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Learning path

CI/CD Engineering learning path: everything to study, topic by topic

Comprehensive CI/CD engineering assessment covering pipeline design, build and test automation, deployment strategies, container workflows, pipeline security, infrastructure as code integration, observability, and enterprise-scale patterns for continuous delivery.

Short answer

To learn CI/CD Engineering, work through 6 modules and 22 topics in the order they build on each other. It starts with Pipeline Fundamentals, then moves on to Build & Test Automation and Deployment Strategies. Use the map as a checklist, or measure your level and study only what is missing.

6
modules
22
topics
45
min to assess

What you will study

Topics are grouped by module. Open one to see its objectives and key concepts.

1 · Pipeline Fundamentals4 topics
  • Version Control & Branching

    Git workflows for CI/CD, branching strategies (GitFlow, trunk-based development, GitHub Flow), merge vs rebase, pull request workflows, and branch protection rules

    Objectives

    • Choose an appropriate branching strategy for team size and release cadence
    • Configure branch protection rules for CI integration

    Key concepts

    • trunk-based development
    • GitFlow
    • GitHub Flow
    • branch protection
    • merge vs rebase
    • pull request workflow
    • short-lived branches
    • release branches
  • Continuous Integration Concepts

    CI principles, integration frequency, build triggers, commit hooks, pipeline stages, parallel jobs, and CI anti-patterns

    Objectives

    • Explain the core principles of continuous integration
    • Identify CI anti-patterns and their solutions

    Key concepts

    • continuous integration principles
    • build triggers
    • commit hooks
    • pipeline stages
    • parallel jobs
    • fast feedback
    • CI anti-patterns
    • integration frequency
  • Continuous Delivery & Deployment

    CD principles, delivery vs deployment, release automation, approval gates, deployment pipelines, and release management

    Objectives

    • Distinguish between continuous delivery and continuous deployment
    • Design a basic deployment pipeline with approval gates

    Key concepts

    • continuous delivery
    • continuous deployment
    • delivery vs deployment
    • approval gates
    • release automation
    • deployment pipeline
    • release management
    • production readiness
  • Pipeline Configuration & Syntax

    YAML pipeline definitions, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins pipelines, Azure DevOps YAML, reusable workflows, and pipeline-as-code

    Objectives

    • Write pipeline configuration files for major CI/CD platforms
    • Implement reusable workflow components

    Key concepts

    • YAML pipeline syntax
    • GitHub Actions workflow
    • GitLab CI configuration
    • Jenkins pipeline DSL
    • pipeline-as-code
    • reusable workflows
    • matrix builds
    • conditional execution
2 · Build & Test Automation4 topics
  • Build Systems & Automation

    Build tools (Make, Gradle, Maven, npm scripts), dependency resolution, build caching, incremental builds, multi-stage builds, and reproducible builds

    Objectives

    • Configure build automation in CI pipelines
    • Optimize build times using caching and incremental strategies

    Key concepts

    • build automation
    • dependency resolution
    • build caching
    • incremental builds
    • multi-stage builds
    • reproducible builds
    • build tools comparison
    • build optimization
  • Test Automation in CI

    Test pyramid in CI, unit/integration/e2e test execution, test parallelization, flaky test management, test reporting, and coverage gates

    Objectives

    • Implement the test pyramid strategy in CI pipelines
    • Manage flaky tests and set appropriate coverage thresholds

    Key concepts

    • test pyramid
    • test parallelization
    • flaky test detection
    • coverage gates
    • test reporting
    • test splitting
    • test containers
    • smoke tests
  • Code Quality Gates

    Static analysis, linting, formatting enforcement, code review automation, SonarQube integration, quality thresholds, and technical debt tracking

    Objectives

    • Configure quality gates in CI pipelines
    • Integrate static analysis tools for automated code review

    Key concepts

    • static analysis
    • linting rules
    • formatting enforcement
    • SonarQube
    • quality gates
    • code review automation
    • technical debt tracking
    • pre-commit hooks
  • Artifact Management

