CNCF and Linux Foundation Education Partner with Udemy to Provide a Unified Cloud Native Training & Certification Opportunity

Partnership combines Udemy training with CKA, CKAD, CKS, and CNPE exams into a unified purchasing process to simplify training for developers

Key Highlights

• The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Linux Foundation Education, and Udemy partner to create a unified path for cloud native training and certification.
• The partnership works to close the skills gap by providing industry-recognized training and exams in a single, frictionless bundle.
• Cloud native developers, site reliability engineers and platform engineers can now easily pursue Certified Kubernetes and Cloud Native Platform Engineer credentials.
• Available immediately on the Udemy platform

MUMBAI, India, June 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- KUBECON + CLOUDNATIVECON INDIA -- The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, and Linux Foundation Education today announced a strategic partnership with Udemy, a global AI-powered skills acceleration platform, to integrate cloud native training and certification pathways onto the Udemy platform, creating a seamless, unified location for developers to acquire and prove production-grade skills.

The Linux Foundation's recent 2026 State of Tech Talent Report confirms a global skills crisis when it comes to AI engineering (47%), cybersecurity and compliance (40%), FinOps and cost optimization (36%), platform engineering (34%) and cloud computing (29%). The evolving technological demands are the driver behind these skills gaps and the primary barrier facing the talent market today. Organizations that prioritize continuous development not only close these critical capability gaps but also improve retention, as technical professionals increasingly rank training and growth opportunities alongside compensation. This partnership with Udemy addresses these challenges by integrating cloud native training and certification into a unified, frictionless purchasing process. By streamlining the path from training to performance-based validation, the collaboration empowers practitioners to acquire production-grade skills and enables organizations to bridge the talent gap more efficiently than traditional hiring alone.

"The most critical constraint in scaling cloud native infrastructure isn't technology—it's having the talent to operate it effectively in production," said Chris Aniszczyk, CTO, CNCF. "The partnership with Udemy creates a frictionless path for developers to learn and validate their skills. By unifying our certification tracks through a partnership with Udemy, we're lowering the barriers to entry and ensuring the next generation of talent is ready to handle real world deployment challenges."

The new offering includes bundles for the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS), and the new Cloud Native Platform Engineer (CNPE). The CNPE certification is of particular importance, as it provides a tailored track for engineers responsible for the large-scale orchestration and management of cloud native platforms.

"As the demand for open source expertise continues to outrun the available talent pool, providing accessible, integrated pathways for certification is critical," said Clyde Seepersad, SVP and general manager, Linux Foundation Education. "Our performance-based exams are the gold standard because they require candidates to solve real problems in live environments. By offering these as a unified bundle on Udemy, we are helping individuals accelerate their careers and helping organizations close the skills gap more efficiently than ever before."

This partnership represents a deep alignment between the world's leading open source foundation and one of the world's largest upskilling platforms, ensuring professionals can move from their first lesson to their final certification exam in one continuous, frictionless journey.

"Developers and technology professionals need clearer, more accessible pathways to build and prove cloud-native skills required in today's production environment," said Ramji Sundararajan, SVP & president, consumer, Udemy. "This partnership brings Udemy's practical, job-relevant learning together with CNCF and Linux Foundation Education's trusted performance-based certifications, creating a seamless path from skill development to recognized validation." Enroll today on the Udemy platform.

About Cloud Native Computing Foundation
Cloud native computing empowers organizations to build and run scalable applications with an open source software stack in public, private, and hybrid clouds. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) hosts critical components of the global technology infrastructure, including Kubernetes, Prometheus, and Envoy. CNCF brings together the industry's top developers, end users, and vendors and runs the largest open source developer conferences in the world. Supported by nearly 800 members, including the world's largest cloud computing and software companies, as well as over 200 innovative startups, CNCF is part of the nonprofit Linux Foundation. For more information, please visit www.cncf.io.

About Udemy
Udemy is an AI-powered skills acceleration platform transforming how companies and individuals across the world build the capabilities needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving workplace. By combining on-demand, multi-language content with real-time innovation, Udemy delivers personalized experiences that empower organizations to scale workforce development and help individuals build the technical, business, and soft skills most relevant to their careers. Today, thousands of companies, including Samsung SDS America, On24, Tata Consultancy Services, The World Bank, and Volkswagen, rely on Udemy Business for its enterprise solutions to build agile, future-ready teams. Udemy is headquartered in San Francisco, with hubs across the United States, Australia, India, Ireland, Mexico, and Türkiye. Udemy recently combined with Coursera to create one of the world's most comprehensive skills development platforms.

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SOURCE Cloud Native Computing Foundation