How we built AdVal, a tax management software and data platform with multiple functions for rail transportation.

How Appstellar Built AdVal to Move Rail Taxes to the Cloud

DevOps Consulting and Implementation

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Tali Teaching

DevOps Services

Ready for DevOps  Implementation

Tuesday was the 1st of 20 sessions of the DevOps and Kubernetes Fundamentals training.

As a growing number of companies are moving to the #cloud and seek to implement DevOps practices, the need for qualified DevOps engineers is soaring.

There is huge demand for DevOps engineers and great talent out there but no local trainings on it (that we know of, at least). So, we took this initiative to equip the next generation of DevOps Engineers with the necessary skills they need to start off their DevOps careers right. By the end of the 7-week training, they will be fully prepared for the market.

Objectives of the Training

- Gaining a fundamental understanding of DevOps and why it matters
- Learning Kubernetes fundamentals
- Why automation, culture, and metrics are essential to a successful DevOps project.
- How DevOps can positively impact your business's bottom line.
- Learning how to move your application to the container world
- Learning how to manipulate your application by Kubernetes
- Learning how to work with Kubernetes in AWS
- Why automation, culture, and metrics are essential to a successful DevOps project.
- How DevOps can positively impact your business's bottom line
- Improving time-to-market with Kubernetes and Continuous Delivery
- Learning how to monitor, log, and troubleshoot your application with Kubernetes

5 Reasons to Become a DevOps Engineer

### 1. High Demand

Career opportunities: DevOps engineers are in high demand and this is not expected to change in the future. If anything, it's only expected to increase. They enjoy high salaries and some of the best conditions in the High-Tech industry.

### 2. Understanding the bigger picture

DevOps engineers must understand more than how code works, they need to understand how it all works. How can this piece of code the developer just wrote become usable by every person with a computer? When it doesn’t work, what is the underlying root cause?

### 3. Room for creativity

The whole point of the DevOps culture is to improve the process of software development. You can always implement other people ideas (that are becoming industry standard), or let your creativity speak and come up with your own ideas.

### 4. Constant learning

DevOps never bores you. The ever-evolving technological stack and the vast variety of existing technologies and tools make it impossible to know everything, but as a DevOps engineer, you will often have to learn new skills in order to get things done.

### 5. It's Process-Focused

DevOps is for people who are more interested in the process than in the product... but care about the customers too.

The training will be held three times a week from the 1st of February until the 17th of March, 2022. Since there has been high interest in the training, we will be having a second edition soon after this one wraps up. If you are one of them, follow our and ICK's posts on social media to hear about the open call for applications.

Appstellar in partnership with Innovation Centre Kosovo start off the 1st of twenty 3-hour sessions of training on DevOps and Kubernetes.

Appstellar Updates

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The DevOps and Kubernetes Fundamentals Training Kicks Off

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Career at Appstellar

Before shifting to development, Majlinda started at Appstellar as a Quality Assurance Engineer. Her QA experience has enabled Majlinda to have a keen eye for detail which she applies to every project she puts her hands on.

I believe one’s first job might be the very most important one. You’re excited to start a new chapter in your life; you’re filled with passion, ambition, and desire to learn new things. You ask about many things and you observe everything, trying to grasp every little bit of information you can gather.

This experience can either be terrific or terrible; I was lucky enough that it was terrific for me, or shall I say ✨stellar✨.

Right after I finished my studies in Electrical and Computer Engineering, I couldn’t wait to finally start applying in real life everything that I had learned from my education. And just like this, my job-hunting journey began.

As I was checking different IT companies in Kosovo, I came across this small (at that time, because now we have grown to ±30 employees) cloud and DevOps company called Appstellar. 
I don’t know why, but I had a great feeling about this one. I knew that I had to send my CV and hoped for an interview invitation email.

3 months passed, and finally, a notification popped up on my phone. My pupils dilated and my heart started racing faster. 

**I just got an email from them!**

I always imagined I would start my career as a Frontend or a Backend Developer, but Appstellar had something else in mind for me. They had an urgent opening for Quality Assurance Engineer, so they asked me if I was interested in being interviewed for a QA internship position.

I just couldn’t say ‘no’ to that, so, I accepted and a few days later got an email with the great news that I got the job! 

## Being a QA Engineer at Appstellar

The day came. It was October 20th when I started working at Appstellar, a day I will never forget. I was feeling a tad bit nervous, but by the end of the day, that feeling was gone. I was blown away by how professional, friendly, and helpful everyone was.

