# Mohammad Dahamshi — DevOps Engineer Roadmap 2026

## Target certifications
- CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator) — Linux Foundation
- AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) — Amazon

## Target roles
- DevOps Engineer (primary — 927 open jobs in Israel)
- Platform Engineer / Kubernetes Engineer (remote global, use CKA)
- Cloud Engineer (after AWS CCP)

---

## PHASE 1 — Weeks 1–4: Finish CKA + sit exam

### Weeks 1–2: CKA — workloads, networking, RBAC

**Study:**
- Complete Mumshad's CKA curriculum
- Deployments, ReplicaSets, DaemonSets, Services, Ingress
- Network policies, CNI concepts (your CCNA makes this fast)
- RBAC: Roles, ClusterRoles, ServiceAccounts — exam classic
- PersistentVolumes, PVCs, StorageClasses

**Lab:**
- Spin up k3s on Proxmox — your exam + portfolio cluster
- Deploy a 2-service app (frontend + backend) on k3s
- Practice etcd backup/restore until under 5 minutes

**Note:** Your CCNA background means the k8s networking section is much faster for you than for most candidates.

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### Week 3: CKA — cluster upgrade, troubleshooting, mock exams

**Study:**
- Cluster upgrade with kubeadm — do this hands-on
- Node troubleshooting, scheduling, taints/tolerations
- TLS certs in Kubernetes, kubeconfig contexts

**Cert prep:**
- Both KodeKloud CKA mock exams — aim 70%+ before booking
- Killer.sh simulator — 2 full sessions
- Practice kubectl imperative commands — speed matters in the 2hr exam

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### Week 4: Book + sit CKA exam

**Cert:**
- Book at training.linuxfoundation.org
- Sit the exam — open book, can use k8s.io/docs — practice navigating docs fast
- 2 hours, 15–20 tasks, need 66% to pass
- Retake available if needed — retake within 2 weeks
---

## PHASE 2 — Weeks 5–9: Jenkins + Ansible + Terraform + Portfolio Project 1

### Weeks 5–6: Jenkins — pipelines, Jenkinsfile, Docker integration
**Course:** Valentin Despa — Jenkins: Jobs, Pipelines, CI/CD (11h)

**Study — must cover:**
- Install Jenkins via Docker on Proxmox (not Windows, keep it Linux)
- Declarative Pipelines with Jenkinsfile — the core of every DevOps job
- Multi-stage pipelines: build → test → deploy stages
- GitHub webhook trigger — push to GitHub → auto-trigger Jenkins build
- Docker build + push inside a Jenkins pipeline
- Environment variables, credentials management in Jenkins

**Lab — Portfolio Project 1:**
- GitHub push → Jenkins build → Docker image → push to GitHub Container Registry → deploy to k3s
- Write a README documenting the full pipeline architecture
- Publish on GitHub: repo name "jenkins-k3s-pipeline"

**Portfolio Project 1:** CI/CD pipeline on k3s
- Shows: Jenkins + Docker + Kubernetes working end-to-end
- This is your first real portfolio piece for CV and interviews

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### Week 7: Ansible — playbooks, roles, Jinja2, Vault
**Course:** James Spurin — Dive Into Ansible (7.5h)

**Study:**
- Inventory files, ad-hoc commands, playbook structure
- Variables, facts, conditionals, loops, handlers
- Roles — organizing playbooks for reuse
- Jinja2 templates — critical for config file generation
- Ansible Vault — encrypting secrets (comes up in every interview)
- Dynamic inventories

**Lab:**
- Write a playbook that configures your Proxmox VMs (installs Docker, sets up users, hardens SSH)
- Integrate Ansible into your Jenkins pipeline — Jenkins triggers Ansible deploy after build
- Run Ansible against real Proxmox VMs over SSH — better than any browser lab

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### Weeks 8–9: Terraform — HCL, state, modules, AWS
**Course:** Lauro Fialho Müller — Terraform Complete Guide (21h)

**Study — focus areas (skip beginner AWS setup, you know it):**
- Week 8: HCL syntax, providers, resources, variables, outputs, data sources
- State management and remote backends (S3) — critical, always in interviews
- State locking, state import, state manipulation
- Week 9: Modules — writing reusable infrastructure code
- Workspaces — managing dev/staging/prod environments
- Multi-provider setups

**Lab — Portfolio Project 2:**
- Provision a VPC + EC2 + Security Group on AWS free tier using Terraform
- Store state in S3 remote backend — shows production pattern knowledge
- Write a Terraform config that creates Docker containers on Proxmox
- Publish on GitHub: repo name "terraform-aws-homelab"

**Portfolio Project 2:** Terraform IaC on AWS
- Shows: IaC, remote state, modules, real AWS provisioning
- Write a techlino.net blog post: "Terraform + AWS: Infrastructure as Code for DevOps engineers"

**Note:** 21 hours is a lot. At your level, 2 weeks is enough. Go fast through beginner sections, slow down on state management + modules — that's where interviews focus.

