CNPA Certification Prep: Cloud Native Platform Engineering Associate
This comprehensive course prepares you for the CNCF Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineering Associate (CNPA) exam. Designed for those new to platform engineering, including recent graduates and career switchers, no prior platform engineering experience is required. Master platform engineering fundamentals, observability, security, GitOps, CI/CD, Kubernetes APIs, Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs), and platform metrics. Through hands-on labs and real-world scenarios, you will develop the knowledge and skills required to design, build, and operate cloud native platforms that accelerate developer productivity.
Course Preview
Why This Course is Different
Get everything you need to master platform engineering and advance your career
Certificate of Completion
Earn a certificate while gaining real-world skills that go beyond traditional certification prep
Hands-on Labs
20 practical labs with real-world scenarios in pre-configured cloud environments
Expert-Led
Learn from Sam Gabrail, Former HashiCorp Sr. Solutions Engineer with 15+ years experience
Community Support
Join our community where members help each other and collaborate on learning
What You'll Master
Explain platform engineering principles, goals, and approaches
Design and implement declarative resource management patterns
Apply DevOps practices within platform engineering contexts
Configure and manage application environments and infrastructure
Implement continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines
Apply GitOps workflows for application and infrastructure management
Design observability solutions using traces, metrics, logs, and events
Implement secure service communication patterns
Configure policy engines for platform governance
Apply Kubernetes security best practices
Secure CI/CD pipelines against common vulnerabilities
Design and implement incident response procedures
Build self-service platforms using Kubernetes CRDs and operators
Provision infrastructure using Kubernetes-native tools like Crossplane
Create API-driven service catalogs and developer portals
Measure platform effectiveness using DORA metrics
Understand AI/ML concepts for platform automation
Course Curriculum
SECTION 1 – PLATFORM ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS
Introduction to platform engineering, its goals, team structures, and how it differs from DevOps and SRE
- •Introduction to Platform Engineering
- •Community
- •Platform Engineering vs DevOps vs SRE
- •Platform Engineering Goals and Objectives
- •Platform Team Structures and Approaches
- •Platform Engineering Fundamentals QuizQuiz
SECTION 2 – DECLARATIVE MANAGEMENT AND DEVOPS PRACTICES
Declarative resource management principles, Infrastructure as Code, and DevOps practices in platform engineering
- •Declarative Resource Management Principles
- •Imperative vs Declarative: When to Use Each
- •Infrastructure as Code Foundations
- •Declarative Resource Management with KubernetesLab
- •Declarative Management QuizQuiz
- •DevOps Practices in Platform Engineering
- •Automation and Self-Service Principles
- •Platform Engineering Workflows
- •Building Platform Automation WorkflowsLab
- •DevOps Practices QuizQuiz
SECTION 3 – ENVIRONMENTS AND PLATFORM ARCHITECTURE
Application environments, infrastructure concepts, platform architecture, and the Platform as a Product mindset
- •Application Environments Overview
- •Development, Staging, and Production Patterns
- •Infrastructure Concepts for Platform Engineers
- •Environment Isolation and Multi-tenancy
- •Multi-Environment Application DeploymentLab
- •Environments and Infrastructure QuizQuiz
- •Platform Architecture Fundamentals
- •Platform Capabilities and Service Layers
- •Platform as a Product Mindset
- •Designing Platform ArchitectureLab
- •Platform Architecture QuizQuiz
SECTION 4 – CI/CD AND GITOPS FOUNDATIONS
Continuous integration fundamentals, continuous delivery principles, and introduction to GitOps
- •Continuous Integration Fundamentals
- •CI Best Practices for Platform Teams
- •Build Automation and Artifact Management
- •Building CI Pipelines for Platform ServicesLab
- •Continuous Integration QuizQuiz
- •Continuous Delivery Fundamentals
- •Introduction to GitOps
- •GitOps Principles and Benefits
- •Implementing GitOps with ArgoCDLab
- •Continuous Delivery and GitOps QuizQuiz
SECTION 5 – PLATFORM OBSERVABILITY
Observability fundamentals including metrics, distributed tracing, log aggregation, and alerting strategies
