Learning Paths¶
The guided-learning surface. Pick a structured journey based on your time and goal — all paths are here, from a quick crash course to the full 40-week curriculum.
Six curated paths through existing content. Every step links to a real file and states what "done" looks like.
New to DevOps? Start with the Breaking Into DevOps path below — a 16–20 week guided journey from zero to job-ready.
Daily Driver¶
Time: 30-45 min/day for 4 weeks (20 sessions) Best for: Steady skill building alongside other work
Week 1: Foundations¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time | Teardown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Understand the repo layout | Read training/START_HERE.md. Run the 10-min warm-up | make status shows all pods running |
30 min | make lab LAB=lab-runtime-01 MODE=teardown |
| 2 | Bash fundamentals | source activate.sh then cd training/interactive/exercises/levels/level-01/bash-exit-codes && quest run -- complete bash levels 01-03 |
quest run succeeds on each exercise |
30 min | none |
| 3 | Bash variables + conditionals | Bash exercises levels 04-05 (quest info, quest run, quest hint as needed) |
quest run succeeds |
30 min | none |
| 4 | Docker basics (FROM, RUN) | Docker exercises levels 01-03 | quest run succeeds |
30 min | none |
| 5 | Docker (COPY, WORKDIR, CMD) | Docker exercises levels 04-06 | quest run succeeds |
30 min | none |
Week 2: Kubernetes Core¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time | Teardown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | K8s pods and deployments | K8s exercises levels 01-03 | quest run succeeds |
30 min | none |
| 7 | K8s services and labels | K8s exercises levels 04-06 | quest run succeeds |
30 min | none |
| 8 | Build the real app image | Study Dockerfile, run make build && make deploy-all |
make status shows app running |
30 min | none |
| 9 | Lab: Readiness probe failure | Run lab-runtime-01 (break/observe/fix/verify) | ./verify.sh passes |
30 min | ./teardown.sh |
| 10 | Lab: OOMKilled | Run lab-runtime-08 | ./verify.sh passes |
30 min | ./teardown.sh |
Week 3: Helm + Observability¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time | Teardown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Helm chart anatomy | Read devops/helm/grokdevops/ (Chart.yaml, values.yaml, templates/deployment.yaml). Run make helm-lint |
Lint passes | 30 min | none |
| 12 | Lab: Helm rollback | Run lab-runtime-05 | ./verify.sh passes |
30 min | ./teardown.sh |
| 13 | Observability overview | Read devops/docs/observability.md. Port-forward Grafana and browse dashboards | Can view Grafana dashboard | 45 min | none |
| 14 | Lab: Prometheus target down | Run lab-runtime-03 | ./verify.sh passes |
30 min | ./teardown.sh |
| 15 | Lab: Loki no logs | Run lab-runtime-04 | ./verify.sh passes |
30 min | ./teardown.sh |
Week 4: Incidents + Interview¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time | Teardown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Incident response practice | make incident YES=1 && make investigate. Follow hints |
make incident-resolve succeeds |
45 min | make incident-resolve |
| 17 | Chaos + forensics | Run 2 chaos scripts from training/interactive/chaos/scripts/. Capture evidence with make incident-forensics |
Evidence bundle generated | 30 min | Scripts auto-restore |
| 18 | CI + security scanning | Read devops/docs/ci-pipeline.md. Run lab-runtime-06 | ./verify.sh passes |
30 min | ./teardown.sh |
| 19 | Interview scenario practice | Work through scenarios 01-08 (think before reading answers) | Can explain investigation path for each | 45 min | none |
| 20 | Self-assessment | Complete kubernetes.skillcheck.md and observability.skillcheck.md | Completed with honest self-evaluation | 45 min | make undeploy-all |
Crash Course¶
Time: 2 weekends (~6-8 hours each) Best for: Fast ramp-up when you need to get operational quickly
Weekend 1: Build & Break (Saturday)¶
| # | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deploy everything | make deploy-all && make status |
All pods running | 15 min |
