Kubernetes certification path
At the time of writing, CNCF offers four Kubernetes certification exams:
- Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA)
- Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
- Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)
CKA was the first exam to be launched in 2017 and was valid for 2 years, but later, the validity period was extended to 3 years. CKAD and KCNA also have a 3-year validity period; only the CKS exam is valid for 2 years after passing.
Out of all of the exams, CKS is the hardest and requires a candidate to hold a valid, non-expired CKA certification to demonstrate that they already possess sufficient K8s expertise. This means that while you can purchase CKS at any time, you won’t be able to take it unless you first pass CKA. All the other exams can be attempted in any order; however, the recommended path is shown in the following diagram:
Figure...
