If you are a working engineer or an engineering manager, you already know the reality: shipping software is not the hard part anymore. Shipping it safely, reliably, and repeatably is the hard part.
That is the space where DevOps engineers earn their value—by building delivery systems that are fast, stable, observable, and secure enough for real production use.
The Certified DevOps Engineer (CDE) certification is built for that exact goal. It validates that you understand core DevOps practices and can apply them with real tools such as CI/CD, automation, configuration management, and monitoring.
Official Certification Link: Certified DevOps Engineer
Provider: DevOpsSchool
Who this guide is for
This guide is written for:
- Working software engineers moving into DevOps / Platform roles
- DevOps, Cloud, and SRE engineers who want a formal validation of skills
- Engineering managers who want to set a strong upskilling path for teams
What Certified DevOps Engineer is
What it is
Certified DevOps Engineer (CDE) is a certification program designed to validate your expertise in implementing core DevOps practices such as CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, configuration management, and monitoring.
Who should take it
According to the program page, this certification is suitable for:
- DevOps Engineers
- Cloud Engineers
- Site Reliability Engineers (SREs)
Skills you’ll gain
You should expect your skills to improve in these areas (and be tested around them):
- CI/CD pipeline concepts and implementation mindset
- Infrastructure automation foundations
- Configuration management fundamentals
- Container and cloud-native delivery basics
- Monitoring and operational readiness thinking
- Practical troubleshooting and pipeline reliability
Real-world projects you should be able to do after it
After preparing properly, you should be able to build projects like:
- CI/CD pipeline for a service
- Build, test, package, deploy steps
- Artifact versioning and rollback plan
- Automated environment setup
- Repeatable provisioning + configuration
- Idempotent automation behavior
- Containerized deployment workflow
- Container build + runtime configs
- Release strategy (blue/green or canary basics)
- Monitoring-ready release
- Metrics + logs baseline
- Actionable alerts (not noisy alerts)
Preparation plan (7–14 days / 30 days / 60 days)
You can choose a prep plan based on your current experience. (Detailed plans are later in the guide.)
Common mistakes
- Studying tools without understanding delivery workflow end-to-end
- Memorizing steps instead of learning failure modes and fixes
- Skipping hands-on practice (this is the biggest reason people struggle later)
Best next certification after this
Your best next step depends on your path:
- Same track: CDP (deeper practitioner-level)
- Cross-track: SRECP or DSOCP (depending on your job)
- Leadership: CDM (if you lead teams or influence delivery strategy)
CDE program format you should know
From the official program details, the certification program includes:
- Exam length: 3 hours
- Exam format: Multiple choice and multiple select
- Exam delivery: Online proctored (remote)
- Languages: English
- Registration fee (exam): INR 9900 / USD 120
- Prerequisite: After attending the Master in DevOps Engineering (MDE) Training Course
The page also lists a training program option (60 hours) with separate pricing, and it repeats the same prerequisite line.
Why CDE matters for engineers and managers
For engineers
CDE can help you communicate:
- “I can build delivery automation and make releases safer.”
- “I understand the pipeline end-to-end, not just one tool.”
- “I can join a DevOps/Platform team and contribute faster.”
For managers
CDE is useful when you want to:
- Create a structured upskilling path for teams
- Reduce deployment risk by standardizing skill baselines
- Improve speed and reliability by investing in automation maturity
Choose your path (6 learning paths)
Different teams use “DevOps” differently. Pick the path that matches your work.
1) DevOps path
Focus: CI/CD, automation, containers, deployment, monitoring basics
Typical outcomes: faster releases, fewer manual steps, stable deployments
2) DevSecOps path
Focus: shift-left security, pipeline security gates, secrets handling, compliance thinking
Typical outcomes: secure-by-default pipelines and fewer security surprises
3) SRE path
Focus: reliability engineering, observability, incident response, SLO mindset
Typical outcomes: reduced downtime and better operational maturity
4) AIOps / MLOps path
Focus: ops automation with intelligence + ML delivery workflows
Typical outcomes: smarter alerts, faster diagnosis, production ML readiness
5) DataOps path
Focus: reliable data pipelines, testing, versioning, reproducibility
Typical outcomes: stable data delivery with fewer data breaks
6) FinOps path
Focus: cloud cost visibility, optimization, governance
Typical outcomes: measurable savings and cost-aware engineering culture
Role → Recommended certifications mapping
Use this as a simple decision table. It is intentionally practical.
