I recently passed the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam. One of the questions I was getting a lot is what motivates me to take the exam in the first place.
My job demands a certain level of Kubernetes knowledge, and I didn’t deep dive into the world of containers until this job, so Kubernetes was a new, big challenge for me. After a few months of hands-on experiences and learning with the book club, I got slightly comfortable with it but felt there is still a long way to go.
Besides that, I don’t have an X-year plan for my career at this point; what I can do at least is to set several short term ones. To push me to study something regularly, I registered the exam. We all know the performance can be improved when there is a little pressure, and I consider myself as a person who often needs it to be motivated (Simply put, if I don’t want to lose hundreds of USD dollars, I better prepare for it seriously).
Passing the exam doesn’t necessarily mean that you are the elite of a particular domain. It only shows you have a certain level of skill. I wouldn’t say that the bar these certifications set is low, but it’s usually not very high.
I didn’t even expect there will be any changes or helps in a day’s job after getting certifications. People take exams for their own reasons, like:
- Company’s requirement
- Looks good on the resume
- To get a pay raise
- …
For me, it’s more like some kind of personal achievement, same as these pop-ups you saw in the video games when you achieved something.
At this point, the return on investment seems very little to none. But it at least let me feel good about myself.
One, little short term goal is completed, what’s next?
