138 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
138 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
::: navbar
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<div>
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[Home](../index.html)
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</div>
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<div>
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[Blog](blog--01.html)
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</div>
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<div>
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[Git](https://renraku.dingo-bramble.ts.net/clement)
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</div>
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<div>
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[CV](../files/CV.pdf)
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</div>
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:::
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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<div>
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# A Taste of Progress
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</div>
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TLDR : I passed the CKA test. The test was not hard, but neither was it
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a walk in the park.
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Several months ago, I was in a slump, weighed down by the pandemic
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situation. Figuring that there is not much I can do about my mental
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wellbeing, perhaps it was time to face the fact I had two soon-to-expire
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exam vouchers at hand. One of them was for the CKA test. After two
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months of grind, I took the exam and passed it.
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## KodeKloud
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Realizing LF\'s course on Kubernetes was hot trash, I decided to
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subscribe to KodeKloud and took Mumshad Mannambeth\'s course to assist
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my learning process. This post can also be my personal review of the
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course. The course content was pretty comprehensive. It had a gentle
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learning curve to guide its students towards the course content, going
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so far as to provide primers for topics that are pretty tough for
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newbies. (Networking, openssl, etc) There were also plenty of lab
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exercises for each topic that challenges the student to think harder.
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Some tips are also provided to navigate the test quickly. Without the
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course, I would have skimmed through a lot of details that were pretty
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important. I was pretty satisfied with the value of the content in this
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course.
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Reviewing the site experience and design however, is where the shining
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image of KodeKloud starts to show its rough edges. The quality of the
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closed captions were atrocious. You see, I have the habit of watching at
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1.5x speed assisted by closed captions; This is the learning mode where
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I absorb material best. Any slower and I would start yawning. The closed
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captions make me cringe every time I read it. Spelling errors are all
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over the place, poor timings, and sometimes the captions are just
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straight up missing. The video does not consider that the captions would
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obscure its content, nor does the player provide a way to configure
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transparency for the captions background, so I had to frequently pause
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and unpause just to see what is under the captions. You took a 15 min
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break to get some coffee? The video player would crash without saving
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where you left off, so be prepared to refresh and rewatch the first few
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minutes. Labs also frequently disconnect or fail to deploy, which can be
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quite frustrating since I have waited several minutes for it to deploy.
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These are only some of the issues that are present on KodeKloud.
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If you are going to take the test, would I recommend this course?
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Absolutely. It can be completed within a month. I do hope that KodeKloud
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puts in more effort to polish their site however; This product is not
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free after all.
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## Practice, Practice, and What Else? Oh Yes, More Practice
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Perhaps the toughest part of the CKA test was the time limit provided.
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To prepare for the test, I reviewed the exam objectives multiple times.
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Even though the syntax for kubectl commands are mostly consistent, I
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practiced it to make sure I could rely on autocomplete reliably to
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finish my commands. kubectl explain was essential to quickly fill in
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memory gaps when filling out an especially long yaml file. (Looking at
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you, deployments) During the test, there is not a lot of time to
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\"figure things out\" and experiment a little. It was also important to
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know where the yaml templates are for each API resource in the
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Kubernetes documentation so that I did not have to retype everything.
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## Some Thoughts
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Kubernetes is a tool that divides the DevOps populace. Just visit your
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nearest HN thread to learn all about the fierce debates surrounding it
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and the latest startup trying to revolutionize container orchestration.
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It is flexible, complex yet straightforward, and sufficiently large that
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some find a beast that needs too much effort to tame. All in all, it is
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a powerful tool to introduces as many complexities as many issues that
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is solves. The everything-is-an-API-resource approach makes it
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convenient to integrate with workflows, and the API resources that are
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versioned and modular really helps with the mental model when
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understanding k8s itself.
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## One Step Forward
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This certification may not be much, but it was a good and hearty dose of
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happiness for myself; I am still the riding the high until this day. It
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is proof of my efforts, the days and nights spent hammering away at the
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keyboard, and that I have bettered myself. I can be more that I was
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yesterday, and I will continue to do so. To you dear reader: if you are
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taking the CKA test, I wish you the best of luck.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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::: navbar
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<div>
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[Prev](blog-014.html)
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</div>
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<div>
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[Next](blog-016.html)
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</div>
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:::
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> The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and
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> sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid.
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> Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason
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> of the artist; a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the
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> terrible boredom of pain.\
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> - Ursula K. LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
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