| 2 | Docker fundamentals | Docker exercises levels 01-08 | quest run succeeds on each |
90 min |
| 3 | K8s fundamentals | K8s exercises levels 01-08 | quest run succeeds on each |
90 min |
| 4 | Lab: Probe failure + OOM | Run lab-runtime-01 and lab-runtime-08 | Both verify.sh pass | 60 min |
| 5 | Study 4 runbooks | Read: crashloopbackoff, imagepullbackoff, readiness_probe_failed, oomkilled | Can explain each from memory | 45 min |
Weekend 1: Helm & Observe (Sunday)¶
| # | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Helm deep dive | Study devops/helm/grokdevops/, run make helm-lint, do lab-runtime-05 |
Lab verify passes | 90 min |
| 7 | Observability stack | Read observability doc, do lab-runtime-03 and lab-runtime-04 | Both verify.sh pass | 90 min |
| 8 | kubectl drills | Work through training/library/drills/kubectl_drills.md | Complete 15+ drills | 60 min |
| 9 | Incident practice x2 | make incident YES=1 twice, investigate and resolve each |
Both resolved | 60 min |
Weekend 2: Operate & Interview (Saturday)¶
| # | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | K8s advanced | K8s exercises levels 09-15 (HPA, DNS, ingress, RBAC) | quest run succeeds on each |
120 min |
| 11 | Challenge mode | make challenge YES=1 MINUTES=10 x3 |
Resolved within time limit | 60 min |
| 12 | CI + GitOps | Read CI doc, do lab-runtime-06, read GitOps doc, do lab-runtime-07 | Both verify.sh pass | 90 min |
Weekend 2: Interview & Assess (Sunday)¶
| # | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | All 22 interview scenarios | Work through each scenario in training/interview-scenarios/ |
Can articulate strong answers | 120 min |
| 14 | Remaining runbooks | Read all 13 runbooks in training/library/runbooks/ |
Know the triage flow for each | 90 min |
| 15 | Full self-assessment | Complete all skillchecks in training/library/skillchecks/ |
Identified weak areas | 90 min |
| 16 | Final cleanup | make undeploy-all |
Clean cluster | 5 min |
Interview Prep¶
Time: 1-2 weeks, 60-90 min/day Best for: Preparing for DevOps/SRE interviews with hands-on practice
Phase 1: Foundation Check (Days 1-3)¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verify core K8s knowledge | Complete kubernetes.skillcheck.md. Note weak areas | Identified gaps | 60 min |
| 2 | Fill K8s gaps | K8s exercises for weak areas. Deploy stack: make deploy-all |
Gaps addressed | 90 min |
| 3 | Verify Helm + observability | Complete observability.skillcheck.md | Identified gaps | 60 min |
Phase 1b: Ansible Foundation (Day 3b)¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3b | Verify Ansible knowledge | Complete ansible.skillcheck.md. Review Ansible Hub. Study interview cheatsheet and ansible flashcards | Can explain playbooks, roles, vault, idempotency | 60 min |
Phase 2: Failure Pattern Mastery (Days 4-7)¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Pod lifecycle failures | Read runbooks: crashloopbackoff, imagepullbackoff, oomkilled. Do lab-runtime-01, lab-runtime-08 | Can explain each failure from memory | 90 min |
| 5 | Service + networking failures | Read runbooks: dns_resolution, networkpolicy_block, ingress_404. Do Quest Ladder k8s levels 11-15 | Can explain DNS resolution + NetworkPolicy flow | 90 min |
| 6 | Observability failures | Read runbooks: prometheus_target_down, loki_no_logs, tempo_no_traces. Do lab-runtime-03, lab-runtime-04 | Can explain ServiceMonitor selection and Promtail pipeline | 90 min |
| 7 | Helm + scaling failures | Read runbooks: helm_upgrade_failed, hpa_not_scaling. Do lab-runtime-02, lab-runtime-05 | Can explain Helm revision history and HPA metrics requirements | 90 min |
Phase 3: Interview Scenarios (Days 8-10)¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Scenarios 1-8 | Work through with timer. Think first, then read answer. Practice on live cluster | Can deliver strong answers without notes | 90 min |
| 9 | Scenarios 9-15 | Same approach | Can deliver strong answers without notes | 90 min |
| 10 | Scenarios 16-22 + challenge mode | Finish scenarios. Run make challenge YES=1 MINUTES=10 x3 |