- DevOps Engineer
- Core: CDE
- Next: CDP (same track), SRECP (cross-track), CDM (leadership)
- SRE
- Core: CDE + SRECP
- Next: Observability-focused program (MOE), then leadership track if needed
- Platform Engineer
- Core: CDE + Kubernetes path (CKA/CKAD/CKS depending on role depth)
- Next: CDA (architecture thinking)
- Cloud Engineer
- Core: CDE
- Next: Cloud architect certification (AWS/Azure/GCP track based on your company)
- Security Engineer
- Core: DevSecOps track (DSOCP)
- Next: security-focused cloud certification (AWS/Azure security)
- Data Engineer
- Core: DataOps track (DOCP)
- Next: cloud data engineer certification (AWS/Azure/GCP data)
- FinOps Practitioner
- Core: FinOps track
- Next: governance + leadership (FinOps Manager / CDM)
- Engineering Manager
- Core: understand CDE basics (even if not sitting the exam)
- Next: CDM for strategy, governance, metrics, delivery leadership
Certification table (track, level, audience, prerequisites, skills, order, link)
You asked to “refer and take the data” from the Gurukul Galaxy article, and it lists a set of certifications across DevOps, cloud, Kubernetes, and cross-tracks.
To respect your rule of no external links, the Link column includes the official CDE link only (as provided by you). For others, I keep the link field intentionally non-clickable.
Tip: “Recommended order” is within its track (foundation → engineer → professional → architect → manager).
| Certification | Track | Level | Who it’s for | Prerequisites | Skills covered | Recommended order | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certified DevOps Engineer (CDE) | DevOps | Core | DevOps/Cloud/SRE | MDE training (as listed) | CI/CD, automation, CM, monitoring | 2 | Official CDE link |
| DevOps Certified Professional (DCP) | DevOps | Foundation | DevOps starters + switchers | Basic Linux/Git | DevOps basics + hands-on workflow | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified DevOps Professional (CDP) | DevOps | Advanced | Practicing DevOps engineers | Strong DevOps base | advanced delivery + ops maturity | 3 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified DevOps Architect (CDA) | DevOps | Architect | Platform/DevOps architects | Strong DevOps + systems design | architecture + scale patterns | 4 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified DevOps Manager (CDM) | DevOps | Leadership | leads/managers | delivery leadership exposure | strategy, governance, org change | 5 | Available on provider catalog |
| Master in DevOps Engineering (MDE) | DevOps | Master | deep career upskilling | none (program-based) | DevOps + DevSecOps + SRE blend | 0 | Available on provider catalog |
| DevSecOps Certified Professional (DSOCP) | DevSecOps | Professional | DevOps + Security | DevOps base | security in pipelines, policies | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Site Reliability Engineering Certified Professional (SRECP) | SRE | Professional | SRE/ops/platform | DevOps base | reliability + incident readiness | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| MLOps Certified Professional (MLOCP) | MLOps | Professional | ML/platform engineers | ML basics helpful | ML delivery + production readiness | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| AIOps Certified Professional (AIOCP) | AIOps | Professional | Ops/observability teams | monitoring basics | AIOps workflows + automation | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| DataOps Certified Professional (DOCP) | DataOps | Professional | Data engineers | data pipeline basics | testing, versioning, data delivery | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Kubernetes Certified Admin & Developer (KCAD) | Kubernetes | Prep | K8s admins/devs | container basics | admin + dev readiness | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Master in Azure DevOps | Cloud | Prep | Azure engineers | Azure basics | Azure + DevOps tooling | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate | Cloud | Associate | Cloud engineers | AWS basics | core architecture | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| AWS DevOps Engineer – Professional | Cloud | Professional | DevOps on AWS | strong AWS base | operations + delivery on AWS | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| AWS Certified Security – Specialty | Cloud Security | Specialty | security engineers | AWS security base | IAM, security design | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate | Cloud Data | Associate | data engineers | AWS data basics | data services + pipelines | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Azure Solutions Architect Expert | Cloud | Expert | cloud architects | strong Azure base | architecture + governance | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400) | Cloud DevOps | Expert | Azure DevOps roles | Azure + DevOps | CI/CD + DevOps on Azure | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Azure Security Engineer (AZ-500) | Cloud Security | Associate | security engineers | Azure basics | security controls | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Azure Data Engineer | Cloud Data | Associate | data engineers | Azure data basics | pipelines, storage, compute | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| GCP