AMA : CNCF Certification Journey - KCD Suisse Romande 2025

This AMA will give attendees a candid look at the CNCF certification journey — the wins, the struggles, and the strategies that really work. By sharing my own path to Kubestronaut and answering live questions, I’ll help demystify certifications and give the community practical insights they can immediately use in their own growth.

Transcript

2. AMA - My Journey into CNCF Certificates From SRE to Golden Kubestronaut - A personal adventure through the cloud native ecosystem Olivier Calzi - 🇫🇷/ 🇧🇪 - 👔 https://github.com/ocalzi
3. Who am I ?
4. Who am I ? Current role : SRE at Worldline Belgium
5. Who am I ? Current role : SRE at Worldline Belgium Side Hustle: Freelance Cloud Architect
6. Who am I ? Current role : SRE at Worldline Belgium Side Hustle: Freelance Cloud Architect Experience: 10+ years, CNCF and HashiCorp Fan but I do like Tofu sometimes
7. Who am I ? Current role : SRE at Worldline Belgium Side Hustle: Freelance Cloud Architect Experience: 10+ years, CNCF and HashiCorp Fan but I do like Tofu sometimes Location: Belgium + France
8. Who am I ? Current role : SRE at Worldline Belgium Side Hustle: Freelance Cloud Architect Experience: 10+ years, CNCF and HashiCorp Fan but I do like Tofu sometimes Location: Belgium + France https://portefolio.calzi.eu
9. Summary
10. Summary Why ?
11. Summary Why ? How ?
12. Summary Why ? How ? Now !
13. Summary Why ? How ? Now ! Q&A
14. Why ?
15. Dates 2013 Out of School 2020 Back on Certification path after 7 years with LPIC-1 2021/2022 First CKAD/CKA/CKS
16. Dates 2013 Out of School 2020 Back on Certification path after 7 years with LPIC-1 2021/2022 First CKAD/CKA/CKS Organized workshops on Istio, Kyverno, Backup, and RBAC topics
17. Dates 2013 Out of School 2020 Back on Certification path after 7 years with LPIC-1 2021/2022 First CKAD/CKA/CKS Organized workshops on Istio, Kyverno, Backup, and RBAC topics End 2022 I was holding 7 certifications
18. The Game Changer : Kubestronaut Program End 2023: Switch Job from System Enginer(DevOps) to SRE January 2024: Bought CKA Renewal as I was only planning to renew this one March 2024: The Kubestronaut program is announced to the world !
19. The Kubestronaut Program
20. How ?
21. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status
22. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again
23. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again 01/28/2025 - KCNA Done
24. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again 01/28/2025 - KCNA Done 03/07/2025 - KCSA Done
25. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again 01/28/2025 - KCNA Done 03/07/2025 - KCSA Done 04/04/2025 - CKAD Done
26. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again 01/28/2025 - KCNA Done 03/07/2025 - KCSA Done 04/04/2025 - CKAD Done 04/29/2025 - CKS Done
27. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again 01/28/2025 - KCNA Done 03/07/2025 - KCSA Done 04/04/2025 - CKAD Done 04/29/2025 - CKS Done Job done
28. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again 01/28/2025 - KCNA Done 03/07/2025 - KCSA Done 04/04/2025 - CKAD Done 04/29/2025 - CKS Done Job done One more thing ...
29. Reaching the Kubestronaut Status 04/15/2024 - CKA Done again 01/28/2025 - KCNA Done 03/07/2025 - KCSA Done 04/04/2025 - CKAD Done 04/29/2025 - CKS Done Job done One more thing ... 1er April 2025 CNCF Announce Golden Kubestronaut
30. The Golden Path ahead What does this mean ?
31. Golden Kubestronaut ? Definition: Individuals who have successfully passed every CNCF certification (currently CKA, CKAD, CKS, KCNA, KCSA, PCA, ICA, CCA, CAPA, CGOA, CBA, OTCA, KCA, CNPA) and LFCS, will receive the title of Golden Kubestronaut for life.
32. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status
33. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done
34. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done
35. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail
36. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail 07/2025 - OTCA Done
37. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail 07/2025 - OTCA Done 08/2025 - CAPA Done
38. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail 07/2025 - OTCA Done 08/2025 - CAPA Done 09/2025 - CNPA Done
39. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail 07/2025 - OTCA Done 08/2025 - CAPA Done 09/2025 - CNPA Done 09/2025 - KCA Done
40. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail 07/2025 - OTCA Done 08/2025 - CAPA Done 09/2025 - CNPA Done 09/2025 - KCA Done 10/2024 - LFCS Done
41. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail 07/2025 - OTCA Done 08/2025 - CAPA Done 09/2025 - CNPA Done 09/2025 - KCA Done 10/2024 - LFCS Done 10/2025 - CBA Done
42. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail 07/2025 - OTCA Done 08/2025 - CAPA Done 09/2025 - CNPA Done 09/2025 - KCA Done 10/2024 - LFCS Done 10/2025 - CBA Done 11/2025 - CCA Done
43. Reaching the Golden Kubestronaut Status 05/2025 - PCA Done 07/2025 - CGOA Done 07/2025 - OTCA Fail 07/2025 - OTCA Done 08/2025 - CAPA Done 09/2025 - CNPA Done 09/2025 - KCA Done 10/2024 - LFCS Done 10/2025 - CBA Done 11/2025 - CCA Done 12/2025 - ICA Done
44. My Study Arsenal Books: Pack Publishing O'Reilly Online Learning: Kodekloud Udemy
45. Books list The Phoenix Project The Unicorn Project The DevOps Handbook The Science of learning The One-thing DeepWork
46. Bonus Finding an Community to support your growth not only for the technology side Anki Flashcard Discord, Familly, Colleagues
47. Investment in my future
48. Investment in my future More than 3000$ in CNCF Purchase History
49. Investment in my future More than 3000$ in CNCF Purchase History Use every coupon possible. Never pay full prices except if your firm is paying it.
50. Now Golden Kubestronaut KubeCon Amsterdam 2026 CNCF FinOps RedHat Path
51. To conclude Today we saw CNCF Certifications ecosystems Kubestronaut & Golden Kubestronaut Program Study Arsenal Certifications fuel my career with concrete milestones. They keep me motivated with purpose! Each steps gave me rewards. Let’s connect over a drink to meet ! Come to me with any questions !
52. Q&A Let's have some questions now!