Kubernetes Skills

What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform developed by Google that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Kubernetes provides a rich set of features for container orchestration, including automated scheduling, service discovery, load balancing, self-healing, and rolling updates, enabling organizations to deploy and manage containerized applications at scale with ease.

At its core, Kubernetes uses a declarative model to define the desired state of applications and infrastructure, and it continuously reconciles the actual state with the desired state to ensure consistency and reliability. Kubernetes abstracts away the underlying infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on building and deploying applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure complexities.

What to use Kubernetes for

Kubernetes offers a wide range of capabilities and features, making it suitable for various application deployment scenarios. Here are some key applications of Kubernetes:

Container Orchestration

Kubernetes orchestrates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications across a cluster of machines. With Kubernetes, organizations can deploy and manage applications in a consistent and reliable manner, ensuring high availability, scalability, and fault tolerance.

Microservices Architecture

Kubernetes provides native support for microservices architecture, allowing organizations to decompose monolithic applications into smaller, independently deployable services. With Kubernetes, organizations can build and deploy microservices-based applications, enabling agility, scalability, and resilience.

Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)

Kubernetes integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, enabling organizations to automate the build, test, and deployment of applications. With Kubernetes, organizations can achieve faster time-to-market, improve deployment reliability, and reduce manual intervention in the software delivery process.

Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Deployment

Kubernetes is cloud-agnostic and can run on any infrastructure, including on-premises data centers, public clouds, and hybrid clouds. With Kubernetes, organizations can deploy applications consistently across different environments, enabling hybrid and multi-cloud strategies for workload portability and scalability.

Edge Computing

Kubernetes has native support for edge computing, allowing organizations to deploy and manage containerized applications at the edge, closer to the data source or end-user. With Kubernetes, organizations can build and deploy edge applications for use cases like IoT, real-time analytics, and content delivery.

Companies of all sizes use Hired to find engineers with Kubernetes skills

What is a Kubernetes developer?

A Kubernetes developer is a skilled software engineer who specializes in building, deploying, and managing containerized applications on Kubernetes. Beyond just writing code, a Kubernetes developer is proficient in understanding Kubernetes’ architecture, designing scalable and resilient applications, and collaborating effectively with other team members. Here’s what it means to be a Kubernetes developer:

1. Proficiency in Kubernetes: A Kubernetes developer is fluent in using Kubernetes, including its various components, APIs, and tools. They understand Kubernetes’ architecture, concepts, and best practices and know how to leverage them to deploy and manage containerized applications effectively.
2. Containerization Skills: Kubernetes developers have expertise in containerization technologies like Docker, including container images, Dockerfiles, and container registries. They know how to build, package, and distribute containerized applications using best practices and industry standards.
3. Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Kubernetes developers are skilled in infrastructure as code (IaC) tools and practices, such as Helm, Terraform, and Kubernetes YAML manifests. They use IaC to define and manage Kubernetes resources, infrastructure, and configurations as code, enabling automation and reproducibility.
4. Cloud-Native Development: Kubernetes developers have skills in cloud-native development practices and technologies, including microservices architecture, service mesh, observability, and resilience patterns. They understand how to design and implement cloud-native applications that leverage Kubernetes’ capabilities effectively.
5. DevOps and CI/CD: Kubernetes developers are proficient in DevOps practices and tools for automating the software development lifecycle, including continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous deployment (CI/CD). They use tools like GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, and Argo CD to automate build, test, and deployment processes on Kubernetes.

Most important Kubernetes developer skills in 2024

Here are some of the most important skills for Kubernetes developers in 2024:

1. Kubernetes Operator Framework: Kubernetes developers need to have skills in building and managing Kubernetes operators, which are custom controllers that automate application lifecycle management on Kubernetes. They should be familiar with frameworks like Operator SDK and Kubebuilder for building operators and managing custom resources.
2. Kubernetes Security: With the increasing adoption of Kubernetes, security becomes a critical concern for organizations. Kubernetes developers need skills in Kubernetes security best practices, including securing cluster components, configuring RBAC (Role-Based Access Control), and implementing network policies to protect Kubernetes resources and workloads.
3. GitOps: GitOps is an emerging approach to managing Kubernetes clusters and applications using Git workflows and version control. Kubernetes developers should have skills in GitOps practices and tools like Flux, Argo CD, and GitLab CI/CD for automating Kubernetes configuration management, deployment, and rollback using Git repositories.
4. Kubernetes Federation: Kubernetes Federation allows organizations to manage multiple Kubernetes clusters as a single federated cluster, enabling workload portability and scalability across different environments. Kubernetes developers should have skills in Kubernetes federation concepts, architectures, and tools like Cluster API for managing federated clusters.
5. Service Mesh: Service mesh technologies like Istio and Linkerd have become essential for managing microservices communication, observability, and security in Kubernetes environments. Kubernetes developers should have skills in service mesh concepts, architectures, and implementations for building resilient and secure microservices-based applications on Kubernetes.

Kubernetes resources

Check out our resources to continue sharpening your Kubernetes skills.

Hired profiles help developers showcase their top tech skills

After passing Hired skills assessments, candidates have the chance to showcase their skills to employers. They can opt to present an ‘Assessments’ badge on their profile. Candidates may take various assessments including Programming Skills, Full Stack, Backend, Frontend, iOS, Android, Debugging, Dev Ops Generalist, and Dev Ops AWS.

Why should you hire Kubernetes developers?

Hiring Kubernetes developers can bring numerous benefits to your organization:

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