And just like every other beginning, this one was challenging as well, but I was okay with that because, to me, challenges mean opportunities to learn and grow. 
I was so motivated by the environment that there were even days that I would work after hours (without being asked to) because I wanted to use all that curiosity as fuel to push me to expand my knowledge.

My managers at Appstellar never put on my plate more than I could handle. They gave me the chance to take my time and get independent at my own pace – and for that, I am forever grateful. Not long after, I was able to perform complicated tasks on my own.

I feel like this job really changed me. It made me detail-oriented and taught me how to think and see things from different perspectives. In a way, it prepared me for the next challenge that Appstellar had in store for me.

## My Career Shift to Backend Development

After 5 months of hard work and dedication as a QA Engineer, knowing my wish to shift to development, the management offered me a Backend position. Finally, it happened and I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to start!

I was surprised to see how much my experience as a QA Engineer would help me on my journey as a Backend Developer, especially for user experience. Now, as I’m coding, I try to think of every detail and put myself in users’ shoes, so I can find the best solutions to make things easier for them.

If you get a QA opportunity even though it’s not what you initially thought like me, I highly recommend taking it, because, speaking from experience, it really helps you learn coding better, think as a user, and write test cases.

I am happy to look back and see my journey and feel proud of how far I’ve come. First, I was a QA intern, and now I am the one who’s mentoring the new QA intern.

But I don’t plan to stop here. My plans for the future are to finish as many trainings as I can and learn about the latest trends and the best solutions. To start this off I plan on finishing the DevOps training mentored by our CTO, Tali, and then getting certified as an AWS Certified Developer.

My goal was to become a Full Stack Developer which I have recently achieved (this is a story for another time) and now I'm focusing on giving back to the company what they have given me.

#stellarspeak

The story of how Majlinda started her career as a Quality Assurance Engineer at Appstellar and got the opportunity to shift to her dream job as a Software Developer.

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Kick-Starting My Development Career at Appstellar

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These partnerships/certifications are a big milestone for us. They demonstrate Appstellar’s expertise as a Cloud and DevOps solutions provider helping customers maximize their cloud-native journey. A lot of work has been done to get here, so we were super excited to share the news with everyone. So excited that we went all in with branded cupcakes and a stellarized drinks menu.

On top of these two accomplishments, in the last six months, we've expanded our staff by 122%! Moreover, we've signed multiple new client deals, expanded in new operation industries (like fintech and health tech), and moved to new office spaces. Hence all the smiley faces.

What makes this celebration even more remarkable is the community that supports our journey. So, this party wouldn't be a success without a full house of partners, contributors, friends, and family.


Finally, neither the success nor the event would be possible without the engines that power our work – our stellar team. We loved seeing them have fun, forget about the bugs, and enjoy the night.

Thank you to anyone who joined! As an [AWS Partner](https://telegrafi.com/first-kosovo-western-balkans-appstellar-now-kubernetes-certified-service-provider-aws-partner/) and KCSP, we look forward to continuing to support our clients in cloud migration and offer Kubernetes support, consulting, and professional services for businesses wanting to migrate to cloud technologies, improve their existing cloud infrastructure, or build them new products directly on the cloud.


While this is not something you will find on the rest of our website, something we’re also ✨stellar✨ at is throwing parties. We’ve recently celebrated two important accomplishments – becoming an [AWS Partner](https://appstellar.io/insights/updates/aws-partner-announcement) (the first company from Kosovo to do so) and being certified as a [Kubernetes Certified Service Provider ](https://appstellar.io/insights/updates/cncf-member-kcsp-announcement)by Cloud Native Computing Foundation (the first in Western Balkans). So, our HQ doors were open for an evening of laughter and fun.


Appstellar celebrates two important accomplishments – becoming an AWS Partner and being certified as a Kubernetes Certified Service Provider by Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

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Appstellar celebrates new partnerships

Appstellar Celebrates New Partnerships!

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We at Appstellar, are thrilled to announce we’re now a CNCF Silver Member, Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP), and a Linux Foundation Silver Member! Read more about it on the [CNCF new members announcement](https://www.cncf.io/announcements/2022/05/18/cloud-native-computing-foundation-hits-800-member-milestone-at-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2022/).

