Kubernetes for Developers training course

Containers & Kubernetes Basics

Module 1: Introduction to DevOps & Kubernetes & Cloud-Native Development

• What is DevOps, and why does it matter for developers?
• CI/CD workflows and Kubernetes in the DevOps ecosystem
• Developer roles vs. operator roles in Kubernetes
• What is Kubernetes, and why developers use it
• Kubernetes architecture (developer’s view: pods, services, deployments)
• Kubernetes objects and YAML basics
• Hands-on: Deploying a sample application to Kubernetes

Module 2: Docker Refresher for Developers

• Understanding Docker containers
• Writing efficient Dockerfiles for applications
• The Docker build process and caching
• Docker registries (Docker Hub, Harbor, etc.)
• Hands-on: Containerizing a sample application

Module 3: Core Kubernetes Concepts

• Namespaces: Organizing dev/test environments
• Pods & Multi-container Pods (init containers, sidecars)
• Services: Exposing applications inside and outside the cluster
• Deployments: Application lifecycles, rolling updates & rollbacks
• Hands-on: Building and deploying a multi-service app in Kubernetes

Kubernetes Core for Developers

Module 4: Application Configuration & Resource Management

• ConfigMaps & Secrets: Managing app configs securely
• Resource limits & requests: Right-sizing developer workloads
• Probes: Liveness, readiness, and startup probes
• Persistent Volumes (PV) & Persistent Volume Claims (PVC)
• Hands-on: Adding configuration, probes, and persistent storage to an app

Module 5: Advanced Kubernetes Workloads for Developers

• Jobs & CronJobs: Running background and scheduled tasks
• StatefulSets: Basics for stateful apps (databases, caches)
• Scheduling considerations (node affinity, tolerations – developer’s view)
• Hands-on: Building a scheduled job and a stateful microservice component

Helm & Advanced Developer Workflows

Module 5: Helm for Developers

• What is Helm, and why developers should use it
• Using existing Helm charts to deploy services (databases, queues, etc.)
• Understanding Helm templates and values (developer-focused)
• Hands-on: Deploying an app with Helm
• Secure management of Helm values
• Introduction to SOPS (Secrets OPerationS) for encrypting values
• Hands-on: Using SOPS to manage Kubernetes secrets securely

Module 6: Observability

• The “Three Pillars of Observability” (metrics, logs and traces)
  • Exposing metrics in pods
  • Collecting metrics with Prometheus and creating dashboards
  • Traces and logs, OpenTelemetry

Module 7: Developer Best Practices

• Debugging apps in Kubernetes (kubectl logs, exec, port-forward)
• Tips for local dev/test (kind, minikube, Tilt/Skaffold)
• Managing multiple kubeconfigs & contexts
• Using ephemeral containers for advanced debugging inside running pods
• Remote debugging techniques (e.g., IDE integrations with port-forwarding)
• Debugging networking: inspecting services, DNS, and network policies
• GitOps & developer workflows (ArgoCD/Flux basics – developer perspective)
• Hands-on: Debugging a broken app using ephemeral containers & logs
• Optimizing development feedback loops (hot reload workflows in Kubernetes)