Posted on July 30, 2024
Kolawole Olowoporoku

Get to know Kolawole

This week’s Kubestronaut in Orbit, Kolawole Olowoporoku wears many hats in his role as a

Senior Site Reliability Engineer at SEKAI. Kolawole has a passion for learning and for open source and lives in Lagos, Nigeria

If you’d like to be a Kubestronaut like Kolawole, get more details on the CNCF Kubestronaut page. 

When did you get started with Kubernetes–what was your first project?

Got started in 2019 with Kubernetes.

What are the primary CNCF projects you work on or use today?  What projects have you enjoyed the most in your career?

Kubernetes is my primary focus and first love; most CNCF projects I get involved in or work on usually revolve around building in or with it.

ArgoCD is another project I’ve been enjoying a lot these days. It has fundamentally changed how we manage large-scale applications in Kubernetes using GitOps. Nowadays, all my designs start and end with ArgoCD, and I believe it will become even more significant in the coming years.

Other projects I frequently use include Prometheus, Linkerd, Helm, and OpenTelemetry. Each of these tools has its unique strengths and has contributed significantly to the robustness and efficiency of the environments I work in.

How have the certs helped you in your career? 

Certifications have been instrumental in helping me dive deeper into specific topics that I might not have explored otherwise. The CKA, CKAD, and CKS exams, in particular, were some of the most enjoyable experiences due to their hands-on approach.

These certifications have opened up new opportunities for my work and enhanced my resume, allowing it to be considered in situations where it might not have been before. While certifications aren’t everything, they can significantly bolster your chances of achieving greater things if you’re already good at what you do. Being recognized for your expertise through these certifications can be a powerful catalyst for career advancement.

 How has CNCF helped you or influenced your career?

Beyond the certifications, which have been really massive, I’ve met some incredible people in the CNCF community. I’m incredibly proud to contribute in whatever ways I can. I find that the more I get involved with CNCF, the more I want to continue my involvement. The community’s support and the opportunities to collaborate and learn have been invaluable.

What are some other books/sites/courses you recommend for people who want to work with k8s?

Guides:

Books:

Courses:

What do you do in your free time?

In my free time, I enjoy reading technical books to keep myself updated and deepen my knowledge. I also play video games occasionally, which is a great way to relax and unwind. Additionally, I love watching sports, particularly football and tennis.

What would you tell someone who is just starting their K8s certification journey? Any tips or tricks?

Today the Cloud native ecosystem is way more than Kubernetes. Do you plan to get other cloud native certifications from the CNCF ?

Yes, Certainly. Learning never stops, I hope to get some certs sometimes soon around GitOps, Monitoring and Service mesh.

How did you get involved with cloud native and Kubernetes in general?

I got involved out of pure interest, even before I started using it in my job. I was curious to understand what it was all about, and soon found myself deeply immersed in it. The more I learned, the more fascinated I became. I realised that Kubernetes was something I wanted to master and work on extensively. From that point on, I knew this was the next big thing I wanted to excel in.