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DevOps Roadmap

A rough order for learning DevOps. Click a topic for details.

  1. 1

    Learn Programming

    Pick Python or Go. Write scripts that automate things.

    PythonBashGo
  2. 2

    Operating Systems

    Know what processes, memory, and file systems actually do.

    ProcessesMemoryFile Systems
  3. 3

    Linux Fundamentals

    Get comfortable in a terminal. You'll live there.

    CLIsystemdPackage Management
  4. 4

    Version Control (Git)

    Learn Git properly. Not just add-commit-push.

    GitGitHubBranching
  5. 5

    Networking

    TCP/IP, DNS, load balancers. Debug why things can't connect.

    TCP/IPDNSLoad Balancing
  6. 6

    Cloud Platforms

    Pick AWS, GCP, or Azure. Learn one properly before touching another.

    AWSTerraformIaC
  7. 7

    Containers

    Docker first. Understand images, layers, and registries.

    DockerImagesRegistries
  8. 8

    Orchestration

    Kubernetes or Nomad. Run containers at scale.

    KubernetesPodsServices
  9. 9

    CI/CD

    Automate builds, tests, and deployments. No more manual releases.

    GitHub ActionsJenkinsGitLab CI
  10. 10

    Monitoring and Observability

    If you can't see it, you can't fix it. Metrics, logs, traces.

    PrometheusGrafanaLokiOpenTelemetry
  11. 11

    Security and DevSecOps

    Shift left. Scan early. Rotate secrets. Sleep better.

    IAMSecrets ManagementVulnerability Scanning
  12. 12

    GitOps and Configuration Management

    Git is the source of truth. Everything declarative.

    ArgoCDHelmAnsibleFlux

Learn Programming

Core Skills

  • LanguagesPython, Go, or JavaScript for automation and tooling
  • ScriptingBash scripting for system automation
  • Infrastructure as CodeYAML, JSON configuration

Operating Systems

Core Skills

  • Process ManagementUnderstanding processes, threads, and scheduling
  • Memory ManagementVirtual memory, paging, and swapping
  • File SystemsFile permissions, storage, and I/O operations

Linux Fundamentals

Core Skills

  • Command LineNavigation, file manipulation, and text processing
  • System Servicessystemd, service management, and logging
  • Package Managementapt, yum, package installation and updates

Version Control (Git)

Core Skills

  • Basic Operationsclone, add, commit, push, pull
  • BranchingFeature branches, merge strategies, and workflows
  • CollaborationGitHub/GitLab workflows and pull requests

Networking

Core Skills

  • ProtocolsTCP/IP, HTTP/HTTPS, DNS, and SSL/TLS
  • Load BalancingDistribution strategies and health checks
  • SecurityFirewalls, VPNs, and network segmentation

Cloud Platforms

Core Skills

  • AWS/Azure/GCPCore services like EC2, S3, VPC, and IAM
  • Infrastructure as CodeTerraform, CloudFormation, or ARM templates
  • Managed ServicesDatabases, monitoring, and serverless computing

Containers

Core Skills

  • Docker BasicsImages, containers, Dockerfile, and registries
  • Multi-stage BuildsOptimizing image size and security
  • Networking & StorageContainer networking and volume management

Orchestration

Core Skills

  • Core ConceptsPods, Services, Deployments, and ConfigMaps
  • Scaling & UpdatesHorizontal scaling and rolling updates
  • Monitoring & LoggingHealth checks, metrics, and centralized logging

CI/CD

Core Skills

  • Pipeline DesignBuild, test, deploy stages. Parallelism and caching.
  • GitHub ActionsWorkflows, reusable actions, matrix builds, OIDC auth
  • Artifact ManagementContainer registries, package publishing, versioning
  • Deployment StrategiesBlue-green, canary, rolling updates, feature flags

Monitoring and Observability

Core Skills

  • MetricsPrometheus, Grafana dashboards, alerting rules
  • LoggingCentralized logging with Loki, ELK, or CloudWatch
  • TracingDistributed tracing with OpenTelemetry, Tempo, or Jaeger
  • AlertingPagerDuty, OpsGenie, alert fatigue management, runbooks

Security and DevSecOps

Core Skills

  • Secret ManagementVault, AWS Secrets Manager, SOPS. Never hardcode secrets.
  • Vulnerability ScanningSnyk, Trivy, SonarCloud in CI pipelines
  • IAM and AccessLeast privilege, RBAC, OIDC, service accounts
  • ComplianceSOC 2, ISO 27001 basics, audit trails

GitOps and Configuration Management

Core Skills

  • GitOpsArgoCD or Flux for declarative deployments from Git
  • HelmKubernetes package management, chart templating
  • Configuration ManagementAnsible for server provisioning and config
  • Policy as CodeOPA, Kyverno for enforcing cluster policies

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