Kubernetes Practical By Samson Tanimawo, PhD Published Feb 9, 2026 4 min read

Kubernetes Operator Pattern

Operators automate complex workloads. When to write one.

When

Stateful application with operational complexity (databases, message queues).

Open source operator may exist.

When not

Simple apps. Operator is overkill.

Helm or Deployment suffices.

Framework

operator-sdk, kubebuilder for writing.

Don't reinvent.