So you would like to become a DevOps Engineer but you either fresh out of University or you would like to make a career change to Wonderful & Amazing field of DevOps, well you have come to the right place. If you are unsure what a DevOps entails in detail, please click on the YouTube Video Link below that will outline exactly what it takes to be a DevOps Engineer. The Video will explain no matter what background you come from (Within the field of IT), how we will help transition you from your current role to DevOps. Big Thanks to Nana for the content. Please like and subscribe to her channel as she played a big role in getting me as far as I am in my DevOps Career.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what to expect out of the Job Role, I would like to share with you a role based scenario to get you started, please note the route we are taking here is from an AWS DevOps Engineer perspective but however can help you down the road once you feel confident enough to tackle different cloud vendors, with enough experienced gained.
In Order to Get you well Rounded for Your DevOps Career we are Going to get you started with the below Certification Tracks & I will explain how you can achieve each one of them as we go:
- AWS Certified Developer Associate
- NDG Linux Essentials (This will set you up for success and is aligned with the LPI Linux Essentials Professional Development Certificate) You will get a LPI Essentials discount, which is optional but not a mandatory Exam.
- Learning the Technical Fundamentals, which is a free and Comprehensive Course by Adrian Cantrill, this aims at giving you the basic networking knowledge you will need in the industry.
- Docker Training Course for the Absolute Beginner – Mumshad Mannambeth (KodeKloud Free)
- Kubernetes – Free Courses and Tutorials on Udemy
- Git Operations (Version Control Free from The Linux Foundation)
- Terraform – Free Complete Course from DevOps Directive
Whilst the above is not an exhaustive list of training its more than enough to get you hired as a DevOps Engineer.
Get Started & Certified for Free with AWS Educate & AWS Emerging Community!
Within the Information Technology World, there is no better way to proof yourself then getting Certified. Getting IT Certifications Validates your expertise and stands you out as a professional, it shows that you have the in-demand skills that is expected of you to perform your job role of choice. Certification also is a merit in the form of credibility that boosts your confidence and globally recognizes you no matter where in the world you want to work one day.
As I understand we live in demanding times, finding free training providers to give you quality training is often not free and can conflict with your work schedule. What worked for me was signing up with https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate/
AWS Educate is open to any individual, regardless of where they are in their education, technical experience, or career journey.
If you’re overwhelmed by too many choices when it comes to learning about the cloud, AWS Educate is here to help. Cloud beginners like you are invited to check out our free, self-paced online training resources and labs designed to help you learn, practice, and evaluate your cloud skills without having to create an Amazon account.
What is even more amazing with this program is after completing just one cloud skill which for the DevOps Track I recommend the below:
You get specially invited to the AWS Emerging Talent Community, there is no way to officially join the community without passing one of the above skill badges mentioned. Once you are in the AWS Emerging Talent Community, you can customize your experience based on what suits your cloud learning needs, find resources to guide you to the next steps on your cloud journey, and connect with cloud learners from around the world. You can also complete challenges to earn points that can be redeemed for rewards like digital backgrounds and 100% discounted AWS Certification Exam vouchers. It’s all possible in the community, so what are you waiting for? What I truly value about the community more than then the Perks mentioned above your ability to connect, network and learn with the community worldwide!. Meet Nova she has recently become a AWS Developer at a Technology Company in Japan. See how her life was transformed by following the above steps.
A Great Starting point – The AWS Developer Associate – Mission Get Certified.
Remember one vital fact and I tell all my students this worldwide, a Technical Certification only grants you a stepping stone to your DevOps Interview, remember the most important part of your Certification, is embracing your journey learning the content and building out the different AWS Services mentioned within the course curriculum. This helps cement the content learnt, so lab as much as you possibly can and sign up for Amazon’s Free Tier Service, you can cancel at any point and I can ensure you, within a year, you will have landed your first DevOps Role.
Depending how much time and effort you put into upskilling yourself there is nothing preventing you from getting Certified, one of the Many Perks with the ETC, is getting a AWS Free Exam Voucher.
1.) AWS Skills Builder – Pursue the Developer Associate Track.
There are requirements for the above reward, one of which is obtaining a AWS Skills Builder Certification from the Certification Track of Choice, this will be the Developer Associate Track for you. Once completed you will not only be eligible for the above incentive but AWS will also provide you with an Official Certificate of Completion.
Thereafter all you need to do is engage with the community and achieve Knowledge Points, they may have a different name its just how I refer to them. Which you will require 4700 Knowledge Points, you can complete various challenges that are suited to the DevOps Track you choose, as well as logging in daily as you are incentivized to keep up to date with the community with the ability to claim daily paints. https://explore.skillbuilder.aws/learn/learning_plan/view/84/developer-learning-plan
I would not advise going for your AWS Cloud Practitioner first, infact, I will encourage you to complete all of the AWS Certifications in this method and finish with the Cloud Practitioner as it will be much easier to obtain. There are also Annual Challenges released by Amazon to Get AWS Cloud Practitioner Certified, so you should rather focus on specializing at this point.
