Introduction
CKAD stands for Certified Kubernetes Application Developer.
I thought I’d take the time to write a long-form documentation of how I passed the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer exam.
I took the exam on June 5, and although I passed, let me tell you, I had to make changes to my strategy during the exam.
I was at first, in the first 10 minutes, trying to use YAML files from the
docs, but realized quickly how slow the remote system was, so I decided to use
kubectl
commands wherever possible.
Imperative vs. Declarative
First of all, forget about trying to memorize YAML files or even copying them from the documentation. Yes, it is available to you, but extracting from the documentation takes way too much time.
It is way more efficient to create your commands from scratch using
kubectl
.
That being said, it is important to navigate the documentation. Try to do most of your practice sessions with just the documentation.
Documentation to Remember
If you can, remember a couple of documentation links that you can refer to
quickly:
https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/quick-reference/
For reference, the above link is on the front page of the documentation site.
Another great link is to search Configure a Pod
, and look at result #4:
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-persistent-volume-storage/
This is a how-to guide that is more granular than the generic PVC guide.
Lastly, for deployments
, I used this documentation page as it’s a more
granular explanation of deployments:
Search for wordpress
, and choose the 4th result:
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tutorials/stateful-application/mysql-wordpress-persistent-volume/
Practice
I used mostly just quick and short practices that go over each topic.
To be honest, as much as I like Killercoda, it can be quite slow, and long tests should be more of a litmus test of your level of preparation.
I opted to use minikube.
It is really straightforward to follow how to set it up, and all you have to do to use it is:
minikube start
minikube stop
Time Management
It is incredibly important to manage your time. I thought it would be best to read through each question and find the ones that I could work on easily.
You can’t! It’s too slow. The system will eat up your time.
Your best bet is to watch your time, divide the number of questions you have, set aside those minutes for each question, and then move forward!
Don’t dwell on the questions and try to figure out how to solve them; skip, and come back to them.
202507021251