[markbnj]

I've been working with kubernetes since 2015 and running production workloads on GKE since 2016. Since you asked for opinions, mine is that the certs don't matter very much. CNCF plays them up, and they will probably have some impact in larger orgs as enterprises get on the train, but in the open source community from which most of the kubernetes momentum emanates there has never really been a ton of respect for formal certification programs, and this doesn't feel any different to me.

[dsnuh]

Just wanted to chime in to generally second this opinion, but with one exeception as it relates to hiring.

While I don't think having a cert would help you get hired necessarily, it would probably influence a decision to get an interview. What really matters is if you know how to do real-world operational tasks with the knowledge, which will show up if your technical interviewers know k8s. If you are the first person they are hiring at the company to begin their k8s project, then you might have a real advantage with a cert.

Personally, I've never been one to give undue respect to many of the certs on the basis of having them alone, but it can depend on where you interview. Some places love certs.

[mixmastamyk]

Yep, I suspected as much. Was just jealous of some nurses I know where their job interviews consist of:

Is your license up to date? Are you an ax-murderer? Can you start Monday?

[dragonwriter]

Yeah, but nurses have real professional licensing exams and maintenance requirements; in technology we don't, and instead every employer is trying to incorporate (often, cargo culting) the equivalent basic competency evaluation as well as any unique employer-specific requirements into their own hiring process, so it's at best cumbersome and redundant and at worst absurdly perverse.

[markbnj]

My wife has been a nurse for 12 years and there's some truth to that, but "license" in their case goes way beyond kubernetes certification :). It's like if someone hands you an up-to-date pilot's license and log book you know they can fly proficiently. We don't have that in software, as far as I know, so that automatic respect for the document isn't there.

[dsnuh]

Yes, and you also don't have nurses having to train for different "flavors" of humans (I'm speaking in a general practice sort of way, of course there are speciality nurses). If you know how to draw blood, you don't have to learn a whole new system based on the type of hypodermic needle you use. In the Kubernetes world, you'd need to know how to use AWS, GKE, your own custom stack, etc, in addition to knowing how to draw blood on this particular version of this flavor of human.

[dsnuh]

I've worked with some people (present company excluded, of course ;) ) on the operations and development side that seem like they didn't pass much more of an interview to get their position... ;)