to like, if you're like doing the commands thing that I showed before, setting the leases, you just find yourself reusing those and then you're saving time in the long term because you're going to TypeCube CTL a lot of times, like in really lots. So the first thing is to shorten the command. Second thing is to practice with the test so that actually you have like some idea of like how the questions would be. Next thing is here, what you proceed to the next session since we have, okay, we still have roughly 18 minutes to see if we can still join while we prepare for the next session. Okay, go for it. So that's a good one, I'd like to move on. Proceed to the next session. Okay, so, okay, so let me take this. Okay, so, okay, so I consider there are a lot of questions mostly due to the, from the stage side. So let me pick the first one, which is covered on, okay. The first question is on sharing my slides. So yes, I would actually share my slides, I'll put them together so that everyone can have a conversation. So regarding the second question, which is on killer the usage. Yes, yes, so on killer the usage, you have to pay for the practicals. It's actually needed that you pay for them. They don't really host a free one, but if you really want to take it, I could actually assist you with getting the CK or CKAD setup. You have my Twitter, it can just actually pass me. It's something I've done in the past for some people, so it's pretty fine. So getting started with the CKAD, John Sinubar, you can just Google it. A lot of the time, the certifications and the links actually are really online. So everything kind of just works great there, yeah. So the next part is also on what kind of resources are recommended most. So the thing about the Kubernetes exams is that they are actually practical. So resources is mostly code cloud and killer's shell, because when I went through most of them starting off, most of the medium blogs were nice, but they don't really cover in like how the exam actually would go from like your perspective, they can describe it, but it's actually a different experience for each participant. So I would say the best you can actually take up is code cloud and killer the SH. Like those are the best you can use. Okay, okay, from the Linux Foundation, there really isn't so much. You can actually take, oh yes, there's actually a course on Kubernetes from the Linux Foundation. That is also another part that it could take. So I didn't really use that one. It's actually also very comprehensive and you can use that to actually pass the exams. But at that time, I mostly just use code cloud and killer the shell. Yeah. So how long did you take me to study for the actual exam? So for the CKA, I spent about two to three weeks studying. So it's not much that I was already used to working with Kubernetes and using it for about two years. So it's a lot of debugging, downtime, experience, so like ad production experience with it. So it was pretty straightforward to like work my way around it. That's how I was able to work through most of the exams. So this is from Masiyo Avryomalik. Okay, the next steps after taking the CKA certification. So I would actually say that the certifications are meant to help you with showcasing your experience because personally, like having a CKA and CKA doesn't mean you get the job. But for most of my experience, the fact that I had really high scores kind of like just pushed me edge in the interviews. So I wouldn't actually say that dealing with these certifications should be the code, but mostly acing them really well so that I can showcase that as like a metric for your experience. You know, it's basically like doing school and getting a C versus an A, you know, like, if you really want to get an A, you get an A and you definitely have more opportunities from there. Regarding the cloud provider side, it's pretty much the same platform. So you wouldn't really have any issues. You can just continue with, you know, focusing on using Kubernetes. It doesn't really matter. It's very platform-agnostic. Relievant to the B to pursue the LFCS. So the LFCS would actually be nice so that you could at least cover your Linux experience and then do the CKA and CKA because most of the VMs you'll be using during the exam are actually a Linux virtual machine. So all your experience will just be needed from there. So yes, taking it is not really a prerequisite, but it is an optional advantage to take the course. Yeah. Okay, any more questions? Okay, I think I've answered all the questions. Okay. Yeah. Coco? Awesome. Thank you very much, Bakari. I think... Okay. So you actually know pre-certification, but the good part about the CNCF is that they offer you discounts. You can actually write in for like a discount on your CKA exam. They're actually that generous. Like I remember that I did mine at the 50% off during that period, which was like really great. So I saved like a ton because it's over $300 to write the exams. I paid $150, $150 for both the CKA and CKA D. And that was like $300. So I took two courses for the price of one. So you could actually write directly to the foundation. They offer scholarships, full scholarships either way. Yeah. What roadmap would you advise for a total beginner? So the roadmap that I would advise is mostly to one, at least gets started within the platform. There's this particular thing from Chelsea High Tower to Venice is the hardware. So I will send a link in the stage chat. So like if you wanted to start off, you could work through this. It's actually one of the best and I think most standard way to jump in, to jump into like the platform and get started with it in like the best way possible. So I would actually say this would be one of the easiest ways as it began to get started. It would take a while, but it's very, very convenient for your learning process and you end up good learning a lot and learning a lot. Taking the exams isn't really like a problem for them. Okay. Any more questions? Okay. Seems like it's good. Yeah. Okay, cool then. So thank you everyone and go have a good day.