One could get confused about which exam one should go for first - CKA or CKAD? Is CKA harder than CKAD? And what is the exact difference in terms of exam curriculum and the difficulty level of both exams?

• CKAD is for those interested in the design, build & configuration of cloud-native applications using Kubernetes.
• While the CKA exam is mainly for those, who want to build, manage the Kubernetes infrastructure.
• CKS - If you are someone who is done with CKA, and want to explore the security aspect of running Kubernetes, then CKS is for you.

Some of us started digging deeper over the internet and eventually found out that CKAD is broadly a subset of CKA. A few Infranauts decided to prepare for CKAD first and then for CKA, as they were ultimately aiming to gain all the possible knowledge around Kubernetes.

It eventually turned out to be the right decision as CKAD also helped them improve speed and muscle memory over Kubernetes commands, which is critical for both exams. This helped us a lot in the CKA exam as most of us managed to complete almost all questions with 20-30 mins still left with us to solve the only couple of complex questions that had been flagged and skipped for later.

While preparing for the CNCF’s CKAD, CKA, or CKS certification, there could be numerous doubts, which exam to appear first, what resources to refer to, what are common mistakes to avoid, etc. Especially, if you don’t have previous knowledge or hands-on experience with Kubernetes, this could be a tough situation to be in.

At InfraCloud, engineers are highly encouraged to appear for these exams and get certified. Recently certified Infranauts wrote a blog post in a collaborative effort to share all the insights straight from - before registering for the CKA, CKAD, and CKS exam, tips & tricks, dos and dont’s to the next steps after clearing the exam successfully.

Kubernetes certification is one of the key steps in ensuring you're learning Kubernetes the right way. These certifications are created by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), in collaboration with The Linux Foundation. Currently, these are the Kubernetes certifications available CKA, CKAD, CKS, KCNA on cncf.io.

Kubernetes certifications are practical hands-on exams allowing developers to quickly establish their credibility and value in the job market.

Short answer in my opinion is, Yes. Because of two main reasons, the first one is the experience you get when you appear for the exam. Most of the certification and any other exams have multiple choice questions where you remember things and choose the correct option in the exam but CKA, CKAD or CKS exams are different. In these exams you actually have to perform tasks on live clusters which, according to us, makes it worth trying out.

The other benefit is, if one has n number of resumes in front of them and they're are trying to hire a Kubernetes developer, there are high chances that they would prefer a resume that has CKA written on it.

Plenty of free Kubernetes study material is available in formats like blogs, GitHub Repos, YouTube videos containing different scenario-based practice questions/answers. You may choose at your own will like this one that some of us followed from Medium for the CKAD exam. You should also check out the video by Harshit Singhvi on exam experience and tips on YouTube.

We’d highly recommend checking out the School of Kubernetes courses by Vivek Singh which has courses right from beginner to advanced level - all for free!

Kubernetes, these days has become the primary container orchestration system for the startups as well the enterprises out there because of the extensibility that it supports. From companies like Box, Booking.com, Spotify to OpenAI, ING and Adidas, all of them are using Kubernetes. You can find more about the use cases and other companies using Kubernetes here.