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DevOps Architect

Role tracks

Nine career directions built from the same 19 lessons. A lesson is written once and reused by every role that needs it; only the order and emphasis change. Finishing a track does not make you an architect or an SRE; it shows which of these lessons you have read and practised.

Not sure which fits? Answer 5 questions and pick a target role.

Your depth by level

Every lesson section is tagged with a level. Demonstrated counts sections with a completed check (today only labs have one). Reading counts sections you reached without a check.

  • L1 Foundation
    30 sections · nothing recorded yet
  • L2 Practitioner
    35 sections · nothing recorded yet
  • L3 Production
    43 sections · nothing recorded yet
  • L4 Architect
    5 sections · nothing recorded yet

DevOps Engineer

Developers or sysadmins moving into delivery and infrastructure work.

Levels
Assumes L1 Foundation; builds toward L3 Production.
Emphasis
Operate, Automate, Observe
Effort
About 58 minutes of reading across 7 required lessons, plus 7 labs.
Practice in these lessons
7 simulated labs · 7 troubleshooting sections · no architecture decision sections
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 01 Linux & Shell Scripting · 8 min
  2. 04 Docker & Containers · 8 min
  3. 02 Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · 10 min
  4. 05 Terraform · 8 min
  5. 07 CI/CD Pipelines · 8 min
  6. 12 GitOps & Platform Engineering · 8 min
  7. 08 Prometheus & Alerting · 8 min

Recommended Ansible · Helm — Kubernetes Package Engineering · AWS for DevOps Engineers · Grafana Dashboards & Observability · DevSecOps & Security Hardening

Optional SRE Playbooks & Toil Automation · FinOps & Cloud Cost Engineering

Cloud Engineer

Engineers who provision and run cloud infrastructure.

Levels
Assumes L1 Foundation; builds toward L3 Production.
Emphasis
Automate, Operate, Secure
Effort
About 48 minutes of reading across 6 required lessons, plus 6 labs.
Practice in these lessons
6 simulated labs · 6 troubleshooting sections · 2 architecture decision sections (Deep Dive: Multi-Account & Cost Controls; Enterprise: GuardDuty, Config & Transit Gateway)
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 01 Linux & Shell Scripting · 8 min
  2. 05 Terraform · 8 min
  3. 06 Ansible · 8 min
  4. 11 AWS for DevOps Engineers · 8 min
  5. 04 Docker & Containers · 8 min
  6. 07 CI/CD Pipelines · 8 min

Recommended Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · DevSecOps & Security Hardening · FinOps & Cloud Cost Engineering

Optional GitOps & Platform Engineering

SRE

Engineers who already operate services and want to own reliability.

Levels
Assumes L2 Practitioner; builds toward L3 Production.
Emphasis
Observe, Troubleshoot, Make trade-offs
Effort
About 56 minutes of reading across 6 required lessons, plus 6 labs.
Practice in these lessons
6 simulated labs · 9 troubleshooting sections · no architecture decision sections
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 01 Linux & Shell Scripting · 8 min
  2. 02 Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · 10 min · assumes Docker & Containers (not on this list)
  3. 08 Prometheus & Alerting · 8 min
  4. 09 Grafana Dashboards & Observability · 8 min
  5. 17 OpenTelemetry & Observability · 9 min
  6. 19 SRE Playbooks & Toil Automation · 13 min

Recommended Production War Room & Interview Simulator · Docker & Containers · Istio & Service Mesh · CI/CD Pipelines

Optional FinOps & Cloud Cost Engineering · AI & LLMOps Infrastructure

Platform Engineer

Engineers building internal platforms for other teams.

Levels
Assumes L2 Practitioner; builds toward L4 Architect.
Emphasis
Automate, Design, Operate
Effort
About 55 minutes of reading across 6 required lessons, plus 6 labs.
Practice in these lessons
6 simulated labs · 6 troubleshooting sections · 1 architecture decision sections (Backstage: Software Catalog & Golden Paths)
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 02 Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · 10 min · assumes Docker & Containers (not on this list)
  2. 03 Helm — Kubernetes Package Engineering · 13 min
  3. 05 Terraform · 8 min
  4. 07 CI/CD Pipelines · 8 min · assumes Docker & Containers (not on this list)
  5. 12 GitOps & Platform Engineering · 8 min
  6. 16 Platform Engineering & IDP · 8 min

Recommended Docker & Containers · OpenTelemetry & Observability · DevSecOps & Security Hardening · Istio & Service Mesh

Optional FinOps & Cloud Cost Engineering

DevSecOps Engineer

Engineers responsible for securing the delivery pipeline and runtime.