Professional Cloud Architect | Cloud | Professional | architects | GCP base | architecture + design | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| GCP Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer | Cloud DevOps | Professional | DevOps on GCP | strong GCP base | CI/CD + ops on GCP | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| GCP Professional Cloud Security Engineer | Cloud Security | Professional | security engineers | GCP security base | controls + compliance | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| GCP Professional Data Engineer | Cloud Data | Professional | data engineers | GCP data base | pipelines, governance | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) | Kubernetes | Professional | cluster admins | hands-on K8s | operations + cluster mgmt | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) | Kubernetes | Professional | app developers | containers + K8s | app delivery on K8s | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) | Kubernetes Security | Advanced | platform/security | CKA-level skills | hardening + runtime security | 3 | Available on provider catalog |
| HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate | IaC | Associate | DevOps/IaC | IaC basics | Terraform workflows | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Master in Observability Engineering (MOE) | Observability | Professional | SRE/Platform | monitoring basics | logs/metrics/traces + ops | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified DevSecOps Architect | DevSecOps | Architect | architects | DevSecOps depth | secure architecture | 3 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified DevSecOps Engineer | DevSecOps | Engineer | implementers | DevSecOps base | secure pipelines | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified DevSecOps Manager | DevSecOps | Leadership | leaders | governance interest | security program leadership | 4 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified DevSecOps Professional | DevSecOps | Professional | practitioners | DevOps + security | security integration | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified Site Reliability Engineer | SRE | Engineer | SRE implementers | ops base | reliability patterns | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified Site Reliability Architect | SRE | Architect | architects | SRE depth | SRE architecture | 3 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified Site Reliability Professional | SRE | Professional | practitioners | SRE base | SRE operations | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified Site Reliability Manager | SRE | Leadership | managers | leadership | SRE governance | 4 | Available on provider catalog |
| AIOps Foundation Certification | AIOps | Foundation | starters | none | AIOps basics | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified AIOps Engineer | AIOps | Engineer | implementers | AIOps base | automation + event mgmt | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified AIOps Professional | AIOps | Professional | practitioners | engineer-level | advanced AIOps workflows | 3 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified AIOps Architect | AIOps | Architect | architects | professional-level | design AIOps platforms | 4 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified AIOps Manager | AIOps | Leadership | managers | leadership | program mgmt | 5 | Available on provider catalog |
| MLOps Foundation Certification | MLOps | Foundation | starters | none | MLOps basics | 1 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified MLOps Engineer | MLOps | Engineer | implementers | MLOps base | pipelines, deployment | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified MLOps Professional | MLOps | Professional | practitioners | engineer-level | advanced workflows | 3 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified MLOps Architect | MLOps | Architect | architects | professional-level | design ML platforms | 4 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified MLOps Manager | MLOps | Leadership | managers | leadership | governance | 5 | Available on provider catalog |
| CDOE – Certified DataOps Engineer | DataOps | Engineer | implementers | data base | delivery automation | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| CDOA – Certified DataOps Architect | DataOps | Architect | architects | DataOps depth | design data platforms | 3 | Available on provider catalog |
| CDOM – Certified DataOps Manager | DataOps | Leadership | managers | leadership | governance | 4 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified FinOps Engineer | FinOps | Engineer | implementers | cloud basics | cost optimization actions | 2 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified FinOps Professional | FinOps | Professional | practitioners | engineer-level | reporting + governance | 3 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified FinOps Architect | FinOps | Architect | architects | professional-level | cost-aware architecture | 4 | Available on provider catalog |
| Certified FinOps Manager | FinOps | Leadership | managers | leadership | program mgmt | 5 | Available on provider catalog |
