My Kubestronaut Journey: How I became Youngest Kubestronaut from Nepal ?
Well, it’s quite late, and it has already been more than 6 months since I achieved the Kubestronaut title. In this blog, I am going to share my experience, a guide, and how I managed to achieve it while I was still in college.
The journey started back in October 2024. I was already learning Kubernetes. Initially, I was planning to take the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam, but later I skipped that cause I was totally useless and decided to go for the CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator).
CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator):
I booked the exam date for November 15, 2024 at 5:30 AM. I was fully prepared and had completed the CKA mock exams on Killer Koda and KodeKloud multiple times. I also created complete solutions for the Killer Koda CKA scenarios. To sum it up, I was fully prepared.
On the day of the exam, First of all, I completed all the pre-checks of my surroundings. The first question took 10 minutes, even though it was very easy. Scrolling through the documentation took time, and the simulator was extremely laggy. At that point, I felt like I am going to fail :)
Somehow, I was able to attempt 16 questions out of 17. Next day morning, when i awake up and checked my mail …..
Then I punched the wall and shouted loudly due to happiness, which was almost unusual behavior haha :)
CKAD (Certified Kubernetes Application Developer):
Next turn was CKAD. I booked the exam for Feb 7 2025. Successfully able to pass it. It was piece of cake for me after CKA. I solved all the question in 1 hour 30 minutes itself.
Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA):
As I remember properly, I gave this Exam by taking few hours of mock MCQS from Kodekloud on April 21. It was also another piece of cake :)
The good thing is you will get result of KCNA and KCSA within few minutes but for performance based exam (CKA, CKAD, CKS) it takes around 1 day.
Kubernetes and Cloud Native Security Associate (KCSA):
After passing KCNA , I decided move forward with KCSA. I gave this exam on June 7. Again, I was also another piece of cake. I followed only this KCSA Mock test.
CKS (Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist):
I left CKS for last. I gave this exam on June 21st. For this, I followed the KodeKloud CKS course, CKS Ultimate Mock, and Killer Koda CKS scenarios. I joined the KodeKloud CKS Discord to see questions that other people got in their exams. Everyone said it was hard and time management was difficult. That kind of fear got into my mind.
My first attempt failed, but trust me, the questions were easy. I failed because I was already in fear after listening to the opinions of a lot of people.
So, in your life, if someday someone says something is difficult, then think like this: oh, it might be difficult for you, not for me (until and unless you feel it difficult)
I was able to pass in the second attempt very easily.
After passing all five Kubernetes certifications, I became the youngest Kubestronaut from my country. I was very happy because I achieved this while still in college. My next target was to collect the blue jacket, and after a few months, I attended KubeCon India 2025 in August and collected my jacket.
FAQs:
What are the materials to pass any Kubernetes certification?
KodeKloud and Killer Koda will be more than enough.
What should be the correct order to do all these certifications?
You do not need to follow any single path; follow the path you are comfortable with.
Will it help to land a DevOps job or internship?
You should ask this question to yourself at first. One thing I can say is that it will increase your chances.
Things I didn’t like about Kubestronaut Program:
Each certification’s validity is 2 years. If one expires, you need to pass that exam again to protect your Kubestronaut title, which is very weird because the expiry time span is very low. At least CNCF should take some decision to make it fair for Kubestronauts.
Those who are interested to pursue Kubernetes certification. Feel free to reach out. I would be always happy and open to help every one.
For more Info: https://www.cncf.io/training/kubestronaut/