The Kubernetes Interview Cookbook: A Practical Guide to Master Your Kubernetes Skills
whoami
Salem! (kazakh version of “Hi”) I’m Maxat Akbanov — a DevOps Engineer based in the beautiful city of Almaty, Kazakhstan 🇰🇿. I’ve been working in tech for a while now, and somewhere along the way I became deeply passionate about cloud infrastructure, automation, and making systems that just… work reliably at scale.
My background is rooted in security. I studied Information and Systems Security for my Bachelor’s at the National Technical University of Ukraine in Kyiv, then went on to do my Master’s in Cyber Security at the University of York. During that time I got to dig deep into real-world threats — I even published a few research papers on the WannaCry ransomware. It was intense, but it gave me a perspective on infrastructure that I carry to this day: security isn’t an afterthought, it’s the foundation.
After university, I worked across all kinds of environments — from large Kazakhstani enterprises like Kazakhtelecom, to early-stage startups like ioka.kz, to globally recognized software companies like EPAM and DataArt. Each one taught me something different about how teams build and ship software. I also spent time as an independent consultant, helping clients design and support their cloud workloads on AWS — things like containerized services on EKS and ECS. Working alone, in small teams, in big distributed ones — it’s all shaped how I think about DevOps.
These days I channel everything I’ve learned about GitOps and ArgoCD into this book. I write articles on LinkedIn too, and I try to stay connected with the local tech community — attending conferences and giving talks at the AWS Cloud Club here in Almaty.
Outside of work, you’ll find me playing football or basketball, swimming, hiking in the mountains around Almaty, playing chess, or getting way too invested in an online strategy games. Life’s good.
I speak “Tech,” but I also speak human. My native tongue is Kazakh, and I’m fluent in Russian and English, with Spanish and Turkish currently “loading” in my spare time. Feel free to message me in any language — I promise to try and understand you. If my reply comes back as a mix of five different dialects and a bit of Bash script, just know I’m trying my best!
See you! / Көріскенше! / До встречи! / ¡Hasta luego! / Görüşürüz!
Maxat 😉
P.S. Technology moves fast. If you find an outdated command, concept, diagram or a better way to structure a manifest, section, or chapter, please reach out via my GitHub, Linkedin or email. Your feedback helps make this book better!
Support & Sponsorship
As an independent author, I rely on the support of the community to keep these resources updated and accessible.
If you find this book valuable, I welcome opportunities for support and collaboration to help expand and improve future editions.
I’m open for any of these opportunities:
- Sponsorship and funding
- Technical writing collaborations
- Content review and expert contributions
- Educational or industry partnerships
If you are interested in working together, please reach out with a brief proposal or introduction at:
maxat.akbanov@protonmail.com
Support for this project helps cover research and hosting costs. You can provide support through .
Thank you for supporting accessible technical knowledge.
Preface
