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Devops Engineer Certification Roadmap (2026 Guide)

The definitive career roadmap and sourced directory of the most demanded credentials in the market to help you land a role as a Devops Engineer. We've filtered these certifications by market demand, salary increase, and exam difficulty to give you the exact steps needed for your career.

Devops Engineer Step-by-Step Roadmap

1

Step 1: Foundational Credentials

Build fundamental domain and tool familiarity

AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)

Amazon Web Services • Difficulty 1/5

Entry-level AWS certification covering cloud concepts, core AWS services, security, and pricing.

Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)

Microsoft • Difficulty 1/5

Foundation-level Microsoft Azure certification covering cloud concepts and core Azure services.

HashiCorp Terraform Associate (003)

HashiCorp • Difficulty 2/5

Validates foundational knowledge of infrastructure as code concepts and the Terraform ecosystem.

2

Step 2: Associate Certifications

Demonstrate capability in standard frameworks and core tasks

Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)

Microsoft • Difficulty 3/5

Validates expertise in managing Azure subscriptions, identities, storage, compute, virtual networks, and monitoring. The most hired-against Azure certification on the market.

Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204)

Microsoft • Difficulty 3/5

Validates skills in building, deploying, and maintaining Azure-hosted applications including Azure Functions, App Service, Storage, API Management, and monitoring solutions.

Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)

Red Hat • Difficulty 3/5

Performance-based Red Hat certification validating core Linux system administration skills including storage, networking, security, and automation.

3

Step 3: Advanced & Specialist Expertise

Establish advanced authority, architectural competence, or direct alignment

AWS DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02)

Amazon Web Services • Difficulty 4/5

Validates technical expertise in provisioning, operating, and managing distributed application systems on AWS.

Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)

Microsoft • Difficulty 4/5

Validates expertise in designing and implementing DevOps practices using Azure DevOps and GitHub, covering CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, monitoring, and security.

Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) • Difficulty 4/5

Validates skills, knowledge, and competency to perform the responsibilities of Kubernetes administrators.

All Recommended Devops Engineer Certifications

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AWS Developer Associate (DVA-C02)

cloud
Offered by Amazon Web Services

Validates proficiency in developing and maintaining AWS-based applications.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Cost: $150
Study Time: 8 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$4,500
AWSLambdaDynamoDBAPI GatewayS3

AWS DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02)

cloud
Offered by Amazon Web Services

Validates technical expertise in provisioning, operating, and managing distributed application systems on AWS.

Difficulty: Advanced
Cost: $300
Study Time: 12 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$10,000
AWSCI/CDDevOpsCloudFormationCodePipeline

Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

cloud
Offered by Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)

Validates skills, knowledge, and competency to perform the responsibilities of Kubernetes administrators.

Difficulty: Advanced
Cost: $395
Study Time: 12 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$8,000
Kubernetescontainer orchestrationDockercluster managementnetworking

HashiCorp Terraform Associate (003)

cloud
Offered by HashiCorp

Validates foundational knowledge of infrastructure as code concepts and the Terraform ecosystem.

Difficulty: Beginner+
Cost: $70
Study Time: 6 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$5,000
Terraforminfrastructure as codecloud provisioningAWSAzure

AWS SysOps Administrator Associate (SOA-C02)

cloud
Offered by Amazon Web Services

Validates ability to deploy, manage, and operate scalable, reliable, and secure infrastructure on AWS.

Difficulty: Advanced
Cost: $150
Study Time: 10 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$6,000
AWSsystem administrationAWS Systems ManagerCloudWatchAuto Scaling

Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)

cloud
Offered by Microsoft

Validates expertise in managing Azure subscriptions, identities, storage, compute, virtual networks, and monitoring. The most hired-against Azure certification on the market.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Cost: $165
Study Time: 8 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$6,000
AzureMicrosoft Azureidentity managementstoragecompute

Astronomer Certification for Apache Airflow

ai_ml
Offered by Astronomer

Validates knowledge of Apache Airflow for orchestrating data pipelines, covering DAGs, operators, scheduling, and deployment.

Difficulty: Beginner+
Cost: $150
Study Time: 6 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$5,000
Apache Airflowdata pipelinesworkflow orchestrationDAGsPython

Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)

cloud
Offered by Microsoft

Validates expertise in designing and implementing DevOps practices using Azure DevOps and GitHub, covering CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, monitoring, and security.

Difficulty: Advanced
Cost: $165
Study Time: 12 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$10,000
Azure DevOpsCI/CDGitHub Actionsinfrastructure as codepipelines

Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer

cloud
Offered by Google

Advanced certification validating expertise in deploying, monitoring, and managing Google Cloud infrastructure.

Difficulty: Expert
Cost: $200
Study Time: 12 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$10,000
GCPCI/CDCloud BuildContainer RegistryKubernetes Engine

Google Associate Cloud Engineer

cloud
Offered by Google

Validates ability to deploy and manage Google Cloud applications and infrastructure.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Cost: $125
Study Time: 8 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$3,000
GCPGoogle CloudKubernetesCompute Enginecloud infrastructure

Cisco DevNet Associate

networking
Offered by Cisco

Entry-level certification for network automation and software development, covering APIs, SDKs, Cisco platforms, and infrastructure as code.

Difficulty: Beginner+
Cost: $330
Study Time: 10 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$5,000
network automationPythonREST APIsDevOpsCI/CD

AWS Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)

cloud
Offered by Amazon Web Services

Entry-level AWS certification covering cloud concepts, core AWS services, security, and pricing.

Difficulty: Beginner
Cost: $100
Study Time: 4 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$2,000
AWScloud computingEC2S3IAM

Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)

cloud
Offered by Microsoft

Foundation-level Microsoft Azure certification covering cloud concepts and core Azure services.

Difficulty: Beginner
Cost: $99
Study Time: 3 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$1,500
Azurecloud computingMicrosoft Azurecloud servicesvirtual machines

CompTIA Linux+

networking
Offered by CompTIA

Validates Linux administration skills including scripting, system management, security, and troubleshooting across multiple distributions.

Difficulty: Beginner+
Cost: $338
Study Time: 8 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$3,000
Linuxbash scriptingshell scriptingsystem administrationnetworking

Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)

networking
Offered by Red Hat

Performance-based Red Hat certification validating core Linux system administration skills including storage, networking, security, and automation.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Cost: $400
Study Time: 8 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$5,000
LinuxRed HatRHELsystem administrationbash scripting

Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204)

cloud
Offered by Microsoft

Validates skills in building, deploying, and maintaining Azure-hosted applications including Azure Functions, App Service, Storage, API Management, and monitoring solutions.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Cost: $165
Study Time: 8 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$6,000
AzureMicrosoft AzureAzure FunctionsApp ServiceAzure Storage

Associate Cloud Engineer

cloud
Offered by Google

Mid-level certification validating ability to deploy and manage Google Cloud applications and infrastructure.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Cost: $125
Study Time: 8 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$5,000
GCPCompute EngineApp EngineKubernetes EngineCloud Storage

Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)

networking
Offered by Red Hat

Advanced Red Hat certification focused on automation using Ansible, covering playbooks, roles, inventory management, and enterprise automation at scale.

Difficulty: Advanced
Cost: $400
Study Time: 12 Weeks
Est. Boost: +$8,000
AnsibleautomationLinuxRed Hatplaybooks