Next cohort 1 June 2026
Professional Certificate • CI/CD & Kubernetes • 520 Hours

Automate Everything. Ship with Confidence.
Launch Your DevOps Career.

The comprehensive DevOps program from containers to production-grade CI/CD.
14 modules. 50+ hands-on labs. Infrastructure as code. Career-ready.

No prior DevOps experience required
Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform
50+ hands-on labs
14 modules
520 learning hours
50+ hands-on labs
18+ age requirement
learn.qualifynation.com/devops/
K8sCI/CDIaC
AI

Excellent! Ready to deploy your app to Kubernetes?

CI/CD
Containers
No degree required
Docker & Kubernetes
Terraform
Career support
AI tutor 24/7
GitHub Actions
GitOps
12-month access
No degree required
Docker & Kubernetes
Terraform
Career support
AI tutor 24/7
GitHub Actions
GitOps
12-month access

DevOps Engineering Certificate

CI/CD, Containers & Infrastructure as Code

520 Learning Hours Comprehensive curriculum
14 Modules 6 Progressive Units
50+ Hands-On Labs Real infrastructure
24/7 AI Tutor Support Always available

Full-Time

4-5 months

25-30 hours/week
or

Part-Time

8-10 months

12-15 hours/week

Entry Requirements

No formal DevOps experience required
Basic computer literacy needed
Command line familiarity helpful
Age 18+ recommended

14 Modules. 6 Units.
Complete DevOps Training.

A structured journey from Linux basics to production-grade Kubernetes deployments and CI/CD pipelines. Hands-on labs throughout.

Module 1

Introduction to DevOps

  • What is DevOps and why it matters
  • The DevOps lifecycle and core principles
  • Breaking down silos: Dev + Ops collaboration
  • DevOps vs traditional IT operations
  • Key metrics: DORA and deployment frequency
  • Career paths in DevOps engineering
Module 2

Linux & Command Line Mastery

  • Linux fundamentals for DevOps engineers
  • Shell scripting with Bash
  • File systems, permissions, and processes
  • Package management and system administration
  • SSH, networking, and remote access
  • Hands-on: Automating tasks with scripts
Module 3

Git & Version Control

  • Git fundamentals: commits, branches, merges
  • Branching strategies: GitFlow, trunk-based development
  • Resolving merge conflicts effectively
  • Git hooks and automation triggers
  • Advanced Git: rebasing, cherry-picking, bisect
Module 4

GitHub & Collaboration

  • Pull requests and code review workflows
  • GitHub Actions for workflow automation
  • Branch protection and security rules
  • GitHub Packages and container registries
  • Open source contribution workflows
Module 5

Docker Fundamentals

  • Containers vs virtual machines
  • Docker architecture and components
  • Building images with Dockerfiles
  • Docker Compose for multi-container apps
  • Image optimization and security scanning
  • Hands-on: Containerize a full-stack application
Module 6

Kubernetes Essentials

  • Kubernetes architecture: pods, nodes, clusters
  • Deployments, services, and ingress controllers
  • ConfigMaps and secrets management
  • Persistent storage and volumes
  • Helm charts for package management
  • Hands-on: Deploy to a Kubernetes cluster
Module 7

Advanced Kubernetes

  • StatefulSets and DaemonSets
  • Resource management and autoscaling (HPA, VPA)
  • Network policies and service mesh basics
  • Kubernetes security best practices
  • Debugging and troubleshooting clusters
Module 8

Continuous Integration

  • CI principles and best practices
  • Building effective automated test suites
  • Code quality gates and linting
  • Artifact management and versioning
  • GitHub Actions deep dive
Module 9

Continuous Deployment

  • CD strategies: blue-green, canary, rolling
  • GitOps with ArgoCD and Flux
  • Feature flags and progressive delivery
  • Rollback strategies and disaster recovery
  • Hands-on: Build a complete CI/CD pipeline
Module 10

Pipeline Security (DevSecOps)

  • Shift-left security principles
  • SAST, DAST, and dependency scanning
  • Container image security and signing
  • Secrets management in pipelines
  • Compliance as code automation
Module 11

Terraform Mastery

  • Infrastructure as Code principles
  • Terraform providers and resources
  • State management and remote backends
  • Modules and reusable components
  • Terraform Cloud and team collaboration
  • Hands-on: Provision cloud infrastructure
Module 12

Configuration Management

  • Ansible fundamentals and playbooks
  • Inventory management and variables
  • Roles and Galaxy collections
  • Ansible vs other tools (Puppet, Chef)
  • Immutable infrastructure patterns
Module 13

Monitoring & Observability

  • The three pillars: metrics, logs, traces
  • Prometheus and Grafana stack
  • Centralized logging with ELK/Loki
  • Distributed tracing with Jaeger
  • Building effective dashboards and alerts
Module 14

Site Reliability Engineering

  • SRE principles and error budgets
  • SLIs, SLOs, and SLAs defined
  • Incident management and postmortems
  • Chaos engineering introduction
  • Capstone: Design a production-ready system

Ready to automate everything?

Begin with the Learn platform and start building pipelines from day one.