Levels
Assumes L2 Practitioner; builds toward L3 Production.
Emphasis
Secure, Automate
Effort
About 42 minutes of reading across 5 required lessons, plus 5 labs.
Practice in these lessons
5 simulated labs · 5 troubleshooting sections · no architecture decision sections
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 01 Linux & Shell Scripting · 8 min
  2. 04 Docker & Containers · 8 min
  3. 02 Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · 10 min
  4. 07 CI/CD Pipelines · 8 min
  5. 10 DevSecOps & Security Hardening · 8 min

Recommended Terraform · Istio & Service Mesh · AWS for DevOps Engineers · GitOps & Platform Engineering

Container/Kubernetes Engineer

Engineers who run containerised workloads on Kubernetes.

Levels
Assumes L1 Foundation; builds toward L3 Production.
Emphasis
Operate, Troubleshoot
Effort
About 39 minutes of reading across 4 required lessons, plus 4 labs.
Practice in these lessons
4 simulated labs · 4 troubleshooting sections · no architecture decision sections
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 01 Linux & Shell Scripting · 8 min
  2. 04 Docker & Containers · 8 min
  3. 02 Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · 10 min
  4. 03 Helm — Kubernetes Package Engineering · 13 min

Recommended GitOps & Platform Engineering · Istio & Service Mesh · Prometheus & Alerting · DevSecOps & Security Hardening

Optional Platform Engineering & IDP

Release / CI-CD Engineer

Engineers who own build, release and deployment pipelines.

Levels
Assumes L1 Foundation; builds toward L3 Production.
Emphasis
Automate, Operate
Effort
About 47 minutes of reading across 5 required lessons, plus 5 labs.
Practice in these lessons
5 simulated labs · 5 troubleshooting sections · no architecture decision sections
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 04 Docker & Containers · 8 min · assumes Linux & Shell Scripting (not on this list)
  2. 02 Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · 10 min
  3. 07 CI/CD Pipelines · 8 min
  4. 03 Helm — Kubernetes Package Engineering · 13 min
  5. 12 GitOps & Platform Engineering · 8 min

Recommended DevSecOps & Security Hardening · Terraform

Optional Istio & Service Mesh

FinOps / Cloud Optimization

Engineers responsible for cloud cost visibility and efficiency.

Levels
Assumes L2 Practitioner; builds toward L4 Architect.
Emphasis
Make trade-offs, Observe
Effort
About 39 minutes of reading across 4 required lessons, plus 4 labs.
Practice in these lessons
4 simulated labs · 4 troubleshooting sections · 3 architecture decision sections (Deep Dive: Multi-Account & Cost Controls; Enterprise: GuardDuty, Config & Transit Gateway; RI/SP Strategy: Commitment Purchasing)
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 05 Terraform · 8 min
  2. 11 AWS for DevOps Engineers · 8 min
  3. 02 Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · 10 min · assumes Docker & Containers (not on this list)
  4. 15 FinOps & Cloud Cost Engineering · 13 min

Recommended Docker & Containers · Prometheus & Alerting · Grafana Dashboards & Observability

Optional Platform Engineering & IDP

DevOps / Platform Architect

Senior engineers who set platform direction and standards.

Levels
Assumes L3 Production; builds toward L4 Architect.
Emphasis
Design, Make trade-offs, Secure
Effort
About 86 minutes of reading across 9 required lessons, plus 9 labs.
Practice in these lessons
9 simulated labs · 11 troubleshooting sections · 5 architecture decision sections (Deep Dive: Multi-Account & Cost Controls; Enterprise: GuardDuty, Config & Transit Gateway; RI/SP Strategy: Commitment Purchasing; Backstage: Software Catalog & Golden Paths; 2026 Staff/Principal System Design Whiteboard)
Capstone
Not available yet. Capstone specs are planned in issue #8.
Completion evidence
Each required lesson's lab run. Other sections show as reading until checks for them exist.
Your readiness
No progress recorded in this browser.

Required, in order

  1. 05 Terraform · 8 min
  2. 11 AWS for DevOps Engineers · 8 min
  3. 02 Kubernetes — Container Orchestration at Scale · 10 min · assumes Docker & Containers (not on this list)
  4. 12 GitOps & Platform Engineering · 8 min · assumes CI/CD Pipelines (not on this list)
  5. 10 DevSecOps & Security Hardening · 8 min · assumes Docker & Containers (not on this list)
  6. 19 SRE Playbooks & Toil Automation · 13 min · assumes Prometheus & Alerting (not on this list)
  7. 16 Platform Engineering & IDP · 8 min
  8. 15 FinOps & Cloud Cost Engineering · 13 min
  9. 13 Production War Room & Interview Simulator · 10 min

Recommended Istio & Service Mesh · OpenTelemetry & Observability · CI/CD Pipelines

Optional AI & LLMOps Infrastructure