Weekly DevOps career tips and technical deep dives. My mission is to help you land your next DevOps, Platform Engineering or SRE role, even if you are brand new. I went from nurse to DevOps and I can help you do the same.
The $200K Skill Everyone Says Is Too Hard (It's Not)
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Hey Reader, There are two types of engineers: engineers who are learning Kubernetes and those who haven't read the data. Whenever I post about Kubernetes I always get the same comments: "Kubernetes is overkill" "Kubernetes is too complex" "Almost no company needs Kubernetes" As an example, here's a tweet I made last week with some of its reactions: Similarly, if you scroll tech socials for any amount of time, you're bound to see memes like this: Kubernetes gained this reputation because people who don't understand it are the loudest voices on social media. The problem is that these claims are blatant lies that are wrecking people's careers. This demonization of Kubernetes prevents people from learning the skill that can change their lives. 5 years ago I was working as a nurse barely making $50K a year. No CS degree. No bootcamp. No connections in the industry. Now I'm a Senior DevOps Engineer pulling multiple six figures, turning away freelance clients because I don't have time to take up more work. And I've been working completely remote for almost 2 years now. Kubernetes is the skill that made this possible. It's one of the most lucrative and future-proof skills that you can learn and it has completely changed my life. If a nurse can learn it, why would it be too hard for people who have been coding for 15 years? It drives me nuts whenever I see people actively discouraging you from learning Kubernetes. But if you want to work remotely for the next 20 years at six figures, the path is clear. Most Companies, In Fact, Use KubernetesComments like these are demonstrably delusional: Here’s what the data says:
In other words, if you want an infrastructure job in the Fortune 500, you should be learning Kubernetes. The tech industry as a whole is growing. AI is a huge driver of that growth. 68% of companies are understaffed in AI & ML operations. They need people with Kubernetes skills. There are several reasons why Kubernetes is seeing such rapid adoption and growth:
And finally, the biggest signal is that Microsoft is using Kubernetes to run their own cloud services. Kubernetes is the Operating System of the cloud. (This is the true meaning of Cloud Native). Microsoft is using Kubernetes to run most of its own cloud services. Copilot, Bing search, Office 365, Teams and Xbox recommendations are all running on Kubernetes. The data is clear: huge companies with critical workloads are choosing to run them on Kubernetes. Still, if you base your opinions on social media and blog posts, you may get the impression that it’s some niche technology that nobody should use. By now you understand that this is completely false. Now, what does this mean for you? Salary Data As Truth Serum - Companies Vote With DollarsIf Kubernetes is dying or overkill, someone forgot to tell the companies paying $200K salaries for it. You’re being told to ignore the skill while the market screams for it. Here’s the latest data on Kubernetes jobs and salaries:
Let's put this in perspective. In 2024, IT salaries increased by 1.2%. Kubernetes salaries are increasing at 10X the market rate. That's not a typo or a bubble. That's what happens when companies need skills and they can't find enough people. The glory days for Software Engineers are over. They earn $128k on average now. But Kubernetes engineers? They're getting almost $50K more at $171K on average. That's a difference of more than half a million dollars over a 10 year career. Let that sink in! If you are reading this as a software engineer, here's a harsh truth: You are doing serious damage to your career if you're ignoring Kubernetes. Because 43% of Kubernetes job postings are for Software Engineers. Okay, so we’ve established that most companies need people with Kubernetes skills, and that it pays exceptionally well. Now let’s break down the next myth that ignorant people are spouting on social media: Learning Kubernetes Is F**king Easy (With The Right Approach)I made a bet in my career 3 years ago. I was working in my first Junior DevOps role. It was heavy on Linux system administration, and we were running containers on virtual machines. We were deploying them with Ansible, and when something went wrong, we ssh’d into the servers to manually restart them. Yeah, it was a nightmare and not DevOps at all. During my evening studies I came across Kubernetes. Instead of manually restarting containers, I was simply applying a Deployment manifest and Kubernetes was handling the rest when a container died. This is the moment when I fell completely in love with Kubernetes. I did some market research and instinctively knew I had to go all-in on this. I devoted all of my free time to my Kubernetes studies. But I was a pioneer in my work environment. I had no one around me that could teach me this stuff, so I had to figure it out all alone. But after devoting all my evenings and weekends to my Kubernetes studies, I landed the CKA after almost a year. 3 months later I doubled my salary by getting a job as a Kubernetes consultant. Remember, I was a junior at this point with no previous experience in IT and no CS degree. If an ex-nurse can do it while