Certifiably Curious: How One Woman Engineered Her Own Path
Kateryna Firoozi didn’t start out with the intention of becoming a Kubestronaut, but having earned some of the required certifications when the program was launched, she saw that the remaining certifications were already on her to-do list. In earning them, she not only became Norway’s first woman Kubestronaut, she also found a like-minded community that challenges and encourages each other—and has fun doing it.
Playing with Technology
Like many DevOps professionals, Kateryna has been interested in technology from a young age. Both of her parents have engineering backgrounds, and there was always an interest in the latest technology in the house. “We would build some of the acoustic surround systems at home, and set up satellite receivers, just for fun,” she said. “It was like a hobby, so it was play for me.” Her analytical mind led to her being enrolled at a special primary school where she studied mathematics and physics.
Kateryna assembled her first personal computer herself using various parts she had available at home. “Everything was just separated, and I had to put it together in order to go to university because I needed my computer for my studies, but it was fun.” At university she continued to study math and physics and found real world applications, such as securing physical layers in data communication, which relies heavily on Fourier analysis and electrodynamics, really interested her. She earned a bachelor’s degree in technical security in information systems from National Technical University of Ukraine ‘Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.’
In 2011, Kateryna moved to Norway to continue her studies and earned her master’s degree in information security management from Gjøvik University College (HiG), Innlandet, Norway, now the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Innlandet. After graduating, she landed a job at the Norwegian Tax Administration where she took on increasingly more responsibility coordinating between developers and stakeholders to ensure seamless integration of new systems. By managing the technical requirements and facilitating communication, she naturally transitioned into platform engineering. She said, “That’s how I got into platform engineering without even realizing it.”
Certification Planning & Preparation
Kateryna started earning her first certifications at her next – and current position – as Manager, of Cloud Native Community in the Digital and Platform Services division at Sopra Steria, an international tech company, recognised for its consulting, digital services and solutions. “As a consultant company, Sopra Steria encourages certifications because of their impact on sales and our customers,” she said. “It’s a trust consideration, because we can document our capabilities, abilities and experience.”
Her primary goal was always to become a security expert in Kubernetes. She started with Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) and Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) certifications. “When I took the CKA and CKAD exams, they are so close to each other it just made sense to prepare for, and take them, at the same time.”
She has found the Linux Foundation’s resources for exam preparation extremely helpful. “When you register to take an exam, you are given two simulation exams, which are great preparation,” she said. “I’ve developed my own process where I take the first simulation exam when it fits my schedule, try to solve as much as possible, then go back and review my results. Then I use all the explanation solutions in order to do it again myself. Not just read the explanation, but do it myself until the score is 100%.”
Kateryna takes the second simulation a few days before the certification exam and tries to do it within the required timeframe, then reviews her results and determines what topics she needs to work on. She added, “I think it works just perfectly.” She also uses KodeKloud training for performance-based certification exams.
The Value of the Kubestronaut Community
Sopra Steria in Norway has more than 3,300 employees and employs the largest number of Kubestronauts in the region. As a result, Kateryna has discovered that certification creates community: “We even have this kind of internal competition among my colleagues, like a team, where we’ll say, ‘Oh, wait! This is the latest certification and it’s cool, so let’s race.’ And our team leads encourage us too.” She added, “It was also really fun to go to my first KubeCon as a Kubestronaut, wearing the jacket, which I was incredibly warm in!”
She continued, “Becoming a Kubestronaut was just a really nice bonus, to be honest, and a really cool kind of exposure for the community that was more meaningful to me than getting certifications,” Kateryna said. “When the Kubestronaut program was launched, there was even more attention to those certifications, and more discussion about it on LinkedIn, and international engagement on social media cheering for each other. CNCF and Linux were also posting about the people who had obtained the title, so there was positive buzz about it. I was going to take the certifications anyway, so then it was just fun.”
Future Goals
Kateryna’s future goals include earning Golden Kubestronaut status. “I’m already on the way there because I have two additional certifications planned which are tied to my own list of goals that apply to earning Golden Kubestronaut status,” she said. “I’m not putting any pressure on myself because I’m more interested in actual knowledge creation, but it would be a really nice bonus. I find the certifications required by the Golden Kubestronaut designation are directly linked to my career and my goals, and the things that I’m working on, so it’s all kind of naturally leading there.”
Kateryna Firoozi, Kubestronaut, PCA, CGOA
Manager Cloud Native, Sopra Steria
