Career Path

DevOps Engineer

Bridge the gap between code and production — automate everything

DevOps Engineers build and maintain the systems that get code from a developer's laptop to production servers — reliably, repeatedly, and fast. They own CI/CD pipelines, cloud infrastructure, container orchestration, and monitoring. Traditionally not an entry-level role, but in 2026, AI tools like GitHub Copilot and Claude have lowered the barrier significantly. You still need strong fundamentals, but you can move faster than ever.

What you'd do day-to-day

  • Building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines
  • Managing infrastructure with tools like Terraform and Kubernetes
  • Automating deployments and monitoring systems
  • Troubleshooting production issues alongside developers

Who hires for this role

  • SaaS companies (Atlassian, Datadog)
  • E-commerce platforms
  • Financial services
  • Any company shipping software frequently
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Salary Progression

Entry

$85K

Mid

$140K

Senior

$195K+

Time to hire

9-14 months (dedicated study)

Est. cost

$200-$1,500 (self-study + certs)

Your Roadmap

How to become an DevOps Engineer

Step by step, from where you are now to getting hired.

1

Linux Fundamentals + Command Line

6-8 weeks

Everything in DevOps runs on Linux. You need to be comfortable navigating the filesystem, managing processes, editing config files, understanding permissions, and writing basic shell scripts. This is the foundation everything else builds on.

Linux CLIFile system navigationProcess managementPermissionsBasic networking (DNS, TCP/IP, ports)

Potential salary at this stage

$85K

2

Scripting + Version Control

6-8 weeks

Learn Python for automation scripts and Bash for shell scripting. Master Git and GitHub — every DevOps workflow revolves around version control. You don't need to be a software engineer, but you must be able to write scripts that automate repetitive tasks.

Python scriptingBash scriptingGit & GitHubYAML/JSONBasic automation

Potential salary at this stage

$85K

3

Cloud Infrastructure (AWS)

2-3 months

Pick one cloud provider and learn it deeply — AWS has the most jobs. Understand compute (EC2), storage (S3), networking (VPC), IAM, and basic managed services. The goal is to be able to provision and manage infrastructure through the console and CLI, preparing you for Infrastructure as Code in the next step.

AWS core servicesEC2, S3, VPC, IAMAWS CLICloud networkingCost management

Potential salary at this stage

$140K

4

Containers + Kubernetes

2-3 months

Docker is how modern apps are packaged. Kubernetes is how they're orchestrated at scale. Learn to containerize applications, write Dockerfiles, use Docker Compose for local development, then graduate to Kubernetes for deploying and managing containers in production.

DockerDockerfiles & ComposeKubernetes core conceptskubectlHelm basics

Potential salary at this stage

$140K

5

CI/CD Pipelines + Infrastructure as Code

2-3 months

This is where DevOps comes together. Build CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions (most common in 2026). Learn Terraform to define infrastructure as code — no more clicking through cloud consoles. Understand GitOps workflows where infrastructure changes go through pull requests just like application code.

GitHub ActionsTerraform (HCL)Infrastructure as CodeGitOps principlesPipeline design

Potential salary at this stage

$195K+

6

Monitoring + Certifications + Get Hired

2-3 months

Learn observability basics — Prometheus for metrics, Grafana for dashboards, and log aggregation. Then get certified: AWS Solutions Architect Associate is the highest-signal cert for DevOps hiring. Terraform Associate and CKA are strong additions. Build a portfolio project: a full CI/CD pipeline deploying a containerized app to AWS with Terraform-managed infrastructure.

Prometheus & GrafanaLog aggregationAWS SAA certTerraform Associate certPortfolio project

Potential salary at this stage

$195K+

Certifications that boost this career

AWS Solutions Architect Associate

+$18K salary — most requested cert in DevOps job postings

See how it helps

HashiCorp Terraform Associate

+$12K salary — proves IaC competency

Explore this cert

CKA (Kubernetes)

+$15K salary — gold standard for container orchestration

Learn more