A structured, beginner-friendly roadmap for aspiring DevOps Engineers — covering everything from Linux basics to incident management.
Join 1,000+ learners mastering DevOps with our comprehensive curriculum!
✨ What you get:
- 📚 30+ detailed topics from Linux to Reliability Engineering
- 🧪 7 hands-on labs with real-world scenarios
- 📝 Complete assessment framework with quizzes & certificate
- 🛠️ Cheat sheets and interview prep materials
- 🆓 100% free - No signup required
🎯 Goal: Help 10,000 developers transition into DevOps roles!
💡 Star this repo to support the project and help other beginners find it!
Every ⭐ brings us closer to our goal and unlocks new community features!
graph TD
Start([🎯 Start Here]) --> Phase1
subgraph Phase1[🐧 Phase 1: Linux & Shell]
L1[Linux Basics] --> L2[Shell Scripting]
L2 --> L3[Systemd]
L3 --> L4[Filesystems]
end
Phase1 --> Phase2
subgraph Phase2[🌐 Phase 2: Networking]
N1[TCP/IP & OSI] --> N2[HTTP/HTTPS]
N2 --> N3[DNS]
N3 --> N4[TLS/SSL]
end
Phase2 --> Phase3
subgraph Phase3[🐳 Phase 3: Containers & K8s]
C1[Docker Basics] --> C2[Docker Internals]
C2 --> C3[Kubernetes]
C3 --> C4[K8s Networking]
C4 --> C5[Service Mesh]
C5 --> C6[Scheduling]
end
Phase3 --> Phase4
subgraph Phase4[📊 Phase 4: Observability]
O1[Linux Perf Tools] --> O2[Monitoring Basics]
O2 --> O3[Prometheus]
O3 --> O4[Logging]
O4 --> O5[Distributed Tracing]
end
Phase4 --> Phase5
subgraph Phase5[⚖️ Phase 5: Traffic & Resilience]
R1[Load Balancing] --> R2[Queues]
R2 --> R3[Circuit Breakers]
end
Phase5 --> Phase6
subgraph Phase6[🔧 Phase 6: CI/CD & IaC]
I1[Config Management] --> I2[CI/CD Concepts]
I2 --> I3[GitHub Actions]
I3 --> I4[Terraform]
end
Phase6 --> Phase7
subgraph Phase7[📈 Phase 7: Reliability]
S1[SLO/SLI] --> S2[Error Budgets]
S2 --> S3[Incident Mgmt]
S3 --> S4[Capacity Planning]
end
Phase7 --> Cert([🏆 Get Certified])
style Start fill:#90EE90
style Cert fill:#FFD700
style Phase1 fill:#e3f2fd
style Phase2 fill:#e3f2fd
style Phase3 fill:#e3f2fd
style Phase4 fill:#e3f2fd
style Phase5 fill:#e3f2fd
style Phase6 fill:#e3f2fd
style Phase7 fill:#e3f2fd
| Phase | Focus | Topics | Labs | Time Estimate | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🐧 Linux & Shell | 4 | ✅ Lab 1 | 2-3 weeks | 🟢 Beginner |
| 2 | 🌐 Networking | 4 | ✅ Lab 2 | 2-3 weeks | 🟢 Beginner |
| 3 | 🐳 Containers & K8s | 6 | ✅ Lab 3,5 | 3-4 weeks | 🟡 Intermediate |
| 4 | 📊 Observability | 5 | ✅ Lab 2,4 | 3-4 weeks | 🟡 Intermediate |
| 5 | ⚖️ Resilience | 3 | ✅ Lab 7 | 2 weeks | 🟡 Intermediate |
| 6 | 🔧 CI/CD & IaC | 4 | ✅ Lab 1,3,6 | 3-4 weeks | 🔴 Advanced |
| 7 | 📈 Reliability | 4 | ✅ Capstone | 2-3 weeks | 🔴 Advanced |
Total Journey: ~18-23 weeks (4-6 months) to complete all phases + certifications
This repository is a curated learning path for beginners who want to become DevOps Engineers. It covers 30 essential topics organized into logical learning phases — from foundational Linux skills to advanced reliability engineering.
Whether you're a developer looking to move into DevOps, a student exploring career paths, or a sysadmin modernizing your skills — this guide is for you.
