Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for container orchestration, making it an essential skill for anyone entering the DevOps, cloud engineering, or platform engineering space. Whether you’re a hiring manager evaluating entry-level candidates or a professional preparing for your first Kubernetes interview, this guide covers the fundamental concepts that demonstrate core understanding.

Expected Answer: Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It solves several critical problems in modern application deployment:

On April 23, 2025, the Kubernetes community released v1.33, codenamed “Octarine,” marking the first major release of 2025. This release brings 46 enhancements with 13 moving to stable, 20 entering beta, and 13 remaining in alpha. The v1.33 release focuses on enhanced security, improved performance, and new capabilities for emerging workloads.

The v1.33 release represents the collective effort of:

As Kubernetes continues to dominate the container orchestration landscape, DevOps engineers need powerful command-line tools to efficiently manage production workloads. While kubectl remains the foundation, the ecosystem has evolved with specialized tools that enhance productivity, provide better visibility, and streamline troubleshooting. Here are the top 10 Kubernetes CLI tools that every DevOps engineer should have in their toolkit.

The official Kubernetes CLI - Required for interacting with cluster resources.

Effective monitoring and observability are critical for running Kubernetes clusters in production. The cloud-native ecosystem offers a rich set of tools for collecting metrics, visualizing data, and gaining insights into cluster and application performance. Here are the top 10 monitoring and observability tools that every Kubernetes operator should know.

The de facto standard for collecting metrics in Kubernetes clusters.

On December 11, 2024, the Kubernetes community released v1.32, codenamed “Penelope,” marking the final major release of the year. This release brings 44 enhancements with 12 moving to stable, 18 entering beta, and 14 remaining in alpha. The v1.32 release focuses on API cleanup, new field selectors, and continued improvements to the platform’s stability and performance.

The v1.32 release represents the collective effort of:

On April 17, 2024, the Kubernetes community celebrated the official release of Kubernetes v1.30, codenamed “Uwubernetes.” This release represents a significant milestone in the platform’s evolution, bringing 45 enhancements with 11 moving to stable, 19 entering beta, and 15 remaining in alpha. The release demonstrates the community’s continued commitment to innovation, stability, and user experience improvements.

One of the most anticipated features graduating to stable is structured logging. This enhancement transforms Kubernetes logs from plain text to structured JSON format, making them:

KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2024, held from March 19-22 in Paris, France, brought together thousands of cloud-native enthusiasts, developers, operators, and industry leaders. The event served as a showcase for the latest innovations in the Kubernetes ecosystem and provided insights into the direction of cloud-native computing. Here’s a comprehensive look at the key themes and trends that emerged from this landmark event.

The 2024 European edition of KubeCon attracted:

As Kubernetes entered its 10th year in January 2024, the community took a moment to reflect on the incredible journey that transformed container orchestration from a Google internal project into the de facto standard for cloud-native applications. This milestone represents not just technological achievement, but a testament to the power of open-source collaboration and community-driven innovation.

Kubernetes was born from Google’s internal container orchestration system, Borg, which had been managing Google’s massive infrastructure for over a decade. In 2014, Google open-sourced the technology, releasing it as Kubernetes 1.0 in July 2015. The name “Kubernetes” comes from the Greek word for “helmsman” or “pilot,” reflecting its role in steering containerized applications.

As the Kubernetes v1.30 release cycle gained momentum in January 2024, the community unveiled several exciting alpha features that would shape the future of container orchestration. These early-stage features represent the cutting edge of Kubernetes development, offering glimpses into the platform’s evolution and the community’s vision for improved container management.

One of the most anticipated alpha features in v1.30 is the enhanced structured logging capabilities. This feature addresses a long-standing challenge in Kubernetes: making logs more machine-readable and easier to parse for monitoring and debugging purposes.

With Kubernetes v1.29 reaching End of Life (EOL) on February 24, 2024, organizations running this version need to plan their upgrade strategy carefully. This milestone represents a critical transition point that requires thoughtful preparation to ensure continued support and security for your Kubernetes clusters.

When a Kubernetes version reaches EOL, it means:

• No More Security Patches: Critical security vulnerabilities won’t be patched
• No Bug Fixes: Known issues will remain unresolved
• No Feature Updates: New features and improvements won’t be backported
• Reduced Support: Community support becomes limited
• Compliance Risks: Running EOL software may violate security policies

Before planning your upgrade, take inventory of your current setup: