Originally posted on LF Training & Certification

Med Ilyes El Ajroud is a recent graduate of the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin in France, having completed a degree studying computer science engineering. Graduating in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, El Ajroud worried about job prospects, even in the hot field of computer science. He wanted to make sure he could stand out from the crowd of recent graduates, and provide verification of his skills.

El Ajroud registered for, and successfully passed, both the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) and Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) exams. To prepare for the CKA and CKAD exams, El Ajroud researched a variety of free resources and took an online training course. After getting his results, he posted his verified badges to his LinkedIn profile and just one day later received his first unsolicited call from a recruiter. Within a couple weeks his LinkedIn views had increased more than 200% and he had heard from 20 different recruiters.

Shortly thereafter, El Ajroud accepted a position as a DevOps engineer at a SaaS company that uses cloud, DevOps and Kubernetes to enhance its software offerings. His main role involves solving problems and building solutions to help development teams to improve productivity. He is also part of the operations team where he runs a Kubernetes cluster with the support of his team. Part of his responsibilities are also to help in improving applications deployed in Kubernetes in terms of networking, storage and security. 

El Ajroud credits the CKA and CKAD for jumpstarting his career. The level of interest from recruiters after sharing his badges surprised El Ajroud, but he also acknowledges that it makes sense because the certifications assured them of his expertise working with Kubernetes despite having no work experience with the platform. As the only person on his team with a Kubernetes certification, El Ajroud has quickly become a coach for his teammates. He also shares this knowledge openly on his GitHub blog

Hear more in his own words in the video below: