Learning Kubernetes with VMware Kubernetes Academy Online
There is no question that Kubernetes is a major focus of VMware as has been seen since the recent VMworld US 2019. We will no doubt hear more about that in VMworld Barcelona coming up soon. VMware has invested majorly in the Kubernetes ecosystem and has engineered the next major release of vSphere to incorporate Kubernetes technology natively into the platform. If you haven’t looked at Project Pacific in detail, take a look at our blog post here detailing what Project Pacific is in general. VMware is taking aim to no just make vSphere compatible with Kubernetes but to actually incorporate the technology into vSphere. Aside from the technology itself, VMware also investing in spreading knowledge about Kubernetes that is not simply vendor specific to VMware products and solutions but is general information related to containers and Kubernetes. Let’s take an overview look at Learning Kubernetes with VMware Kubernetes Academy online to see what it is and what it offers.
What is VMware Kubernetes Academy Online?
VMware Kubernetes Academy is an online website that is free for all to view with short videos covering container and Kubernetes related topics by industry experts. The site contains bite-size video lessons that allow you to quickly cover the meaty topics related to containers and Kubernetes in general.
Let’s take a quick walk through of features that I noticed in my time reviewing the material and see which ones you may want to take note of.
The website features great tools to begin your journey getting to know containers and Kubernetes. One of the nice features of the website that helps you with the topic of “where do I start” features an Assessment Quiz that asks you a few basic questions related to your knowlege of Kubernetes, then it recommends your first few videos based on your answers.
Below is a snippet from the knowledge assessment. It is very simple and short, only asking a few basic questions.
After submitting your knowledge assessment of your Kubernetes knowledge, the VMware Kubernetes Academy will recommend courses that are more tailored to your knowledge level.
The online Kubernetes Academy contains a who’s who list of Kubernetes experts who are instructors for the class. It helps to know the knowledge base for the material is well founded and experienced.
One of the nice features I found of the VMware Kubernetes Academy is the online resource links they have available linked from the site. This provides additional resources to perhaps go even more in depth with your Kubernetes learning.
Outside of the knowledge assessment, if you want to simply view courses that you choose, you can do that at your leisure and own order of concepts and topics without performing the assessment. You can view/take all courses by visiting the Courses link in the top menu.
You can also approach learning Kubernetes from more of a topic-based approach with the Lesson Index. With Lesson Index, you can view courses based on the topic of your choosing. The difficulty or “comfort-level” you may want to be at is also displayed next to each course.
Another nice feature of the site is the ability to Sign Up for tracking your progress. You can take/view any of the courses as an anonymous guest of the site. However, if you want to track your progress of which topics/courses you have taken, signing up allows you to do this. The process was extremely easy and I didn’t even have to verify my email address.
Wrapping Up
All in all, this looks to be a great resource for learning Kubernetes. In my short time previewing the site, I found Learning Kubernetes with VMware Kubernetes Academy Online was easy, intuitive, and valuable.
There is no question this site will help you quickly build some basic knowledge and concepts regarding Kubernetes. This foundation knowledge is key to building more advanced knowledge and comfort with containers and Kubernetes.
Be sure to check out the VMware Kubernetes Academy here and sign up to track your progress. You will quickly build a good base of knowledge working with the next “big thing” in enterprise IT – containers and Kubernetes.
