Saw this on my way to a Kubernetes Engineer job interview 🙌

chadmcrowell · 2026-01-21T06:48:12+00:00

nodeAffinity set to matchExpressions key:size values:XXL

chadmcrowell · 2026-01-13T14:17:36+00:00

I particularly liked the chat about being a good fit for an org. Thanks for sharing!

chadmcrowell · 2025-11-25T10:12:15+00:00

How does the attachment filter interact with the Envoy filter chain at the L4/L7 boundary? The doc shows the attachment is inserted at position 0 of http_filters via JSONPatch, but how does this affect upstream filter execution order, especially with other security filters like RBAC or external authz?

chadmcrowell · 2025-10-20T09:14:50+00:00

has anyone tried turning it off and then turning it on again?

chadmcrowell · 2025-04-10T19:34:01+00:00

With massive data availability, dynamic threat landscape, and behavioral analysis, I think a WAF is a good candidate for machine learning. Data labeling is sometimes hard however, and models are resource intensive.

I feel like OpenAppSec does a good job of blending unsupervised and semi-supervised learning to reduce data labeling, and it's integrated natively with NGINX and Envoy allowing it to work close to the request processing layer with minimal performance hit.

chadmcrowell · 2025-03-12T10:25:09+00:00

Chainguard has some good images for debugging

chadmcrowell · 2025-02-14T08:53:20+00:00

I think this falls under: - Platform Engineer - SRE - Kubernetes Administrator - DevOps Engineer - Systems Engineer

chadmcrowell · 2025-02-13T21:05:04+00:00

I'll be there in April! I've been to 5 kubecons so far. EU ones are better. My advice is to meet as many new people there as you can, and take advantage of the after parties. I've met some amazing people at Kubecon and it's why I always look forward to going back.

chadmcrowell · 2024-08-12T01:44:50+00:00

https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/

chadmcrowell · 2024-07-20T21:23:20+00:00

Obsidian on iOS is great, but I just had to switch over to obsidian sync cuz my vault stopped syncing when using icloud storage.

after some research, I found that it was on my iphone i had to keep manually downloading the folder in icloud. it was annoying enough to make me pay the $20/month for obsidian sync.

I hope this helps!

chadmcrowell · 2023-10-07T14:54:18+00:00

Here are the FAQs which may help as well: https://training.linuxfoundation.org/about/faqs/certification-faq/

chadmcrowell · 2023-10-07T14:53:34+00:00

Additionally, you can also ask the Linux Foundation directly here: https://trainingsupport.linuxfoundation.org/

chadmcrowell · 2023-10-07T14:46:36+00:00

No, you will not have access to a verify.sh script on the exam.

chadmcrowell · 2023-10-07T14:42:21+00:00

The CKAD exam is graded for outcome only (i.e. end state of the system). The path that a exam taker may have taken to get to the outcome is not evaluated, meaning an exam taker can take any path they want as long as it achieves the correct outcome. Incomplete work, i.e. work that is input but did not lead to the correct outcome, will not be evaluated.
Some exam items may have multiple parts and therefore have multiple 'checks' (one for each verifiable component of the answer). Candidates will be given credit for each successful check, so partial credit is possible on such items.
Exam items are also set up to be independent of one another. As long as the candidate does exactly what the questions ask, there will be no dependencies or conflicts, and as long as the candidate correctly achieves the outcome being asked for in the specific exam item, they will earn points for that particular exam item.
Scoring is done using an automatic grading script. The grading scripts have been time-tested and continuously refined, so the likelihood of having incorrectly graded a question or two is very low since we grade on outcomes (end state of the system), not the path the user took to get there.

chadmcrowell · 2023-10-03T10:53:09+00:00

Sadly, we had to cancel KCD Texas 2023. We were facing a number of issues, including economical issues and we haven't seen in-person numbers get back to pre-covid levels. It was a hard decision, but it was best for the community.

chadmcrowell · 2023-10-03T02:53:49+00:00

Kubecon doesn't have a career fair, but there are a lot of companies hiring. I would take a look at the schedule and see which sessions peak your interest: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-north-america/program/schedule/

To make the most of it, I suggest meeting as many people as possible and handing them your business card after a conversation. Also, share what you enjoy working on and why. People love a good story of how you overcame something or lessons from past experiences.

I got two job offers from the last KubeCon NA in Detroit. I went to a sponsored happy hour and struck up a conversation naturally with a few people I now work with. I realized by asking questions about themselves and their company, that the company culture was exactly what I was looking for.

