Devops Specialist Course

Lesson 1 • History and Evolution of DevOps

Traces DevOps from Agile and Lean roots to modern practice. Provides context for why DevOps emerged and what problems it solves.

Lesson 2 • Core DevOps Principles

Covers CALMS framework and the Three Ways model. Connects principles to measurable delivery improvements.

Lesson 3 • DevOps Metrics and Business Value

Introduces DORA metrics and value stream mapping. Links technical performance to business outcomes for executive communication.

Lesson 1 • Monorepos and Multi-Repo Patterns

Explores trade-offs between monorepo and multi-repo architectures. Prepares students for large-scale codebase management decisions.

Lesson 2 • Git Fundamentals

Covers core Git commands, repository structure, and commit history. Forms the technical baseline for all subsequent pipeline work.

Lesson 3 • Pull Requests and Code Review

Teaches structured code review practices using pull requests. Reinforces quality gates before code reaches the main branch.

Lesson 1 • Pipeline Security and Secrets Management

Addresses credential handling, secret injection, and supply-chain security in CI. Prevents common pipeline vulnerabilities.

Lesson 2 • Automated Testing in CI

Integrates unit, integration, and static analysis tests into pipelines. Ensures code quality gates block defective builds automatically.

Lesson 3 • Build Artifact Management

Covers artifact versioning, storage, and promotion strategies. Connects build outputs to downstream deployment stages.

Lesson 4 • CI Concepts and Pipeline Anatomy

Defines CI and explains the stages of a typical pipeline. Establishes vocabulary used throughout the chapter.

Lesson 1 • Docker Compose for Local Development

Uses Docker Compose to define multi-service local environments. Bridges the gap between local development and production topology.

Lesson 2 • Container Networking and Storage

Covers Docker networking modes and volume management. Enables stateful and multi-container application configurations.

Lesson 3 • Container Concepts and Architecture

Explains containers vs. virtual machines and the Linux primitives behind them. Provides the conceptual foundation for all Docker work.

Lesson 4 • Writing Effective Dockerfiles

Teaches Dockerfile syntax, layer caching, and multi-stage builds. Produces lean, secure images ready for production use.

Lesson 1 • Provisioning Cloud Resources

Writes IaC modules to provision compute, networking, and storage. Applies reusable module patterns for scalable infrastructure.

Lesson 2 • Configuration Management

Automates OS and application configuration using configuration management tools. Ensures consistent server state across fleets.

Lesson 3 • IaC Principles and Tooling Landscape

Defines IaC, idempotency, and declarative vs. imperative approaches. Orients students within the IaC tool ecosystem.

Lesson 4 • IaC Testing and Validation

Applies linting, unit tests, and integration tests to IaC code. Catches infrastructure defects before they reach production.

Lesson 1 • Kubernetes Networking and Ingress

Covers cluster networking, DNS, and ingress controllers. Enables external traffic routing and service-to-service communication.

Lesson 2 • Workload Configuration and Scheduling

Configures resource requests, limits, and scheduling constraints. Ensures workloads are placed and scaled appropriately.

Lesson 3 • Cluster Operations and Upgrades

Covers node maintenance, cluster upgrades, and disaster recovery. Prepares students for day-two operational responsibilities.

Lesson 4 • Configuration, Secrets, and Storage

Manages application configuration and sensitive data in Kubernetes. Attaches persistent storage to stateful workloads.

Lesson 5 • Kubernetes Security Hardening

Applies RBAC, pod security standards, and network policies. Reduces the attack surface of production Kubernetes clusters.

Lesson 1 • Database Change Management

Manages schema migrations as versioned, automated pipeline steps. Prevents deployment failures caused by database and application version mismatches.

Lesson 2 • CD Principles and Release Strategies

Distinguishes continuous delivery from continuous deployment. Covers release strategies that reduce blast radius of changes.

Lesson 3 • Progressive Delivery and Experimentation

Applies progressive delivery techniques to validate changes with real users. Connects deployment decisions to business metrics.

Lesson 4 • Environment Promotion Pipelines

Designs multi-stage pipelines that promote artifacts through dev, staging, and production. Enforces quality gates at each promotion boundary.

Lesson 1 • SLIs, SLOs, and Error Budgets

Defines service level indicators and objectives tied to user experience. Uses error budgets to balance reliability and feature velocity.

Lesson 2 • Monitoring and Alerting Design

Builds actionable dashboards and alert rules that reduce noise. Connects monitoring to on-call workflows and incident response.

Lesson 3 • Chaos Engineering and Resilience Testing

Introduces controlled failure injection to validate system resilience. Builds confidence in recovery mechanisms before real incidents occur.

Lesson 4 • Observability Pillars: Metrics, Logs, Traces

Defines the three pillars of observability and their complementary roles. Establishes the instrumentation strategy for the chapter.