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☸️ Free Kubernetes course: orchestrating thousands of containers

Welcome to the most pedagogical Kubernetes discovery course. In 7 short lessons, you will understand exactly what Kubernetes is, why Google, Netflix, Airbnb and 90% of large tech companies use it in production in 2026, and how it fits together with Docker, Terraform and the major clouds.

What this course aims for: answering once and for all the questions "what is Kubernetes?", "Docker vs Kubernetes?", "what is a Pod?", "why does everyone talk about K8s?", "EKS or GKE or AKS?" — without jargon, with concrete analogies.

What this course does not do: teach you to type kubectl apply -f, or to write a real complete YAML manifest. That practical mastery is the subject of the Premium Kubernetes Course.

What you will discover​

Course content​

#LessonMain objectiveDuration
1The problem Kubernetes solvesUnderstand why managing 100 containers by hand is impossible6 min
2What is Kubernetes?Rigorous definition, history from Google Borg, CNCF, 2026 adoption7 min
3Pod, Deployment, Service, NamespaceThe trinity +1 that makes up every Kubernetes application8 min
4Architecture of a clusterControl plane, worker nodes, etcd, kubelet, scheduler7 min
5YAML manifests and kubectlThe declarative workflow with a concrete example6 min
6Ecosystem and alternativesHelm, Argo CD, EKS/GKE/AKS, K8s vs Docker Swarm vs Nomad6 min
7Real use cases + FAQWhere Kubernetes is really used + 14 frequent questions5 min
8Quiz and attestationValidate what you learned with 5 corrected questions3 min

Is this course for you?​

  • You are a developer or DevOps and you hear "Kubernetes" or "K8s" in every technical conversation.
  • You know Docker and you wonder why you cannot just stay on Docker Compose.
  • You are in a cloud career transition and preparing an interview for an SRE, DevOps, cloud engineer or platform engineer position.
  • You are a project manager, product owner or CTO and you want to understand why your team is asking for a managed Kubernetes cluster that costs 800 euros a month.
  • You are preparing the CKAD, CKA or CKS certification and you want to consolidate your vocabulary.

No heavy technical prerequisites. Reading the Docker discovery course beforehand is strongly recommended — Kubernetes orchestrates containers, so knowing the concept of a container helps enormously.

Course outline at a glance​

What you will know at the end​

No commands to memorize. At the end of the course, you will know how to:

  • Explain in one clear sentence what Kubernetes is.
  • Distinguish Pod, Deployment, Service, Namespace, ConfigMap, Secret without hesitation.
  • Answer in an interview "Docker vs Kubernetes?", "Kubernetes vs Docker Swarm?" with the real arguments.
  • Understand the architecture of a cluster: what each component does (etcd, kubelet, scheduler, controller manager).
  • Choose between EKS, GKE, AKS or an on-premise cluster according to your context.
  • Approach the Premium Kubernetes Course with confidence to type your first kubectl commands.

⏱️ Estimated duration​

About 40 to 50 minutes of reading in total. Each lesson is self-contained — you can read one per day for a week, or go through them all in one evening.

Strongly recommended prerequisite:

  • Docker Discovery — Kubernetes orchestrates containers, knowing the concept of a container is essential.

Useful prerequisites:

Natural follow-up after this course:

Frequent questions in one answer​

What is Kubernetes in one sentence?

Kubernetes (often abbreviated K8s) is an open source container orchestration system, started by Google in 2014 and now maintained by the CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation). It automates the deployment, scaling, resilience and network management of containerized applications on dozens to thousands of machines.

Docker vs Kubernetes?

Complementary, not competitors. Docker creates and runs containers on a single machine. Kubernetes orchestrates containers across hundreds of machines simultaneously: it chooses where to place each container, restarts those that fail, manages load balancing and enables progressive updates. Docker creates the image, Kubernetes deploys it at scale.

Why K8s?

K8s is a numeronym: the 8 letters "ubernete" between the K and the s of Kubernetes are replaced by the digit 8. The same convention is used for i18n (internationalization) and a11y (accessibility). It is pronounced "kate-eight-ess".

What is a Pod?

A Pod is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes. It contains one or more containers that share the same IP address, the same ephemeral storage and the same lifecycle. In 99% of cases, a Pod contains a single container. Lesson 3 details everything.

Is Kubernetes free?

Kubernetes itself (the open source project) is completely free under the Apache 2.0 licence. A managed cluster (EKS, GKE, AKS) is billed — count 70 to 200 euros per month for the control plane, plus the cost of the worker nodes (compute, network, storage).

EKS, GKE or AKS?
  • EKS (AWS) — the most used worldwide, mature and complete, a bit more complex to get started.
  • GKE (Google) — historically ahead technically (Google invented Kubernetes), the most elegant interface.
  • AKS (Azure) — good value for money, native Microsoft integration, fast growth.

The choice mostly depends on the cloud your company is already on. Lesson 6 compares the three.

Is this course enough to be operational in a company?

This course gives you the complete conceptual understanding. To be operational (writing manifests, using kubectl, deploying with Helm, doing GitOps with Argo CD, managing secrets, securing with RBAC), you need the Premium Kubernetes Course — about 40 hours of practical content with exercises.

Want to move to hands-on practice?

This discovery course explains how it works, without commands. To type the real commands (kubectl apply, kubectl get pods, kubectl logs, kubectl exec, Helm charts, Argo CD, RBAC), move on to the Premium Kubernetes Course — included in all our paid plans.

Other discovery courses not to miss​

Ready? Start with lesson 1 →