    Artifact repositories (Nexus, Artifactory, S3), versioning strategies, semantic versioning, artifact promotion, and dependency proxying

    Objectives

    • Design an artifact management strategy with versioning and promotion
    • Configure artifact repositories for CI/CD pipelines

    Key concepts

    • artifact repository
    • semantic versioning
    • artifact promotion
    • dependency proxying
    • immutable artifacts
    • artifact retention
    • release tagging
    • binary management
3 · Deployment Strategies4 topics
  • Environment Management

    Environment promotion (dev/staging/prod), environment parity, configuration management, secrets management, and environment provisioning

    Objectives

    • Design environment promotion workflows with proper parity
    • Implement secure configuration and secrets management in pipelines

    Key concepts

    • environment promotion
    • environment parity
    • configuration management
    • secrets management
    • environment provisioning
    • 12-factor app config
    • environment variables
    • config-as-code
  • Deployment Patterns

    Blue-green deployments, canary releases, rolling updates, A/B testing deployments, shadow deployments, and deployment orchestration

    Objectives

    • Select the appropriate deployment pattern for a given scenario
    • Implement canary and blue-green deployments with health checks

    Key concepts

    • blue-green deployment
    • canary release
    • rolling update
    • A/B testing deployment
    • shadow deployment
    • deployment orchestration
    • traffic shifting
    • health checks
  • Rollback & Recovery

    Automated rollback strategies, database migration rollbacks, circuit breakers in deployments, disaster recovery, and incident response

    Objectives

    • Design automated rollback strategies for failed deployments
    • Handle database migration rollbacks in CI/CD pipelines

    Key concepts

    • automated rollback
    • database migration rollback
    • circuit breaker pattern
    • disaster recovery
    • incident response
    • deployment health monitoring
    • rollback triggers
    • state management
  • Feature Flags & Progressive Delivery

    Feature flag systems, percentage rollouts, user targeting, flag lifecycle management, and progressive delivery patterns

    Objectives

    • Implement feature flag strategies for progressive delivery
    • Manage feature flag lifecycle and technical debt

    Key concepts

    • feature flags
    • percentage rollout
    • user targeting
    • flag lifecycle
    • progressive delivery
    • kill switches
    • experimentation
    • dark launching
4 · Container & Registry4 topics
  • Container Builds in CI

    Dockerfile best practices, multi-stage Docker builds, layer caching, build context optimization, and CI-specific container patterns

    Objectives

    • Write optimized Dockerfiles for CI/CD pipelines
    • Implement multi-stage builds with proper layer caching

    Key concepts

    • Dockerfile best practices
    • multi-stage builds
    • layer caching
    • build context
    • BuildKit
    • distroless images
    • CI container patterns
    • .dockerignore
  • Container Orchestration Pipelines

    Kubernetes deployment pipelines, Helm chart CI/CD, GitOps with ArgoCD/Flux, ECS/Fargate deployments, and container health management

    Objectives

    • Design Kubernetes deployment pipelines with GitOps principles
    • Implement Helm-based release management in CI/CD

    Key concepts

    • Kubernetes CI/CD
    • Helm charts in pipelines
    • GitOps principles
    • ArgoCD
    • Flux
    • ECS/Fargate pipelines
    • manifest generation
    • deployment controllers
  • Registry Management

    Container registry operations (ECR, GCR, Docker Hub, Harbor), image tagging strategies, garbage collection, and cross-region replication

    Objectives

    • Design image tagging strategies for traceability
    • Configure registry lifecycle policies and replication

    Key concepts

    • registry operations
    • image tagging strategies
    • garbage collection
    • cross-region replication
    • ECR lifecycle policies
    • Harbor administration
    • image immutability
    • tag conventions
  • Image Security & Scanning

    Container vulnerability scanning (Trivy, Snyk, Grype), image signing, SBOM generation, base image management, and supply chain security