Express Interest

Build Real DevOps Skills

Master the tools and practices that DevOps employers are looking for in 2024 and beyond.

Version Control

Git workflows and collaboration

Containerization

Docker and Kubernetes

CI/CD Pipelines

GitHub Actions and ArgoCD

Infrastructure as Code

Terraform and Ansible

Observability

Prometheus, Grafana, ELK

DevSecOps

Security in the pipeline

Linux & Scripting

Bash and system admin

Cloud Platforms

AWS, Azure, GCP basics

SRE Practices

SLOs, incident management

Automation

End-to-end automation skills

All skills are taught through hands-on labs building real CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure.

Who Is This Course For?

This course is designed for anyone who wants to build a career in DevOps engineering—regardless of background.

Software Developers

Who want to own the full delivery lifecycle and deploy their own code.

System Administrators

Transitioning to modern cloud-native infrastructure and automation.

IT Operations

Looking to automate manual processes and scale infrastructure.

Career Changers

With technical aptitude seeking high-demand DevOps engineering roles.

Platform Engineers

Building internal developer platforms and tooling.

Tech-Curious Professionals

Interested in automation but unsure where to start.

This course may NOT be for you if:

  • You already work as a senior DevOps or platform engineer
  • You're looking for management-only content without technical depth
  • You want to focus exclusively on one tool (e.g., only Kubernetes)

How We Compare

See how our DevOps program stacks up against other learning options.

Feature
Best Value DevOps
YouTube Free
University £9,000+/year
End-to-End DevOps Curriculum Varies
No Prerequisites
50+ Hands-On Labs Varies
Self-Paced Learning
Real CI/CD Pipelines Varies
AI Tutor Support
Career Support Varies

Breaking Into DevOps Shouldn't
Require a Production Outage

The traditional path to a DevOps career is confusing. Too many tools, not enough hands-on practice, and courses that teach theory without real pipeline experience.

Tool Overwhelm

Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins, ArgoCD... where do you even start?

Theory vs Practice

Most courses explain concepts but don't teach you to build real pipelines and infrastructure.

Certification Maze

CKA, CKAD, AWS DevOps, Terraform... which certifications actually matter for jobs?

Experience Paradox

DevOps jobs want experience, but you can't get experience without access to production systems.

There has to be a better way to become job-ready in DevOps

Your Path to a DevOps Career

Four integrated platforms that take you from DevOps beginner to job-ready engineer—all within your 12-month access period.

01

Learn

Master the Fundamentals

Bite-sized video lessons, interactive quizzes, and AI-powered tutoring. Learn at your own pace with 24/7 support.

  • 140+ video lessons
  • Interactive quizzes
  • AI tutor support
  • Mobile-friendly
02

Labs

Practice in Real Environments

Get hands-on with actual cloud infrastructure. Build projects using the same tools professional AI engineers use daily.

  • 24+ hands-on labs
  • Real cloud instances
  • Portfolio projects
  • Code reviews
03

Exam

Earn Your Credential

UK-recognized proctored exam. Demonstrate your competence and earn a qualification that employers trust.

  • Proctored assessment
  • Ofqual-aligned
  • Digital certificate
  • Verification portal
04

Grow

Launch Your Career

Career coaching, CV reviews, interview prep, and dedicated support to help you land your first AI role within ~12 weeks.

  • Career coaching
  • CV optimization
  • Interview prep
  • Job placement support

14 Modules Across 6 Units

01 DevOps Foundations
02 Linux & CLI
03 Git & GitHub
04 Docker
05 Kubernetes
06 CI/CD Pipelines
07 Terraform
08 Ansible
09 Observability
10 SRE & Capstone

520 learning hours with 50+ hands-on labs and real infrastructure

A Framework Built
For Your Career

The Qualify Nation Framework takes you from foundation knowledge to expert mastery. Clear progression. Rigorous assessment. Skills employers value.

Industry-Aligned Curriculum built for how work actually works
Proctored Assessment Your credential reflects genuine competence
Employer Verified Digital verification portal for recruiters
Qualify Nation Framework Professional Development Pathway
QNF5
Expert QnDip · 1200 hours
QNF4
Specialist QnDip · 1000 hours
QNF3
Professional QnCert · 600 hours
QNF2
Practitioner QnCert · 500 hours
QNF1
Foundation QnCert · 400 hours
You Are Here

The AI Job Market Is
Exploding

UK businesses are scrambling to hire AI talent. The demand far outpaces supply, creating unprecedented opportunities for certified professionals.

