Which is harder – CKA or RHCSA? Anyone who's taken both?

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nerdyviking88@reddit

Having taken both, I wouldn't say either is harder than the other, but they focus on different things. Mind you, I re-did my CKA after the chance in 2025, so I've taken both pre and post change.

CKA is very much focused on how to do K8S things, as you'd expect. Spinning up clusters, writing configmaps, security, etc. It's basically assuming that the rest of the OS is running just fine, so you don't get bogged down in the non-k8s aspects.

RHCSA is the opposite. You're having to troubleshoot an entire OS, and as such everything is on the table. That being said, the exam objectives and study materials know this, and focus on the main things.

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Bajoner@reddit (OP)

From what I gather it sounds like RHCSA is more difficult when it comes to troubleshooting at least?

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altodor@reddit

This is subjective and depends on what your background is.

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Bajoner@reddit (OP)

I’ve already taken CKA and I’ve worked with linux daily for a little over a year. Been thinking about taking RHCSA since my job is paying for it. But only if I succeed, if I fail then I have to pay for it. I also want to learn more about selinux and potentially other areas. Is it worth the time and risk for what I get (higher salary in future jobs etc..)? Because if it doesn’t lead to anything positive, then what’s the point? I could just learn the same things without any pressure of taking the cert

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nerdyviking88@reddit

I wouldn't say it's harder. I would say it's broader.

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hassanhaimid@reddit

rhcsa is easy

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EndpointWrangler@reddit

They test different things . CKA is harder conceptually because Kubernetes has more moving parts and the exam is pure troubleshooting under time pressure, but RHCSA is more unforgiving if your Linux fundamentals aren't solid. Most people who've done both say CKA takes more study time but RHCSA catches you off guard if you underestimate it.

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InfiniteRest7@reddit

I'm studying to take CKA now. From what I hear the exam environment in CKA is more clunky and less responsive, which in some ways makes it harder. You can review the documentation in both, and I would say RHCSA has some complimentary knowledge to CKA, at least in terms of basics like the shell and vim. I haven't taken CKA yet, but I might go so far as to say some additional study in VIM might be helpful, since if you have to work on a k8s manifest by hand it could speed up your accuracy and moving around a document.

I would prefer to take RHCSA and then CKA, unless I had been working as a linux admin for many years, which I hadn't, so for me it was a worthwhile step to take. If you're already working in tech, such as cloud, etc., then CKA might be a better investment. If you're still building up skills to cloud and devops, then I might start with RHCSA as a skill builder for the fundamentals.

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c7b3rx@reddit

I would say RHCSA or maybe because it was my first practical exam but CKA is really easy if you are good with troubleshooting