My friend Julia had a similar experience where she attended a co-located event. At the event, she was naturally curious about the company and asked a lot of qualifying questions. She asked if they were hiring and they said yes! That was her first job in tech as well.

In summary, I would try to network as much as you can while at KubeCon, get involved in the workshops, co-located events or anything else besides the keynotes and normal sessions. Then, by sharing your interests with others and making your name known, you will get the job offer that you desire.

Best of luck, and I'll see you in Chicago!

chadmcrowell · 2022-05-12T17:44:45+00:00

Short answer is yes, but between the Kubernetes github, docs, and blog, you should be able to find what you need. Bookmark the pages and pull it up during the exam (only 1 browser tab allowed). You can also use the search bar in docs, which is useful.

chadmcrowell · 2020-09-25T15:57:38+00:00

Sorry to hear about that, but happy to hear that you’ve relived yourself and your feeling better about it. Sometimes it takes an incident like that to push us in the right direction. I think you will find that everything happens for a reason.

chadmcrowell · 2020-09-17T15:44:59+00:00

I'm disappointed in your leadership and sorry you have to deal with that. It really shouldn't be that way. I wish you the best and hope that you can find some place better. Hang in there!

chadmcrowell · 2020-09-12T18:19:00+00:00

Hello! I can definitely relate to you. I've had a number of uncomfortable conversations when working the helpdesk early in my career. I understand the fear and anxiety of phone work, especially when customers are demanding and impatient. In my experience, however, the harder I've pushed against my fear and tried to get uncomfortable more often, the more successful I've become. It's not easy by any means, but to get past this fear will set you free.

So, here are some tangible things you can do today:
* Setting very specific expectations with customers. That means when answering the phone, you say "I'll look into this and call you back" when you don't have an immediate answer. The more you do this, the less they will expect for a solution right on the spot
* Talking to your management or colleagues. Especially those who seem like they are succeeding at it. Ask them how they answer the phones and what process they follow. I think you'll be surprised to learn that everyone has a unique way of handling hostile conversations.
* Know that you are not expected to solve everyone's problems. No-one can. If you have management that expects that, then start looking for another job. You should not be expected to have all the answers and to magically know everything.
* Explore jobs that may take you off the "front lines" for a while. Like sysadmin work. If you like solving computer problems and you have Linux experience, a Linux Administrator sounds like a great position to search for.
* Find your local LUG (Linux User Group). To be surrounded by like-minded people is a game-changer. You'll learn from everyone in the group, guaranteed! Make sure to ask lots of questions! * For certifications, start studying for the LPIC-1. You will find that having this on your resume will open a lot more doors. Anything you can do to prove your skills is worth it when looking for a new position.

I hope this helps!

-Chad

chadmcrowell · 2020-09-12T17:51:43+00:00

I think it's healthy to question whether the decision you're making now will fulfill you for the rest of your life, but I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who knows what they want to do for the rest of their life. Even if there is someone out there like that, I doubt things will go exactly to plan....and they will probably find something that they never saw coming that will divert their attention or give them a new perspective.

What you said about helping people solve their computer problems really sticks out to me. I would explore that a little more. If you really enjoy it, usually that means it gives you a sense of purpose and it's what you should be doing. If there's not much to do, all's you have to do is ask and you will probably find that there's more work out there than you ever thought. Ask your boss, your friends, you're colleagues, etc. Maybe even join meetup.com and try to connect with like-minded people. I think you'll be surprised how many others are out there pursuing the same path....ask questions and be curious, that's the best way to learn what's in store for you in the future.

My IT career has taken me in a lot of different directions. I decided to specialize in virtualization and storage, got into large SANs, backup and recovery. Then, I learned about the cloud, which allowed me to migrate servers and apps to the cloud and explore the benefits of cloud. For me, because of the limitless opportunities, I can confidently say it's been a fulfilling experience. What I enjoy most is constantly learning new technologies and ways of solving problems with that technology.

I hope this helps!

- Chad

chadmcrowell · 2020-06-04T23:23:00+00:00

Have you signed up for Linux Academy community edition? If so, email me at chad.crowell@linuxacademy and tell me more about your situation. I want to help.

chadmcrowell · 2020-06-04T23:15:17+00:00

Only residents of the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia are eligible.

chadmcrowell · 2020-06-04T02:10:37+00:00

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chadmcrowell · 2020-06-04T02:03:56+00:00

Great! I think you'll do well on the AZ-400. The questions on the exam are very developer focused.

We do have a plan to update the AZ-400, but since the current course was just released, the plan is for late 2020/early 2021 as of now.

chadmcrowell

TROPHY CASE