Kubernetes for Students

A hands-on learning journey through Kubernetes - because nobody learns distributed systems by reading 12 pages of YAML

Who Is This For?

You're a computer science or software engineering student who:

• Heard about "Kubernetes" but still confused why we need an orchestra for containers
• Already learned Docker and thinking "okay I can run containers, now what?"
• Preparing for interviews or internships at tech companies using cloud-native stacks
• Want to understand DevOps but afraid of drowning in technical documentation
• Have a class assignment or capstone project requiring distributed system deployment

Why Learn Kubernetes?

Market Reality:

• 94% of organizations use containers in production (CNCF Survey 2024)
• Kubernetes skills can increase salary by 25-40% for entry-level DevOps roles
• Top companies hiring: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Spotify, Uber
• Average Kubernetes engineer salary: $120k-180k (US market, 2025)

Career Opportunities:

• DevOps Engineer
• Cloud Engineer
• Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)
• Platform Engineer
• Full-stack Developer (modern stack)

Learning Kubernetes opens doors. Companies are literally throwing money at people who understand container orchestration.

What Makes This Different?

Not:

• Official documentation used by production engineers (that already exists)
• Copy-paste YAML tutorials without understanding (internet has plenty of those)
• CKA certification speedrun (different goal)

But:

• Learning path that invites you to experiment, not just read
• Analogies that relate to everyday experiences
• Focus on "why" before "how"
• Hands-on challenges that make you truly understand, not just follow step-by-step

How to Learn?

Each chapter has this structure:

1. The Story - Real-world analogy for the concept
2. The Reality - What's actually happening in Kubernetes
3. The Experiment - You run it yourself and see results
4. The Breakdown - Understand why it works (or fails)
5. The Challenge - Exercise to ensure you get it

Learning Path

Part 1: Foundation

Before you get lost in the cluster, you need to understand the map.

• Chapter 0: Setup Your Playground - Install tools, setup minikube, don't get stuck at step 1
• Chapter 1: First Contact - Meet the cluster without YAML overload
• Chapter 2: Pods - The Basic Unit - Container vs Pod, and why you need to distinguish them

Part 2: Core Concepts

These are components you'll use 90% of the time working with Kubernetes.

• Chapter 3: Deployments - The Copy Machine - Scaling, rolling updates, and self-healing that's not magic
• Chapter 4: Services - The Traffic Director - How pods communicate when their IP addresses keep changing
• Chapter 5: ConfigMaps & Secrets - Configuration Done Right - Externalize configuration the professional way
• Chapter 6: Persistent Storage - Data That Survives - Volumes, PVCs, and storage that outlives pods
• Chapter 7: Ingress - The Front Door - Coming soon
• Chapter 8: Debugging & Troubleshooting - Coming soon
• Chapter 9: Best Practices - Coming soon
• Chapter 10: Capstone Projects - Coming soon

Prerequisites

What you need:

• Docker basics - At least know how to build and run containers
• Command line - Comfortable in terminal, not afraid to type commands
• Basic networking - Understand IP addresses, ports, HTTP requests
• Laptop - 8GB RAM minimum (16GB recommended), dual-core CPU or better
• Time - 2-4 hours per chapter if you actually do the experiments

What's NOT required:

• Production DevOps experience
• Cloud certifications
• Dedicated server or cloud credits

Quick Start

# Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/0xReLogic/kubernetes-for-students.git
cd kubernetes-for-students

# Start from setup
cd chapters/00-setup
cat README.md

Learning Philosophy

1. Experiment First, Theory Second

You'll break things first, then understand why it matters. More effective than reading theory for 2 hours then forgetting everything.

2. Real Failures, Real Learning

Error messages are the best teachers. Each chapter has "Common Mistakes" designed for you to encounter.

3. Progressive Complexity

Start simple, gradually add layers. No surprises like "oh turns out you need advanced networking for chapter 2".

4. Context Over Memorization

You don't need to memorize all kubectl commands. Just understand concepts, the rest can be googled or AI-assisted.

Repository Structure

kubernetes-for-students/
├── chapters/           # Main learning content
│   ├── 00-setup/
│   ├── 01-first-contact/
│   ├── 02-pods/
│   └── ...
├── examples/           # YAML files and code samples
├── challenges/         # Hands-on exercises with solutions
├── resources/          # Cheatsheets, links, references
└── troubleshooting/    # Common errors and how to fix

Contributing

This repo is open source and built for the student community. If you find:

• Typos or errors
• Unclear explanations
• Experiments that don't work on your setup
• Ideas for new chapters or challenges

Feel free to open an issue or submit a PR. Check CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Credits & Resources

This repo is inspired by various sources:

• Kubernetes Official Docs - The ultimate reference
• Kubernetes The Hard Way - Deep dive for serious learners
• Campus Expert program experiences from various universities
• Trial and error from hundreds of students who've learned K8s

License

MIT License - use as much as you want, learn as much as you can, share with your friends.

Start Now

Don't overthink it. Just start:

cd chapters/00-setup

The best time to learn Kubernetes was yesterday. The second best time is now.

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Maintained by: Allen Elzayn Last Updated: October 2025
Status: Active Development