Study Plan — DevOps Handbook¶
Pick a track, show up consistently, and let spaced review do the heavy lifting. This plan isn't about cramming — it's about building durable mental models that stick in interviews and on the job. Every week bakes in a quick revisit of last week's material so nothing fades.
Three tracks are available. Choose ONE and stick with it.
Track your checkbox progress in PROGRESS.md.
The journey — one picture¶
flowchart LR
P0["🛫 Pre-flight<br/><small>~5% of your time</small>"]:::p0
P1["🧰 Core toolchain<br/><small>~45% — the bulk<br/>Terraform → GitOps</small>"]:::p1
P2["🧭 Systems thinking<br/><small>~10% — connect it</small>"]:::p2
P3["⚙️ Operate<br/><small>~15% — SRE · incidents</small>"]:::p3
P4["🏗️ Capstones<br/><small>~15% — build real</small>"]:::p4
P5["🎯 Interview & career<br/><small>~10% — land it</small>"]:::p5
P0 --> P1 --> P2 --> P3 --> P4 --> P5
classDef p0 fill:#e8eaf6,stroke:#3f51b5,color:#1a237e;
classDef p1 fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1976d2,color:#0d47a1;
classDef p2 fill:#f3e5f5,stroke:#8e24aa,color:#4a148c;
classDef p3 fill:#e0f2f1,stroke:#00897b,color:#004d40;
classDef p4 fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#ef6c00,color:#e65100;
classDef p5 fill:#f1f8e9,stroke:#689f38,color:#33691e;Jo bhi track chuno, shape yahi rehta hai — beech ka sabse bada hissa Core toolchain. Neeche ki table se apni pace choose karo; har phase ke exact weeks track-table me.
Pick Your Track¶
| Track | Pace | Hours/week | Total duration | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-Week (default) | Part-time | 6–8 hrs | 12 weeks | Working professionals, college students with classes |
| 6-Week accelerated | Full-time / bootcamp | 25–30 hrs | 6 weeks | Career-switchers, people between jobs |
| Weekend track | 1 focused day/week | ~5 hrs/session | ~20 weeks | Busy schedules, slow-and-steady learners |
Hinglish tip: Ek track choose karo aur usse chipke raho. Track switch karna = progress lose karna. Sab ~90 hours ka content hai — sirf tempo alag hai.
The 12-Week Plan (Default)¶
Each week = ~6–8 hours across 3–4 sessions.
"Revisit flashcards" = prior module's deck in 17-flashcards.md.
| Week | Read (chapters) | Do (labs) | Flashcards | Milestone / ✅ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 00a Pre-flight · 00b Setup Runbook · 01 M0 Foundations | Pre-flight checklist · all tools installed & verified | M0 intro deck | ✅ Tooling installed · Day-1 recall on 00a |
| 2 | 02 M1 Terraform | Terraform lab — provision infra | M0 flashcards (Day-3 revisit) · M1 deck | ✅ First terraform apply succeeds |
| 3 | 03 M2 Ansible | Ansible playbook lab | M1 flashcards (Day-3) · M2 deck | ✅ Playbook runs end-to-end |
| 4 | 04 M3 Docker | Docker build + run + push lab | M2 flashcards (Day-3) · M3 deck | ✅ App containerised, image pushed |
| 5 | 05 M4 Kubernetes Core · then 26 K8s Objects Map (20-min synthesis) | K8s deploy + service lab | M3 flashcards (Day-3) · M4 deck | ✅ Pod running, Service exposed |
| 6 | 06 M5 Sizing & Cost · 07 M6 CI/CD | CI/CD pipeline lab | M4 flashcards (Day-3) · M5 + M6 deck | 🏗️ Toolchain complete · pipeline green |
| 7 | 08 M7 GitOps · 08b M7.5 Helm & Kustomize · 09 Connected System | ArgoCD sync lab + Lab 6 incident drill · Helm/Kustomize mini-labs | M6 flashcards (Day-3) · M7 deck | 🧠 Systems thinking unlocked |
| 8 | 10 M8 Observability & SRE · skim 23 Incident Playbook §A–C | Prometheus + Grafana lab | M7 flashcards (Day-3) · M8 deck | ✅ Dashboard live, alert fires |
| 9 | 11 M9 Advanced K8s Internals · 30 K8s Complete Reference (drill the fuzzy bits) | K8s internals lab — RBAC + CRDs | M8 flashcards (Day-3) · M9 deck · Day-7 recall M1–M4 | ✅ RBAC policies working |
| 10 | 12 Capstone I — URL Shortener phase 1 | Code app · Dockerise · deploy to K8s | M9 flashcards (Day-3) | ✅ App deployed on cluster |
| 11 | 12 Capstone I phase 2 — CI + GitOps + observability | CI pipeline + Argo sync + Grafana dashboard | All module flashcards · Day-30 blank-page test | 🚀 First end-to-end deploy · rollback tested |
| 12 | 13 Capstone II preview · 14 Interview Bank · 18 Career & Job-Ready | Mock interviews · resume + LinkedIn polish | Full flashcard sweep | 🎤 Interview-prep — true "job-ready" = Weeks 13+: green proof on core labs + Gauntlet + one real project lab |
| 13–14 (war-story extension — do it before real interviews) | 24 Gauntlet · Build · 25 Gauntlet · Chaos | Build the real system, then break & fix it | — | 💪 Battle-tested — 5+ real war stories for interviews |
| 15+ (portfolio extension) | 31 Lab A · BillFree · 32 Lab B · VANTA · 27→28→29 sprint | Two real-project labs + 10-day confidence sprint | — | 🏆 Portfolio-grade hands-on |
Wk 12 bonus: skim 15 Roadmap M11–M18 + 16 Reference Appendix to know what comes next.