This is a big milestone that demonstrates Appstellar’s expertise as a cloud and DevOps solutions provider helping customers embark on their Kubernetes and cloud-native journey. A lot of work has been done to get here, so we’re super proud and excited to finally receive the KCSP badge. (So excited that we made cookies out of it, as you can see below.)

Since focusing our services strictly on cloud software development and DevOps solutions, we’ve implemented Kubernetes practices for multiple clients in industries such as fintech, healthtech, and others. Having said that, the KCSP certification will help show Appstellar’s extensive expertise in supporting organizations to move to a cloud-native platform. 

As a Kubernetes Certified Service Provider with [Cloud Native Computing Foundation](https://www.cncf.io/), Appstellar will continue to offer Kubernetes support, consulting, and professional services for businesses and organizations wanting to migrate to cloud technologies, or improve their existing cloud infrastructure.

On the other hand, as a member of the CNCF and the [Linux Foundation](https://linuxfoundation.org/), Appstellar commits to expanding the Kubernetes and cloud-native ecosystem and bridging the gap between developers and operations.

*“We're proud to be the first Kubernetes Certified Service Provider in Kosovo and the Westerns Balkans"*
say Co-Founders of Appstellar – Rozafe Llalloshi and Mehmetali Shaqiri.

Appstellar is excited to announce that they are now a CNCF Silver Member, Kubernetes Certified Service Provider (KCSP), and a Linux Foundation Silver Member!

Appstellar partnership announcement -  KCSP, Silver Member of CNCF & LINUX FOUNDATION

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Appstellar is now a Kubernetes Certified Service Provider and Silver Member of CNCF and Linux Foundation!

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We’re excited to announce that we’re officially [part of the Amazon Web Services Partner Network (APN)](https://partners.amazonaws.com/partners/0010h00001jCcZLAA0/Appstellar)!

Moreover, we at Appstellar, as a leading cloud service and DevOps service provider in Kosovo, are happy to share that we’re the [first company founded and headquartered in the country](https://partners.amazonaws.com/search/partners/?loc=Kosovo) to become an AWS Partner.

APN is Amazon’s global community of partners who leverage AWS to build best-in-class software solutions. It consists of professional services organizations with a demonstrating track record of successfully delivering AWS solutions and an extensive pool of certified and experienced AWS technical consultants.

As an AWS Partner, we support clients in maximizing the value of all that AWS offers and accelerating their journey to the cloud. APN enables us as a partner to provide innovative solutions, solve technical challenges, and deliver value to our and AWS’s mutual customers.

Appstellar is currently in hyper-growth mode. In the past 6 months, we’ve grown our team by 122%! Moreover, we’ve signed multiple new client deals, expanded in new industries of operation (like fintech and healthtech), and also moved to new office spaces. In addition to our AWS partnership, [Appstellar has also become a CNCF member and a Kubernetes Certified Service Provider](https://appstellar.io/insights/updates/cncf-member-kcsp-announcement). With these partnerships, we look forward to accelerating our growth even further and taking on projects we love to work on.

Amazon Partner Network (APN) is uniquely positioned and powered to help customers take full advantage of AWS’s offering in their cloud journey. We as an AWS partner help our customers to grow and scale their businesses on what is known as one of the most advanced cloud ecosystems.

Why work with an AWS Partner Company like Appstellar?

Appstellar is excited to announce that we have joined the Amazon Partner Network as an AWS Consulting Partner. With this partnership, we aim to continue building software products safely on the cloud!

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Appstellar is now an AWS Consulting Partner!

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Cloud Solutions

Ready for Cloud Solutions Implementation

Artiola is our outgoing stellar with a special love for yoga, dogs, and content creation. She is certified by HubSpot Academy for her Content Marketing, Digital Advertising, and Inbound Marketing skills.

Outsourcing is a model that many companies use. It’s a rising market of [$92.5 billion](https://www.zippia.com/advice/outsourcing-statistics/) expected to increase at a [4% compound yearly growth rate](https://www.zippia.com/advice/outsourcing-statistics/) between 2021 and 2025. IT services are among the most outsourced tasks, with a [37% market share](https://www.zippia.com/advice/outsourcing-statistics/). 

Software Outsourcing is a way to benefit from the expertise of another team or individual expert. It allows you to develop your project with better scalability and flexibility, as well as increased efficiency and security at a lower cost than hiring someone in-house.

Understanding Software Outsourcing

Based on your company's needs and your project requirements, there are three software development collaboration models you need to know.

