How did I pass KCNA

I could say the story is  like in the western movies. I came, shoot and got what I wanted.

Why KCNA?

The answer is simple – and the same as with AWS Cloud Practitioner. I have already used Kubernetes before, but obviously as a mere read-only kind of user. I am far away for production-grade operator of it, as I can be. However, I decided to take things slow. The most important factor here was the fact, that I wanted to get some strong theoretical foundation, without deep diving into CLI&YAML pond. Was it the right decision? I think that it was.

My learning was more oriented around the whole cloud ecosystem, CNCF environment, and how K8s looks like there. Broader view I got served me well as I was also preparing for AWS Dev Associate, and reading all the other books about cloud. If you are somewhat experienced with everyday usage of K8s – then I would not recommend this certification. However, if you’re catching up with a lot of things at the same time, KCNA serves as a pleasant starting point.

What have I used?

It wasn’t that much. I have read “Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) Study Guide”, but it was very simplistic and short. Looking back the only reason I have read that book, is that it was very short. The most important contributors to my success were online courses.

• Udemy – Kubernetes for the Absolute Beginners – Hands On – which I have bought a long time ago
• James Spurin’s – Dive into cloud native – Containers, Kubernetes and KCNA – which was worth every dollar spent

Armed with the knowledge from all those sources, I was able to pass mock tests in the James’ course without any trouble. With the purchase of this course, I also got an access to the Slack dedicated for the people interested in CNCF certifications. I asked some people around, and got a confirmation, that my level of knowledge was solid.

Certification process

With CNCF certifications, you have to use online platform used by the Linux Foundation. It was my first time passing online certification exam. I can confirm here, that all the stories are true. You need to provide identification scan, make a photo of yourself, accept gigatons of terms/agreements, and in order to start – show the whole room and the desk via camera. It is advised to start the whole process earlier than scheduled exam for sure. Despite all those preparatory steps – it wasn’t that troublesome.

The whole exam took me maybe 20 minutes. The experience was very similar to my everyday’s ANK flashcards training. However, I was genuinely surprised, when I got my results almost immediately! In the candidate’s handbook it clearly says, that it takes up to 24 hours to get them. What is more – other people tend to confirm that. So the fact that I saw “passed” just right away after the exam was a really pleasant surprise.

What’s next?

I don’t know 😉 I mean, there’s a upcoming AWS Dev Cert coming, and after that I plan on taking some real holidays (550km trek in the Polish mountains, don’t ask…). For the time being I recommend for all the interested to use my 322 flashcards ANKI deck, where all the knowledge required to pass KCNA is.