## TLDR I'm on the road to be a Kubernetes (K8) SME. During my research I realized that I'd be 2 certs off from the Kubestronaut so I figured that would be a good sub-goal. The first cert I tackled was the CKA and I passed. I used KodeKloud for their hands-on labs, killer coda, and killer shell. Towards the end I used Obsidian for notes because I misplaced my notebook. It was good because hands on keyboard was super critical to passing this cert. I highly recommend this cert for sys admins and sre engineers for cluster management. ## Background I made a choice for 2025 to really focus on k8s. Not just k8s but linux. The system management part of my devops skills always feel like they are lacking. I like that I have friends to lean on, but I want to be able to be a good resource to them as well. Since I was doing a lot of pipelining work (app to cluster type of stuff) I thought that k8s would be the perfect thing to focus on and master. Since I've got time off as I was/am looking for work I figured I'd set a date and take my Certified Kubernetes Admin cert. ## Prep ![[Pasted image 20250209132653.png]] The image above is my completed progress from using KodeKloud to study. I have a history with that platform and they helped me gain my Terraform associate cert. I tend to stick to resources I know and trust in times like this and I think KodeKloud has one of the best platforms for devops. KodeKloud wasn't the only resource I used though. You can make an account on Killer Coda which was nice to have single use scenarios to test. I also used Killer Shell which give you a simulated test with 25 questions. Killer Shell is definitely the hardest of the 3 platforms, but it's well worth the time investment. I don't know what to tell you about taking notes. It's a personal preference. I didn't take like strict notes but I wrote down imperative commands, tricks, and what different things where. I'm not 100% pressed about the why behind how these tools work, but I do like to understand what is going on so I'm not bothering folks with a lot of extra stupid questions. ## The Test OMG the test made me so nervous. I was running errands and such constantly visualizing and mumbling yaml setups or commands for the days leading up to my test. I made sure to do a killer shell test hours before my test. I had an hour between me reviewing answers and taking my test. I would like to stop here and rant... I hate remote test. Pearson view is truly the worst experience. You can't tell me that they can't figure out how to allow these test at a testing site. The verification alone can ruin your mood. You have to make sure to reset before hitting start. I've done it enough times that I have a few steps that I do to get back in the game. Anyway past that the test flowed just like Killer Shell. I felt extremely prepared for the test and had even paced well enough that I didn't feel like I dropped too many points. The one thing I would say was I made a really good choice making sure I knew how to do an upgrade and how long it took. If you are looking to take the test soon I would highly recommend using Killer Shell, figuring out a strategy for searching through docs, and figuring out how to move fast in the terminal. Truthfully the test isn't as scary as everyone made it seem. Once you realize that the time crunch really pushes your knowledge and comfort of linux it's a plug and play test. --- So anyway if you going to test, you got this. I have faith in you and your skills and I'll see you after the next test.