Project-based collaboration model is an outsourcing model where you let another company fully take care of your project. You give them your requirements, and they implement everything at a fixed cost.

### The Project-Based Model is right for you if…
…you don’t have an internal development team. 

In this case, outsourcing a development team that builds your project from scratch and monitors it after deployment is your best choice.

Companies that offer project-based collaboration models are specialized in specific areas and have dedicated software development teams that work together towards your goals.

### Project-Based Model Benefits

1. Project-Based Collaboration Model

The project-based model means scope-based estimation and ensured delivery of your project on time for a fixed price. 

The dedicated team model is a collaboration model where the outsourcing company carefully chooses a team of specialists to work full-time on your project exclusively.
Since it’s a team that already works together in-house, dedicated teams allow you not to worry about team cooperation or trust. Another perk of dedicated teams is that you won't have to deal with paperwork, such as taxes, HR, and social benefits. The outsourcing company handles it while you pick the brains of professionals and have complete control over your project.
### The Dedicated Teams Model is right for you if…
…you are a startup, don’t have time to hire an in-house team, or simply want to cut costs.

Hiring an in-house team can be expensive, stressful, and can take a lot of time. You have to go through each candidate, consider their pros and cons, make an offer, finalize it, and lastly, make sure each and every one is 100% fit for the project you’re working on.

Dedicated teams, on the other hand, are experts carefully selected by your provider to work on your project. They are 100% fit to work and meet your goals.

### Dedicated team model benefits


2. Dedicated Teams

The dedicated team model means having the expertise of the CTO on demand, along with tech advisory and a very responsive team.

Extended teams, otherwise known as staff augmentation model, is a collaboration model that companies use when they don’t have time to hire an in-house expert to fill high-level positions where they lack expertise.

When we provide staff augmentation for our clients, we like to share a few profiles of who we see fit for their project and let them decide on who they want to work with. After our clients decide on that, our staff serves as in-house employees until the project is finished.

### The Extended Teams Model is right for you if…

…if your company lacks expertise in some areas and needs someone to complete specialized tasks in a short time. Extended teams are also a great fit when you need additional labor resources to streamline and speed up the development process.

### Staff augmentation model benefits


3. Extended Teams

Staff augmentation model means controlled hiring, a fast onboarding process, and a faster time to market for a lower cost.

When you consider hiring an outsourcing team or contractor for your project, keep in mind to choose a credible company. Aside from having the expertise your project needs, what’s also a bonus is if they are partners or certified providers of leading companies in the industry.

As [AWS partners](https://appstellar.io/insights/updates/aws-partner-announcement) and [Kubernetes Certified Service Providers](https://appstellar.io/insights/updates/cncf-member-kcsp-announcement), Appstellar has a team of certified experts that are ready to jump on projects and take on new challenges.

How to Choose an Outsourcing Partner

IT outsourcing as a working model is used by [92%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1089826/companies-sourcing-active-ito-bpo-contracts/#statisticContainer) of G2000 companies and 90% of businesses consider cloud computing a key enabler for their outsourcing initiatives, according to a [Global Outsourcing Survey](https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/process-and-operations/us-how-much-disruption.pdf).

With that being said, outsourcing is a great way for your company to attain talent outside borders, lower operational costs, keep your focus on core business areas, streamline operations, and increase efficiency for time-consuming tasks while benefiting from the expertise of external talent.

While there is no doubt that outsourcing is a beneficial business strategy, when deciding which model is best, that’s a question up to you to answer. It all depends on what your company needs.

As for Appstellar, we are quite flexible when it comes to [collaboration models](https://appstellar.io/collaboration-models). So, if you’re still unsure which one is for you, our team is more than willing to jump on a call and help you find the one that best meets your company’s needs.


So, What is the Takeaway?

Sometimes even if you have a million-dollar idea for a software product or service, when you lack the resources to bring it to life, your million-dollar idea will remain simply an idea.

Thanks to the growing market of software outsourcing, chances are you will find all the resources you need outside of your company to meet your internal goals.


Cloud

Learn about Project-Based, Dedicated Team, or Staff Augmentation Software Outsourcing Models, and find out which model works best for your project.

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Team working

Project-Based, Dedicated Team, or Staff Augmentation — What's the Difference?

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Setting an agenda for the meeting is critical. Looking back over the past 3 months and planning ahead for the next 3 months requires a schedule to keep things on track.

