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CKAD Kubernetes Developer

A route to the CKAD: the current curriculum, a practice cluster and kubectl speed, labs for every application domain from Jobs to NetworkPolicies, timed task sets, simulator mocks and exam day.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for CKAD Kubernetes Developer, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

192

Starter tasks

🏅 Tech & Engineering Certifications

CKAD Kubernetes Developer

Preparing for the CKAD exam: designing and deploying applications on Kubernetes, configuration, observability, services and timed hands-on tasks.

  1. CKAD curriculum and domain map
  2. Cold baseline on ten timed CKAD-style tasks
  3. Local practice cluster with kind or minikube
  4. Shell aliases, autocompletion and vim settings for speed
  5. Choosing a CKAD course and practice simulator
  6. Study calendar to a target exam week
  7. Imperative commands and dry-run YAML scaffolding
  8. Exam rules, proctoring and workspace check
  9. Documentation bookmarks for the exam browser
  10. Daily fifteen-minute kubectl drill
  11. Weekly timed task set against the clock
  12. Mistake log of failed tasks and slow commands
  13. Full mock exam in a simulator twice a month
  14. Score and speed tracker by domain
  15. Weekly practice cluster reset
  16. Monthly curriculum and Kubernetes version check
  17. Flashcards for field paths and resource short names
  18. Building and saving container images
  19. Jobs and CronJobs with completions and backoff
  20. Multi-container pods with init and sidecar containers
  21. Volumes, PersistentVolumeClaims and mounts
  22. Deployments, rolling updates and rollbacks
  23. Blue-green and canary releases with labels
  24. Helm charts for installing and upgrading apps
  25. Kustomize overlays with apply -k
  26. Liveness, readiness and startup probes
  27. Debugging failing pods at the terminal
  28. API versions, deprecations and kubectl explain
  29. ConfigMaps and Secrets as variables and files
  30. Requests, limits, LimitRanges and ResourceQuotas
  31. SecurityContext, users and capabilities
  32. ServiceAccounts and RBAC from the developer side
  33. Custom resources and operators as a user
  34. Services, ports and DNS names
  35. Ingress rules for hosts and paths
  36. NetworkPolicies from default deny upward
  37. Exam time strategy and question triage
  38. Closing your slowest domain after the first mock
  39. CKAD or CKA first, and in what order
  40. Readiness decision to book, hold or postpone
  41. Booking the exam inside the voucher window
  42. Final fortnight with the included simulator sessions
  43. Exam day check-in and workspace
  44. Results, certificate and retake plan
  45. CKAD for a backend developer new to containers
  46. Studying in short sessions as a working parent
  47. Sitting the CKAD in a second language
  48. Running a CKAD study group for your team
  49. Deploying a real side project to a cluster
  50. Choosing the next step after the CKAD

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

CKAD curriculum and domain map

The Linux Foundation and CNCF publish a CKAD curriculum that lists the domains and competencies, and it tracks a recent Kubernetes minor version, so last year's blog posts can be wrong. Copying the current curriculum onto one page and rating yourself against every line shows in an evening where the hours need to go and stops you studying cluster administration that belongs to a different exam.

First tasks

  • Download the current CKAD curriculum from the official curriculum repository
  • Copy each domain and competency onto a single page
  • Rate your confidence on every competency from one to five
  • Record the exam format, fee, retake policy and passing score with today's date

Cold baseline on ten timed CKAD-style tasks

Developers who use Kubernetes daily through a pipeline often find they cannot write a Deployment from scratch in four minutes. Ten small tasks attempted cold, each with a strict time limit and no copying from your own repos, give an honest starting score and show whether the problem is knowledge or speed.

First tasks

  • Pick ten practice tasks that cover all five curriculum domains
  • Set a six-minute timer for each task and attempt it with docs only
  • Record solved, late or failed and the minutes for each task
  • Mark the two slowest domains on your curriculum map

Local practice cluster with kind or minikube

Every hour of CKAD study should end in typed commands, and that needs a cluster you can break and rebuild in two minutes. A local cluster on your laptop, with a known Kubernetes version close to the exam's, costs nothing and works on a train with no signal.

First tasks

  • Install a container runtime and either kind or minikube on your laptop
  • Create a cluster pinned to the exam's Kubernetes minor version
  • Save a single command that deletes and recreates the cluster
  • Install a network plugin that enforces NetworkPolicies and an ingress controller

Make it yours.

Install CKAD Kubernetes Developer, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.