Hello twitter world! As a bunch of you know I was preparing for my Certified #Kubernetes Administrator. I decided to give a go at the exam & failed my first attempt. Here's what I did, my experience with the #CKA and what I plan on doing differently for my re-take.
A thread 1/n
A thread 1/n
First of all, you need to be okay with failing the exam on the first attempt. I had to change this about me as I don't bode well with failure.
At @kloudleinc, we have no taboo about failure. It's just a way to evaluate what you can do differently for your next attempt.
2/n
At @kloudleinc, we have no taboo about failure. It's just a way to evaluate what you can do differently for your next attempt.
2/n
Last week during an internal discussion, @makash shared a technique called "Genchi Genbutsu" (conversion-rate-experts.com/genchi-genbuts…) that got me to book the exam with whatever prep I had done so far instead of waiting for an arbitrary date in the future that looked "right" to me 😬
3/n
3/n
As the exam has a free re-take, it was a no-brainer (after becoming okay with "what if I fail"😅). If I pass, great but if I fail, at least I will know what the exam looks like & what I will experience (physically and mentally) so that I can be prepared for the free re-take.
4/n
4/n
The exam itself is easy if
1. You have setup your own kubeadm cluster, torn it down and re-created it at least 2-3 times
2. You are familiar with #kubernetes docs portal & know how to search (this is allowed)
3. You ar familiar with commands like ps, vi, grep, systemctl etc.
5/n
1. You have setup your own kubeadm cluster, torn it down and re-created it at least 2-3 times
2. You are familiar with #kubernetes docs portal & know how to search (this is allowed)
3. You ar familiar with commands like ps, vi, grep, systemctl etc.
5/n
3. You are familiar with concepts (& yamls) of pods, deployments, services, network policies, RBAC (all of this is present in #k8s docs)
4. You have practiced creating these resources on your cluster
5. You hv interacted with a browser based terminal (katacoda recommended)
6/n
4. You have practiced creating these resources on your cluster
5. You hv interacted with a browser based terminal (katacoda recommended)
6/n
In my experience, I mostly panicked during the exam
1. I didn't get enough rest the previous night
2. I skipped lunch wanting to avoid stomach discomfort
3. The 2 hour window can be very stressful
4. My system rebooted 15 minutes into the test that caused additional anxiety
7/n
1. I didn't get enough rest the previous night
2. I skipped lunch wanting to avoid stomach discomfort
3. The 2 hour window can be very stressful
4. My system rebooted 15 minutes into the test that caused additional anxiety
7/n
Here are some tips that you can use
1. The exam resumes from where you left without any delays, if your Internet disconnects/system reboots, so don't worry
2. There is a notepad within the browser that allows you to capture information and in case you want to edit yamls
8/n
1. The exam resumes from where you left without any delays, if your Internet disconnects/system reboots, so don't worry
2. There is a notepad within the browser that allows you to capture information and in case you want to edit yamls
8/n
3. Make sure you use the correct #k8s context (this is also provided per task)
4. Right click copy & Ctrl+Shift+V works in the browser although the instructions say they don't
5. alias k='kubectl', enable autocomplete and export do='-o yaml --dry-run=client' (these are enuf)
9/n
4. Right click copy & Ctrl+Shift+V works in the browser although the instructions say they don't
5. alias k='kubectl', enable autocomplete and export do='-o yaml --dry-run=client' (these are enuf)
9/n
6. drink water, pause and breath if you are getting stressed
7. Spend 5 minutes to read all the tasks first, I answered task 16 first because it was straightforward
8. Read the task carefully, the tasks are written very well and and very self explanatory
10/n
7. Spend 5 minutes to read all the tasks first, I answered task 16 first because it was straightforward
8. Read the task carefully, the tasks are written very well and and very self explanatory
10/n
9. For some tasks you will not know if you got them right, solve them to the best of your ability & flag them (if u want to revisit)
10. Solve what you are familiar with first. CKA is not a memory test so use the docs judiciously
11. Practice with -o jsonpath & kubectl edit
11/n
10. Solve what you are familiar with first. CKA is not a memory test so use the docs judiciously
11. Practice with -o jsonpath & kubectl edit
11/n
Here's what I'm planning to do differently for my re-take
1. Sleep the previous night🙃
2. Practice some networking concepts like Network Policies, Ingress etc.
3. Practice at least 1 test on killer.sh to time box
4. Work with deployments, updates and rollback
12/n
1. Sleep the previous night🙃
2. Practice some networking concepts like Network Policies, Ingress etc.
3. Practice at least 1 test on killer.sh to time box
4. Work with deployments, updates and rollback
12/n
4. Do some tasks with katacoda to mentally align with browser based terminals (I kept pressing Ctrl+Shift+C wanting to copy text instead kept opening up the browser devtools)
5. Ensure my system does not reboot by keeping it plugged to mains
6. Use a backrest for my chair
13/n
5. Ensure my system does not reboot by keeping it plugged to mains
6. Use a backrest for my chair
13/n
Overall, the exam is a fun experience & thanks to the free re-take should not be seen as a hard or impossible thing to achieve. I would say go ahead & give the exam, experience it and then evaluate what went wrong (if it does!)
Happy Sunday everyone & thanks for reading!
/fin
Happy Sunday everyone & thanks for reading!
/fin
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
