I recently had a devops interview where I stumbled on some basic Kubernetes questions, and it made me realize that my understanding of k8s is pretty shaky. I only know the fundamentals like pods, deployments, services, and using an nginx ingress controller. However, I struggled with questions about statefulsets and commands to restart deployments because I haven't had hands-on experience with Kubernetes in my previous job. I'm currently unemployed and eager to learn Kubernetes so I can land a devops role. I do have some experience with AWS, but I need guidance on how to solidify my k8s knowledge. Can anyone suggest learning pathways, common troubleshooting scenarios, or general advice about learning Kubernetes? I really want to be able to confidently answer basic k8s questions in interviews. Thanks in advance for your help!
7 Answers
You should definitely check out the Klustered series on YouTube. It covers a lot of troubleshooting scenarios and lets you see people fix broken clusters in real time—great practical learning!
Joining DevOps Slack groups can be a game changer! In mine, if you ask smart questions, people are generally really helpful. Also, a good tip for interviews: if you hit a question you can't answer, flip the script and ask insightful follow-up questions. Interviewers appreciate curiosity and a willingness to learn!
Is your Slack group open to new members? I'd love to connect and learn from others!
To improve your Kubernetes skills, get your hands dirty! Build a cluster, break it, and fix it again. Keep experimenting and learning. It's totally okay to ask specific questions here as you go along, and the community will likely jump in to help you out. It's a big topic, but with dedication, you'll get there!
Just a heads up – DevOps roles tend to be pretty senior. It's good to build your skills before jumping into interviews. There's a ton of YouTube content that can help you learn the basics, but you really need to apply what you learn through practice—either in the cloud or a homelab setup.
Just start using Kubernetes! Tools like k3s or minikube are fantastic for beginners. Minikube can run on virtually anything, and Docker Desktop now has an easy k8s setup option. Get to it and you'll learn fast!
K3s sounds like a great starting point! I'll give that a try!
Setting up a homelab is a great way to learn! Grab some old computers or even Raspberry Pis, and run a web app on them. This lets you practice disaster recovery and zero-downtime upgrades. I found diving right into hands-on scenarios way more beneficial than just watching videos or taking courses. Trust me, you'll retain so much more that way!
Definitely check out KodeCloud's CKA and CKAD courses. They're pretty solid and can help you grasp the essentials of Kubernetes fast. I promise you won't regret diving into those!
I've been using the CKAD prep course too, and it's really well made. Totally recommend it!
That sounds awesome! I can't wait to watch those!