30+ DevOps Certifications and Training Courses Guide for 2026
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According to builtin.com, the average salary for a DevOps Engineer in the US is $133,740, with an additional cash compensation of $16,538. Therefore, the total compensation for a DevOps Engineer in the US is $150,278.
An authorized DevOps certification brings many benefits to your career graph:
- Certifies a candidate’s abilities and expertise in a certain area
- Aids in the development of a solid portfolio
- Indicates to recruiters that the individual has practical experience
- Verifies that the applicant has met industry requirements
DevOps is now key in building software quickly, safely, and on a large level. Instead of just coding or managing servers separately, teams mix these tasks to work better together. This blend cuts down problems during launches while boosting app performance. Automation plays a big role here, helping systems run smoothly without constant manual fixes.
With DevOps changing fast, what’s needed from engineers isn’t just simple CI/CD setups anymore. By 2026, companies want folks who’ve worked on cloud-first tools, Kubernetes, automated infrastructure, workflow scripting, and baked-in security practices, also known as DevSecOps. Instead of guessing, many turn to certifications or guided courses to prove they know their stuff while building solid knowledge step by step.
This guide looks at 30+ DevOps certifications and courses – from big cloud companies, open-source groups, and well-known training outfits.
Best DevOps Certifications and Training Courses for 2026
| Course Name with Link | Description |
|---|---|
| Continuous Delivery & DevOps | Taught by a University of Virginia professor, this beginner-level DevOps course covers topics such as DevOps roles, automation testing, and how to build and improve a CI/CD pipeline. The course itself is free, but for a fee, you can gain a certificate upon successful completion. |
| Introduction to DevOps: Practices and Tools – by EdX | This certification course provided by EdX is meant for beginners. In this course, you will learn about the role of DevOps in current development practices, open container ecosystems, and how to write infrastructure as code. |
| DevOps Culture and Mindset | This course focuses on DevOps as a concept. If you want to learn the ins and outs of DevOps principles and are less concerned with learning about specific tools, this course is for you. The course is free to take, with an optional certificate that you pay for. |
| IBM DevOps and Software Engineering Professional Certificate | Experts from IBM offer training through practical work. The courses in this program will help you develop skill sets in a variety of DevOps philosophies and methodologies, including Agile Development, Scrum Methodology, Cloud Native Architecture, Behavior and Test-Driven Development, and Zero Downtime Deployments. |
| Continuous Delivery & DevOps – by Coursera | This course on the Coursera platform is developed by the University of Virginia for beginners who want to start their career paths in DevOps. You can get insights into analyzing a delivery pipeline and making its performance better. It will take you through skills and roles that are prevalent in the industry and teach you how to contribute to CD pipelines using these skills. |
| Learn DevOps: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform and Azure DevOps | This is a good course for anyone who wants to learn DevOps. This course will walk you through the concepts of DevOps and the popular tools used to do it. You will learn DevOps fundamentals, including Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment (CD), and Infrastructure as Code (IAC), all tailored for individuals with no prior experience in the field. |
| DevOps Foundation (DOFD) | With this certification, individuals get a solid understanding of CI/CD, testing, security, and “The Three Ways,” DevOps relationships to other methodologies, such as Agile and Lean, and more. There are no prerequisites to taking the open-book web-based exam that contains 40 multiple-choice questions. To study for the exam, you can choose the instructor-led or self-study option. Regardless, expect the exam prep to take a total of 16 hours. |
| DevOps Engineering Foundation (DOEF) | A second certification from the DevOps Institute, the DevOps Engineering Foundation, ensures a foundational understanding of core knowledge, principles, and practices, but from a technical perspective that is needed to engineer a successful DevOps solution. |
| DevOps Leader (DOL) | This course from the DevOps Institute is designed to equip individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead and implement DevOps practices within an organization. It focuses on the leadership aspects of DevOps rather than the technical details. It’s particularly relevant for those who need to drive cultural change, build high-performing teams, and implement DevOps strategies at an organizational level. |
| Developing Cloud-Native Applications With Microservices Architectures | Delivered as a set of videos, this Red Hat course is a concise way to learn the essentials of building and managing cloud-native applications through a DevOps pipeline. It touches on a variety of DevOps tools, including Docker, Kubernetes, and Jenkins. |
| DevOps Certification Training – by Edureka | This course on Edureka is an ideal certification for demonstrating in-depth knowledge of DevOps. It details the best practices in continuous development, continuous integration, continuous management, and continuous monitoring. |
| Introduction to Jenkins | This course teaches the basics of Jenkins, one of the most popular CI/CD tools for DevOps. The course is free; an optional certificate costs $149. |
| Jenkins, From Zero To Hero: Become a DevOps Jenkins Master | This course will help you get proficient in Jenkins. In the course, you will additionally learn crossing technologies that go hand in hand with this service, such as Docker, AWS, Ansible, Git, Maven, DSL, Pipelines, and many more |