Other Free Resources – To Pass your AWS Developer Associate Exam
So you have completed your AWS Skills Builder Certification and passed the Official Practice test, what next? I always advise using more than one resource to study with, there are Courses on Udemy, such as Neal Davis’s Developer Associate Course, Stephane Maarek’s, Developer Associate Course, there are a number of training providers, but the goal of this website, is to have you land your first tech role, without having to spend a penny and then you can give back to the community as I am doing so now. Sign up for your AWS Free Tier Service Account https://aws.amazon.com/free/ instead, I am going to Introduce you now to Andrew Brown (Please also like & subscribe to his channel) his provided a full free course on YouTube.
I advise you watch along and build alongside him with your AWS Free Tier Service Account. If you Follow these Steps, I assure you can Pass. Once complete visit the following websites for free Practice Questions that will help give you experience with how to approach exam questions and more importantly exam agility, you only have a set number of time to complete your exam, so you must ensure that you are comfortable with completing the exam within 130 Minutes. Find the full Exam Guideline here: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-developer-associate
MORE OFFICIAL AWS TRAINING (AWS Power Hour: Developer Associate – Watch all the Episodes)
Please search for AWS Power Hour: Developer Associate | S1 E1 | Get to Know the Developer Associate (DVA-C02) Exam (As you need to login / sign in for free)
Practice Exams
Here are the Links to the Free Practice Exams you can use, Digital Cloud’s Training https://digitalcloud.training/aws-developer-associate-free-practice-exam-questions Thanks to Neal Davis & the Team for providing this for the community. Whiz Lab’s is offering a free practice Tests as well https://www.whizlabs.com/learn/course/aws-developer-associate/160/quiz/61261 I do strongly recommend that you don’t just memorize what the correct answer is, but follow the AWS Whitepaper’s, regarding the service, in relation to the question you may have gotten incorrect and Build it out on your AWS Free Tier Service Account. You are also welcome to sign up for Udemy Trial’s a week before your official exam and try out Jon Boso’s exam practice exams, personally if you have $15 to spare I know Tutorial Dojo always provides discounts weekly, I would purchase his practice questions as they have similar technical breadth to the experience you will get on the official exam, again his site offers multiple free resources that will help you ace the exam. https://tutorialsdojo.com (Please note this is optional)
Lastly I encourage you to go through a few Labs / Workshops which are free with AWS Workshops https://workshops.aws It’s not certification based, but you can use your exam guide to practice on the various services offered on the exam. The above is adequate enough for you to take the exam and I implore you to do research of your own, I can only guide you through your journey, different people have different learning styles. This approach however is what worked for me.
2.) NDG Linux Essentials (Provided thanks to Cisco & Linux Professional Institute)
Nearly Every IT Job Requires Some Linux Knowledge
As one of the most successful open source collaborations, Linux has evolved into the most reliable operating system on the planet. It’s used for embedded systems to virtually all supercomputers for a good reason. NDG Linux Essentials quickly builds your Linux knowledge and prepares you for the Linux Professional Institute Linux Essentials certificate, your proof to employers that you know Linux! Many concepts in this course are covered at a more demanding pace in NDG Linux I. No prerequisites required. This course will come with a certificate of Completion as well for prospective employers.
You’ll Learn These Core Skills:
- Acquire open source concepts and progressively master Linux commands.
- Understand how Linux is used and the basics of its command line.
- Become skilled at using the Linux virtual machine for experiments.
- Prepare for LPI Linux Essentials Professional Development Certificate (PDC).
Your Just one Click Away from Learning Linux: https://www.netacad.com/courses/os-it/ndg-linux-essentials
Once you complete the above you will receive a coupon code and you may write and pass your LPIC Essentials / LPIC-1 depending if you have the budget to do so, this is not mandatory, but will give you an extra step ahead of the rest. The exam is not expensive as well with your Discount Voucher from Cisco it should be under $99.
3.) Learning the Technical Fundamentals (Adrian Cantrill – learn.cantrill.io)
This course is specifically aimed at beginners who are interested in learning about various technical concepts that will help them in their job interviews and when studying other tech-related topics.
In this course, you will be taught through theoretical explanations that are designed to help you grasp the underlying principles of each topic. The course is structured in a way that allows you to learn @ your own pace & enables you to revisit the content as many times as you need to ensure that you fully understand each topic.
Whether you are an aspiring IT professional or someone who wants to develop a foundational technical knowledge to navigate the digital world more effectively, this course is for you.