    Objectives

    • Integrate container vulnerability scanning into CI pipelines
    • Implement image signing and SBOM generation workflows

    Key concepts

    • vulnerability scanning
    • Trivy
    • Snyk Container
    • image signing
    • SBOM
    • base image management
    • supply chain security
    • admission controllers
5 · Advanced CI/CD3 topics
  • Pipeline Security (DevSecOps)

    SAST/DAST/SCA integration, secrets detection in pipelines, dependency vulnerability scanning, security gates, and shift-left security

    Objectives

    • Integrate SAST, DAST, and SCA tools into CI/CD pipelines
    • Design security gates that balance speed and safety

    Key concepts

    • SAST
    • DAST
    • SCA
    • secrets detection
    • dependency scanning
    • security gates
    • shift-left security
    • OWASP integration
  • Infrastructure as Code Pipelines

    Terraform/CloudFormation in CI/CD, plan-apply workflows, state management, drift detection, and policy as code (OPA, Sentinel)

    Objectives

    • Design Terraform CI/CD pipelines with proper state management
    • Implement policy as code for infrastructure governance

    Key concepts

    • Terraform CI/CD
    • plan-apply workflow
    • state management
    • drift detection
    • policy as code
    • OPA
    • Sentinel
    • infrastructure testing
  • Pipeline Observability & Metrics

    Pipeline metrics (DORA), build analytics, deployment frequency tracking, lead time measurement, MTTR, change failure rate, and pipeline dashboards

    Objectives

    • Measure and track DORA metrics across CI/CD pipelines
    • Design pipeline dashboards for engineering visibility

    Key concepts

    • DORA metrics
    • deployment frequency
    • lead time for changes
    • MTTR
    • change failure rate
    • pipeline dashboards
    • build analytics
    • SLOs for pipelines
6 · Enterprise Patterns3 topics
  • Multi-Repo & Monorepo CI/CD

    Monorepo build strategies (Bazel, Nx, Turborepo), multi-repo orchestration, dependency graph builds, selective testing, and cross-repo triggers

    Objectives

    • Design CI/CD strategies for monorepo and multi-repo architectures
    • Implement dependency-aware build and test selection

    Key concepts

    • monorepo strategies
    • Bazel
    • Nx
    • Turborepo
    • multi-repo orchestration
    • dependency graph
    • selective testing
    • cross-repo triggers
  • Compliance & Governance

    Audit trails for deployments, SOC2/HIPAA pipeline compliance, change management integration, separation of duties, and approval workflows

    Objectives

    • Design CI/CD pipelines that meet SOC2/HIPAA compliance requirements
    • Implement automated evidence collection and audit trails

    Key concepts

    • audit trails
    • SOC2 compliance
    • HIPAA pipeline controls
    • change management
    • separation of duties
    • approval workflows
    • evidence collection
    • compliance automation
  • Platform Engineering & IDPs

    Internal developer platforms, self-service pipelines, golden paths, pipeline templates at scale, developer experience, and platform APIs

    Objectives

    • Design an internal developer platform with self-service CI/CD
    • Create golden paths and reusable pipeline templates at scale

    Key concepts

    • internal developer platform
    • self-service pipelines
    • golden paths
    • pipeline templates
    • developer experience
    • platform APIs
    • Backstage
    • platform team patterns

Levels: Junior, Mid, Senior, and Expert

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Frequently asked questions

Where should I start studying CI/CD Engineering?

Start with Pipeline Fundamentals: Version Control & Branching, Continuous Integration Concepts, and Continuous Delivery & Deployment. The map orders topics by what they depend on, so each one prepares the next.

How long does a full CI/CD Engineering assessment take?

A full assessment of this path takes about 45 minutes. Study time depends on where you start; a diagnostic shows which topics you can skip.

Do I need an account to use this page?

No. The map, objectives and key concepts are open. You only need an account to be measured, get your gap by topic and receive a plan.