The cloud native community is thriving and Kubernetes has a lot to do with it. In this open source ecosystem, practitioners are continually sharing knowledge, tools, and lessons learned from first-hand experience to help others succeed.
Whether your goal is to learn the fundamentals, stay current on the latest releases and patterns, build an Internal Developer Platform (IDP), or run artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) workloads on Kubernetes, there are more resources than any one person could possibly keep up with. This guide is designed for engineers who are new to Kubernetes or those who already deploying and maintaining workloads in production environments. It’s a curated set of durable, high‑signal places to listen, watch, and discuss different aspects of the K8s and cloud native ecosystem, grouped from fundamentals through advanced operations and community resources.
Start with Fundamentals
If you’re brand-new, work through Fundamentals and Labs before worrying about exams or listening to podcasts. These build basic mental models and vocabulary before you touch a cluster.
- Kubernetes Basics (Official Tutorials): Interactive, in‑browser tutorials from the project maintainers that walk you through core concepts and simple labs.
- Kubernetes Course (Udemy): A short, structured video course that reinforces the basics if you prefer an instructor‑led format.
Get Into Hands-On Labs and Sandboxes
Once core ideas make sense, practice real commands in safe, disposable environments.
- Play with Kubernetes: A free, browser‑based playground that lets you spin up temporary clusters and experiment without installing anything locally.
- Killercoda Kubernetes Scenarios: An interactive lab platform with browser terminals and guided Kubernetes scenarios covering pods, deployments, services, networking, and troubleshooting.
- KodeKloud Kubernetes Labs: Hands‑on labs and playgrounds, including
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)‑aligned environments so you can try real commands in a realistic cluster.
Explore Learning Roadmaps, Guides, and Exams
These help you choose what to learn next instead of bouncing randomly between topics.
- Kubernetes Roadmap: A community‑maintained visual roadmap that lays out topics from fundamentals through advanced areas like security, observability, and networking.
- How to Learn Kubernetes in 2025: A step‑by‑step guide suggesting an order for core concepts, labs, and complementary tools so you can build a coherent self‑study plan.
- CKA/CKAD/CKS: CNCF exam curricula and handbooks that define the domains and competencies for each certification and double as skill checklists.
Stay Current with Podcasts
Use these to reinforce concepts and hear real‑world stories while commuting or context‑switching.
- Kubernetes Podcast from Google: A long‑running show with guest insights from the Kubernetes community plus news and commentary from recent releases and events.
- Kubernetes Bytes: Focuses on Kubernetes and cloud‑native topics, often diving into platform engineering, operations, and ecosystem projects.
- Day Two DevOps: Conversations with technical leaders on modern DevOps, covering automation, security, networking, and day‑2 concerns.
- Software Defined Talk: A broader enterprise software and cloud show where Kubernetes, DevOps, serverless, and security are common topics.
- Open||Source||Data: Explores open‑source data, software, and AI through conversations with developers, regulators, and academics, useful for data‑heavy K8s workloads.
- DevOps and Docker Talk: Covers DevOps, cloud management, sysadmin topics, and container tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and Swarm.
- The Deep Edge Podcast: Discusses cloud‑native and networking technologies that underpin more advanced Kubernetes use cases at the edge.
- Cloud Native Engineering: Aggregates news, events, and deep dives from across the cloud native ecosystem, with frequent coverage of Kubernetes and related CNCF projects.
Explore Curated Lists, Videos, and Advanced Topics
Once you’re comfortable, these resources will help you branch into production practices and specialized workloads.
- Awesome Kubernetes: A long‑standing curated “awesome list” collecting Kubernetes learning material, documentation, tutorials, tools, and blog posts.
- CNCF YouTube Channel: Publishes KubeCon sessions and highlight reels, Cloud Native Live sessions, and short explainers on Kubernetes, GitOps, and policy as code.
- KubeFM: Features expert opinions, success stories, and failure stories about running and scaling Kubernetes in production.
- Data on Kubernetes Community: Focuses on running data‑intensive, stateful, and AI/ML workloads on Kubernetes, with content often tied to live sessions and talks.
Engage: Communities, Chat, and Events
As you start building and operating clusters, learning from others is one of the fastest ways to increase your knowledge. Here are some great places to do just that.
Forums and Q&A
- Reddit: /r/kubernetes/ and /r/devops/ are best for architecture debates and quick Q&A.
- X (formerly Twitter): @kubernetesio and @learnk8s are great Kubernetes resources.
- Bluesky: @kelseyhightower.com and @cncf.io are active and informative accounts.
Real‑Time Chat
- Discord: Kubernetes @ Home and k8s/openshift host active discussions around best practices, home‑lab experimentation, cluster configuration, and troubleshooting.
- Slack: CNCF Slack for project/SIG chatter, DevOpsChat for broader DevOps/SRE, and Fairwinds OSS Community for Kubernetes governance and cost topics.
Meetups and Events
- Kubernetes Meetups: Local Cloud Native, DevOps, and Kubernetes meetups around the world that host talks, lightning sessions, and social gatherings. Find one near you!
- Kubernetes Community Days (KCDs): Regional, community‑run conferences supported by the CNCF that often include dedicated sessions on AI/ML platforms, data on Kubernetes, platform engineering, MLOps, and more.
- KubeCon + CloudNativeCon: The flagship CNCF events, with hundreds of Kubernetes and Cloud Native sessions, most of which are also later available on YouTube.
Deepen Your Kubernetes Expertise
If you’re interested in hard‑won expertise on security, cost optimization, and guardrails, you can also explore the Fairwinds library of resources. These focus on practical, production‑grade Kubernetes operations and governance.
If you’d rather focus on your building and refining your applications than on cluster upgrades, add‑ons, and security patching, talk with us about Managed Kubernetes‑as‑a‑Service for your mission‑critical workloads.
