Get to know Rishabh
This week’s Kubestronaut in Orbit, Rishabh Sharma, our first Kubestonaut from Finland, is a senior software development engineer where he manages cloud native tech solutions for Capgemini Finland Oy. He is currently responsible for implementing and managing Kubernetes solutions for 4G and 5G technologies. His other key areas of interest are Java, Spring-Boot, Containerd, Linux, Istio, Linkerd, Falco, Sysdig, CoreDNS, Helm, OPA (Open Policy Agent), Cilium, Envoy etc.
If you’d like to be a Kubestronaut like Rishabh, get more details on the CNCF Kubestronaut page.
When did you get started with Kubernetes and/or cloud-native? What was your first project?
In early 2017, I was a part of a DevOps bootcamp in Chennai, India. In the 7 days of bootcamp I explored GCE VMs, Docker, and Kubernetes on a high level. It was the trigger point for me to explore Kubernetes.
My first major project in Kubernetes was a Telco Network planning application which was deployed over a Kubernetes cluster as StatefulSet/Deployment pods.
I saw the real Kubernetes magic when we never had a single second downtime for our network planning application deployed as Kubernetes workloads. We used a multi-zone setup – two k8s clusters in two different zones.
What are the primary CNCF projects you work on or use today? What projects have you enjoyed the most in your career?
I use the following CNCF projects today:
1. Kubernetes
2. Cilium
3. Containerd
4. CoreDNS
5. Fluentd
6. Prometheus
7. Etcd
8. Helm
9. Kyverno
10. Istio
11. Falco
I love the Kubernetes project so much because I am a telco guy and I have seen how Kubernetes actually supports telco new generation technologies – 4G and 5G and more.
Kubernetes’ flexible architecture and robust cloud-native management capabilities allow telcos to rapidly develop new features while maintaining performance and reliability.
These projects are also favorites for these reasons:
- Prometheus: Truly amazing project which is a must-application to monitor cloud native workloads.
- Helm: Best well-known package manager for Kubernetes.
- Cilium: The most famous CNI network plugin.
- Istio: My favourite service-mesh.
- Kyverno: (K for Kubernetes, K for Kyverno), Just write your policies as yaml and no need to learn any other language to develop policies,
- containerd: Container Runtime Interface known for its scalability, performance, and stability.
How have the certs or CNCF helped you in your career?
I have completed 6 CNCF certifications as follows:
- Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA): The first certificate gave me confidence to take the CNCF exam and gave me high-level introductions to a lot of cloud native technologies. It motivated me for further certifications.
- Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD): To prepare for this certificate, I read the whole k8s.io/docs/concepts section and studied every single concept line by line. I also took the Killercoda K8s free lab and then tried to practice Kubernetes concepts.
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA): My focus for this cert was to explore and learn k8s from the administration side–Kubeadm cluster setup, etcd backup, TLS, mTLS self signed certificates. It was a wonderful journey to explore these concepts and then use in my day-to-today work in my job.
- Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS): Security is the key in any industry and CKS actually motivated me to get the training I needed to add “Sec” to my job profile and become “DevSecOps”. Falco, sysdig, supply chain security, CIS standards, Kube-bench and many more security tools are also key.
- Kubernetes and Cloud Security Associate (KCSA): This provides the basics about Kubernetes and security and the process of getting this cert was a wonderful experience in exploring security basics and standards.
- Prometheus Certified Associate (PCA): I recently cracked Prometheus Certified Associate. Prometheus truly helps us in monitoring our telco cloud-native workloads to ensure their health and by alerting when there is something wrong.
What are some other books/sites/courses you recommend for people who want to work with k8s?
To be honest the only “book” to learn Kubernetes is the from the source: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts
You should read the docs thoroughly and practice with free Kubernetes clusters like on killercoda.
Apart from official docs, if you would like to learn via courses, I would suggest the following courses:
- CKA and CKAD courses from KodeKloud and Udemy (check out the CNCF endorsed content).
- CKS course by Kim Wuestkamp over Killer Shell YouTube channel.
- For practice,use the Killer Shell questions labs (absolutely free with purchase of exam).
What do you do in your free time?
I enjoy these things in my free time:
- Exploring Kubernetes: It is bottomless, like the ocean and I am always learning new concepts. Some concepts like Pod topology spread constraints were not part of any k8s exam but these are really magical concepts as well as other features like scheduling framework, Pod Priority, and Preemption.
- Exploring other CNCF projects: Currently learning Kyverno by making live policies and deploying them to see the real admission controller magic.
- Preparing for other CNCF certifications: Now that I have PCA, my next targets are CCA (Cilium Certified Associate) and ICA (Istio Certified Associate).
- Contributing to various CNCF activities: I like to participate in other CNCF activities and I’m also publishing my knowledge about CNCF technologies over medium and other platforms.
- Watching crime thrillers I love to watch crime thrillers in my free time.
What would you tell someone who is just starting their K8s certification journey? Any tips or tricks?
Just go through the Kubernetes docs and then practice, practice, practice over free platforms like killer shell.
Get your hands dirty with Kubernetes concepts.
Today the Cloud native ecosystem is way more than Kubernetes. Do you plan to get other cloud native certifications from the CNCF?
I am planning to complete all cloud native certifications from the CNCF.
I would like to complete all 10 CNCF certifications and then there will be new certifications launched soon like Kyverno, Backstage, OpenTelemetry.
So the learning journey will continue.