Role

DevOps Engineer

Improves how software is built, tested, and deployed so teams can release reliably.

13 chaptersAbout 3 months15–30 min a day15 skills2 projects
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Chapter 1 is free. No card needed.

Day 1 on the DevOps Engineer path.

What a DevOps Engineer does

Help software teams ship updates safely by automating builds and deployments and keeping systems reliable.

  • Design and improve build and release pipelines to ship changes faster and safer
  • Build infrastructure as code to create repeatable environments across teams
  • Monitor systems and diagnose outages, performance issues, and failed deployments
  • Coordinate incident response and run post-incident reviews to prevent repeats
  • Harden systems with access controls, secrets handling, and secure defaults
  • Optimize cloud costs and capacity using metrics, alerts, and scaling rules
  • Teach teams good release practices, testing gates, and operational readiness

A day in the life

  1. Check dashboards and alerts, then triage any incidents or failed deployments
  2. Meet with developers to plan releases, risks, and needed environment changes
  3. Implement pipeline or infrastructure updates, then review changes with peers
  4. Test changes in staging, roll out to production, and watch metrics closely
  5. Document fixes and automate repeat tasks to reduce future manual work

Tools you will use

Version control: Git, GitHub, GitLabCI CD: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CIContainers: Docker, KubernetesInfrastructure as code: Terraform, AnsibleCloud platforms: AWS, Azure, Google CloudMonitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack

Your plan

Chapter by chapter.

1~1 wk

See what devops engineer work involves

StartFree
2~1 wk

Shipping Code from Commit to Container

Skills
3~1 wk

Automating Infrastructure and Repetitive Tasks

Skills
41–2 wks

Make terraform-managed cloud environment with safe teardown

Proof
5~1 wk

Meet people who do devops engineer work

People
6~1 wk

Cloud and Access Control

Skills
7~1 wk

Incidents and Analytical Thinking

Skills
8~1 wk

Communication and Collaboration

Skills
9~1 wk

Explaining risk to the business

Skills
101–2 wks

Make three incident runbooks for a service you operate

Proof
11~1 wk

Practise role interviews

Interview
12~1 wk

Choose a route into devops engineer work

Decide
13on your timeline

Apply for roles

Apply

By the last chapter

This is what you can show.

Things you've made

Terraform-managed cloud environment with safe teardown and Three incident runbooks for a service you operate

Skills you can prove

15 skills, each rated on work you actually did.

People you've talked to

4 people who do the job, with a message ready for each.

Questions you can answer

20 interview questions and a mock interview, with feedback.

Credentials

8 credentials compared, so you can pick one, or decide you don't need one. None is required.

Ways in

There is more than one route.

Ways to study

  • Bachelor degree in computer science, software engineering, or information systems
  • Diploma or certificate in IT, networking, or cloud administration
  • DevOps or cloud bootcamp with hands-on labs and portfolio projects
  • Apprenticeship or work-based training in IT operations or software delivery

How people get their first job

  • Start in IT support or systems administration and take on automation tasks
  • Start as software engineer and volunteer to own builds, releases, and on-call
  • Get an internship in cloud operations, platform engineering, or SRE teams
  • Earn an entry cloud certification and build a small portfolio of deployments
  • Contribute to open source by improving CI pipelines or release automation

Life skills on this path: Networking · Job interviews · Job search

How the work is changing

What AI is doing to this role

How AI is changing this role · one of 6 tasks we track

Automate tests and release quality gates

Sped up a lot

What AI does

Test agents now generate and run new test suites.

Still yours

You choose which failing test stops a release.

Reviewed September 2026

In the app · Premium

The rest is in the app

  • How AI affects the other 5 tasks
  • Whether this job is growing or shrinking
  • How hard the first job is to get
  • Similar roles that are easier to get into
  • Updated every month, with sources
See it in the app →

How we rate a job →

Already working

Already a DevOps Engineer?

Plan your move to Senior DevOps Engineer: 14 chapters that end with a strong case for your next review.

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Questions

Questions about this path

How long does it take to become a devops engineer with Welica?

The path is 13 chapters, 3 months at 15 to 30 minutes a day. You can go faster or slower; the plan moves with you.

Do I need a degree?

Not always. Common routes are bachelor degree in computer science, software engineering, or information systems, diploma or certificate in IT, networking, or cloud administration, devOps or cloud bootcamp with hands-on labs and portfolio projects, or apprenticeship or work-based training in IT operations or software delivery.

What is free?

Chapter 1, See what devops engineer work involves, is free for good. Premium unlocks the rest of the path.

Start the DevOps Engineer path.

Chapter 1 free. About 15 to 30 minutes a day.

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