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Hello devs, if you are looking to learn new tools and technologies in 2025 then you should consider learning Docker and Kubernetes, two of the most essential tools for creating and managing containers in this era of Microservices and Cloud Computing.
With the rise of Microservices and Cloud Computing, Docker and Kubernetes has become and essential tool for Software developer and now its imperative for many of us to learn them to succeed as Software developer.
If you want to learn Docker and Kubernetes, also known as K8s then you are already made a great decision. Earlier, I have shared the best free Docker courses and free kubernetes courses and you can check them to start your journey. If you are still on fence to to learn Docker and K8s then read on.
Along with Docker, if there is one more tool or technology which has caught software developers' attention in recent times then it is Kubernetes. Actually, it's often mentioned alongside Docker because it takes what Docker offers to the next level.
If you don't know what is Docker and Kubernetes let me give you a brief overview before going deep into why every programmer should learn Kubernetes.
In simple words, Docker is a container and Kubernetes is a container orchestration tool, something which can do creating, destroying, and managing containers at scale.
Here is a nice diagram which explains what is a Docker and Kubernetes and what they do:
Containers allow you to build your application and ship it in a container with all its dependencies including OS like Linux or Windows, Runtime like Java, .NET, or Node, and any third-party library and framework code your application is using.
This greatly simplifies the application deployment process as you can whip up the new environment quickly and you can just ship the docker image ( a big tar file with everything your application need) to the fellow developer or deploy it into any host or even cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, and Azure.
This simple invention, which has its roots in the logistics and shipping industry, takes an application deployment to the next level as you don't need to deploy the application, runtime, and necessary software to run your application individually.
You also don't need to worry about upgrading them individually and taking risks that they may not be compatible with other things in the host. This means improve development and operation and DevOps experience.
While Container does simplify both development and deployment (particularly for Microservices) but it would be a pain if you have to manually manage hundreds and thousands of containers for different processes and that's where Kubernetes comes into the picture. Kubernetes takes that pain away by automatically creating and deploying containers for you.
This makes scaling your application really easy which has been a major challenge for growing startups and companies of all sizes around the world.
Kubernetes is in fact one of the most sought-after skills by software companies around the world and if you are looking to gain a skill that will stay with you throughout your career, much like SQL and UNIX then learning Kubernetes is a great option.
Btw, if you have already made your mind to learn Docker and Kubernetes and just need a good resource then you can start withDocker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guidecourse by Maximilian Schwarzmuller of AcadMind on Udemy.
It's a very engaging, informative, and hands-on course to learn about both Docker and Kubernetes. It's also very affordable and you can buy for just $9.99 on crazy Udemy sales which happen now and then.
Why Every Developer Should Learn Docker and Kubernetes in 2025?
Now that you know what Docker and Kubernetes offer to software developers, it makes it easy to understand why every programmer or software developer should learn Kubernetes. The main reason is the increased adoption of the Cloud where Kubernetes plays an important role.
Every few years, there is a major trend in the tech world that shapes the landscapes of the industry. In the past, these have been things like Concurrency and cloud computing. Then a wave of Blockchain, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence comes. Well, they are still here but we'll not discuss those in this article.
Instead, we'll focus our discussion on technologies that are getting increased adoption across companies, both big and small like containers and serverless computing.
Docker leads the pack with Containers but Kubernetes takes it to another level. Kubernetes drastically changes the code deployment process, making it possible to easily roll out new releases on hundreds and thousands of servers with no downtime.
As a programmer, we need to be familiar with anything and everything that is required to run and support your application. While Kubernetes is much more essential for a DevOps engineer who is directly responsible for managing Application deployment, a programmer can also benefit if he knows how Kubernetes works and how it manages the containers at scale.
If things go wrong in Production then it's the developer who is often involved and if he doesn't know how things work in Production then he can't help that is why I think every programmer and developer should spend some time learning Kubernetes.
Unlike DevOps engineers, who need to have hands-on knowledge of Kubernetes, you may not need to become an expert but just knowing Kubernetes fundamentals and how things are set up and work in production can make a big difference in your career, reputation as a developer, and overall your utility. You can further see Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide to learn why we need Docker. No one explains better than Max on why we need Docker and Kubernetes.
How to learn Docker and Kubernetes in 2025?
Now the big question is how to learn Docker and Kubernetes in 2025. Well, there is no better way to learn than to join an online training course.
There are also a lot of free materials available to learn Docker and Kubernetes online and you can use them to kick-start your journey.
In the past, I have shared a few free Docker and Kubernetes courses and books which can be a good starting point.
You can join them to learn the basics of containers and tools like Docker and Kubernetes. This is good enough for many developers but if you want to learn Docker and Kubernetes in-depth and for DevOps then you need to go deeper and pick a comprehensive resource that may not be free.
If you can spend a few bucks learning something valuable like Docker and Kubernetes then I highly recommend you check out Stephen Grider's Docker and Kubernetes: Complete Guide course on Udemy to learn both Docker and Kubernetes in depth. This course is one of the highest-rated courses on Udemy and trusted by more than 143000 students.
These were some of the best books and courses to learn Docker and Kubernetes from many experts online. They are also very affordable and you can buy them online and learn them safely from your home or office.
