Resources & Next Steps

Duration: 45 min

Resources & Next Steps

Duration: 45 min

Course Summary

You've covered the full DevOps & Platform Engineering stack:

  • ✅ Linux, shell scripting, and automation
  • ✅ Docker: containerize, optimize, secure
  • ✅ Kubernetes: pods, deployments, services, networking, storage
  • ✅ Managed K8s: EKS (AWS), AKS (Azure), GKE (Google)
  • ✅ CI/CD: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, ArgoCD, deployment strategies
  • ✅ Terraform: Infrastructure as Code, modules, state management
  • ✅ Observability: Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, SLOs
  • ✅ Security: scanning, secrets, RBAC, pod security, policies
  • ✅ Platform Engineering: IDPs, Backstage, golden paths, Crossplane

Certifications

| Certification | Provider | Focus | |---------------|----------|-------| | CKA | CNCF | Kubernetes Administration | | CKAD | CNCF | Kubernetes App Development | | CKS | CNCF | Kubernetes Security | | AWS DevOps Engineer | AWS | AWS CI/CD & automation | | Terraform Associate | HashiCorp | IaC with Terraform | | AZ-400 | Microsoft | Azure DevOps |

Tools to Master

essential:
  - kubectl, helm, kustomize
  - terraform (or pulumi)
  - docker, docker compose
  - git, github actions (or gitlab ci)
  
monitoring:
  - prometheus, grafana
  - loki (logs), tempo (traces)
  - opentelemetry SDK
  
security:
  - trivy, kyverno
  - vault, external-secrets
  - cosign (image signing)
  
platform:
  - backstage
  - crossplane
  - argo (cd, rollouts, workflows)

Recommended Learning Path

1. Get CKA certified — solidifies K8s fundamentals 2. Build a home lab — k3s on a Raspberry Pi or local Kind cluster 3. Contribute to open source — Kubernetes, Argo, or Backstage 4. Practice incident response — run game days with chaos engineering

Community

  • CNCF Slack — Kubernetes and cloud-native discussions
  • DevOps subreddit — r/devops
  • Platform Engineering community — platformengineering.org
  • KubeCon talks — free on YouTube

Key Documentation

  • [Kubernetes Docs](https://kubernetes.io/docs/)
  • [EKS Best Practices](https://aws.github.io/aws-eks-best-practices/)
  • [AKS Documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/)
  • [GKE Documentation](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs)
  • [Terraform Registry](https://registry.terraform.io/)
  • [Backstage.io](https://backstage.io/)

Quiz

Q1: Which certification validates Kubernetes administration skills?

  • A) AWS Solutions Architect
  • B) CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator) ✓
  • C) CCNA
  • D) PMP

Q2: What's the best way to practice Kubernetes locally?

  • A) Buy cloud resources
  • B) Use Kind or k3s to run a local cluster ✓
  • C) Read documentation only
  • D) Watch videos

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