Kubernetes and cloud native technologies are all the rage and are shaping the world we work in. Building apps as small, specialised, single-purpose services that can self-heal, autoscale, and be regularly updated without downtime brings huge benefits. However, possessing the knowledge and skills to leverage these technologies is a huge career boost for you as an individual. For example, knowing how to design, build, and troubleshoot cloud native microservices applications running on Kubernetes can get you the best roles, on the best projects, at the best organisations. It can even earn you more money.

With all of this in mind, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) designed the KCNA exam and certification as a way for you to prove your competence with these technologies.

This book covers all of the exam objectives in one place in a well-organised and concise format. It’s useful as both a revision guide and a place to start learning new technologies and concepts. For example, if you already know the basics of Kubernetes, the book will reinforce everything you already know, as well as test your knowledge with its extensive quizzes and explanations. However, if you’re new to any of the topics on the exam, the book will get you up-to-speed quickly.

The book is for anyone wanting to gain the KCNA certification.

As the exam tests your understanding of core technologies and concepts, it’s applicable to anyone working in technology. Examples include:

• Architects
• Management
• Technical marketing
• Developers
• Operations
• DevOps, DevSecOps, CloudOps, SREs etc.
• Data engineers
• More…

The book and exam are particularly useful if you come from a traditional IT background and want to learn the fundamentals of Kubernetes and cloud native.

If you’re brand new to Kubernetes, you should consider reading Quick Start Kubernetes. It’s only 100 pages long and will get you up-to-speed and 100% comfortable with the fundamentals of Kubernetes. It also has very easy hands-on examples that really help you grasp some of the concepts that might be new to you. It’s available on Amazon and Leanpub, and published in several languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and more about to be released.

The technical content of the book is organised with one chapter per exam domain. There’s a chapter dedicated to preparing you to take the exam, and there’s a full practice exam with 60 questions just like the real exam.

Each technical chapter is organised as follows:

• Technical content
• Chapter summary
• Exam essentials
• Practice questions

The exam essentials is a recap of the major topics learned and can be used like flashcards when doing final revision and exam prep.

The practice questions test your mastery of the topics learned and are a similar style to the questions in the exam. However, they are not actual exam questions.

The chapter dedicated to preparing for, and taking the exam, explains exactly what it’s like taking the exam so you don’t have any surprises on the day.

The practice exam is a great opportunity for you to test your readiness for the real exam. Again, the questions are like the questions you’ll see in the exam, but they’re not actual exam questions.

OK, so I’m Nigel and I’ve trained over one million people on cloud and container technologies. I’ve authored several best-selling books and video training courses and dedicated my working life to helping people take their first steps with containers and Kubernetes. I’m also passionate about explaining things as clearly as possible so that you love my books and videos.

I actually wrote this entire book in draft form, took the exam, then came back and finely tuned the content to better prepare you for the exam. I considered failing the exam and re-taking it multiple times to get an even better feel for the style of questions and levels of detail being tested. However, that felt wrong and I wanted to get the book into your hands as quickly as possible.

I’d love to connect and would love to hear about your exam experience. You can reach me at all of the following:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelpoulton/
• Web: nigelpoulton.com
• Twitter: @nigelpoulton

Writing books is hard, and I worked tirelessly over holiday periods to get this book into your hands. With this in mind, I’d consider it a personal favor if you took a minute or two to write an Amazon review.

Also, if you have any feedback on the book, or your exam experience, ping me an email at kcnabook@nigelpoulton.com and I’ll do my best to respond.

Enjoy the book, and good luck with your exam!