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## PHASE 3 — Weeks 10–12: AWS CCP exam + GitHub Actions + Monitoring

### Week 10: AWS CCP study + start applying for jobs
**Course:** Chetan Agrawal — AWS CCP 2026 CLF-C02 (22.5h)

**Study:**
- Fast-track: EC2, VPC, IAM, networking — your CCNA covers most of this
- Slow down on: S3 storage classes, RDS vs DynamoDB, CloudFront, SQS/SNS, Route53
- DevOps-specific AWS: CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline, EKS, CloudFormation — connects to your skills
- Billing + pricing models — exam always tests this heavily
- Shared responsibility model — always appears on exam
- AI/ML services overview (Chetan covers this — increasingly tested)

**Apply — start NOW, don't wait:**
- Update CV: CKA, Jenkins, Ansible, Terraform, Docker, k3s, Proxmox, Linux, CCNA
- Update LinkedIn: "Open to Work" — DevOps Engineer / Platform Engineer / Cloud Engineer
- Send 5–8 first applications on LinkedIn + drushim.co.il
- Register on Arc.dev for remote DevOps vetting

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### Week 11: AWS CCP mock exams + sit exam
**Resource:** Jon Bonso mock exams

**Cert prep:**
- Complete all Jon Bonso mock exam sets — aim 80%+ consistently before booking
- Review every wrong answer — understand the gap, don't just re-take
- Book and sit AWS CCP — online proctored, 90 minutes

**Note:** CKA + AWS CCP on your CV puts you in the top 20% of DevOps applicants in Israel.

---

### Week 12: GitHub Actions + Prometheus/Grafana monitoring
**Resource:** TechWorld with Nana YouTube + Helm + homelab

**GitHub Actions (3 days):**
- After Jenkins, GitHub Actions takes 2–3 days — same concepts, YAML-based
- Use TechWorld with Nana's YouTube series — same concepts as Jenkins, YAML-based
- Build: push to GitHub → GH Actions → Docker image → deploy to k3s
- Many Israeli startups use GitHub Actions over Jenkins — important to know both

**Prometheus + Grafana (4 days):**
- Install Prometheus + Grafana via Helm on your k3s cluster
- Create a dashboard showing cluster health + Jenkins build metrics
- Set up a Telegram alert when a pod crashes (use your existing Telegram bot)

**Portfolio Project 3:** Full observability stack
- Prometheus + Grafana + Telegram alerts on k3s
- Screenshot dashboards for LinkedIn posts
- Blog post on techlino.net: "Monitoring Kubernetes with Prometheus and Grafana"

---

## PHASE 4 — Weeks 13–16: Full job push + Python + Optional GitOps

### Weeks 13–14: Full application sprint — 10–15 apps per week

**Israel onsite/hybrid:**
- LinkedIn Israel — search: "DevOps Engineer", "Platform Engineer", "Cloud Engineer"
- drushim.co.il + alljobs.co.il — filter DevOps + Linux
- geektime.co.il — Israeli startup job board, many remote-friendly
- Direct company sites: JFrog, Cloudinary, Wix, Monday.com, Payoneer, Check Point, CyberArk

**Remote global:**
- remotive.com — DevOps/SysAdmin section
- weworkremotely.com — DevOps section
- arc.dev — vetted remote, Israel timezone friendly
- kube.careers — Kubernetes-specific remote roles (use CKA here)
- turing.com — vetting interview, matches with US companies
- dailyremote.com — DevOps filter

**Interview prep (parallel):**
- Prepare: "describe your homelab setup" — this IS your DevOps experience
- Practice Linux troubleshooting: disk full, high CPU, OOMKilled pod, DNS failure
- Review CKA topics: k8s questions appear in every DevOps interview
- Prepare CI/CD architecture question: "how would you design a pipeline from scratch?"
- Salary targets: ₪20–28K/month Israel · $50–80K/year remote entry · negotiate up with CKA

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### Weeks 15–16: Python scripting + ArgoCD/GitOps (optional)

**Python for DevOps — learn by building, no course needed:**
- Script 1: Monitor k3s pods and send Telegram alert on crash (uses your existing bot)
- Script 2: AWS S3 backup script using boto3
- Script 3: Ansible inventory generator from Proxmox VM list
- These 3 scripts cover 80% of what DevOps Python interviews test
- Key libraries: boto3, subprocess, os, requests, paramiko

**ArgoCD / GitOps (if time allows):**
- Install ArgoCD on your k3s cluster
- GitOps flow: push Helm chart to GitHub → ArgoCD auto-syncs → deploys to k3s
- Completes the full loop: Code → Jenkins CI → ArgoCD CD → k3s production

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## Final portfolio at week 16

### GitHub projects (3 public repos):
1. `jenkins-k3s-pipeline` — Jenkins + Docker + Kubernetes CI/CD
2. `terraform-aws-homelab` — Terraform IaC, remote state, AWS VPC + EC2
3. `k3s-observability` — Prometheus + Grafana + Telegram alerts

### Certifications:
- CKA — Certified Kubernetes Administrator
- AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)

### Skills on CV:
- **Container:** Docker, Kubernetes (CKA), Helm, k3s
- **CI/CD:** Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Declarative Pipelines
- **IaC:** Terraform, Ansible
- **Cloud:** AWS (EC2, VPC, S3, IAM, EKS, CodePipeline)
- **Monitoring:** Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager
- **GitOps:** ArgoCD (bonus)
- **OS/Infra:** Linux (deep), Proxmox, Coolify, Docker Compose
- **Networking:** CCNA, DNS, VPC, Tailscale
- **Scripting:** Bash, Python (boto3, subprocess)

### Blog posts on techlino.net (write as you go):
1. "From Proxmox to Kubernetes: my homelab CI/CD setup"
2. "Terraform + AWS: Infrastructure as Code for DevOps engineers"
3. "Monitoring Kubernetes with Prometheus and Grafana"

---

## Key rules to follow

1. **Order matters:** CKA → Jenkins → Ansible → Terraform → AWS CCP. Don't jump around.
2. **Apply from week 10**, not week 16. CKA + Jenkins + Ansible is enough to get interviews.
3. **Your homelab is your production experience.** Present it that way in every interview.
4. **Three GitHub projects + two certs = hireable DevOps profile.**
5. **Publish on techlino.net as you learn** — it's your public proof of work.
6. **SysAdmin is only a backup** if nothing lands by month 4.
7. **SRE is a year-2 goal** — build DevOps experience first.