working full-time, there is no excuse for you. Kubernetes is not hard. You just need the right approach. Through my own struggles I figured out a methodology that makes it much easier for people to learn Kubernetes. Instead of spending a year, my students learn it in a few weeks. Now I’ve taught Kubernetes to thousands of people and helped 800+ people land six figure jobs as Kubernetes & DevOps engineers. If me and thousands of others can do it, you can do it too. You got this. You just need to get over that psychological block that social media has created in your brain. If you want my help with that, CLICK HERE. Kubernetes Is Not Just About MoneyGetting a $200K salary with a Kubernetes job will change your life. But I see it only as a stepping stone. The real unlock lies in autonomy. Autonomy means “the quality or state of being self-governing.” When I worked at the hospital, I dreaded the fact that I had to travel and show up somewhere at a specified time. I was losing hours every day on commuting and I had no control over the work that I did. This is when I swore that I would make it my life’s mission to have a remote tech job. 5 years later I’m making six figures and I haven’t had to go to an office for two years. Because Kubernetes expertise is so critical and sought after, companies are much more lenient in their remote work policies. If you have the skills and you can do the work, they don’t care much. In Q3 of 2025, 67% of Kubernetes job postings were remote jobs. I truly believe that learning Kubernetes is one of the best ways to get the career of your dreams where you can work where you want AND still make good money. But it gets even better, the job is only the stepping stone to the next level of Autonomy: Freelancing & Contracting: Become Your Own BossI don’t say this to brag, but I’ve more than doubled my income since I quit my job and started my own business. If you know Kubernetes, being an employee pays well and you need to work the job for a while to gain the skills. But when you have enough skills, you can make a lot of money as a freelancer or contractor if you have Kubernetes skills. There are plenty of enterprises and massive government agencies out there who are just now moving their virtual machine workloads to the cloud. Lift and shift. All of these workloads will have to be containerized at some point. And guess where those workloads will run? Kubernetes, of course. Paradoxically, there is also increasing demand for moving cloud infrastructure to on-prem environments again. Especially here in the Netherlands, there are increasing concerns about having our government data stored with American cloud companies. There are vague plans for building a “European Cloud” or Dutch “Rijkscloud”. Kubernetes is the operating system of the cloud. So guess what they will use when they start building this out? The beauty of containerized workloads is that you can run them practically anywhere after you’ve done the work. It fundamentally does not matter if your Kubernetes cluster is running in the cloud or on-premise, the configuration and required skills remain roughly the same. This is why you can work basically anywhere if you have Kubernetes skills. Kubernetes Engineers Will Print Money In The Age Of AIAnd finally, there is of course AI. This is an even more exciting opportunity. The initial AI hype is fading and companies are realizing that slapping AI on something is not going to instantly make them more profits. But I do see more and more applications of AI that involve local infrastructure. For example, Aurea Imaging is using AI to scan fruit trees to optimize harvesting. Guess where this is happening? On a Kubernetes cluster that’s running on the tractor that’s driving through the fields. Other use cases are supermarkets scanning video images in real time. This needs to happen extremely fast and the data has to stay on their own hardware. Another perfect use case for Kubernetes. All of these implementations will need to be done by skilled engineers. And it’s only going to grow. If You Want Freedom, Learn KubernetesI can keep going, but I think I’ve made my point. I went all-in on Kubernetes 3 years ago and it has changed my life. Let’s say you do the same. Imagine what your life looks like 3 years from now:
If this is the life you want, start learning Kubernetes right now. Don’t listen to the trolls on social media who don’t understand what’s happening. Kubernetes is booming. There is enough cake for everyone. The question is, are you going to take a slice of that cake? If you want a remote job making $200K a year, I can help you with that. I’ve mentored over 800 people into six-figure DevOps careers. One of them landed a Kubernetes job 2 weeks after he started working with me. Others come straight out of university and land jobs after a few months because of the skills I teach them. I’m opening 10 spots for motivated people this month. You can claim your spot by CLICKING HERE. Now is the time to make your move. Let’s build the life of your dreams. Mischa P.S. I wasted a whole year trying to learn Kubernetes and landing that first job. I can help you get that job in 2-20 weeks. CLICK HERE if you want that $200K job! |
The KubeCraft Newsletter
Weekly DevOps career tips and technical deep dives. My mission is to help you land your next DevOps, Platform Engineering or SRE role, even if you are brand new. I went from nurse to DevOps and I can help you do the same.