Complete DevOps Engineer Roadmap 2025: AWS, Azure, Kubernetes & More

Are you looking to start or advance your career as a DevOps Engineer in 2025? With 8+ years of experience in the field, I'll guide you through the complete roadmap that will take you from beginner to Senior DevOps Engineer.

Why DevOps? The Market Demand'Complete DevOps Engineer Roadmap 2025: AWS, Azure, Kubernetes & More'

date: '2023-07-07' tags: ['devops', 'career', 'aws', 'azure', 'kubernetes', 'roadmap', 'learning'] draft: false summary: 'Complete DevOps Engineer roadmap covering AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, CI/CD, and essential skills. Your step-by-step guide to becoming a Senior DevOps Engineer.' images: ['/static/blogs/devops-roadmap-2025.svg'] layout: PostLayout canonicalUrl:

DevOps Engineers are in high demand globally:

• 25% job growth rate (much faster than average)
• Remote work opportunities available worldwide
• High job security and career growth potential

Phase 1: Foundation Skills (Months 1-3)

1. Linux System Administration

Why it matters: 90% of servers run Linux. Master these distributions:

• Ubuntu/Debian - Most popular for cloud deployments
• RHEL/CentOS - Enterprise environments
• Amazon Linux - AWS-optimized

Essential Linux skills:

# File system operations
ls -la /var/log/
find /etc -name "*.conf"
grep -r "error" /var/log/

# Process management
ps aux | grep nginx
top -p $(pgrep nginx)
systemctl status nginx

# Network troubleshooting
netstat -tulpn
ss -tulpn
curl -I https://example.com

2. Networking Fundamentals

• TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS
• Load balancing concepts
• VPNs and firewalls
• CDN and caching strategies

3. Version Control with Git

# Essential Git workflow
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git
git checkout -b feature/new-feature
git add .
git commit -m "Add new feature"
git push origin feature/new-feature

Phase 2: Cloud Platforms (Months 4-8)

AWS Core Services (Priority #1)

Why AWS first: 33% market share, highest demand

Must-know services:

• EC2: Virtual servers and auto-scaling
• S3: Object storage and static websites
• RDS: Managed databases
• VPC: Virtual networking
• IAM: Identity and access management
• CloudWatch: Monitoring and logging
• Lambda: Serverless computing
• EKS: Managed Kubernetes

Hands-on project: Build a 3-tier web application

# Create VPC with public/private subnets
aws ec2 create-vpc --cidr-block 10.0.0.0/16

# Launch EC2 instances with auto-scaling
aws autoscaling create-auto-scaling-group \
    --auto-scaling-group-name web-app-asg \
    --min-size 2 --max-size 6 --desired-capacity 3

Azure Fundamentals (Growing demand)

Key services to learn:

• Virtual Machines and Scale Sets
• Azure Storage and Blob
• Azure SQL Database
• Virtual Networks
• Azure Active Directory
• Azure Monitor
• Azure Functions
• AKS: Azure Kubernetes Service

Google Cloud Platform (Optional)

Focus on GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) if you have time.

Phase 3: Containerization (Months 6-9)

Docker Mastery

Why containers: Consistency across environments, efficient resource usage

# Multi-stage production Dockerfile
FROM node:18-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production

FROM node:18-alpine AS runtime
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .
EXPOSE 3000
USER node
CMD ["npm", "start"]

Essential Docker commands:

# Build and run containers
docker build -t myapp:v1.0 .
docker run -d -p 80:3000 --name myapp myapp:v1.0

# Container management
docker ps -a
docker logs myapp
docker exec -it myapp /bin/bash

# Registry operations
docker tag myapp:v1.0 myregistry/myapp:v1.0
docker push myregistry/myapp:v1.0

Kubernetes (Critical Skill)

Why Kubernetes: Industry standard for container orchestration

Core concepts to master:

• Pods, Deployments, Services
• ConfigMaps and Secrets
• Ingress controllers
• Persistent Volumes
• RBAC and security
• Helm package manager

# Production-ready Kubernetes deployment
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: web-app
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: web-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: web-app
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: web-app
          image: myapp:v1.0
          ports:
            - containerPort: 3000
          resources:
            requests:
              memory: '256Mi'
              cpu: '250m'
            limits:
              memory: '512Mi'
              cpu: '500m'
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /health
              port: 3000
            initialDelaySeconds: 30
          readinessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /ready
              port: 3000
            initialDelaySeconds: 5

Phase 4: Infrastructure as Code (Months 9-12)

Terraform (Most Popular)

Why Terraform: Multi-cloud support, large community

# AWS infrastructure example
provider "aws" {
  region = var.aws_region
}

resource "aws_vpc" "main" {
  cidr_block           = "10.0.0.0/16"
  enable_dns_hostnames = true
  enable_dns_support   = true

  tags = {
    Name        = "main-vpc"
    Environment = var.environment
  }
}

resource "aws_eks_cluster" "main" {
  name     = "main-cluster"
  role_arn = aws_iam_role.eks_cluster.arn
  version  = "1.28"

  vpc_config {
    subnet_ids = [
      aws_subnet.private[0].id,
      aws_subnet.private[1].id
    ]
    endpoint_private_access = true
    endpoint_public_access  = false
  }
}

Ansible (Configuration Management)

# Ansible playbook for web server setup
---
- name: Setup web servers
  hosts: webservers
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Install nginx
      package:
        name: nginx
        state: present

    - name: Start and enable nginx
      service:
        name: nginx
        state: started
        enabled: yes

    - name: Configure firewall
      ufw:
        rule: allow
        port: '80'

Phase 5: CI/CD Pipelines (Months 10-15)

GitHub Actions (Modern choice)

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy to Production

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '18'
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

  build:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Build Docker image
        run: |
          docker build -t ${{ github.repository }}:${{ github.sha }} .

