DevOps roadmap
Follow this ordered roadmap to learn DevOps in the right sequence. Complete one step, then move to the next.
Phases
10
Structured learning blocks
Mode
Practice-first
Commands, projects, operations
Goal
Production ready
End-to-end DevOps capability
Jump to phase
1. Study each step in sequence.
2. Practice commands and mini-projects.
3. Move ahead only after confidence.
Step 1
Linux command-line confidence is the base for all DevOps workflows.
- Filesystem navigation, permissions, users, groups, and process management
- Package installation, service management, and logs
- Daily shell workflow for debugging and operations
Step 2
Understanding network flow helps debug production issues quickly.
- IP, DNS, ports, TLS/HTTPS basics, and request/response flow
- Connectivity checks and packet/path troubleshooting
- Practical command usage for network diagnosis
Step 3
Everything in DevOps depends on Git-based collaboration.
- Branching strategy, pull requests, and code reviews
- Git history cleanup (rebase/cherry-pick), conflict resolution
- Repository standards and release tagging
Step 4
Reliable CI catches issues before deployment.
- Build/test pipeline structure and fast feedback loops
- Artifacts, cache strategy, and secrets management
- Pipeline debugging and failure analysis
Step 5
CI/CD automates build, test, and deploy workflows.
- Release promotion across dev/stage/prod environments
- Approvals, rollback design, and deployment safety checks
- GitOps/CD platform integration patterns
Step 6
Containerized apps are core to modern DevOps delivery.
- Dockerfile design, image optimization, and registry operations
- Runtime, networking, and troubleshooting containers
- Multi-service local environments with Compose/Swarm
Step 7
Kubernetes is central for scalable modern application delivery.
- Pods, deployments, services, and ingress fundamentals
- Release strategy with Helm and environment config
- Cluster operations and troubleshooting workflow
Step 8
Reliable infra should be versioned, repeatable, and auditable.
- Provisioning with Terraform/CloudFormation/Pulumi
- Configuration management and idempotent automation with Ansible
- State handling, modules, and reusable infra patterns
Step 9
Production DevOps requires practical cloud architecture and operations.
- Core service mapping across AWS, Azure, and GCP
- Identity, networking, and cost-aware deployment design
- Operational runbooks for cloud-based workloads
Step 10
Production systems need visibility, uptime, and secure operations.
- Metrics, logs, tracing, SLO/SLA/error-budget concepts
- Alerting, incident handling, RCA, and postmortem workflow
- Security checks in pipelines and runtime hardening
Build one end-to-end project: source control, CI/CD, containerization, Kubernetes deployment, monitoring, and alerting. This proves practical DevOps capability for jobs and interviews.
Blog
Implementation write-ups that map directly to this roadmap.
prometheus
Metrics, dashboards, and alerts that actually catch problems — without paging on noise.
Read post →
terraform
Provision repeatable cloud infrastructure from a single source of truth, with state, modules, and CI integration.
Read post →
jenkins
A declarative Jenkinsfile that builds, tests, scans, and deploys — plus the patterns that keep pipelines maintainable.
Read post →
kubernetes
Understand the core objects you will touch every day on a real cluster, plus the operational gotchas no tutorial mentions.
Read post →