The 6-Week Accelerated Plan¶
Same 21 chapters, double the daily pace — ~2 chapters + 1 lab per day. This works only if you treat it like a full-time job. No half-days.
| Week | Read | Labs | Flashcards | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 00a · 00b · M0 · M1 Terraform | Pre-flight + Terraform lab | M0 + M1 decks | ✅ Infra provisioned |
| 2 | M2 Ansible · M3 Docker · M4 Kubernetes | Ansible + Docker + K8s labs | M2 + M3 + M4 decks | 🏗️ Toolchain foundations |
| 3 | M5 Sizing · M6 CI/CD · M7 GitOps · M7.5 Helm/Kustomize | CI/CD pipeline + ArgoCD lab (incl. Lab 6 incident drill) | M5 + M6 + M7 decks | 🏗️ Full toolchain complete |
| 4 | 09 Connected System · M8 Observability · M9 K8s Internals | Prometheus/Grafana + RBAC lab | M8 + M9 decks · Day-7 recall all modules | 🧠 Systems thinking |
| 5 | Capstone I (full — all phases) | Build → Docker → K8s → CI → GitOps → Observe → Rollback | Full deck sweep · Day-30 blank-page test | 🚀 End-to-end deploy |
| 6 | Capstone II preview · Interview Bank · Career · Roadmap | Mock interviews | Final flashcard sweep | 🎯 Interview-ready |
Accelerated track mein ek din bhi miss mat karo — momentum hi sab kuch hai.
The Weekend Track (~20 Weeks)¶
One dedicated day per week, ~5 hours per session. Ideal when weekdays are not available. Spaced review happens naturally across the week gap — use it.
| Weeks | Read | Lab / Activity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | 00a · 00b | Install all tools, verify pre-flight | Take your time — a broken setup costs 2× later |
| 3 | M0 Foundations | Foundations quiz + M0 flashcards | |
| 4–5 | M1 Terraform | Terraform lab both sessions | Wk 5 = revisit + deepen |
| 6 | M2 Ansible | Ansible playbook lab | Day-1 recall on M1 this week |
| 7–8 | M3 Docker | Docker build/run/push lab | Wk 8 = extend lab with compose |
| 9–10 | M4 Kubernetes Core | K8s deploy + service + ingress | 🏗️ Toolchain foundations done |
| 11 | M5 Sizing & Cost | Cost modelling exercise | |
| 12 | M6 CI/CD | CI/CD pipeline lab | 🏗️ Toolchain complete |
| 13–14 | M7 GitOps · M7.5 Helm/Kustomize · 09 Connected System | ArgoCD lab (+ Lab 6 incident drill) + draw the system end-to-end | 🧠 Systems thinking |
| 15 | M8 Observability & SRE | Prometheus + Grafana lab | |
| 16 | M9 Advanced K8s Internals | RBAC + CRD lab | Day-30 blank-page test this weekend |
| 17–18 | Capstone I — URL Shortener | Full build-to-deploy project | 🚀 First end-to-end deploy |
| 19 | Interview Bank · Career | Mock Q&A + resume polish | |
| 20 | Capstone II preview · Roadmap | Start Capstone II · pick next track | 🎯 Interview-ready |
Daily Rhythm (60–90 min session)¶
Use this template every single session — it forces active recall before passive reading.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 5 min │ Recall gate — prior chapter, no notes │
│ │ "What did I learn? What was the lab? Key terms?" │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 40–60 min│ Read chapter + complete lab (follow ✅ success │
│ │ check — do not skip the lab) │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 10 min │ Quiz — cover all answers, write from memory, │
│ │ then reveal. Missed ones = tomorrow's recall gate │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 5 min │ Flashcards — today's new cards in 17-flashcards │
│ │ Add any missed quiz items as hand-written cards │
└──────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Rules that make the rhythm work¶
- Lab before next chapter — never skip a lab to "read ahead". The lab is the chapter.
- Quiz cold — write answers before you look. Wrong answers are data, not failure.
- Recall gate first — the 5-minute recall at the top of each session is the single highest-ROI habit in this plan. Bahut log skip karte hain — wahi galti mat karo.
- Stuck on lab > 20 min? — open
16-reference-appendix.mdand the chapter's troubleshooting section before Googling. Search only after that.
Spaced-Review Schedule¶
| Review event | When | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Learn | Day 0 | Read chapter · do lab · do quiz |
| Recall gate | Day 1 | Answer recall questions cold — no notes, no scrolling |
| Flashcards | Day 3 | Run today's module deck in 17-flashcards.md |
| Next-chapter recall | Day 7 | Re-do prior chapter's recall gate completely cold |
| Blank-page mastery test | Day 30 | Draw 2 feedback loops, 8 tool bridges, 5 threads — zero notes |
The Day-30 blank-page test is non-negotiable. Agar blank page pe draw kar sakte ho bina dekhe — concept truly absorbed hai.
Log these dates in the Spaced-Review Log in PROGRESS.md.
Milestones¶
These are capability unlocks, not just chapter completions. Celebrate them.
🏗️ Toolchain Complete — after M6 (Week 6)¶
You can provision infra (Terraform), configure servers (Ansible), package apps (Docker),
run them on K8s, cost-model the cluster, and wire up a CI/CD pipeline.
Verify: terraform, ansible, docker, kubectl, argocd all respond in your terminal.
You can provision a VM, deploy a container, and trigger a build from a single git push.
🧠 Systems Thinking — after Chapter 09 (Week 7)¶
You can draw the entire DevOps loop from scratch: code → build → test → package → provision → deploy → observe → feedback. You understand WHY each tool exists. Verify: Explain to someone (rubber duck counts) how Terraform → Ansible → Docker → K8s → CI/CD → GitOps connect as a single system without looking at notes.
🚀 First End-to-End Deploy — Capstone I done (Week 11)¶
A real URL Shortener app: coded, Dockerised, deployed to Kubernetes, CI pipeline green, ArgoCD synced, Grafana dashboard live, rollback tested, and cluster cleaned up. Verify: All 7 items in the Capstone checklist in PROGRESS.md are ticked. ✅
🎯 Interview-Ready — after Chapter 14 + 18 (Week 12)¶
You can answer 10 random questions from the interview bank without notes.
Your resume has a project section pointing to a real deployed app.
Verify: Do a 30-minute mock interview with someone (or record yourself) using
14-interview-bank.md.
What to Do When You're Stuck¶
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Lab not working | Re-read the lab's ✅ success check · check the reference appendix · check chapter troubleshooting section |
| Concept unclear | Re-read the chapter summary · run the flashcards for that module · draw the concept on paper |
| Lost motivation | Re-read your last milestone · check progress bars in PROGRESS.md · skip to flashcards for a quick win |
| Fell behind by a week | Don't restart — pick up where you left off, compress the missed week into extra weekend sessions |
| Lab environment broken | See 00b Setup Runbook troubleshooting section |
After the Plan¶
You've finished 12 weeks (or 6, or 20). Now what?
- Get the job →
18-career-job-ready.mdResume, portfolio, LinkedIn, negotiation, system-design rounds - Keep growing →
15-roadmap-M11-M18.mdService mesh (Istio), platform engineering, FinOps, security pipelines, SRE deep-dive — 8 more modules - Stay sharp →
17-flashcards.mdRun the full deck once a month · add cards from things you encounter at work - Capstone II →
13-capstone-microshop.mdMulti-service e-commerce app, real-world complexity, portfolio-grade project - Handbook spine →
00-INDEX.mdJump back to any chapter or reference section anytime
Ek journey khatam, doosri shuru. The roadmap file lists 8 advanced modules — pick the one that matches your next role or the gap in your current job.