| Learn DevOps: CI/CD with Jenkins using Pipelines and Docker | This course will teach you how to use Jenkins using the Jenkins DSL and Jenkins Pipelines (Jenkinsfile). It’s a new way of using Jenkins, rather than using freestyle projects. It also covers infrastructure as code and automation to make sure you understand how Jenkins Pipelines fit within this new way of thinking. |
| Docker Essentials | Like the Kubernetes course, this one provides an introduction to Docker, including both core Docker tools and the Docker Swarm orchestrator. |
| Docker Mastery: with Kubernetes +Swarm from a Docker Captain | Learn to build, test, and deploy containers with this Udemy course on Docker, Kubernetes, Compose, and GitHub Actions CI using DevOps. Understand how to use Docker, Compose, and Kubernetes on your machine for better software building and testing. |
| Docker Certified Associate (DCA) | The Docker Certified Associate exam is designed by experienced Docker practitioners and validates the foundational Docker skill set. It tests mastery of topics such as networking, orchestration, security, image creation, and more. Several institutions offer exam prep courses, so budget 24-36 hours of study time. The course cost will also vary, depending on which training program you opt for. |
| Kubernetes: Getting Started | This course provides an introduction to Kubernetes, including what it does and how to administer it. Although this free course doesn’t focus on DevOps specifically, it can be useful for DevOps engineers who need a fast way to learn about Kubernetes. |
| Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide | This is a great course for practical experience with Docker and Kubernetes. It includes plenty of live demo projects. |
| Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) – by CNCF | This is a Kubernetes-specific certification program that aims to assess a Kubernetes administrator’s skills. It contains a set of performance-based questions, and these questions have to be solved in a CLI, which will help the candidates demonstrate their skills. |
| Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) | The Certified Kubernetes Application Developer exam certifies that the recipient can design, build, configure, and expose cloud-native applications for Kubernetes and has acquired a solid understanding of the following tasks: Working with (OCI-compliant) container images, applying Cloud Native application concepts and architectures, and working with and validating Kubernetes resource definitions. Upon certification, a Kubernetes Application Developer can define application resources and use core primitives to build, monitor, and troubleshoot scalable applications and tools in Kubernetes. |
| Kubernetes and Cloud-Native Associate (KCNA) | This certification is a good foundation for you to develop basic knowledge of Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies, including how to deploy an application using basic kubectl commands, the architecture of Kubernetes (containers, pods, nodes, clusters), understanding the cloud-native landscape and projects (storage, networking, GitOps, service mesh), and understanding the principles of cloud-native security. |
| Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) | With cybersecurity being in vogue, this specialist course in Kubernetes best practices is a good accolade to have. |
| Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Cloud DevOps Engineer Professional Certificate | A hands-on training course for DevOps on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Free to audit; certification requires a fee. Experienced practitioners who want to learn more about DevOps tools and services on GCP. |
| Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer – By Google Cloud Platform | This certification is for professionals who are skilled with GCP and can build pipelines for delivering software, monitoring services, and deploying them. The recommended experience for professionals who want to take up this certificate is three or more years of industry-level expertise and one or more years of experience with GCP managing solutions. |
| Getting Started With DevOps on AWS | This course explains basic DevOps concepts and how to apply them in the AWS cloud. The training is free, but it can be a first step toward preparing for a paid certification, such as AWS Certified DevOps Engineer. |
| AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner | This is a great starting point for your AWS certifications. Get a foundational understanding of AWS Cloud. |
| AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional | Amazon’s AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional certification validates the ability to automate the testing and deployment of AWS infrastructure and applications. This certification is geared towards individuals with at least two years of experience provisioning, operating, and managing AWS environments. |
| Microsoft Certified DevOps Engineer Expert | Microsoft’s DevOps Engineer Expert certification is for individuals who already have experience with both Azure administration and development and expertise in at least one of these areas. As such, you must first have at least one of the associate certificates: the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator certification or the Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certification. |
| HashiCorp Infrastructure Automation Certification: Terraform Associate | HashiCorp is a software company that specializes in infrastructure automation for multi-cloud environments. This certification is for cloud engineers specializing in operations, IT, or development who know the basic concepts and skills associated with Terraform. |
| HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate | This course walks you through Terraform and also offers resources to help you prepare for the Terraform Associate certification exam. |
| Puppet for the Absolute Beginners – Hands-on – DevOps | This course introduces a beginner to the basic fundamentals of Puppet with easy-to-do hands-on exercises that you can practice right in the browser. |
| Puppet Professional Certification | Puppet is one of the most popular tools for configuration management in DevOps. Hence, this certification is quite popular and valuable, and can provide verification of your skills. This certification exam will test your skills and knowledge of Puppet tools, and you need to have hands-on experience working with Puppet in order to ace this examination. |
| DevOps MasterClass: Terraform Kubernetes Ansible Docker | A great course for hands-on experience in DevOps. By using tools like Terraform, Git, Ansible, Jenkins, Docker, Docker Swarm, Kubernetes, and much more, this course equips you with the essential skills to excel in the dynamic world of DevOps. |
| Dive Into Ansible – Beginner to Expert in Ansible – DevOps | This is a comprehensive course to learn about Ansible. The course starts with Ansible’s fundamentals before moving on to Inventories, Modules, Variables, YAML, Playbooks, Roles, and more, including Ansible with AWS and Docker |
| Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) | This exam provides a crucial foundation for anyone working in DevOps. The core Linux skills it validates are essential for automation, infrastructure as code, containerization, networking, security, and troubleshooting. If you’re serious about DevOps, having a strong Linux background, ideally validated by the LFCS, is highly recommended. |
| Istio Certified Associate (ICA) | As microservices and service meshes become increasingly popular, having an Istio certification can be a significant advantage for DevOps professionals. The ICA certification demonstrates your expertise in critical technology for modern DevOps practices, making you a more valuable asset to organizations adopting microservices and cloud-native architectures. |
| Prometheus Certified Associate (PCA) | By obtaining this certification, you demonstrate your ability to use Prometheus to gain real-time insights into system behavior, automate monitoring tasks, and improve the reliability and availability of applications in a DevOps environment. |
| The Complete Networking Fundamentals Course | In order to become a good DevOps engineer, you must know about basic networking and security concepts like DNS, the OSI Model, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SSL, TLS, etc. |
| Bash Mastery: The Complete Guide to Bash Shell Scripting | Since Linux is a popular choice in DevOps, you can use this course to master your Bash scripting skills for fluent operations using Linux. |
| DevSecOps Fundamentals | This course will give you a fundamental understanding of DevSecOps, including common web application security issues (such as those in the OWASP Top 10), Linux security, how to use and implement DevSecOps tooling, and what key projects and organizations to reference so that you can understand and prioritize the most important issues found from your DevSecOps CI/CD pipelines. |
DevOps Roadmap
Since DevOps is such a vast world, you can use the following summary to understand the categories in which you should look for courses and certifications. These are various aspects of DevOps that you can learn about and gain certifications in.
Here’s another in-depth and easy-to-understand roadmap to help you on your DevOps journey – DevOps Engineer Roadmap
Honorary Mentions
These certifications and classes don’t usually show up in standard DevOps guides. Yet they’re gaining traction lately because more people see their value
| GitHub Actions Certification / GitHub Skills | Growing fast as organizations move CI/CD closer to their source-code platforms. |
|---|---|
| GitLab Certified CI/CD Specialist | Focuses on end-to-end DevOps workflows using GitLab’s integrated platform. |
| AWS Certified Security – Specialty | Useful for DevOps teams handling security tasks or operating where safety matters most. |
| Linux Foundation Kubernetes and Cloud-Native Associate (KCNA) | A simple Kubernetes certification is great for freshers, plus it pairs well with tougher ones, such as CKA. |
Additional Resources
- What is DevOps?
- The Role of DevOps in QA Testing
- DevSecOps vs. DevOps: Differences, Tools, and Strategies
- The Role of QA in DevSecOps
- What Is CICD?
- DevOps Testing Tools
- What is AIOps?
Conclusion
DevOps keeps changing because more companies use cloud-based setups, automated processes, or design systems that rarely fail. Because of this shift, certification programs along with learning classes during 2026 focus heavily on tools like AWS or Azure, container management through Kubernetes, building fast release pipelines, blending safety checks into development, or mastering techniques from SRE approaches.
Instead of chasing certifications alone, people in DevOps learn better by following a mix that begins with basics – dive into real-world tools like Docker, Kubernetes, or Terraform next; after that, focus shifts to niches such as cloud-focused workflows, security-integrated practices, or site reliability work, based on where they want to go.
Cloud courses from AWS, Azure, or Google – alongside skills in Kubernetes and code-based infrastructure – are still top picks for hiring managers. Right now, new priorities like automated pipelines, system visibility, plus built-in security are redefining what DevOps jobs look like.
In the end, the right DevOps certifications fit where you are now, what tech you like using, and which way you’re headed in your job. Keeping up skills through hands-on practice plus actually using them day-to-day makes a big difference if you want to thrive on today’s operations teams.
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