Preparation plan that actually works (7–14 days / 30 days / 60 days)
7–14 days plan (for experienced engineers)
Best for: already working in CI/CD, Docker/K8s, automation
Day 1–2: Refresh fundamentals
- Git workflows, branching, releases
- CI/CD stages and failure handling
Day 3–5: Automation focus
- Configuration management mindset
- Environment consistency (dev/test/prod)
Day 6–9: Cloud-native flow
- Containers, deployment strategy, rollback thinking
- Basic monitoring signals (metrics/logs/alerts)
Day 10–14: Practice + revision
- Scenario-style questions
- Write short runbooks for your own pipeline failures
30 days plan (for working engineers who are “partially DevOps”)
Week 1: DevOps workflow basics
- CI/CD pipeline patterns
- Build/test/package/deploy mental model
Week 2: Automation and repeatability
- Infrastructure automation approach
- Idempotency, config, secrets handling basics
Week 3: Containers and delivery
- Docker packaging + environment config
- Kubernetes basics (deploy/service/ingress)
Week 4: Operate what you ship
- Monitoring baseline + alert quality
- Troubleshooting checklist and runbooks
60 days plan (for career switchers or early professionals)
Month 1: Foundation + hands-on lab
- Linux basics + Git
- CI/CD basics + container basics
- One small end-to-end pipeline project
Month 2: Production mindset
- Automation depth + config practices
- Monitoring + incident response habits
- Improve your project: add rollback, alerts, docs, and readme
Common mistakes (avoid these)
- Learning tools separately and never connecting them into one workflow
- Building pipelines that work only once (not repeatable)
- Ignoring rollback and versioning strategy
- Alert storms (too many alerts, not enough signal)
- No documentation or runbooks for “how we release”
Best next certification after CDE (3 options)
Option 1: Same track (deepen DevOps)
- Certified DevOps Professional (CDP) → if you want stronger practitioner-level depth
- Certified DevOps Architect (CDA) → if you design platforms and systems
Option 2: Cross-track (specialize)
- SRECP → if reliability, observability, incident response is your core job
- DSOCP → if you are adding security gates, compliance, and secure-by-default delivery
Option 3: Leadership
- Certified DevOps Manager (CDM) → if you lead teams, influence delivery governance, and drive change programs
“Next certifications to take” (simple 3-choice recommendation)
To keep this simple and usable, here are three clear picks after CDE:
- Same track: CDP (become stronger at real-world delivery and operations)
- Cross-track: SRECP (if you own uptime, incidents, or platform reliability)
- Leadership: CDM (if you manage teams, processes, and outcomes)
Top institutions that help with Training + Certifications for CDE
Below are the institutions you listed. I’m keeping this section short, practical, and neutral.
DevOpsSchool
A certification and training ecosystem covering DevOps and multiple cross-tracks. It positions CDE as a core validation for engineers implementing CI/CD, automation, and monitoring practices, with training and exam options available.
Cotocus
Often referenced alongside DevOps learning ecosystems and industry mentoring. Helpful when you want guidance plus real-world perspective and implementation discipline.
Scmgalaxy
Known for training-focused programs and career-oriented learning paths. Useful if you want structured learning support and practice before certification.
BestDevOps
Typically positioned around DevOps learning support and upskilling. Helpful for structured preparation and interview-readiness practice.
devsecopsschool
More security-centered learning and certifications. Choose this when your role requires security gates, compliance, and secure delivery practices.
sreschool
SRE-focused learning routes. Useful for engineers responsible for uptime, observability, and incident response maturity.
aiopsschool
AIOps-focused paths. Helpful if your organization is moving into intelligent operations, event correlation, and automation.
dataopsschool
DataOps path support. Useful if you build data pipelines and want reliability, testing, and repeatable releases for data.
finopsschool
FinOps path support. Useful if your team needs cloud cost optimization, governance, and cost-aware engineering habits.
FAQs
FAQs on Certified DevOps Engineer (CDE) (8)
1) Is CDE difficult?
It is manageable if you already work with CI/CD and automation. It becomes difficult when you only “know definitions” but have not practiced real workflows.
2) How much time do I need?
If you already work in DevOps tasks, 7–14 days can be enough. If you are transitioning, plan 30–60 days.
3) What is the exam format?
Multiple choice and multiple select.
4) How long is the CDE exam?
3 hours.
5) Is the exam online or offline?
The program lists online-proctored exam from a remote location.
6) What are the official prerequisites?
The page lists: After attending the Master in DevOps Engineering (MDE) Training Course.
7) What skills should I focus on most?
CI/CD pipeline thinking, automation repeatability, container basics, and monitoring readiness.
8) What should I build as proof after CDE?
A working CI/CD pipeline project, an automation project, and a monitoring-ready deployment with a rollback story.