Hey tech explorers,

If you're on the fence about starting your cloud and DevOps journey, know this: there's no right or wrong path. The fact that you're thinking about it and made it to this post means you're already halfway there.

Now, let's tackle the next half with some crucial concepts and resources to build upon.

Stick around, because I've got an action plan for you at the end!

So, let's map this out in three phases:

Phase 1 – also called Day 0 DevOps or concepts you need to be aware of before taking a dive into the tools.

Phase 2 – Here we are talking about the processes and workflows, along with the tools and why they exist.

Phase 3 – We are talking about the advanced topics that will give you an upper edge to shine through your interviews.

This is just an overview of the topics – follow the links below to dive into each phase with the corresponding starting point for learning them.

Phase 1 : Laying the Foundation (Day 0 DevOps) -

• Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC): Understand the structured process of building software, from idea to deployment and maintenance.

• Operating Systems (Linux Focus): Learn the fundamentals of Linux as a crucial platform for DevOps.

• Programming Language: Acquire foundational skills in a scripting language for automation tasks.

• Networking Fundamentals: Understand the basic principles of how computers communicate.

• Server Management: Learn to manage and configure web servers that host applications.

• Scripting & Automation Basics: Develop practical skills in automating tasks using scripting.

• Version Control: Master the basics of Git for tracking changes and collaboration.

Go to this link for a deep dive down on each topic and resources where you can start learning Phase 1.

Phase 2: Processes, Tools, and the "Why"

• Containerization: Learn to package and run applications in isolated containers for consistent deployment and scalability in the cloud.

• Orchestration: Understand how to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications using orchestration tools.

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Learn to provision and manage cloud infrastructure using code for automation, repeatability, and version control.

• Cloud Provider Fundamentals (AWS/GCP/Azure): Develop a working understanding of the core services offered by a chosen cloud provider for compute, storage, and networking.

• Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Implement automated pipelines for building, testing, and deploying applications efficiently and reliably in the cloud.

• Monitoring & Observability Basics: Learn to track the health and performance of applications and infrastructure in the cloud to ensure reliability and identify issues.

For free resources for Phase 2, go to this link.

Phase 3: Level Up Your Game

• Advanced IaC: Focus on mastering modular and scalable infrastructure automation using tools like Terraform and Ansible for complex cloud environments. Learn advanced state management and provisioning techniques.

• Advanced Kubernetes: Focus on an in-depth understanding of Kubernetes networking, advanced deployment strategies, and implementing robust security policies within containerized applications.

• Cloud Security (including DevSecOps integration): Focus on implementing comprehensive cloud security best practices, integrating security into development (DevSecOps), and understanding compliance and common vulnerabilities.

• Advanced Monitoring & Observability: Focus on building comprehensive monitoring, logging, tracing, and alerting systems to gain deep, actionable insights into cloud application and infrastructure performance.

• Performance Optimization: Focus on identifying and resolving complex performance bottlenecks in cloud applications and infrastructure through advanced testing and optimization techniques.

• Disaster Recovery (DR) & Business Continuity (BC): Focus on designing and implementing robust DR and BC strategies in the cloud, including understanding and achieving defined recovery objectives.

• Caching Strategies in the Cloud: Focus on implementing and managing advanced caching solutions like Redis, Memcached, and CDNs to significantly improve application performance and user experience.

• Database Management in the Cloud: Focus on mastering the design, implementation, and management of highly scalable and available SQL and NoSQL databases in cloud environments.

• Service Mesh: Focus on understanding and implementing service mesh technologies (e.g., Istio, Linkerd) to manage microservices communication, security, and observability at scale.

• MLOps (Machine Learning Operations): Focus on understanding and implementing the core principles and practices for reliably deploying, monitoring, and managing machine learning models in the cloud.

Go to this link to get the subtopics and resources for picking on Phase 3.

There is a Phase 4 as well – which is more advanced and inclusive of GPU deployment for model training and serving – which includes advanced frameworks and tech stacks. Stay tuned for this.

Now each phase has some next steps and actionable call to actions.

Keep the momentum going, and let’s keep pushing!