Kubernetes turns 10, a huge milestone for the community as the project has become the second largest open-source project on GitHub after Linux. The celebration is about the people and the impact this piece of software has created over the past decade.

What started from learning about Borg and Omega at Google is now part of everything you interact with daily. Kubernetes has been adopted to a level that it is powering almost everything behind the scenes and has become a de facto standard.

Reflecting on my career, I started exploring Docker around 2015 with my friend Aman. We were both very eager to learn new things back then. However, I was not that early in Kubernetes, as my work was different. Fortunately, I was given the option to work on Docker DTR/UCP at HP, and my mentors were just amazing. They knew this stuff as they were coming from the US; from then on, there was no stopping.

I got into the cloud, Docker, and Kubernetes and became a DevOps coach at HP. Moving on with each change—Oracle, Walmart, Civo—I have only learned more, and I am still learning new things in Kubernetes daily.

Cloud resonated with me very well, and I could do so many things with CLI or at the click of a button. The developer experience of Docker with the "build once and run anywhere" philosophy was fascinating.

I have switched roles, transitioned to various things from writing code to building solutions to developer advocacy, talking with customers, exploring new tech, researching new POCs, shaping up roadmaps, giving my opinions on the latest trends, teaching cloud-native concepts, and much more.

I have been fortunate enough to be part of the CNCF Ambassadors program for the past four years and educate folks as much as possible via Kubesimplify.

Play with Kubernetes at work

My time at hp/HPE/DXC with containers and Kubernetes was formative. I used to work with Docker DTR and UCP, regularly dockerizing stuff for various teams as part of Dojo sessions led by Santosh Chandan (my mentor and a great human being). I learned a lot here, even though I still didn’t use Kubernetes. There was this one project where we were trying to spin up a cluster, and that’s where I first heard of Kubernetes. Although I was not part of creating the cluster, I did start to read about it.

All in all, I had good senior folks who guided me and helped push me forward.

Moving to Oracle was fun as I was part of the solution engineering team, where we had to create POC solutions for customers using Oracle tooling. In 2018, I went full-on with cloud-native and Kubernetes with Oracle Cloud. They were about to ship their Gen2 infrastructure at that time, and OKE (Oracle Kubernetes Engine) was just coming out. We were the first ones to try it and build solutions around it. My team at Oracle also supported me to do more and more. We (four people from my team) also won a hackathon and earned a free trip to Singapore for Oracle OpenWorld. This was also the time when I started speaking and blogging.

I built a sentiment analysis app using Stanford NLP and Helidon back when there was no hype.

At Walmart, I worked with some very intelligent people, continued writing more, and gave more sessions even internationally. I was part of the Machine Learning Platform team, using Kubernetes heavily on-prem, on GCP, and on Azure with self-managed Kubernetes clusters. Those were massive 200+ node clusters managed by just three people. I still stay in touch with the team I worked with, and they were all amazing. I learned about Kubeflow, Seldon, and many custom things while working there, and I also did a LOT OF TROUBLESHOOTING!

After this, I worked at Civo, where I was part of building the cloud and getting everything right, building a managed Kubernetes service from scratch. I have learned a lot and also transitioned my career to an Evangelist, where I researched more, learned more, and created more content—started my YouTube channel and community called Kubesimplify. I took Civo to the next level by getting the right strategies and roadmap in place and bringing the world's attention to Civo. I have given a lot and worked day and night to take it to the NEXT level.

Kubernetes Community

I made some friends in the cloud-native ecosystem while creating content and advocating for CNCF, speaking at various KubeCons, and being part of the Program Committee various times, including Track Chair and Keynote Speaker at KubeDay India. I was also part of the SME program for Kubernetes certification, and I completed the CKA/CKAD/CKS when they were three-hour exams with three-year validity.

After the Kubestronaut announcement, I had to complete all five certifications—CKA, CKAD, CKS, KCNA, and KSCA—as my certs were expiring. Thanks to CNCF and Katie for sponsoring these exams as a CNCF Ambassador benefit, and I completed them in a week.

I have already written books on CKA and CKS, and I plan to write one on CKAD and create a complete Kubestronaut Course on Udemy soon.

A detailed article on preparation and resources will be shared soon in a separate article. But I am happy to become a Kubestronaut on Kubernetes' 10th birthday. Although I have not been involved with Kubernetes since the beginning, more than six years of learning and using it has changed my life. Plus, I have made good friends in the community.

What is your Kubernetes story or favorite Kubernetes moment? Do share in the comments!

PS - both of my books are at a 40% discount for a few days.

CKA and CKS use coupon "birthday"