- •Observability Fundamentals Overview
- •Metrics: Collection, Storage, and Querying
- •Distributed Tracing Concepts
- •Log Aggregation and Analysis
- •Events and Alerting Strategies
- •Implementing Platform Observability StackLab
- •Observability Fundamentals QuizQuiz
SECTION 6 – PLATFORM SECURITY AND CONFORMANCE
Secure service communication, policy engines, Kubernetes security, and CI/CD pipeline security
- •Secure Service Communication Patterns
- •mTLS and Service Mesh Security
- •Network Policies for Platform Security
- •Implementing Secure Service CommunicationLab
- •Secure Communication QuizQuiz
- •Policy Engines for Platform Governance
- •Open Policy Agent (OPA) and Gatekeeper
- •Writing and Testing Policies
- •Implementing Policy-Based GovernanceLab
- •Policy Governance QuizQuiz
- •Kubernetes Security Essentials
- •RBAC, Pod Security, and Secrets Management
- •Security in CI/CD Pipelines
- •Supply Chain Security and Image Scanning
- •Securing Kubernetes and CI/CD PipelinesLab
- •Platform Security QuizQuiz
SECTION 7 – CONTINUOUS DELIVERY AND GITOPS ADVANCED
Advanced CI/CD pipelines, GitOps workflows, multi-environment management, and incident response
- •CI/CD Deep Dive
- •Pipeline Stages and Jobs
- •The CI/CD Relationship
- •Deployment Strategies
- •Advanced CI/CD Pipeline ImplementationLab
- •Advanced CI/CD QuizQuiz
- •GitOps Workflows
- •GitOps Tools Comparison
- •GitOps Workflow ImplementationLab
- •GitOps Environment Management
- •Environment Promotion Strategies
- •Multi-Cluster GitOps
- •Multi-Environment GitOps with ArgoCDLab
- •Advanced GitOps QuizQuiz
- •Incident Response for Platforms
- •Runbooks and Automated Remediation
- •Post-Incident Reviews and Learning
- •Platform Incident Response ExerciseLab
- •Incident Response QuizQuiz
SECTION 8 – PLATFORM APIS AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISIONING
Kubernetes reconciliation loop, CRDs, Crossplane for infrastructure provisioning, and operator patterns
- •The Kubernetes Reconciliation Loop
- •Controllers and Control Loops
- •Eventual Consistency in Kubernetes
- •Reconciliation and Control Loops QuizQuiz
- •Self-Service Platform APIs
- •Custom Resource Definitions Deep Dive
- •Designing Platform APIs
- •Building Platform APIs with CRDsLab
- •Platform APIs QuizQuiz
- •Infrastructure Provisioning with Kubernetes
- •Introduction to Crossplane
- •Terraform Controller
- •Infrastructure Provisioning with CrossplaneLab
- •Infrastructure Provisioning QuizQuiz
- •The Kubernetes Operator Pattern
- •Building Kubernetes Operators
- •Operator Frameworks Comparison
- •Working with Kubernetes OperatorsLab
- •Kubernetes Operators QuizQuiz
SECTION 9 – IDPS AND DEVELOPER EXPERIENCE
Internal Developer Platforms, self-service abstractions, service catalogs, developer portals, and AI/ML in platforms
- •Platform Capabilities and Developer Access
- •Golden Paths and Paved Roads
- •Service Catalogs
- •Designing Effective Service Catalogs
- •Building a Service CatalogLab
- •Service Catalogs and Golden Paths QuizQuiz
- •Developer Portals and IDPs
- •Backstage Architecture and Components
- •Platform Adoption Strategies
- •Building a Developer Portal with BackstageLab
- •Developer Portals and IDPs QuizQuiz
- •AI/ML for Platform Automation
- •Intelligent Operations and AIOps
- •AI/ML for Platforms QuizQuiz
SECTION 10 – MEASURING YOUR PLATFORM
Platform efficiency metrics, DORA metrics, developer experience measurement, and continuous improvement
- •Platform Efficiency Metrics
- •Team Productivity Metrics
- •Developer Experience Measurement
- •Platform Efficiency and Productivity QuizQuiz
- •DORA Metrics Overview
- •Deployment Frequency and Lead Time
- •Change Failure Rate and Mean Time to Recovery
- •DORA Metrics for Platform Engineering
- •Building a DORA Metrics DashboardLab
- •DORA Metrics QuizQuiz
- •Demonstrating Platform Value
- •Continuous Platform Improvement
- •CNPA Final AssessmentQuiz
Course Features
Hands-on Labs
Lots of hands-on labs to learn by doing
Join our Community
Community support to ask questions and collaborate
Test Your Knowledge
Quizzes to help you grasp the material well
See what others are saying about our Courses
“I like the Crossplane 101 course a lot. I think it is one of the best online courses I have taken (and I've taken a lot in the last 2 years, transitioning into DevOps). The labs are phenomenal – every task has a long tutorial with lots of explanations, gotchas, and recaps, and you always provide the reasoning for implementing a certain solution.”