Networking is super important no matter whether you are a Computer Programmer, DevOps Engineer, Cloud Engineer,
Visit the site to sign up now for free: https://learn.cantrill.io/p/tech-fundamentals
4.) Docker Training Course for the Absolute Beginner – Mumshad Mannambeth (KodeKloud Free)
Docker is an open platform for developers and sysadmins to build, ship, and run distributed applications, whether on laptops, data center VMs, or the cloud.
This course introduces Docker to an Absolute Beginner using really simple and easy-to-understand lectures. Lectures are followed by demos showing how to set up and get started with Docker.
The coding exercises that accompany this course will help you practice Docker commands and develop your own images using Dockerfiles and practice Docker Compose.
You will be developing Docker files for different use cases right in your browser. This way you don’t really need to have your own environment set up to get some hands-on practice.
The coding exercises will validate your commands and Dockerfiles and ensure you have written them correctly.
Visit the site to sign up now for free: https://kodekloud.com/courses/docker-for-the-absolute-beginner/
5.) Kubernetes – Free Courses and Tutorials on Udemy
Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration system for managing, scaling, and automating software deployment. Kubernetes helps organizations with DevOps, as it combines the development and maintenance phase of software systems to improve agility.
Through the Kubernetes user interface, developers can view, access, deploy, update, and optimize container ecosystems.
Essentially, containerization is an efficient and effective way to implement DevOps than a monolithic application. Kubernetes creates and manages containers on the cloud-based server systems. Kubernetes helps DevOps teams to reduce the burden of infrastructure by letting containers operate on different machines/environments without breakdowns.
Network Chuck has a very easy way of explaining what Kubernetes is and how it applies to business use cases, so please give his video a like and subscribe to his channel, this helped me on my journey.
Visit the site to sign up now for free: https://www.udemy.com/topic/kubernetes/free/
Every Year The Linux Foundation hosts the The Shubhra Kar Linux Foundation Training (LiFT) Scholarship Program.
The next Scholarship Program is aimed to Launch on the 1st of April 2024, I myself was a winner in 2022 and that is how I got Kubernetes Certified.
Visit this site to apply for the Scholarship: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/lift-scholarships
For General Labbing or Practice Exams visit Killer Coda, they have some of the Best Labs designed that helped me achieve exam victory.
https://killercoda.com/killer-shell-cka
6.) Git Operations (Version Control Free from The Linux Foundation)
Version control is essential for DevOps, as it enables teams to work faster, more efficiently, and with higher quality.
Benefits of version control for DevOps:
- Collaboration: Version control allows developers to work on the same code base simultaneously, without having to worry about conflicting changes. This is essential for DevOps teams, which often consist of developers, operations engineers, and other team members working on different aspects of the software development lifecycle.
- Speed: Version control helps teams to move faster by making it easy to roll back changes, experiment with new features, and deploy software more frequently.
- Quality: Version control helps to improve quality by providing a way to track changes, review code, and identify and fix bugs more quickly.
Specific ways in which version control supports DevOps:
- Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD): Version control is a key component of CI/CD pipelines, which automate the building, testing, and deployment of software.
- Branching and merging: Version control allows teams to create and merge branches, which can be used to isolate different features or bug fixes from the main code base. This makes it easier to develop and test new features without disrupting the production environment.
- Rollbacks: Version control makes it easy to roll back to a previous version of the code base if something goes wrong with a deployment. This can help to minimize downtime and disruptions to users.
- Auditability: Version control provides a complete audit trail of all changes to the code base, which can be used to identify who made what changes and when. This can be helpful for debugging problems or complying with regulations.
Overall, version control is an essential tool for DevOps teams. It helps them to work faster, more efficiently, and with higher quality.
Sign up for the Free Course with the Linux Foundation and earn a Credly Badge to show prospective Employers on LinkedIn you are Qualified! https://training.linuxfoundation.org/training/introduction-to-gitops-lfs169
7.) HashiCorp Terraform Associate Certification Course – Pass the Exam!
Terraform is an open-source infrastructure as code (IaC) tool created by HashiCorp. It allows you to define and provision infrastructure in both cloud and on-premises environments using a declarative configuration language.
Terraform can manage a wide range of resources, including virtual machines, storage, networking, and databases.
KodeKloud Hosts free Terraform Challenges for you to practice, help familiarize & prepare you for your exam, it also does not require an AWS Account. So you can practice to your hearts content.
Visit: https://kodekloud.com/courses/terraform-challenges/
I hope this has been helpful & informative for you, as I have shown you, most of these courses you can attain, for free all you need is the correct discipline and the right attitude.
For any issues feel free to select the contact us page and we will be sure to help you. Best of Luck on your DevOps Journey.
