DevOps Roadmap 2026

From Beginner to Expert

Think of DevOps as a journey:
Linux → Programming → Cloud → Automate Everything → Design Platforms → Lead Architecture

There is no real end. You keep moving toward Platform Engineering, Cloud Architecture, and AI-driven Operations.

Phase 1
Linux Fundamentals
2 – 4 weeks
Available on Root Cause

This is where every DevOps engineer should start. Linux is the OS every container runs on, every cloud VM runs on, every CI runner runs on.

Learn
  • Linux installation & file system structure
  • Permissions (chmod, chown)
  • Users and groups
  • Processes (ps, top, kill)
  • Package managers (apt, yum)
  • Services (systemctl)
  • Networking: ping, curl, netstat, ss, dig, nslookup
  • SSH, Cron jobs, Logs (journalctl, /var/log)
Practice
  • Create users & configure SSH
  • Install Nginx
  • Host a website on Linux
Linux Questions & Notes →
Phase 2
Networking Fundamentals
2 weeks

Most DevOps issues are networking issues.

Learn
  • OSI Model, TCP/IP, HTTP/HTTPS
  • DNS, Ports, Firewalls, NAT
  • Load Balancers & Reverse Proxy
  • SSL/TLS, CIDR, Subnets
Practice
  • Configure DNS
  • Install Nginx reverse proxy
  • Generate SSL certificates
  • Debug network problems
Phase 3
Scripting
2 – 4 weeks

Automation is the heart of DevOps.

Bash
  • Variables, Loops, Functions, Arrays
  • Conditions, Reading files
Build
  • Backup script
  • Log cleanup script
  • Health check script
Python Recommended
  • Variables, Functions, Lists, Dictionaries
  • APIs, File handling, Exception handling
Build
  • Server monitoring tool
  • Slack notifications
  • Automation scripts
Phase 4
Git & GitHub
1 week
Learn
  • Repository, Branches, Merge, Rebase
  • Pull Requests, Git Tags, Cherry-pick
  • Git Hooks
Practice
  • Create repositories & feature branches
  • Release tags & Pull Requests
Phase 5
Containers — Docker
2 weeks
Coming Soon
Learn
  • Images, Containers, Dockerfile
  • Volumes, Networks, Multi-stage builds
  • Docker Compose, Registry
Build
  • Containerize a Java, Node, and Python app
  • Push images to Docker Hub, ACR, ECR
Phase 6
CI/CD
3 – 4 weeks
Coming Soon

This is where DevOps becomes real.

Learn
  • Build & release pipelines
  • Artifacts & secrets management
  • Environment promotion, pipeline templates
  • Reusable workflows
Tools
  • GitHub Actions
  • Jenkins
  • Azure DevOps
Build
Code
↓
Build
↓
Test
↓
Security Scan
↓
Docker Build
↓
Push Image
↓
Deploy
Phase 7
Cloud Fundamentals — Azure
4 weeks
Coming Soon

Pick one cloud first and go deep. Azure is a strong choice given its enterprise adoption and AKS maturity.

Compute & Storage
  • Virtual Machines & Scale Sets
  • Storage Accounts & Blob Storage
Networking
  • VNet, NSG, Load Balancer
  • Application Gateway, Private Endpoints
Security
  • Managed Identity, Key Vault, RBAC
Containers & Monitoring
  • AKS, ACR
  • Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Alerts
Phase 8
Infrastructure as Code — Terraform
3 weeks
Coming Soon
Learn
  • Providers, Resources, Variables, Outputs
  • Modules, State, Remote Backend
  • Workspaces, Data Sources
Build
VNet
↓
AKS
↓
ACR
↓
Key Vault
↓
Database
Phase 9
Kubernetes
6 – 8 weeks
Coming Soon

This is where many engineers stop being "Cloud Engineers" and become "Senior DevOps Engineers."

Core Concepts
  • Pods, ReplicaSets, Deployments
  • Services, ConfigMaps, Secrets
  • Namespaces, Jobs, CronJobs
  • Persistent Volumes
Networking
  • Ingress, NetworkPolicy, Service Mesh
Scaling & Security
  • HPA, Cluster Autoscaler
  • RBAC, Service Accounts, Pod Security
Advanced
  • Operators, Helm, CRDs
Build
Application
↓
Docker
↓
Kubernetes
↓
Ingress
↓
TLS
↓
Autoscaling
Phase 10
GitOps
2 weeks
Coming Soon
Learn
  • Declarative deployments
  • Git as source of truth
  • Sync strategies, Rollbacks
Tools
  • ArgoCD
  • Flux
Build
Git
↓
ArgoCD
↓
Kubernetes
Phase 11
Monitoring & Observability
3 weeks
Coming Soon
Learn
  • Metrics, Logs, Tracing, Alerting
Tools
  • Prometheus & Grafana
  • Loki, OpenTelemetry, ELK
Build a Dashboard tracking
  • CPU & Memory
  • Request count & Error rate
  • Latency
Phase 12
Security & DevSecOps
3 weeks
Coming Soon
Learn
  • Secrets management
  • Container & image scanning
  • Dependency scanning
  • IAM & Supply chain security
  • Policy as Code
Tools
  • Trivy, Checkov, SonarQube
  • Snyk, OPA, Kyverno
Phase 13
Real Production Architecture
Capstone

Everything comes together into a single production-grade pipeline.

GitHub
→
GitHub Actions
→
Terraform
→
Azure
→
AKS
→
ArgoCD
→
Application
→
Ingress
→
Monitoring
→
Alerts
Phase 14
Platform Engineering
Advanced
Learn
  • Internal Developer Platforms
  • Golden Paths & Self-service Infrastructure
  • Developer Experience
  • Backstage, Crossplane
  • Kubernetes Operators
Phase 15
AI + DevOps
The Future
Emerging
Learn
  • AI-assisted incident management
  • AI-generated pipelines
  • AIOps & LLM integrations
  • MCP Servers
  • AI Agents for operations
Linux is live. Start here.
62 scenario questions with model answers, deep notes PDF, and real production fixes. More phases launching soon.
Start with Linux → Follow for updates