Phase 1: Linux & Shell → Phase 2: Networking → Phase 3: Containers & K8s
↓ ↓ ↓
Phase 4: Observability → Phase 5: CI/CD & IaC → Phase 6: Reliability
| # | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linux Basics | File system, commands, permissions, users |
| 2 | Shell Scripting | Bash scripting, automation, cron jobs |
| 3 | Systemd Deep Dive | Services, units, journald, boot process |
| 4 | Filesystems & I/O | Disk management, inodes, I/O scheduling |
| # | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Networking Basics | TCP/IP, OSI model, subnets, routing |
| 6 | HTTP Internals | Request/response lifecycle, headers, HTTP/2 |
| 7 | TLS & Certs | SSL/TLS handshake, certificates, PKI |
| 8 | DNS in Practice | Name resolution, records, debugging DNS |
| # | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Containers 101 | What are containers, namespaces, cgroups |
| 10 | Docker Internals | Images, layers, volumes, networking |
| 11 | Kubernetes Basics | Pods, deployments, services, kubectl |
| 12 | K8s Networking | CNI plugins, ClusterIP, NodePort, DNS |
| 13 | Ingress & Service Mesh | Ingress controllers, Istio, traffic management |
| 14 | Pod Scheduling | Taints, tolerations, affinity, resource limits |
| # | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Linux Perf Tools | top, htop, perf, strace, lsof |
| 16 | Observability 101 | Metrics, logs, traces — the three pillars |
| 17 | Prometheus Basics | Metrics collection, exporters, PromQL |
| 18 | Logging Practices | Structured logging, log aggregation, 12-factor |
| 19 | Tracing Intro | Distributed tracing, OpenTelemetry, Jaeger |
| # | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Load Balancers | L4 vs L7, HAProxy, NGINX, algorithms |
| 21 | Queues & Backpressure | Message queues, Kafka basics, flow control |
| 22 | Circuit Breakers & Retries | Fault tolerance patterns, exponential backoff |
| # | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | Config Management | Ansible, Chef, Puppet — declarative config |
| 24 | CI/CD Basics | Pipelines, build, test, deploy concepts |
| 25 | GitHub Actions | Workflows, actions, secrets, CI automation |
| 26 | Infra as Code | Terraform, state management, modules |
| # | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | SLOs & SLIs | Service Level Objectives, error budgets |
| 28 | Incident Management | On-call, escalation, runbooks |
| 29 | Postmortems | Blameless culture, RCA, action items |
| 30 | Capacity Planning | Forecasting, load testing, scaling strategies |
| Lab | Title | Tools Used | Difficulty | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lab 1 | Deploy Node.js App with Docker + GitHub Actions | Docker, GitHub Actions | 🟢 Beginner | 45 min |
| Lab 2 | Prometheus + Grafana Monitoring Stack | Prometheus, Grafana, Docker Compose | 🟢 Beginner | 60 min |
| Lab 3 | Infrastructure as Code with Terraform | Terraform, AWS EC2 | 🟡 Intermediate | 45 min |
| Lab 4 | ELK Stack for Centralized Logging | Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Filebeat | 🟡 Intermediate | 90 min |
| Lab 5 | Kubernetes Deployment with Helm | Kubernetes, Helm, Docker | 🟡 Intermediate | 75 min |
| Lab 6 | CI/CD Pipeline with GitHub Actions + ArgoCD | GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, Helm | 🔴 Advanced | 90 min |
| Lab 7 | Chaos Engineering with Chaos Mesh | Chaos Mesh, Kubernetes | 🔴 Advanced | 60 min |
# Run pre-flight check to verify your environment
./scripts/preflight.sh
# If all checks pass, start with Lab 1
cat hands-on-labs/lab-01-nodejs-docker-cicd.md- 📖 Troubleshooting Guide: See TROUBLESHOOTING.md for common issues and solutions
- 🏃 Pre-flight Check: Run
./scripts/preflight.shto verify your setup - 💬 Community: Join our discussions for help and support
| Cheatsheet | Description |
|---|---|
| Linux Commands | File, process, network, SSH commands |
| Docker & kubectl | Docker and Kubernetes quick reference |
| Git Commands | Complete Git workflow reference |
| Vim & Nano | Editor shortcuts and modes |
Side-by-side comparisons to help you choose the right tool:
- Jenkins vs GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI
- Ansible vs Terraform vs Puppet
- Prometheus vs Datadog vs New Relic
- AWS vs GCP vs Azure
33 Q&A covering all major DevOps topics including scenario-based questions.
Curated free courses, docs, YouTube channels, and practice platforms for every topic.
