🚀 Goal: Be Among the Top 1% (2025–2026):
Target roles: Cloud Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Site Reliability Engineer (SRE), Platform
Engineer
Target companies: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Atlassian, Flipkart, Razorpay, Zoho
Core strategy: Blend hands-on DevOps automation + deep cloud architecture + open-source/public
portfolio + certifications
12-Month Roadmap
✅ Month 1–2: Foundation Setup
Goal: Master basics of Linux, Git, Networking, and Python
Learn Linux (CLI, shell commands, permissions, package managers)
o Use: Linux Journey, or “Linux for Beginners” on YouTube/Udemy
Git & GitHub — version control mastery
o Projects: Practice branches, merge, PRs on GitHub
Basic Networking (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, SSH, Ports)
Python Scripting — focus on automation, file handling, subprocess
o Build small tools like system monitoring scripts
✅ Month 3–4: Core DevOps Tools (Start Projects)
Goal: Become fluent in CI/CD, Docker, and infrastructure basics
Tools: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Docker, YAML, Bash
Docker: Containers, Images, Volumes, Dockerfile
✅ Project 1: Dockerize a Python app, push to DockerHub
CI/CD: Build pipelines with GitHub Actions / Jenkins
Practice: Automate deployment of code from GitHub to EC2
✅ Month 5–6: Start Cloud (AWS / GCP) + Deploy Real Apps
Goal: Get comfortable with cloud resources and services
AWS (Start with Free Tier):
o EC2, S3, IAM, VPC, RDS, Lambda, CloudWatch, Route 53
GCP (optional): Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, IAM, Cloud Functions
✅ Project 2: Deploy full-stack app (React + Node/Python + DB) on AWS
Cert: Prepare for AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
🚀 Goal: Be Among the Top 1% (2025–2026):
✅ Month 7–8: Kubernetes + Terraform (Infra as Code)
Goal: Automate infra with IaC + deploy apps with K8s
Terraform: Manage EC2, S3, IAM with code
Kubernetes: Pods, Services, Deployments, Ingress
Practice with minikube, then move to EKS or GKE
✅ Project 3: Deploy a Dockerized app with Terraform + Kubernetes on AWS
Cert: Start prep for CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator)
✅ Month 9–10: Monitoring, Scaling & Security
Goal: Build production-grade systems
Monitoring: Prometheus + Grafana
Security: IAM roles, KMS, Secrets Manager, VPC Security Groups, HTTPS
Load Balancers, Auto Scaling Groups, CDN (CloudFront)
✅ Project 4: Create a dashboard with Prometheus + Grafana for a running app
Start blogging your projects on Medium/Hashnode
✅ Month 11–12: Polish + Build Public Proof
Goal: Resume, LinkedIn, GitHub = elite showcase
Public GitHub Projects (4–5 end-to-end apps)
Build a DevOps Portfolio Website (use Terraform + CI/CD to deploy it)
Record short screen demos of your deployments and link on LinkedIn
Get at least 1–2 real certifications (AWS + Docker/K8s)
Bonus: Elite-Level Tactics
Area Tip
Deep Skills Master Bash, YAML, Terraform syntax, Helm, CloudFormation
Open Source Contribute to DevOps/cloud-related GitHub projects
Communication Practice explaining infra & CI/CD flow like a tech lead
Apply Smartly Target internships + freelancing on Upwork/Fiverr for early income
Mock Interviews Use Pramp, Interviewing.io for SRE/DevOps questions
Summary Path: Top 1% DevOps/Cloud Engineer
🚀 Goal: Be Among the Top 1% (2025–2026):
Linux + Git + Python
→ Docker + CI/CD
→ Cloud Infra (AWS)
→ Kubernetes + Terraform
→ Monitoring + Security
→ Certs + Projects + GitHub
→ Elite Resume + Public Proof
→ Apply to Top Companies
