Since Kubernetes has gone mainstream, teaching younger people about the technology is important for next-gen talent.

During the recent Kid’s Day – a co-located KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe event – children were introduced to the Kubernetes world in an exciting and friendly way using a Raspberry Pi game that featured a giraffe called Phippy as the main character.

“This event is all about the CNCF,” said Cassandra Chin (pictured), a student at Colorado State Global University. “I think it would be wonderful to really promote Kubernetes to the children, because Kubernetes is so complicated. I think they don’t need to learn about Kubernetes. They just need to learn about Phippy and the animals, and when they see these animals, maybe they’ll ask their parents what Kubernetes is because they keep hearing these words and it’s kind of related to their favorite characters.”

Chin spoke with industry analysts Savannah Peterson and Joep Piscaer at the recent KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed Kid’s Day and how the Raspberry Pi game aims to get children interested in Kubernetes. (* Disclosure below.)

Using a hands-on approach

Through the Phippy game, participants who are between the middle and high school age were shown that programming is not just a geeky thing. As a result, awareness was raised using a hands-on style, according to Chin.

“We teach them how to code and how to wire,” she stated. “We have this setup here. There’s this display touch screen and behind it, which you can’t see, is a Raspberry Pi mounted on it. To really introduce them, I want to do a hands-on approach, because I find code very intimidating and boring.”

To boost the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s open-source narrative, the game is meant to start off a young person’s Kubernetes journey in an interesting way. Therefore, it’s more of an attention grabber, according to Chin.

“We start them with just wiring this up, very interactive, fun, colorful, and once they do wire it up, the screen boots. It’s very satisfying,” she noted. “They type a few commands to get the game running and more instant gratification. You see a nice colorful game, but after playing the game for a while with these arrow keys, they’ll realize they can’t actually win the game. So then they’ll have to actually listen to me.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe event:

(* Disclosure: This is an unsponsored editorial segment. However, theCUBE is a paid media partner for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon. Neither Red Hat Inc. nor other sponsors of theCUBE’s event coverage have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE