Upskilling
Kafka Academy
Built on real-world experience from enterprise Kafka, covering the entire livecycle.
- 6 connected training modules
- Hands-on guided labs
- Real-world Swedish public sector use cases
- GitHub-based learning environment
- Architecture, operations, governance, and implementation guidance
- Onsite, remote, or hybrid
- Hosted secure environment or bring your own device
- Up to 30 particpants
Why Kafka Academy?
Training Built for Real Organizations
1. Practical + Theoretical Learning
Each module includes guided hands-on labs that build progressively throughout the program using a shared GitHub repository.
2. Swedish Public Sector Context
Real implementation examples adapted for government agencies, public institutions, GDPR requirements, and long-term operational ownership.
3. Full Kafka Lifecycle Coverage
From the first event to production operations. No fragmented standalone courses or knowledge gaps.
4. Procurement-Friendly Structure
The program is structured below the Swedish direct procurement threshold, simplifying purchasing and reducing administrative overhead.
Program Overview
Six Modules — One Complete Journey
Module 1
Kafka Basics
Fundamental Kafka concepts, terminology, delivery guarantees, replication, retention, and best practices.
More info
Topics Covered:
- Kafka terminology
- Clusters, brokers, topics, partitions, offsets
- Synchronous vs asynchronous communication
- Replication and delivery guarantees
- Retention policies and GDPR considerations
- Kafka ecosystem overview
- Best practices
Lab:
2-hour Kafka and tooling introduction.
Learning Outcome:
Participants understand Kafka fundamentals, terminology, and delivery guarantees.
Module 2
Integrating with Kafka
Producers, consumers, Kafka Connect, CDC, Schema Registry, Avro, Protobuf, and integration patterns.
More info
Topics Covered:
- Producer and consumer configuration
- Spring Kafka
- Kafka Connect
- Change Data Capture (CDC)
- Schema Registry
- Avro, Protobuf, and JSON schemas
Lab:
Build a Spring application and Kafka Connect pipeline from database to file output.
Learning Outcome:
Participants learn how to choose integration methods, implement schema-based communication, and configure CDC pipelines.
Module 3
Stream Processing
Real-time stream processing with Kafka Streams, Flink, ksqlDB, event-time handling, and stateful processing.
More info
Topics Covered:
- Stateless vs stateful processing
- Event time and watermarks
- Windowing concepts
- Kafka Streams vs Flink vs ksqlDB
- Flink architecture
- Checkpoints and savepoints
Lab:
Build stream processing logic using a local Flink environment.
Learning Outcome:
Participants understand when stream processing is appropriate and how to manage time-based and stateful processing.
Module 4
Event-Driven Architecture
EDA design patterns, event semantics, CloudEvents, AsyncAPI, transactional outbox, idempotent consumers, and scalable event-driven systems.
More info
Topics Covered:
- Event-driven architecture principles
- Event semantics
- Notification events
- State transfer
- Commands
- CloudEvents and AsyncAPI
- Dead-letter queues and ordering challenges
- Event sourcing
- Transactional outbox
- Stream design patterns
Lab:
Redesign an insurance company architecture using event-driven design patterns.
Learning Outcome:
Participants design scalable event-driven systems while avoiding common architectural pitfalls.
Module 5
Kafka Platform Implementation
Capacity planning, security, managed vs hosted Kafka, Kubernetes deployments, Strimzi, and platform architecture decisions.
More info
Topics Covered:
- Requirements analysis
- Capacity planning
- Security and monitoring
- Managed vs self-hosted Kafka
- Confluent Cloud, Aiven, Amazon MSK
- Kubernetes vs bare metal
- Strimzi and Red Hat AMQ Streams
Lab:
Deploy a Kafka cluster using Strimzi on Kubernetes.
Learning Outcome:
Participants learn how to evaluate deployment models, manage data sovereignty requirements, and build sustainable Kafka platforms.
Module 6
Operations & Governance
Monitoring, observability, GitOps, Prometheus, Grafana, alerting, governance, upgrades, and Day-2 Operations.
More info
Topics Covered:
Day-2 Operations
Metrics, logs, and tracing
Prometheus and Grafana
AlertManager and Loki
Governance models
GitOps with ArgoCD
Upgrade strategies
PromQL fundamentals
Lab:
Build Grafana dashboards, Prometheus rules, and alerting workflows.
Learning Outcome:
Participants learn how to monitor, govern, and operate Kafka platforms in production environments.
The Right Module for the Right Role
Do all or just those of relevance for your team
| Role | M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | ||||||
| System Architect | ||||||
| Platform Lead / SRE | ||||||
| IT Strategist / Decision Maker | ||||||
| Data Engineer |
Program Overview
Who Is Kafka Academy For?
More information
Delivery & Pricing
Group Size:
Up to 30 participants
Recommended Schedule:
6 half-day sessions over 6 weeks
Delivery Format:
- Onsite
- Remote
- Hybrid
Included in the Program
- All 6 modules
- Guided instructors
- Lab environments
- Course material
- Shared GitHub repository
Optional Add-Ons
- Follow-up architecture workshop
- Customized Event-Driven Architecture case studies
- Parallel training groups for larger organizations
Why Irori?
Built by Practitioners
Irori delivers Kafka expertise based on real implementation experience, not purely theoretical education.
What Makes Irori Different?
- Real Swedish enterprise and government use cases
- Instructors actively working with Kafka platforms daily
- Strong understanding of GDPR, procurement, and data sovereignty
- Long-term partnership mindset beyond the training program