Kubestronaut Journey Part 2: Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)

In my continuation of becoming a Kubestronaut, I took the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) exam. Unlike the Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) which is a question and answer exam, this exam is a hands on lab performance test (which personally I prefer). However this time around, their was one massive self-inflected gotcha that made this exam more difficult that it should’ve been. I opted to use my 13-inch 2021 M1 MacBook Pro for the exam. This made it extremely difficult to use the exam application due to the limited space of the remote workstation we have work in to do the respective exam assignments. Right from the very start I became very agitated on the screen real estate that I had access too. I wasn’t able to easily switch between the Kubernetes documentation and the remote shell sessions. So I ended just using the built-in kubectl explain command line documentation for guidance. This worked well, except that I took way longer looking up information up to the point where I almost ran out of time and had to rush through the last 5 questions fearing that I wasn’t able going to finish the exam in time and fail due to not being able to answer the question! That’s about 1/3 of the entire exam!

Difficult Level

The questions ranged from really easy, to more mid-level and advanced (albeit simple) questions. The questions were straight forward. I practically used the same study material that I used when I first originally took the test on January 2022. Which was the Udemy Kubernetes Certified Application Developer (CKAD) with Tests course as well as the newly release O’Reilly Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) Prep Course and it’s companion book Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) Study Guide, 2nd Edition for good measure.

Although I’m disappointed at myself on the final score, I was able to pass the exam with a score of 71/100. Not the score that I wanted, but given that I didn’t relied on using Kubernetes Documentation, I’m content. Next on my list will be completing (recertifying) the Certified Kubernetes Administrator.

Needless to say, for my next exam I’ll be connection my laptop to an external 27 display!

Study Resources

• Udemy Kubernetes Certified Application Developer (CKAD) with Tests
• O’Reilly Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) Prep Course
• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) Study Guide, 2nd Edition

Tags: [ kubernetes kubestronaut ]

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