--- title: "Kubernetes Is Not DevOps : A Short Story" url: https://daily.dev/posts/kubernetes-is-not-devops-a-short-story-t6ggu85si source_url: https://faun.pub/kubernetes-is-not-devops-a-short-story-ab9d1afc36d1 type: article source: "Faun" published: 2026-04-12T18:17:10.830Z updated: 2026-04-12T18:17:29.888Z tags: ["devops", "career", "kubernetes"] reading_time: 2 upvotes: 41 comments: 6 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Kubernetes Is Not DevOps : A Short Story **[Faun](https://daily.dev/sources/faun)** · 2 min read · 41 upvotes · 6 comments ## Summary A hiring manager shares an interview experience where a candidate knew Kubernetes commands but couldn't explain what happens internally when running kubectl apply. The story illustrates a broader industry trend: engineers learning tools without understanding the underlying systems. True DevOps expertise goes beyond tool familiarity — it requires understanding infrastructure provisioning, distributed systems, automation principles, and reliability design. Kubernetes is just one tool; the fundamentals of systems thinking and automation will outlast any specific technology. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@akkitto** · 10 upvotes > There is a partial point to it, but as usual with such requests, there is another pragmatic perspective to it. > > > For example, tell me a real life pragmatic reason, why it is so important to "at least" know "how the desired state is stored in etcd". Just 1. > > > Do you assume `kubectl apply` might ever become broken and you have to fix it yourself? How would you ever use that information in a real life job scenario? > > While there is a point to knowing the behind-the-scenes of what you are doing, the amount of detail actually necessary is really low, to do a good job. > > In this article, the workflow... **@sincorchetes** · 4 upvotes > You should be a Sysadmin first to understand how systems actually work. Once you have mastered that foundational knowledge, you become a great DevOps engineer because you truly understand the big picture. > > From the network stack to operating system internals, having this background makes it much easier to architect a solution and troubleshoot faults. Otherwise, you are just looking for 'how-to' guides or blindly applying AI suggestions without understanding the 'why' behind your actions. > > Tools like Kubernetes are just abstractions. If you don't understand what’s happening under the hood, you... ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [What job interviews taught me about Kubernetes](https://daily.dev/posts/what-job-interviews-taught-me-about-kubernetes-x9bmnlspb) · Lobsters · 5 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#devops](https://daily.dev/tags/devops), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#kubernetes](https://daily.dev/tags/kubernetes) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/kubernetes-is-not-devops-a-short-story-t6ggu85si)