<!-- .slide: data-background-image="kcd/Slide1.png"--> --- # AMA - My Journey into CNCF Certificates * From SRE to Golden Kubestronaut - A personal adventure through the cloud native ecosystem - Olivier Calzi - 🇫🇷/🇧🇪 - 👔 https://github.com/ocalzi --- ## Who am I ? Current role : SRE at Worldline Belgium <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="1" --> Side Hustle: Freelance Cloud Architect <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="2" --> Experience: 10+ years, CNCF and HashiCorp Fan but I do like Tofu sometimes <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="3" --> Location: Belgium + France <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="4" --> https://portefolio.calzi.eu <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="5" --> --- ### Summary - Why ? <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="1" --> - How ? <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="2" --> - Now ! <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="3" --> - Q&A <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="4" --> --- ## Why ? -- ### Dates * 2013 Out of School * 2020 Back on Certification path after 7 years with LPIC-1 * 2021/2022 First CKAD/CKA/CKS Organized workshops on Istio, Kyverno, Backup, and RBAC topics<!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="1" --> End 2022 I was holding 7 certifications <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="2" --> Notes: Questions : Who know about LPIC and are certified ? Led team building four OpenShift platforms for banking customer new to container orchestration. Three cluster on two geographical locations from hardware to Ingress. LPIC / AZ-900/ AZ-104/ Itil / Rancher Operator / Terraform Associate / Vault Associate How many people hold 10 certifications ? 20 ? Thirty ? I hold 30 -- ## The Game Changer : Kubestronaut Program * End 2023: Switch Job from System Enginer(~~DevOps~~) to SRE * January 2024: Bought CKA Renewal as I was only planning to renew this one * March 2024: The Kubestronaut program is announced to the world ! Notes: Was less focus on certifications as I switched jobs. Wanted to do the full year of discovery around then it changed... My new workspace was stuff with new tools and techs to investigate and master. I felt needy to gain more knowledge an -- ### The Kubestronaut Program <img width="2000" height="500" src="./kcd/kubestronaut-map.png" /> Notes: * An exclusive Kubestronaut jacket to show off ~~your elite status~~ * A Credly badge to showcase your expertise * Access to the dedicated/private Kubestronaut Slack channel and mailing list * Five coupons for 50%-off certifications each year, for yourself or to share * 20%-off three CNCF events (KubeCon or KubeDays) a year --- # How ? -- ### Reaching the Kubestronaut Status - 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="1" --> - 01/28/2025 - KCNA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="2" --> - 03/07/2025 - KCSA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="3" --> - 04/04/2025 - CKAD Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="4" --> - 04/29/2025 - CKS Done<!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="5" --> - Job done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="6" --> - One more thing ... <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="7" --> - 1er April 2025 CNCF Announce Golden Kubestronaut <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="8" --> Notes: Open Questions : What do you think ? Good Enough ? I was hooked ! Fun Fact - I created my Freelancer actvity of the firts of April too -- ### The Golden Path ahead What does this mean ? -- ### Golden Kubestronaut ? Definition: Individuals who have successfully passed every CNCF certification (currently CKA, CKAD, CKS, KCNA, KCSA, PCA, ICA, CCA, CAPA, CGOA, CBA, OTCA, KCA, CNPA) and LFCS, will receive the title of __Golden Kubestronaut__ for life. Notes: - Who can guess the name of thoses ? * An exclusive backpack with the Golden Kubestronaut logo * A special Golden Kubestronaut beanie * ThriveOne subscription (as long as the Kubestronaut title is maintained) * One free ticket per year to any Kubernetes Community Days (KCD) * One 50%-off KubeCon registration per year * A 60% discount voucher for each new CNCF certification * A distinguished Golden representation on the Kubestronaut website -- ### Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status - 05/2025 - PCA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="1" --> - 07/2025 - CGOA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="2" --> - 07/2025 - OTCA Fail <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="3" --> - 07/2025 - OTCA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="4" --> - 08/2025 - CAPA Done<!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="5" --> - 09/2025 - CNPA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="6" --> - 09/2025 - KCA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="7" --> - 10/2024 - LFCS Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="8" --> - 10/2025 - CBA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="9" --> - 11/2025 - CCA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="10" --> - 12/2025 - ICA Done <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="11" --> Notes: just finish -- ### My Study Arsenal Books: - Pack Publishing - O'Reilly Online Learning: - Kodekloud - Udemy Notes: - Techworld with Nana - Sajeeva's Golden Kubestronaut blog series -- ## Books list * The Phoenix Project * The Unicorn Project * The DevOps Handbook * The Science of learning * The One-thing * DeepWork -- ## Bonus * Finding an Community to support your growth not only for the technology side * Anki Flashcard * Discord, Familly, Colleagues Notes: I’m part of an 5AM Club discord server. Red development book like "The Science of Learning, 5AM Club, Meditations from Marcus Aurelius, Think and grow Rich", "The One thing". My mentors have always been colleagues that I’ve met during my jobs. -- ## Investment in my future - More than 3000$ in CNCF Purchase History <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="1" --> - Use every coupon possible. Never pay full prices except if your firm is paying it. <!-- .element: class="fragment" data-fragment-index="2" --> Notes: - Do I regret ? No - Most of my exam were paid by employer until CKAD from Kubestronaut. Since Coupon, Coupon --- # Now - Golden Kubestronaut - KubeCon Amsterdam 2026 - CNCF FinOps - RedHat Path Notes: - What for ? FinOps to gain/bridge technical cloud expertise with financial accountability, making you not just a platform builder but a cost-optimization strategist that every CTO wants on their team. - RedHat Path - Natural after LPIC to srengthem into the more use Linux Vendor and Openshift offering -- # To conclude Today we saw - CNCF Certifications ecosystems - Kubestronaut & Golden Kubestronaut Program - Study Arsenal Certifications fuel my career with concrete milestones. They keep me motivated with purpose! Each steps gave me rewards. Let’s connect over a drink to meet ! Come to me with any questions ! Notes: - Certification got me where I am today. I couldn’t be where I am today without it. -- # Q&A Let's have some questions now! <img width="400" src="./kcd/qrcode1.png" margin-right="20px"/> <img width="400" src="./kcd/qrcode2.png" margin-right="20px"/> Notes: - Add QRCode for Website/LinkedIN --- <!-- .slide: data-background-image="kcd/Slide3.png"-->