We have devised a scheme to cover all the essential topics. Here’s what we always cover and why:

### Highlights
Taking a step back and looking at what we’ve collectively achieved over the past three months serves as fuel to keep us motivated to work toward new milestones. That’s why we highlight our team's work over the past three months to show appreciation and recognition for their stellar work.

### Updates
We want to be transparent with our team and let them in on the progress we made on things we shared with them earlier. By doing so, we’re establishing trust and making the team feel involved.

Meeting Agenda

### Announcements
Good or bad, we let our team know what’s up. Just like with the progress updates, our team should know what is going on in the company and its direction. And we believe that All-Hands Meetings are an excellent opportunity to share company news.

### Superstellar work
Each quarterly meeting, we get to learn about one specific successful project a team worked on. This time we got to learn about the sophisticated learner-centric solution our team, led by our VP of Engineering, Rozi, and Project Manager, Adea, did for our client, Brainstorm. Our stellars find this section to be very inspiring!

### Goals
A quarterly meeting isn’t a “quarterly meeting” without establishing your goals for the next three months. That’s why we like to plan ahead and set goals we want to accomplish in the next quarter.

This is the favorite section of many of us. It’s where we get to know what life at Appstellar is like through our stellars' eyes! 

During this meeting section, we focus on three points:

1. We take a look at the statistics from our What is life like at Appstellar? survey
2. Quick Q&A
3. Our famous Thanksgiving section

Covering these six sections has resulted in all our stars staying aligned.✨ No pun intended.

Life at Appstellar

It's been a hectic quarter. Here's what happened:

- We delivered good work and left clients happy with our **#Cloud ** and **#DevOps ** services so much so that we got comments like:


>_Aside from their professionalism and commitment to the project, [Appstellar] is a fun team to work with delivering a wholesome experience…_
 
- We all chose summer to do something very productive — to rest. But taking time off work didn’t mean we took time off being a stellar; we took tokens of Appstellar wherever we went.🏔🌊

Q3 Highlights

- We curated our new website up to the finest details to represent us fully. (Stay tuned for the launch!)

- We celebrated 6 birthdays, 2 promotions, and many raises. We’re going to miss those summer BBQ parties!

- We gave back to a cause we care about. We partnered with **SOS Fshatrat e Fëmijëve Kosovë** for the  **#IT4SOS** campaign.

- We had a fun company photoshoot. Stellars were snapped! ✅ 📸

- We grew our team and outgrew our office. Fun fact: 100% of newcomers in the past 6 months are happy they joined Appstellar and feel welcome here. (Yes, we asked them.)

- We accepted invitations to local forums and summits where we got to represent Appstellar and create partnerships.

A lot more happened but let's keep it at this for now.

Knowing our goals, we’re ecstatic for the last quarter of the year! ✨

Another quarter finished, another all-hands meeting. Every 3 months at the Appstellar headquarters, our team gathers for a now-favorite meeting for all, the quarterly All-Hands Meeting.

Suppose you’re wondering why the hassle of having these meetings every 3 months and not every year as everybody else; the short answer is that it’s worth it. The long answer is that we believe it indirectly contributes to our growth, our team’s happiness, and ultimately our client satisfaction. Because only by retrospection can we know how to move forward.

We believe quarterly meetings indirectly contribute to our growth, our team’s happiness, and ultimately our client satisfaction. Here’s a rundown of our last all hands meeting.

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Why We Have Quarterly Meetings | Q3 All Hands Meeting Summary

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Kubecon 2021

Over the past 3 years as a DevOps Engineer, Fabian has earned multiple certifications such as AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional, HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate, and CKA: Certified Kubernetes Administrator. Apart from leading and mentoring the Appstellar DevOps team and working with clients, he’s also involved in efforts to grow the local DevOps community by writing educational content and contributing as a DevOps trainer at ICK and internal Appstellar workshops.

Saying Cilium is a service mesh would be all true, but maybe not enough. That’s because of the technology worth mentioning, that makes Cilium known for its efficient and specific solutions. Cilium operates on top of eBPF, which is the successor of BPF, or Classic BPF which makes Linux Kernel programmable. 

