Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineering Associate (CNPA)

Expand your career horizons by proving you have the skills to create reusable, self-service tools, automation, and infrastructure that empower developers to deploy and manage applications efficiently.

Platform engineers remain highly sought-after as enterprises invest heavily in scalable software development, and earning this certification demonstrates your capacity to integrate and orchestrate a wide range of technical capabilities while opening pathways to senior leadership positions including Platform Architect, Engineering Manager, and CTO.

The CNPA certification validates your skills for sought-after entry-level platform engineering positions, showcases your strategic ability to utilize tools and processes to improve system security, reliability and scalability, and serves as an excellent starting point on your path to IT team leadership roles.

Platform Engineering Core Fundamentals - 36%

• Declarative Resource Management
• DevOps Practices in Platform Engineering
• Application Environments and Infrastructure Concepts
• Platform Architecture and Capabilities
• Platform Engineering Goals, Objectives, and Approaches
• Continuous Integration Fundamentals
• Continuous Delivery and GitOps

Platform Observability, Security, and Conformance - 20%

• Observability Fundamentals: Traces, Metrics, Logs, and Events
• Secure Service Communication
• Policy Engines for Platform Governance
• Kubernetes Security Essentials
• Security in CI/CD Pipelines

Continuous Delivery & Platform Engineering - 16%

• Continuous Integration Pipelines Overview
• Incident Response in Platform Engineering
• CI/CD Relationship Fundamentals
• GitOps Basics and Workflows
• GitOps for Application Environments

Platform APIs and Provisioning Infrastructure - 12%

• Kubernetes Reconciliation Loop
• APIs for Self-Service Platforms (CRDs)
• Infrastructure Provisioning with Kubernetes
• Kubernetes Operator Pattern for Integration

IDPs and Developer Experience - 8%

• Simplified Access to Platform Capabilities
• API-Driven Service Catalogs
• Developer Portals for Platform Adoption
• AI/ML in Platform Automation

Measuring your Platform - 8%

• Platform Efficiency and Team Productivity
• DORA Metrics for Platform Initiatives

1. After purchase the exam voucher, please log into your portal LFOSSA website, your exam voucher will be available under "Exam & Learning Voucher" (password-protected).

2. You need an LFID to register for and take Linux Foundation (LF) certification exams. If you already have a Linux Foundation ID (LFID), you can redeem your exam voucher at https://trainingportal.linuxfoundation.org/redeem . If you do not have a LFID, click here (https://trainingportal.linuxfoundation.org/access/saml/login) to create one.

3. Log in to your LF Education portal,  enter your exam voucher code in the Enter Registration Code field and click Validate, then check the box: " I agree to The Linux Foundation Training Terms, Conditions & Policies and the Thought Industries Terms & Conditions." 

4. A confirmation message “Congrats, your code has been validated” will appear upon successful validation, confirming your voucher is valid. Click Register to complete the exam voucher registration.

5. Log in to LF Education global website with your LFID.   After the registration process, the certification exam will be available in the learner's portal within 24 hours, then the candidate will be available to take and schedule exam. 

Linux Foundation Global Certification & Confidentiality Agreement

Candidate Handbook

Important Instructions

Frequently Asked Questions

The Exam Voucher is non-refundable upon purchase.

Exam Voucher is redeemable within 90 days post-purchase; Exam eligibility will be valid for 1 year from your registration date. You now have 90 days + 365 days for exam preparation!