“I just completed the Crossplane 101 course! Managing infrastructure as Kubernetes resources is a total game-changer. A huge thanks to TeKanAid and Sam Gabrail for the incredible training and insights.”
“Although I've worked with Crossplane in real production environments, I always felt there were gaps in my understanding. Completing this course filled those gaps perfectly. I had to unlearn and relearn quite a few things, especially around Crossplane v2.0 concepts. Well structured and thoughtfully put together. Highly recommended for building a strong, foundational understanding of Crossplane.”
“Dear Sam, I hope this email finds you well. If you remember before the end of last year I register for one your courses Terraform 101 – Certified Terraform Associate, I must admit that I learned a lot even though I was not patient enough for all videos to be available. All in all I enjoy the way you structured the course and how you went through it. The main reason of this email, to send you my gratitude for the content you created and to let you know that I passed my exam/test last week.”
“This course was a perfect introduction to Terraform and Infrastructure as Code. Loved the gitpod, saving me a lot of time for developer environment setup. We have a project at work where we want to go from a click-ops version of server-deploy to a more automated flow using ci/cd and terraform for deploying virtual servers.”
“I want to thank you for such wonderful courses. They are more comprehensive than other courses I have taken in the past. You take the time to explain every detail of the code and what it does exactly, further enforcing your student's understanding and confidence in what they are learning. Your methods are very effective and set you apart from other instructors.”
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Browse Free ContentHi there, I'm Sam
I'm a husband and father of two wonderful boys. I'm also very passionate 🔥 about all things technology. From when I was 10, I had a dream to become a computer 💻 engineer one day. Here I am today living the dream!
Thanks for visiting TeKanAid Academy. My goal is to teach you all things DevOps. Below are some of the things I've done over the years. I'm confident that I can help you achieve your dreams too.
- 15+ years of experience in various Information Technology fields from Telecommunications, Computer Networks, Digital Transformation, DevOps, Cybersecurity, and IoT
- President of TeKanAid Solutions Inc. building online content in the DevOps space
- Previous – Sr. Solutions Engineer at HashiCorp
View my Certifications
Terraform: Authorized HashiCorp Instructor
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HashiCorp Authorized Instructors are experienced DevOps professionals who deliver official HashiCorp training courses in person and virtually.
Issued by HashiCorp Partner Network (HPN)
Vault: Authorized HashiCorp Instructor
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HashiCorp Authorized Instructors are experienced DevOps professionals who deliver official HashiCorp training courses in person and virtually.
Issued by HashiCorp Partner Network (HPN)
HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate (002)
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Earners of the HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate certification know the basic concepts, skills, and use cases associated with open source HashiCorp Terraform.
Issued by HashiCorp
HashiCorp Certified: Vault Associate (002)
Verify my certificate
Earners of the HashiCorp Certified: Vault Associate certification know the basic concepts, skills, and use cases associated with open source HashiCorp Vault.
Issued by HashiCorp
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I'm confident you'll get everything you need from this course and be 100% satisfied. But in the unlikely event you decide it's not for you just ask for a refund any time during the first 30 days and you'll get your money back with no questions asked.