We have been told by Thomas Graf CTO and Co-Founder of Isovalent Company which stays behind Cilium, to think of eBPF in Linux Kernel like the JavaScript JIT that runs on browsers. A “eBPF JIT compiler” exists in Kernel Space and executes only safe code making changes as we need in different operations and “syscalls”, making Linux more compact when running container applications. The reason for that is the fast-evolving of containers and microservices technology, which comes with many different needs and at the time when most parts of Linux Kernel were developed, these needs didn’t exist. Why not contribute to the Linux project? Well everyone has different needs, and It would take years to get approved. So when relating for example to security we need patches pretty often, so it wouldn’t be the best choice. 

In my opinion, Cilium really can help us bring our cluster networking, observability, and security to another level!


Cilium and eBPF super-powers

GitOps methodology is continuously proving its benefits with the help of different tools out there, including Flux. In KubeCon Europe Virtual 2021 Flux introduced to us the Flux V2 which will support multi-tenancy. Combined with Helm or Kustomize, Flux V2 will give you a very powerful automated state management solution, in other words, a software agent will be ensuring that the desired state of your Kubernetes Cluster which should be available on a VCS is up to date, checking for source code changes in custom intervals, along with different alerts and features for its end-users. 

With all the automation it comes, unfortunately for the users that are aiming to migrate from Flux V1 it comes with a little bit of pain of manual configurations, because of the Flux V2 incompatibility with .flux.yaml files as they will not be supported anymore.


GitOps and Flux

WebAssembly was another hot topic during the event. As we know WebAssembly was build with the browsers to be their main runtime, but lately it is taking place outside the browsers to, because of its security and flexibility. WebAssembly applications are isolated. Can run anywhere, with different operating systems and CPU system architectures. Sounds familiar? Yeah, containers... As Solomon Hykes, founder of Docker said on a tweet: “If WASI (WebAssembly System Interface) existed in 2008 we wouldn’t have needed to create Docker.”

WebAssembly

No container technology is perfect, but they are very good at what they are designed to do and we should choose based on our needs. Comparing WebAssembly to Docker wouldn’t be fair, as they weren’t developed for the same purpose. But WebAssembly seems to have a future in the server-side combined with Kubernetes because of its high security, efficiency, and lightweight features.

Kubernetes network resources like Ingress and Services, that were part of it from the early days, solved us a lot of problems, but it was quite difficult and some times impossible, to use these resources for more advanced use cases. That resulted in using a lot of annotations and custom resources, which wasn’t a good experience. Gateway API will try to simplify this part of maintenance, saving us time and effort while scaling our applications. 

The Gateway API project defines Kubernetes APIs to configure advanced concepts like traffic splitting, header matching, and load balancing configuration. It comes with new resource types: GatewayClasses, Gateways, and Routes like HTTP Route, TCP Route, UDP Route, and TLS Route. This model of dividing ingress traffic into more specific resources will allow the Gateway API to also expand its protocol support in the future. Do you want more? You can refer to the [Gateway API](https://kubernetes.io/blog/2021/04/22/evolving-kubernetes-networking-with-the-gateway-api/) official documentation!


Gateway API

So pretty cool yeah, all of these sweet tools at our fingertips. We are thankful to all presenters and organizers for this valuable event, for providing us with many different ideas and better thinking of future implementations. Indirectly providing value also at our partners and customers, giving them the best experience when we integrate these tools and methods in real-world solutions.

By the end, for those who couldn’t attend the event, it is available now on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cW8_h98sn8&list=PLj6h78yzYM2MqBm19mRz9SYLsw4kfQBrC) with all its sessions and keynotes.

Being one of the most exciting events of the exploding technology nowadays Kubernetes, we couldn’t miss the innovations, methodologies, and best practices that KubeCon Europe Virtual 2021 introduced. As we know, this event brings to us many trending topics in many different areas of Kubernetes and Cloud-Native and a single article wouldn’t be enough! So we are going through only some topics that I found the most interesting and were getting the most attention at the conference.

DevOps

KubeCon 2021 didn’t disappoint! Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s edition of the world’s largest cloud native conference.

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Kubecon 2021 Recap & Takeaways

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Meridian is passionate about what he does and always strives for self-improvement. He is an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and a HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate.

Knowing its importance as a market leader, I've always had a great desire to learn how AWS works, what services they provide, and what they include. On my first job, I was lucky to get to work on a project where I implemented solutions using AWS resources. This made me eager to look into certification opportunities, which I only found when I joined Appstellar.

Therefore, my AWS **certification** journey began when I started working as a Backend Developer here at Appstellar.

