Tetrate Contributes Istio Certification Exam to CNCF

In 2021, we launched the first-of-its-kind Certified Istio Administrator by Tetrate (CIAT). Today, CIAT has a new home and a new name as the Istio Certified Associate (ICA) certification exam from the Linux Foundation.

One of our earliest efforts at Tetrate was educating the market on service mesh technology with Tetrate Academy. We are proud to see the Linux Foundation and CNCF take on the certification exam and make it available for the entire community after more than 16,000 courses delivered and 13,000 people served through Tetrate Academy. Given Istio’s recent promotion as a graduated project of the CNCF, it only makes sense that the project now has an industry-standard certification exam, too.

When we first launched CIAT, we noted that enterprises were increasing their investments in digital transformation and in hiring the right talent to accelerate the journey. That trend has only accelerated. According to the 2022 open source jobs report from the Linux Foundation, 69% of hiring managers are more likely to hire someone with a certification, up from 52% in the 2020 report and 47% two years prior. Says the recent report, “the 69% of employers who are more likely to hire an open source professional with a certification also reinforces that in light of talent shortages, prior experience is becoming less of a requirement as long as someone can demonstrate they possess the skills to do the job.”

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Source: the Linux Foundation

Given this landscape, the Istio Certification program is more relevant than ever. London-based solutions engineer Vijay Nadkarni—an early Certified Istio Administrator and Tetrate guest blogger—says, “the programs that helped me the most in the field of cloud-native technology were the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) and the Certified Istio administrator by Tetrate (CIAT).”

“One good thing about the tech industry is the number of certification programs and exams out there… That said, not all certifications are the same. You will want to find the right certification programs that align with your goals. The programs that helped me the most in the field of cloud-native technology were the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) and the Certified Istio Administrator by Tetrate (CIAT).”

– Vijay Nadkarni, early Certified Istio Administrator

## Istio Has Graduated: So Has Istio Certification

One of our earliest efforts at Tetrate was educating the market on service mesh technology with Tetrate Academy. As part of our tradition of promoting service mesh adoption, we contributed the first official CNCF Istio course through the Linux Foundation when Istio sailed into the CNCF. Continuing that tradition, we are proud to contribute the Istio certification exam to the Linux Foundation and CNCF and make it available for the entire community after more than 16,000 courses delivered and 13,000 people served through Tetrate Academy. Given Istio’s recent promotion as a graduated project of the CNCF, it only makes sense that the project now has an industry-standard certification exam, too.

What’s Next

If you’re new to service mesh and Kubernetes security, Tetrate’s free online courses available at Tetrate Academy will quickly get you up to speed with Istio and Envoy. If you’re looking for the surest way to get to production with Istio, check out Tetrate Istio Distribution (TID), Tetrate’s hardened, fully upstream Istio distribution, with FIPS-verified builds and support available. It’s a great way to get started with Istio knowing you have a trusted distribution to begin with, an expert team supporting you, and also have the option to get to FIPS compliance quickly if you need to.