Difference between Docker and Kubernetes:
Many programmer think that Docker and Kubernetes are same thing but they are not. Even though both are used together to manage container based deployment in production there are many difference between them.
Docker is a containerization platform that provides a way to package an application and its dependencies into a single, self-contained unit called a container. Containers are isolated from each other and from the host operating system, which makes them an ideal solution for deploying applications in a consistent and predictable manner across different environments.
For example, using Docker, you can deploy Java and .NET Microservice in same way, unlike traditional way where you need JDK installed or CLR installed for .NET. Docker abstract that and allow you to deploy containers instead of JAR files or .NET executables.
On the other hand, Kubernetes, is an open-source platform for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It provides a set of APIs and tools for deploying, scaling, and managing containers, including Docker containers.
In summary, Docker provides the containers, and Kubernetes provides the orchestration and management of those containers. The combination of Docker and Kubernetes allows organizations to manage and scale their applications more effectively and efficiently in a production environment.
It's also important to note that Kubernetes is not the only platform for orchestration and management of containers. There are many other alternatives available, such as Docker Swarm and OpenShift. However, Kubernetes is probably most popular solution in recent years due to its robust feature set, large community, and broad ecosystem.
Here is also a nice diagram from Atlassian that explains the difference between Docker and Kubernetes visually:
That's all about why every Developer should learn Kubernetes in 2025. As I said, the future of software development is in the cloud, and Docker and Kubernetes will play an important role in application deployment and scaling.
It's important for both full stack developers and DevOps Engineer to have a strong knowledge of container technologies in general and Docker and Kubernetes, in particular, to remain relevant in this new technology way.
Other DevOps Tools and Courses you may like
- The 2025 DevOps Developer RoadMap
- Top 5 Books to learn DevOps in 2025
- 10 Free Docker Courses for Java and DevOps Professionals
- 5 Free Selenium Courses to Learn Automation Testing
- 7 Free Online Courses to learn Kubernetes in 2025
- My favorite courses to learn Amazon Web Service
- 13 Best DevOps Courses for Senior Developers
- My favorite courses to learn DevOps for experienced
- 10 Free Courses to learn AWS and Cloud for Programmers
- 7 Free Courses to learn Selenium for DevOps
- 10 Docker and Kubernetes Courses for Programmers
- 6 Maven Courses for Java Developers
- 10 Things Java Developers Should Learn in 2025
- Top 5 Courses to Learn Jenkins for Automation and DevOps
Thanks for reading this article so far if you like Docker and Kubernetes and find this article useful then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.
P. S. --- If you are want to learn Docker and Kubernetes in-depth and looking for the best online courses then you can also check out this list of 5 best Docker and Kubernetes courses you can join in 2025 to learn these in-demand tools.
Top comments (10)
It's funny to see the hype around Kubernetes, but honestly, I'm not a fan. Docker itself is great because it allows you to quickly spin-up any software with the click of a button or a single command. It's like lightweight VMs and it's simple. ....but for production and kubernetes, OMG, it's the opposite. It adds so much complexity and overhead compared to hosting it directly on servers that it's not worth it IMHO. Sure, it might be nice to "scale around the globe", but for most application a couple of servers are just fine and can handle thousands of visitors per hour without a sweat. VMs can be automated just fine too at scale too with tools like terraform or ansible. My 2 cents.
Are you not overstating the complexity of k8s just a tiny bit now? There's a lot of depth to Kubernetes (which may or may not be necessary depending on how you look at it) but how complex is it really to deploy a container to k8s in 2023, especially if you're not concerned with scaling or global availability?
I completely agree with you; I began using Docker three years ago, which really helped in the deployment of my web application; however, this year, I began using K8s, which allows me to scale my web application throughout the globe with ease.
Now I feel really regret and ask myself why I didn't learn k8s Immediately after learning docker😒. Right now in my opinion, learning k8s will be highly rewarding for the DOCKER skilled developer with minimal time invested.
Today I tried to setup some pods with rancher's local-path-provider in k3d, but failed miserably. Even though the PV's showed me that they're using the path I've configured in the configmap of the local-path-provider, there weren't any files. Instead the docker layers of my kubernetes node grew steadily. It was frustrating.
Any recommendations for a local kubernetes installation, which is able to provide local storage for PV's in an easy way?
Hi, just made a comment on another article. Containerisation and orchestration are fantastic but you have to be certain they can be secured. Have been setting this up on Azure and there are too many cul-de-sacs, feature decommissioning, and preview items to make this a resilient solution.
What are your thoughts on podman? IIRC kubernetes has switched or is in the process of switching to it as a default container engine.
Can't wait to keep app in the container
This is not a great article. It basically is a bunch of (badly written) words around docker and kubernetes with the purpose of simply dropping as many affiliate links in as possible.
I thought dev.to had higher standards than this.
It would be nice to provide links and documentations to secure Kubernetes. So many instances rely on default configurations and do not enable security features to make the thing work.
It's problematic when the hype pushes users towards risky usages.
You could try harpoon.io/ for no code kubernetes. It's the latest and fastest growing Docker Extension.