Fork this repo and track your own learning journey with our checklist.
devops-fundamentals/
├── README.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── cheatsheets/
│ ├── linux-commands.md
│ ├── docker-kubectl.md
│ ├── git-commands.md
│ └── vim-nano.md
├── interview-prep/
│ └── top-50-questions.md
├── hands-on-labs/
│ ├── lab-01-nodejs-docker-cicd.md
│ ├── lab-02-prometheus-grafana.md
│ └── lab-03-terraform-aws-ec2.md
├── tools-comparison/
│ └── README.md
├── resources/
│ └── FREE-RESOURCES.md
├── progress-tracker/
│ └── PROGRESS.md
├── phase-1-linux/
├── phase-2-networking/
├── phase-3-containers/
├── phase-4-observability/
├── phase-5-resilience/
├── phase-6-cicd/
└── phase-7-reliability/
- Start from Phase 1 and work your way through each phase in order
- Use the cheatsheets as quick references while learning
- Complete the hands-on labs to apply what you learn
- Use free resources for deeper study on each topic
- Track your progress with the progress tracker
- Prepare for jobs with the interview Q&A
- Don't rush — spend at least 2–3 days per topic
Test your knowledge and earn a certificate!
- 7 Phase Quizzes - Multiple-choice questions for each phase
- 7 Practical Challenges - Hands-on exercises testing real-world skills
- Capstone Project - Comprehensive project combining all skills
- Certificate - Earn upon completing all requirements
| Phase | Quiz | Challenge | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Linux | Quiz | Challenge | ⬜ |
| 2. Networking | Quiz | Challenge | ⬜ |
| 3. Containers | Quiz | Challenge | ⬜ |
| 4. Observability | Quiz | Challenge | ⬜ |
| 5. Resilience | Quiz | Challenge | ⬜ |
| 6. CI/CD & IaC | Quiz | Challenge | ⬜ |
| 7. Reliability | Quiz | Challenge | ⬜ |
Design and implement a complete DevOps pipeline with CI/CD, monitoring, and resilience features.
Earn a DevOps Fundamentals Certificate upon completing:
- ✅ All 7 quizzes (80%+ score)
- ✅ All 7 practical challenges
- ✅ Capstone project
Level up your skills with these hands-on practice platforms!
| Platform | Best For | Focus Area | Why Use It? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💻 KodeKloud | Beginners → Intermediate | Real labs for Docker, K8s, Terraform, Ansible | Famous "100 Days of DevOps" challenge |
| 🧩 SadServers | SRE & Debugging | Pure SRE-style debugging scenarios | Broken servers → you fix them (interview-level!) |
| 🐳 Fixtheops.dev | Docker Challenges | Container misconfigs & debugging | LeetCode for DevOps - small problems, big clarity |
| ⚙️ HackerRank | Foundation Building | Linux, Shell scripting, Infrastructure logic | Not just DSA - strengthen your core skills |
| ☁️ Play with Docker/K8s | Risk-free Practice | Free browser-based labs | No setup needed - experiment without fear |
| 📚 Exercism | Guided Learning | IaC + Scripting fundamentals | Learn → Feedback → Improve with mentors |
👉 DevOps ≠ Tools
👉 DevOps ≠ Just YAML
DevOps IS about:
- 🔍 Debugging – Finding root causes quickly
- ⚡ Thinking under pressure – Handling incidents calmly
- 🧠 Understanding systems – Knowing how pieces fit together
- Start with KodeKloud → Build basics
- Experiment with Play with Docker/K8s → Practice freely
- Solve mini-problems on Fixtheops → Get comfortable
- Face real-world chaos on SadServers → Test your skills 🔥
👉 Explore Full Practice Arena for detailed guides, tracking sheets, and pro tips!
Contributions are welcome! Help us grow this resource for the community.
- Fix typos or improve explanations
- Add new labs or practical exercises
- Translate content to other languages
- Share your success stories
- Suggest new topics or improvements
👉 Read our CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.
We recognize all contributors who help make this project better!
If this helped you, please star the repo! ⭐
Your support helps:
- 🎯 Other beginners find this free resource
- 📈 Motivate us to create more content
- 🚀 Reach our goal of 10,000 learners
- 💡 Unlock community features and updates
- ⭐ 100 stars - New advanced Kubernetes lab
- ⭐ 500 stars - Video tutorials for each phase
- ⭐ 1,000 stars - Interactive quizzes platform
- ⭐ 5,000 stars - Live cohort-based course
- 💬 GitHub Discussions - Ask questions, share progress
- 🐦 Twitter/X - Follow for daily DevOps tips
- 💼 LinkedIn - Connect with fellow learners
- 📧 Newsletter - Get monthly updates (coming soon)
MIT License — free to use, share, and modify.
Made with ❤️ for the DevOps community by @hacrex