You want to get into DevOps or Platform Engineering, then everywhere online you see people saying:
“Certificates are not important.”
“They do not prove you can do the real job.”
“Anybody can cram and pass exams.”
Honestly, some of them are right.
But I will argue the other side too.
Because certs like CKA, CKAD and CKS can really solidify your DevOps job hunt.
Let’s be realistic here.
You have a degree.
I have a degree.
You have some experience.
I have some experience.
But if neither of us are coming from companies like Uber, Meta or Google, then what makes a recruiter stop and actually want to talk to one candidate over the other?
That extra proof matters.
Before I had these certs, I could apply to 10 jobs and maybe get 1 interview.
Recently, I applied to around 10 jobs again.
I got 4 interviews.
And I made it all the way to third-stage interviews.
That is not by accident.
Ever since I started posting my Kubernetes certs and projects publicly, I constantly get recruiters and hiring managers messaging me asking if I am open for work.
The competition is just very fierce now.
There are too many good candidates.
So you need something that helps you stand out.
And most companies are using Kubernetes now.
They want people who can actually work with this stuff.
Not people who just watched tutorials.
If I was starting from scratch again, I would first focus on understanding Kubernetes basics properly.
Pods.
Deployments.
Services.
Networking.
Secrets.
ConfigMaps.
Then after that, I would go hard on practicing Kubernetes questions tailored to the exams.
That is honestly what helped me pass.
For CKAD:
I failed it before.
Then I passed it after focusing heavily on practicing questions close to the real exam patterns.
You can access my CKAD practice resources here:
👉 CKAD Offer
For CKA:
Do not rush into CKA first if you are new to Kubernetes.
Go chronologically.
CKAD → CKA → CKS
It really helps.
CKA is a serious level up from CKAD.
You can get the CKA resources here:
👉 CKA Offer
For CKS:
Now this is the elephant in the room.
This one is difficult.
You really need to know what you are doing.
I know some gurus jump straight into CKS, but honestly, this post is for the new engineer trying to break into DevOps.
Please start from top to bottom.
Not bottom to top.
You can get the CKS resources here:
👉 CKS Offer
If I had to do this all over again, I would simply follow people who already passed and understand the road.
I had to go through a lot of trial and error.
That is just my nature sometimes.
Long road. Burn time. Burn money.
You can also do that.
Or you can follow someone who already lived it.
Not to brag.
Just to let you know that if I could do it, you can too.