The Linux foundation DevOps Bootcamp: Analysis and thoughts

The Linux Foundation just released a brand new DevOps BootCamp and as of the moment of this writing, it comes with a 30% discount using Coupon code DEVOPS30 at checkout. Below are my analysis and thoughts about this new offering.

Why a DevOps Bootcamp?

I’m not a Linux Foundation employee and not associated with the Foundation in any way shape or form, so take the following with a grain of salt. But if you are asking yourself why DevOps and why now? My 2 cents is that this is expected, the Foundation already has a lot of training and certifications for DevOps practitioners. This Bootcamp is just a new bundle of existing offerings with a shiny new badge.

DevOps is a hot topic, the new Linux Foundation 2021 Open Source Jobs report(page 6) says that DevOps is being used by 88% of technology professionals who work with open source. So it’s normal for the Foundation to release this new offer as the demand is there.

I’m going to refrain in this article from sharing my ideas and thoughts about whether one can and should learn DevOps. And whether it is something worth focusing on. I can see how such a Bootcamp can be useful to a category of people. What I’m gonna say however is don’t get too caught up in titles or certifications. As I always say, certifications without experience are meaningless, and DevOps depends on where you end up working.

With that out of the way let’s look at this Bootcamp.

What is this Bootcamp?

The LF DevOps Bootcamp is a 6 months structured program during which you will learn various technologies and tools associated with DevOps. This particular Bootcamp consists only of courses (unlike previous offerings which also had some certifications included). Instead upon completion, you will earn a new shiny certification badge.

What’s included?

The Bootcamp includes 5 courses:

• DevOps and SRE Fundamentals: Implementing Continuous Delivery (LFS261)
• Jenkins Essentials (LFS267)
• CI/CD with Jenkins X (LFS268)
• GitOps: Continuous Delivery on Kubernetes with Flux (LFS269)
• Implementing DevSecOps (LFS262). This course is not available yet as a standalone but is part of the Bootcamp bundle

If you buy the entire bundle you have 1-year access to all the courses. The program is structured so you can complete it in 6 months if you invest around 10–15 hours per week.

It contains some hands-on labs and assignments. And you get access to a forum to exchange with people taking the same Bootcamp. You also have access to dedicated mentors (I have never tried this service from LF. So if you try it out I’m keen to hear your experience, DM me https://twitter.com/boredabdel please).

Will this make me a DevOps Engineer?

Remember I said I will not share my opinion about the whole DevOps topic here? I will break this rule just for a little and will be back to be impartial. The answer is simply NO. Here is why:

• DevOps can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Depending on the individual/team/company/technologies.
• You might end up not using Jenkins/FluxCD (the tools this Bootcamp focuses on).
• DevOps is a set of concepts, practices, ways of doing things and is not about tools and technology. You need to focus on these concepts if you want to work in a DevOps role. As of today, I’m not aware of any course/degree that teaches these, there are books and online videos for that.

No with that in mind, this Bootcamp could still be useful for some people, namely:

• People who have spent most of their careers writing code with someone else taking care of how that code makes it to production. The Bootcamp provides some basic knowledge of CI/CD systems and practices with hands-on examples using Jenkins and FluxCD
• People who are on a career conversion path. This Bootcamp could be a good intro to the world of DevOps and tooling. I would still recommend you start with some Linux courses (You don’t want to copy/paste commands into a Terminal without knowing what they do).
• People who are curious about what DevOps, SRE, and DevSecOps could mean (insist on could, again these terms could mean a lot of things depending on context). The Bootcamp, especially the LFS261 and LFS262 are good for you

Is it worth it?

Depending on your goals, the answer could be Maybe or Yes.

If we put aside the whole complexity of DevOps as a topic and the fact that this Bootcamp focuses on basics and hands-on using few tools(and believe me Jenkins and FluxCD are just a couple of tools mong thousands available today). From a put financial point of view, the bundle is worth it.

The bundle contains 5 courses, each worth 299$ (standard retail price outside of promotion). Even if LFS262 is not available Yet as a standalone course, it’s safe to assume LF will charge 299$ for it. So buying the courses separately will account for a total of 1495$. The bundle price of 750$ without the current 30% discount (ending Oct 19, 2021) is about half the price of normal retail prices of the included courses.

So if you are committed and you took into consideration my thoughts and analysis above, I’d say it’s worth it.

I hope this article helps to make an informed decision, I acknowledge that my analysis of this kind of offer is usually very nuanced and I try to be as impartial as possible. If you have any questions, thoughts or if you can challenge me with anything I wrote above, Feel free to DM me on twitter.com/boredabdel