Read the full job market report
72%
UK AI employment growth (2022-2024)
56%
AI wage premium over non-AI roles
3.2:1
Global demand-to-supply ratio
£400bn
UK economic value from AI by 2030
170M
New AI jobs projected by 2030

UK AI Market Growth

UK AI Employment Growth

Full-time equivalent roles in AI sector (2022-2024)

72% total growth from 2022 to 2024

Source: UK DSIT AI Sector Study 2024

UK AI Sector Revenue Growth

Annual revenue in billions (GBP)

125% growth from 2022 to 2024

Source: UK DSIT AI Sector Study 2024

Global Salary & Compensation

AI Job Posting Share by Country

Percentage of all job postings that are AI-related (2025)

UK leads globally in AI job market share

Source: PwC Global AI Jobs Barometer 2025

AI Wage Premium Growth

Salary premium for AI roles vs non-AI roles

+124% increase— AI skills premium DOUBLED in one year

Source: PwC Global AI Jobs Barometer 2025

AI Salary Ranges by Role (UK, 2025)

Salary ranges in £000s by experience level

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab UK, LinkedIn Jobs 2025

The Skills Gap Crisis

AI Talent Supply vs Demand Gap

Global demand-to-supply ratio: 3.2 : 1

For every 100 qualified AI professionals,
there are 320 open positions — a 68.75% talent gap

Source: Gartner CIO Survey 2025, WEF Future of Jobs 2025

UK Skills Gap Crisis

Percentage of UK tech leaders reporting challenges

160% increase in skills gap concern (2024-2025)

Source: Gartner CIO Survey 2025

Future Projections

Future AI Jobs Projection (2025-2030)

Global job market impact in millions

+78 million net new jobs projected by 2030

Source: WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025

AI Hiring Growth by Sector

Year-over-year AI job growth rate by industry

51% of AI job postings are now OUTSIDE IT departments

Source: LinkedIn Jobs on the Rise 2025

Fastest-Growing AI Roles (2025)

Year-over-year growth in job postings

Source: LinkedIn Jobs on the Rise 2025

Data Sources

UK DSIT AI Sector Study 2024PwC Global AI Jobs Barometer 2025WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025Indeed Hiring Lab UK 2025LinkedIn Jobs on the Rise 2025Gartner CIO Survey 2025

Careers You Can Pursue

AI/ML Engineer

+143%
£ 55-85k

Prompt Engineer

+136%
£ 50-80k

Data Scientist

+38%
£ 50-75k

AI Product Manager

+52%
£ 60-90k

NLP Specialist

+67%
£ 55-80k

AI Content Creator

+135%
£ 40-65k
I was stuck in a retail management job, feeling like the tech industry was completely out of reach. No CS degree, no connections, no idea where to start. Qualify Nation changed everything. Within a year, I had a real qualification, a portfolio of projects, and the confidence to apply for AI roles. The Grow platform helped me land a junior ML engineer position at a fintech startup. My salary jumped from £28k to £52k. This programme genuinely transformed my career.
SM
Sarah Mitchell ML Engineer @ FinTech Startup
Verified Graduate
The Transformation
Before
Retail Manager
£28,000/year
No tech background
Felt stuck
12 months
After
ML Engineer
£52,000/year
QNF1 certified
Career momentum
Salary Increase +86%
Beyond the Certificate

Qualified, prepared, and connected to employers.

Most providers stop at the certificate. We go further — with career tools, job matching, and interview coaching that connect you to roles before they hit the job boards.

See Your Competitive Advantage

Side-by-side comparison across 16 courses

Common Questions

Everything you need to know about our DevOps Engineering program. Can't find an answer? Get in touch.

Basic scripting knowledge is helpful but not required. We cover Linux and Bash fundamentals in the course. Familiarity with at least one programming language will accelerate your learning, but we teach what you need.

Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, GitHub Actions, Prometheus, Grafana, ArgoCD, and more. We focus on industry-standard, open-source tools that are in high demand.

Absolutely! Over 50 hands-on labs are included. You'll build real CI/CD pipelines, deploy applications to Kubernetes clusters, and provision cloud infrastructure with Terraform.

We provide sandbox environments for most labs. For the capstone project, you'll use free-tier cloud accounts (AWS, Azure, or GCP) which we guide you through setting up.

The course is 520 hours total. Full-time learners typically complete it in 4-5 months (25-30 hours/week). Part-time learners can spread it over 8-10 months (12-15 hours/week).

Upon completion, you receive a QualifyNation DevOps Engineering certificate. The course also prepares you for CKA (Kubernetes Administrator) and Terraform Associate certifications.

Still have questions?

Contact Support

Choose Your Path

Start with Learn and upgrade as you progress, or get everything upfront with the Complete Bundle.

Pay Monthly

12 monthly payments, full access

£ 141.20 per month

£1694.40 total over 12 months

Everything included:

  • Learn: Full curriculum & AI tutor
  • Labs: Hands-on practical exercises
  • Exam: Portfolio assessment & certification
  • Grow: Career coaching & job support
  • 12-month access to all platforms
  • One free assessment resit included
  • 14-day refund if not started
Enrol Now
14-Day Money-Back Guarantee Not started? Full refund, no questions asked.

Flexible payment options available

Credit/Debit Card Stripe Bank Transfer
12-Month Access From date of signup for each platform
One Course at a Time Complete your current course before starting another
Limited spots available

Ready to Automate Your Way to a
DevOps Career?

Join learners who've already launched their careers in DevOps engineering. Your future building pipelines starts with a single step.

Ofqual-Aligned
94% Pass Rate
24/7 Support
14-Day Guarantee