If the rich attendance at the recent KubeCon Europe event is any indication, general interest in cloud-native initiatives is soaring, drawing in both seasoned professionals and newcomers.

But with over 184 individual projects under its umbrella, how is the Cloud Native Computing Foundation evolving its training and certification approach to stay abreast of the times?

“We’ve trained, I think, over 200-300,000 people at least [that] have gone through our certifications,” said Chris Aniszczyk (pictured, right), chief technology officer of the CNCF. “But since we’ve grown so much, we now have a lot more technology. Outside of Kubernetes, we have OpenTelemetry. You need stuff to observe things you have; you need to secure things. We have Falco, so we’re basically investing a lot in helping build training and certification for those communities.”

Aniszczyk and Christophe Sauthier (left), cloud-native training and certification lead at the CNCF, spoke with theCUBE principal analyst Rob Strechay and guest host Dustin Kirkland at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed insights regarding the current landscape of cloud-native technologies and the strategies employed to nurture its community. (* Disclosure below.)

CNCF guardrails: Managing a fast-changing skill landscape

The CNCF has evolved its several skill certifications in tandem with the rapid growth of cloud-native technologies. While Kubernetes remains a cornerstone, the certification landscape is diversifying to encompass a broader array of technologies — the scope of which covers security and observability, among others.

“We’ve evolved and launched essentially a new endorsed content and partnership program for training that is working with folks that provide courses, training,” Aniszczyk said. “We’re proud to work with Udemy, one of the largest training providers out there … [and] we plan to work with others down the line on this.”

Beyond technical skills, the discussion also touched upon the importance of sustainability within the cloud-native ecosystem. While not an immediate focus, CNCF acknowledges the growing significance of factors such as carbon footprint and cost efficiency in shaping certification criteria, Sauthier added.

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

(* Disclosure: The Cloud Native Computing Foundation sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither the CNCF nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE