Learning
Cloud & DevOps
The three big providers, containers, infrastructure as code, reliability.
Where to start
Learn one provider properly rather than three badly — the concepts transfer, the console does not. Do containers before orchestration; Kubernetes makes very little sense until Docker does. Microsoft Learn is the most generous of the three free offerings by a distance.
Providers4
- Microsoft Learn TrainingStart hereFree
Structured Azure and Microsoft 365 paths with hands-on sandboxes included at no cost. The most generous free offering of the three.
- AWS Skill BuilderStart hereFree tier
The official AWS catalogue. Substantial free tier; labs and exam preparation sit behind a subscription.
- Google Cloud Skills BoostStart hereFree tier
Guided labs in a real, temporary GCP project. Some paths free, most labs cost credits.
- AWS Well-Architected FrameworkCoreFree
The five pillars, and the questions a review actually asks. Useful on any cloud, not just AWS.
Containers and orchestration4
- Docker: Get startedStart hereFree
The official walkthrough, from first container to compose. Do this before touching Kubernetes.
- Kubernetes TutorialsCoreFree
Official tutorials including an in-browser cluster, so you can learn the objects without provisioning anything.
- Kubernetes the Hard WayAdvancedFree
Build a cluster component by component with no automation. Nobody runs it this way; everybody should do it once.
- Terraform TutorialsCoreFree
Infrastructure as code from first principles, with tracks per cloud provider.
Running things reliably4
- Site Reliability EngineeringCoreFree
The SRE books in full, online. Where error budgets and service level objectives come from.
- Prometheus DocsCoreFree
The de facto metrics system. The data-model page is the one that makes the rest make sense.
- OpenTelemetry DocsCoreFree
The vendor-neutral standard for traces, metrics and logs. Increasingly the thing everything else speaks.
- Roadmap.shStart hereFree
Visual dependency maps of what to learn in what order, per role. Best for spotting gaps rather than as a curriculum.
About this list
12 resources, checked automatically every week so dead links do not sit here unnoticed. Nothing on this page is sponsored and none of these links pay us — which is the only reason a recommendation on it is worth anything. Every link goes to the original source, and we take nothing with you when you leave.