      - name: Push to registry
        run: |
          echo ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }} | docker login -u ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }} --password-stdin
          docker push ${{ github.repository }}:${{ github.sha }}

  deploy:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to Kubernetes
        run: |
          kubectl set image deployment/web-app web-app=${{ github.repository }}:${{ github.sha }}

Jenkins (Enterprise favorite)

Pipeline as Code:

pipeline {
    agent any

    stages {
        stage('Test') {
            steps {
                sh 'npm test'
            }
        }

        stage('Build') {
            steps {
                sh 'docker build -t myapp:${BUILD_NUMBER} .'
            }
        }

        stage('Deploy') {
            steps {
                sh 'kubectl set image deployment/web-app web-app=myapp:${BUILD_NUMBER}'
            }
        }
    }
}

Phase 6: Monitoring & Observability (Months 12-18)

Prometheus & Grafana Stack

# Prometheus configuration
global:
  scrape_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'kubernetes-pods'
    kubernetes_sd_configs:
      - role: pod
    relabel_configs:
      - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io_scrape]
        action: keep
        regex: true

ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)

# Logstash configuration
input {
beats {
port => 5044
}
}

filter {
if [service] == "web-app" {
grok {
match => { "message" => "%{TIMESTAMP_ISO8601:timestamp} %{LOGLEVEL:level} %{GREEDYDATA:message}" }
}
}
}

output {
elasticsearch {
hosts => ["elasticsearch:9200"]
index => "logs-%{+YYYY.MM.dd}"
}
}

Phase 7: Advanced Topics (Months 18+)

GitOps with ArgoCD

# ArgoCD application
apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: web-app
spec:
  project: default
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/user/k8s-manifests
    targetRevision: HEAD
    path: apps/web-app
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: default
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true

Service Mesh (Istio)

# Istio virtual service
apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1alpha3
kind: VirtualService
metadata:
  name: web-app
spec:
  http:
    - match:
        - headers:
            canary:
              exact: 'true'
      route:
        - destination:
            host: web-app
            subset: v2
          weight: 100
    - route:
        - destination:
            host: web-app
            subset: v1
          weight: 90
        - destination:
            host: web-app
            subset: v2
          weight: 10

Recommended Certifications

AWS Certifications (High ROI)

1. AWS Solutions Architect Associate - Foundation
2. AWS DevOps Engineer Professional - Advanced
3. AWS Security Specialty - Security focus

Azure Certifications

1. Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) - Beginner
2. Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400) - Advanced

Kubernetes

1. Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
2. Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)

Essential Tools to Master

Monitoring & Logging

• Prometheus + Grafana
• ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana)
• Jaeger (distributed tracing)
• CloudWatch (AWS)

Security Tools

• HashiCorp Vault (secrets management)
• OWASP ZAP (security testing)
• Trivy (container scanning)
• Falco (runtime security)

Development Tools

• VS Code with extensions
• Postman (API testing)
• Slack/Teams (communication)
• Jira (project management)

Building Your Portfolio

1. GitHub Portfolio Projects

Create repositories showcasing:

• Multi-tier application deployment
• Terraform infrastructure modules
• CI/CD pipeline examples
• Monitoring stack setup
• Security hardening scripts

2. Blog About Your Journey

• Document your learning process
• Share troubleshooting experiences
• Write tutorials on tools you've mastered
• Engage with the DevOps community

3. Contribute to Open Source

• Fix issues in popular DevOps tools
• Create helpful scripts and utilities
• Improve documentation
• Participate in community discussions

Salary Expectations by Level

Junior DevOps Engineer (0-2 years)

• Global average: $50,000 -$75,000
• Key skills: Linux, basic AWS, Docker, Git

Mid-level DevOps Engineer (2-5 years)

• Global average: $75,000 -$120,000
• Key skills: Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD, one cloud platform

Senior DevOps Engineer (5+ years)

• Global average: $120,000 -$180,000+
• Key skills: Multi-cloud, security, mentoring, architecture design

Common Interview Topics

Technical Questions

1. Explain the difference between Docker and Kubernetes
2. How would you troubleshoot a failed deployment?
3. Design a CI/CD pipeline for a microservices application
4. What's your approach to infrastructure security?
5. How do you handle secrets in Kubernetes?

Scenario-Based Questions

1. Application is experiencing high latency
2. Need to migrate from monolith to microservices
3. Implement blue-green deployment strategy
4. Set up disaster recovery for critical application

Conclusion: Your Next Steps

1. Start with fundamentals - Don't skip Linux and networking
2. Get hands-on experience - Build projects, break things, fix them
3. Join communities - DevOps Discord, Reddit, local meetups
4. Practice for interviews - Use platforms like LeetCode for system design
5. Stay updated - Technology evolves rapidly in DevOps

The DevOps field offers incredible opportunities for growth, learning, and impact. With dedication and the right roadmap, you can build a successful career helping organizations deliver software faster and more reliably.

Remember: The journey is as important as the destination. Focus on understanding concepts deeply rather than just memorizing commands.

What's your current level in this roadmap? Drop a comment below and let me know where you're starting or where you're stuck. I'm here to help guide your DevOps journey!

Tags: #DevOps #AWS #Azure #Kubernetes #Docker #Career #Roadmap #CloudEngineering #Terraform #CI/CD