Resolved challenges within time | 90 min |
Phase 4: Polish (Days 11-14, optional)¶
| Day | Objective | Action | Exit criteria | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | kubectl drills | training/library/drills/kubectl_drills.md -- speed run | All drills under target time | 60 min |
| 12 | Helm + observability drills | training/library/drills/helm_drills.md, training/library/drills/obs_drills.md | All drills completed | 60 min |
| 13 | Flashcard review | Study cards in training/interactive/knowledge/data/cards/kubernetes.tsv, docker.tsv, observability.tsv, ansible-core.tsv, ansible-ops.tsv |
Reviewed all relevant cards | 60 min |
| 14 | Mock incident gauntlet | 5 random incidents: make incident YES=1 resolve, repeat |
All 5 resolved | 90 min |
Comprehensive¶
Time: 40 weeks, 60-90 min/day, 5 days/week (200 sessions) Best for: Mastering all 203 topics -- technical, professional, and personal
This is the full curriculum. It covers every topic in the repo, all 60 case studies, and all 22 interview scenarios in a structured day-by-day schedule across 8 phases:
| Phase | Weeks | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Foundations | 1-5 | Linux, bash, networking, containers, Python, modern CLI |
| 2. Kubernetes Core | 6-10 | K8s, Helm, GitOps, networking deep dives, text processing |
| 3. Operations & Observability | 11-15 | Monitoring, CI/CD, IaC, security |
| 4. SRE & Incident Response | 16-20 | Incidents, chaos, data/storage, cloud, platform |
| 5. Advanced Platform & Datacenter | 21-25 | Advanced K8s, datacenter, networking/Linux case studies |
| 6. Remaining Technical + Career | 26-30 | DevOps tooling, career, case study blocks |
| 7. Non-Technical Deep Dives | 31-36 | Learning, personal development, life skills, health, creative |
| 8. Integration & Capstone | 37-40 | Remaining case studies, review sprints, capstone |
Every Friday is a supplement day covering non-DevOps skills (learning meta-skills, health, career, organizational knowledge) plus a case study.
Full schedule: training/library/curriculum/master.md
Accelerated DevOps (15 Steps)¶
Time: Self-paced, ~20-30 hours total Best for: Experienced engineers who want the fastest path through K8s/SRE core skills
A 15-step progression from orientation to interview prep, skipping breadth topics. Each step maps to a level and track. If you already know Docker and Linux basics, start at step 6.
| Step | What | Level | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orientation | L1 | 15 min |
| 2 | Deploy the stack | L1 | 15 min |
| 3 | Bash fundamentals | L1 | 2h |
| 4 | Docker basics | L2 | 3h |
| 5 | Build the app image | L2 | 30 min |
| 6 | K8s fundamentals | L3 | 4h |
| 7 | Lab: Probe failure | L3 | 30 min |
| 8 | Helm basics | L4 | 1h |
| 9 | Lab: Helm rollback | L4 | 30 min |
| 10 | Observability | L4 | 1h |
| 11 | Lab: Loki logs | L4 | 30 min |
| 12 | CI/CD + Security | L4 | 1h |
| 13 | Guided investigation | L5 | 45 min |
| 14 | Chaos practice | L5 | 1h |
| 15 | Interview prep + assess | L5 | 2h |
Full step-by-step with links and exit criteria: training/library/curriculum/README.md
Breaking Into DevOps¶
Time: 16–20 weeks, 60–90 min/day, 5 days/week (~180–220h total) Best for: Career changers, bootcamp grads, self-taught engineers starting from scratch
Six phases covering Linux, networking, containers, Kubernetes, IaC, CI/CD, cloud, security, and a homelab portfolio capstone. Every phase is dependency-correct — each builds on the previous.
| Phase | Weeks | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Linux, Git & Scripting | 1–4 | CLI, Bash, Python, Git, YAML |
| 2. Networking Fundamentals | 5–6 | OSI, DNS, TCP/IP, firewalls, SSH |
| 3. Containers & Kubernetes | 7–10 | Docker, K8s, Helm, jq, curl |
| 4. IaC, CI/CD & Cloud | 11–14 | Terraform, Ansible, GitHub Actions, Prometheus, AWS |
| 5. Security Fundamentals | 15–17 | Offensive basics, TLS, backups, hardening, scanning |
| 6. Capstone — Homelab Portfolio | 18–20 | Build a public GitHub portfolio with real infra |
Full path: training/library/learning-paths/learning-paths.md