What is DevOps?

DevOps is a cultural and professional movement that emphasizes collaboration between Development and Operations teams. It focuses on:

• Automating software delivery processes
• Implementing continuous integration/deployment (CI/CD)
• Breaking down silos between teams
• Creating a culture of shared responsibility
• Improving speed and reliability of software delivery

Learning Path

1. Fundamental Concepts

Free Resources:

• DevOps Fundamentals
  • DevOps.com Learning Portal - Free articles and webinars
  • Microsoft Learn: DevOps Fundamentals - Free course
  • IBM DevOps Basics - Comprehensive guide

Essential Books (Available as free summaries/excerpts):

1. "The Phoenix Project" - Gene Kim (Introduction available free)
2. "The DevOps Handbook" (Sample chapters available)
3. "Site Reliability Engineering" by Google (Free online version)

2. Technical Foundation

Operating Systems

• Linux Essentials
  • Linux Foundation's Introduction to Linux - Free course
  • Linux Journey - Interactive learning
  • Linux Command Line Basics - Ubuntu tutorials

Programming/Scripting

• Python
  • Automate the Boring Stuff with Python - Free online book
  • Python for DevOps - YouTube series
• Shell Scripting
  • Shell Scripting Tutorial - Free guide
  • Bash Academy - Interactive learning

3. Essential Tools & Technologies

Version Control

• Git
  • Git Documentation - Official docs
  • GitHub Learning Lab - Interactive tutorials
  • GitLab Learning - Free resources

Containerization

• Docker
  • Docker Getting Started - Official tutorial
  • Play with Docker - Free playground
  • Docker Labs - Hands-on tutorials

Container Orchestration

• Kubernetes
  • Kubernetes Documentation - Official tutorials
  • Kubernetes By Example - Free interactive learning
  • Katacoda - Interactive browser-based labs

Infrastructure as Code

• Terraform
  • HashiCorp Learn - Official tutorials
  • Terraform Up & Running - Free guide
• Ansible
  • Ansible Documentation - Official getting started
  • Ansible for DevOps - Free examples

4. CI/CD

• Jenkins
  • Jenkins Handbook - Official documentation
  • Jenkins Pipeline Tutorial - Free guide
• GitHub Actions
  • GitHub Actions Documentation - Official docs
  • GitHub Actions Learning Path - Free course

5. Monitoring & Logging

• Prometheus & Grafana
  • Prometheus Getting Started - Official guide
  • Grafana Fundamentals - Free tutorials
• ELK Stack
  • Elastic Stack Tutorial - Official documentation
  • ELK Stack Tutorial for Beginners - Free guide

Practice Projects

1. Basic Pipeline Project

   • Create a simple web application
   • Set up Git repository
   • Implement CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions
   • Deploy to a cloud platform (AWS/GCP/Azure free tier)

2. Container Orchestration Project

   • Containerize a multi-service application
   • Create Kubernetes manifests
   • Set up monitoring with Prometheus/Grafana
   • Implement logging with ELK stack

3. Infrastructure as Code Project

   • Write Terraform code for cloud infrastructure
   • Implement configuration management with Ansible
   • Create automated deployment pipeline

Learning Communities

• DevOps Discord
• Reddit r/devops
• DevOps Stack Exchange

Free Cloud Resources

• AWS Free Tier
• Google Cloud Free Tier
• Azure Free Account

Best Practices

1. Start with fundamentals before diving into tools
2. Practice regularly with hands-on projects
3. Join communities and participate in discussions
4. Follow DevOps blogs and YouTube channels
5. Create a home lab for experimentation
6. Contribute to open source projects
7. Document your learning journey
8. Focus on automation and infrastructure as code
9. Learn about security best practices
10. Understand monitoring and observability