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Did you know companies like Spotify, Intuit, and Mercedes‑Benz cut software delivery times from months to minutes by adopting cloud‑native technologies and platform engineering practices? Platform engineers enable those results — and earning the Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineer (CNPE) credential proves you can design, build, and operate the same kind of platform. Welcome to the Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineer course. I’m Nourhan Mohamed. In this lesson you’ll build practical, exam‑relevant skills to design and operate stable, scalable cloud‑native platforms. Having completed the CNPE myself, I’ll guide you through what to study, how to practice, and how to pass the hands‑on exam.
This lesson assumes you already understand Kubernetes fundamentals, CI/CD concepts, and common kubectl workflows. If you haven’t completed the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) preparation yet, please do that first and then return — CNPE builds on that foundation.
CNPE is a performance‑based exam that tests real‑world platform engineering skills. Instead of multiple‑choice questions, you’ll perform hands‑on tasks in a live Kubernetes environment: make decisions, choose and use tooling, and get platforms working under time pressure. This course follows the same hands‑on approach: theory paired with demos and labs so you can practice the same tasks the exam requires.
A presentation slide titled "The Guardrails Stack" showing a colorful stacked-ring diagram with layers labeled Namespaces, RBAC, ResourceQuotas, NetworkPolicies, and Pod Security Standards. A small circular video overlay in the bottom-right shows a woman wearing a hijab speaking into a microphone.
Below are the core domains we’ll cover, with the primary focus and concrete outcomes for each — aligned to CNPE objectives. Platform architecture and infrastructure
  • Build the foundation for a modern platform: compute, storage, and networking.
  • Design platforms for multi‑tenancy and cost optimization.
  • Apply platform guardrails (namespaces, RBAC, resource quotas, network policies, and Pod Security Standards) so teams can self‑service safely.
A split-screen image: the left side shows a slide titled "Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineer" with bullet points about platform architecture, GitOps, APIs, observability, and security. The right side shows a person wearing a hijab and a CodeKloud hoodie speaking into a microphone.
GitOps and continuous delivery
  • Implement GitOps workflows and reconcile declared state from Git to clusters.
  • Integrate CI pipelines with Kubernetes and apply progressive delivery strategies (canary, blue/green, feature flags).
  • Understand the reconciliation loop: detect differences between desired and actual state, then apply changes reliably.
A presentation slide titled "The Reconciliation Loop" showing a colorful circular diagram labeled Watch → Compare → Sync that describes polling Git, detecting differences, and applying changes. A small video inset of a presenter wearing a headscarf appears in the bottom-right.
Platform API and self‑service
  • Design Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) and build controllers/operators to automate platform tasks.
  • Provide self‑service provisioning and developer APIs while preserving safe guardrails and governance.
Observability and operations
  • Implement monitoring, logging, alerting, and distributed tracing to operate production systems.
  • Use telemetry to detect incidents, diagnose root causes, and validate platform changes.
A slide titled "The Trace Data Model" showing three colored columns labeled Trace, Span, and Context with brief descriptions of each. A small circular video inset of a presenter appears in the bottom-right.
Security and policy enforcement
  • Implement Role‑Based Access Control (RBAC), secure communication, and policy controls.
  • Apply compliance and hardening practices across clusters and platform components.
How this course helps you prepare
  • Hands‑on labs that mirror CNPE tasks (platform setup, GitOps reconciliation, CRD design, observability pipelines, and RBAC/policy enforcement).
  • Quizzes after each module to test conceptual understanding.
  • Full‑length mock exams that reproduce the CNPE exam format and time pressure so you learn to work efficiently in a live environment.
  • Community support on KodeKloud channels to ask questions, share progress, and collaborate with peers during preparation.
Course at a glance (domains, focus, outcome) Links and references Ready to begin? Let’s get started and build the skills you need to become a certified cloud‑native platform engineer.

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