With [Appstellar being an AWS partner](https://appstellar.io/insights/updates/aws-partner-announcement) and offering [AWS solutions](https://appstellar.io/aws-cloud-consulting) to clients, I knew I had to start working on strengthening my skills and deepening my knowledge of AWS. Lucky for me, as it happens, Appstellar has a Growth Program that offers many career advancement opportunities, one of them being getting certified by AWS. Hearing this was music to my ears!

After months of practicing on my own and with some help from my fellow stellars, I was finally ready to take my AWS exam and get certified.


My AWS Certification Journey

In a fast-paced industry such as [cloud software development](https://appstellar.io/cloud-solutions), you as a developer need to stay up to date with the latest trends in the market. You need to find the best ways to design, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud; and trust me, having a few certifications under your belt makes this process a whole lot easier! And I don’t mean having those gold badges; I mean the knowledge you get from the trainings. 

Aside from the knowledge, there are also some other benefits that come with the AWS certification.

### 1. Cloud computing is the future
Businesses that move to the cloud can scale and adapt quickly to market changes, resulting in reduced costs, greater business agility, accelerated innovation, and streamlined operations. This is why there is such great demand for cloud developers.

### 2. Greater hireable position:
Considering that AWS controls [ 33% of the cloud market](https://finbold.com/amazon-aws-statistics/), obtaining an AWS certification gives you a significant edge in putting yourself in a highly hireable position.

According to ACG's [State of Cloud Report](https://go.acloudguru.com/2020-state-of-cloud-learning-report?ajs_aid=b0df4fc3-e4fe-42a4-aef5-7dc1ffc0047f&_ga=2.25718717.1881790073.1665946995-1675361834.1665946995)

- 82% of hiring managers say **cloud certifications make a candidate more attractive**.
- 87% of **hiring managers value hands-on experience and certifications** over a university degree when evaluating candidates.

### 3. Potential higher income

Certifications are a way for you to advance your career. The more advanced you are, the higher your salary will be.
AWS Certifications can open many doors to top-paying jobs. In the [2021 IT Skills Salary Report, Global Knowledge](https://www.globalknowledge.com/us-en/resources/resource-library/white-papers/2021-it-skills-and-salary-report) found that AWS Certification is among the top 5 highest-paying certifications.

### 4. Access to AWS community

After getting certified by AWS you get access to the [AWS Certified community.](https://aws-certification.influitive.com/users/sign_in) This is an amazing networking opportunity.

### 5. Exam discount

After getting your 1st AWS certification, you’ll get a 50% discount voucher on your next AWS certification.

### 6. An advantage for freelancers

If you’re a freelancer, having an AWS certification serves as an advantage and gives you the opportunity to acquire more online projects.

AWS Certification Benefits

As a market leader and provider, AWS offers [12 credentials](https://aws.amazon.com/certification/) that cover the basics and the advanced topics of its services.

In my opinion, the [AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification](https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-cloud-practitioner/) is a great place to start if you're new to AWS. This certification proves that you have a basic understanding of AWS services to support cloud operations across various industries.

Where to Start?

Preparation is the key to passing the AWS exam. So before taking it, here are 7 tips I want you to know based on my experience of passing the test to become an AWS-certified Cloud Practitioner.

AWS Exam Tips

## 1. Get familiar with AWS fundamentals

If you have a general knowledge of how the web works and you’re thinking about getting an AWS certification, the first thing you need to do is to familiarize yourself with AWS as a platform, and get familiar with its services, features, and terms.

## 2. YouTube videos are your friend

What helped me a lot to prepare for the exam was watching YouTube videos. One of my favorite YouTube channels to learn from is [Be A Better Dev.](https://www.youtube.com/c/BeABetterDev) Their videos provide incredible insights into AWS. 

The video [_ Intro to AWS - The Most Important Services To Learn_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDEpdNdFglI), in particular, provides an incredible explanation of how AWS operates on the web and its core services, as well as why and what solutions they offer when used.

## 3. Take courses and practice exams

One of the best ways to prepare for the AWS exam is by taking courses and then taking practice exams to test your knowledge and understand how much you’ve learned.

**Courses**

The exciting part begins once you have a firm understanding of AWS! The course [_Ultimate AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner_ ](https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-new/) provides an outstanding AWS breakdown and is completely focused on preparing you for the AWS Cloud Practitioner Exam.

The best way to get the most out of this course is to practice everything you see on screen. Moreover, try to acquire the most information by testing different services and modifying them yourself outside of what is taught in the course. This allows you to understand what each service has to offer and how they operate.

*One thing to keep in mind is that it’s always better if you conduct additional research outside of what is provided in the course to fully understand each service.
**
Practice exams**

After completing the study materials, I highly recommend taking practice exams and timing them to get a genuine sense of what the exam process will feel like under time pressure. I found practice exams super helpful because they gave me an insight into the exam structure.

To really ace your AWS certification exam, I urge you to take these [6 practice exams](https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-practice-test/) on [Udemy](https://www.udemy.com/?utm=70e305a682e38afd437e651aaa453a41&track=1&pt=2). They’ll provide you with all the information you need before taking the test.

## 4. Read the AWS guidelines

The security process can take up to 30 minutes. Make sure you’ve carefully read the AWS exam guidelines provided in your email beforehand to avoid any issues while going through the checking process.

## 5. Have good lighting

I don’t want you to make the same mistake that I made, so I cannot stress this enough when I say that **you need to have *good* lighting!**

During the exam, everything will be checked through your laptop camera, that’s why lighting is so important.
When I took the exam, the weather outside was dark and gloomy, so it was quite difficult for the camera to capture all the needed details for the check to be approved, so I had to repeat the process multiple times.

## 6. Have a strong Wi-Fi connection

Make sure you have a fast and stable connection, but also make sure to have a backup plan in case you’ll have a connection downtime or an electricity cut. Better safe than sorry!

## 7. Focus on what you know

Skip the questions you’re unsure about and fill out the ones you know. This allows you to finish all the questions you’re 100% sure of and gives you time to think about the ones you’re not confident in.Once you’re done answering the questions you know, you can go back and give the others that you’re unsure of and give them another try.



Once you submit the exam, you will be logged out of the platform and your results will be emailed to you within 5 business days. In my case, I got the results the next day.

The AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification was a good starting point for me, but it definitely won’t be my ending point. As a part of the Growth Program that Appstellar offers, there are so many other AWS certifications I plan on getting. You can benefit from this program too, if you[ join our team.
](https://stellar-dev.appstellar.io/careers)
There is no easy way to pass the exam. The only way to do so is by practicing, practicing, and then practicing some more. Follow all the tips that I gave you in this article, and you’ll ace your AWS exam! 

But remember that at the end of the day, knowledge is what matters most. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t pass the exam on your 1st try. Take some time to review and practice everything, and once you feel that you’re ready give it another try.

Good luck acing it!


What Happens Next?

Being a new kid in an industry filled with many possibilities and technologies, I was always eager to learn new things. One particular thing I was always interested in was this platform called [Amazon Web Services (AWS)](https://aws.amazon.com/?nc2=h_lg).

If you’re unfamiliar with it, AWS is a cloud computing platform provided by Amazon that includes a mixture of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and packaged Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings. This platform offers tools such as compute power, database storage, and content delivery services that allow you to quickly and easily create multiple standardized solutions.

Being an Engineer

Wondering how and why to get AWS certified? Here are the benefits along with 7 tips to help you ace the AWS exam from an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

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7 AWS Certification Exam Tips From a Certified AWS Cloud Practitioner

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[Linux](https://www.linux.org/) is the most widely used operating system for web servers and applications, where performance is crucial. Proficiency in Linux can open many doors and make it easier to learn new tools.

Many tools are initially developed for Unix-like systems and are later made available for other operating systems such as Windows. Linux is known for its powerful kernel, which is present on a wide range of devices, including mobile devices, servers, microcontrollers, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Therefore, it is important to understand Linux, or at least its fundamental concepts, such as users and groups, root users, file permissions, and text editors.

Linux Fundamentals

In a world that is constantly changing and evolving, it is crucial for businesses to continuously and consistently adapt to new developments. As the saying goes, "if you’re not first, you’re last." By being among the first to meet the needs and desires of your customers, you can position yourself at the top of the competition. Ultimately, the primary goal of any company should be customer satisfaction.

DevOps and its methodologies enable organizations to deliver new features frequently through automation and the reduction of human error in processes such as software delivery, infrastructure configuration, and deployment phases. By learning DevOps, you will be well-positioned in the industry to help companies migrate to modern architectures or scale their current systems. 

In this article, I will cover the skills and tools I’ve learned from my own experience as a DevOps Engineer, which we consider to be the foundation of this field. Let's get started!

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