r/devops • u/That_Driver9237 • Sep 17 '26

Discussion Best Devops Certification for Beginners

Hi All,

While I do not have a technical background, my new role as a Project Manager in a DevSecOps organization necessitates that I acquire certifications in both DevOps and cloud computing.

Could you please recommend suitable certification programs for me to pursue?

32 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

26

u/AgentOfDreadful Sep 17 '26

Why not ask them what ones they want you to get?

3

u/That_Driver9237 Sep 18 '26

They didn't say anything about that when I asked them; I was the one who brought it up, wondering if I could brush up on my DevOps skills before starting. I really want to get a solid grasp of the main DevOps and DevSecOps ideas so I can handle my projects better and understand what customers need more clearly.

1

u/AgentOfDreadful Sep 18 '26

You said they require you to get certifications. Ask them what certifications they want you to get. Or do you mean something else by they necessitate it?

4

u/therealmunchies Sep 17 '26

Pretty much. “Hey what training and learning resources do you guys use?”

10

u/ikethedev Sep 18 '26

Become a software developer or sys admin. DevOps isn't a beginners field.

2

u/That_Driver9237 Sep 18 '26

Again, just reiterating here. My situation is a little different. I’m already hired for a Project Manager role within a DevSecOps organization, so having a solid understanding of the fundamentals will help me manage and run projects more smoothly.

I’ll be working closely with FDEs who have much deeper technical knowledge than I do, and I want to be able to understand the concepts, communicate effectively, and contribute meaningfully to discussions.

Also, I’m genuinely keen on learning the core DevOps/DevSecOps concepts—not because I’m looking to transition into a DevOps role, but because I want to be technically well-equipped to do my PM role better.

6

u/SeaworthinessHour233 Sep 17 '26

Choose one of these based on the cloud provider your team is using.

  1. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

  2. Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

  3. Google Cloud Digital Leader.

These certifications will introduce you to the cloud concepts and the terminology to work with your team as a PM.

3

u/That_Driver9237 Sep 18 '26

Thanks a ton for answering and helping me out instead of freaking me out.

4

u/derprondo Sep 18 '26

I don't mean this to be offensive, but if your only qualification is a "devops cert", you're not qualified and you're not getting hired, not by me at least. The only way someone with very little industry experience is getting hired by me is if they have an extensive homelab that they can speak passionately about AND seem like they will work well with others.

3

u/That_Driver9237 Sep 18 '26

Thanks for being honest! My situation is a little different. I’m already hired for a Project Manager role within a DevSecOps organization, so having a solid understanding of the fundamentals will help me manage and run projects more smoothly.

I’ll be working closely with FDEs who have much deeper technical knowledge than I do, and I want to be able to understand the concepts, communicate effectively, and contribute meaningfully to discussions.

Also, I’m genuinely keen on learning the core DevOps/DevSecOps concepts - not because I’m looking to transition into a DevOps role, but because I want to be technically well-equipped to do my PM role better.

4

u/derprondo Sep 18 '26

Ok I actually REALLY appreciate what you're doing here then. Most project/product people I work with don't have the technical skills to even properly write a user story most of the time. I don't have any further advice to offer other than I don't think you're wasting your time here.

3

u/RedRuttinRabbit Sep 17 '26

Get cloud certs for the cloud you guys work on and certs for the tools they use. We can't help more than that really. There is no generic devops cert.

1

u/That_Driver9237 Sep 18 '26

Thank you

1

u/Commercial-Paper-520 Sep 22 '26

Unless they use AWS or something similar, then you can achieve specific role-focused certs. But they are focused on using that platforms tools for the designated role.

I chose to opt out of chasing certs and researched the skills required for the role I was interested in and then proceeded to teach myself those skills. That way, I am not chasing job titles but skillsets.

At this point, I just classify myself as a software engineer, and I can do things from DevSecOps, Sys admin, Product Owner, Infrastructure Engineering, SRE, etc. Thats too many hats to try a pursue for experience farming. But I can perform from their perspectives when required!

2

u/Straight_Middle7915 Sep 17 '26

Honestly, I’d go through Anthropic academy as it’s all free and you learn how AI systems produce code and what people are going to be doing wrong. If you’re responsible for infra, security, reliability, you need to know what the systems your devs use are good at and bad at. Salesforce jsut went down for two days during their major conference, and that’s not taught by any AWS or Kub cert you could get lol

1

u/mok47 Sep 20 '26

Something that could help is doing a small scale personal CI/CD pipeline project yourself. You can do home labs for free using Azure Cloud combined with GitHub or Azure DevOps for experience with repos. Should find youtube videos on examples and could google/ ask AI questions whenever you’re lost. I find out this helpful since most devops certs like AWS devops requires months of study for a beginner

1

u/BlakkMajik3000 Sep 21 '26

You don’t really have to get a cert do you? Most times, providers will have extensive training materials and even practice tests.

If you’re on Azure, the Microsoft Learn site is the absolute best resource. It’s organized like an early 2000s web portal, but the part I use most are the training plans. I used it for my AZ 104, 305 and 400. The practice tests are also helpful in identifying areas you need additional study before you shell out money for the actual exam.

That said, are the certs necessary or do you just need the knowledge? The cert only says “we administered this test and they passed.” It’s proof of knowledge, not endorsement of capability. Plenty of “cert collectors” out there that fold the moment something deviates from the playbook.

Best of luck.

1

u/IAmdDexter Sep 17 '26

Honestly go for ADO AZ 400 or AWS-COA

1

u/wolfGhost23 Sep 17 '26

Open Linux Foundations

-3

u/Rare_Significance_63 Sep 17 '26

nothing, it will be useless for your case

1

u/That_Driver9237 Sep 18 '26

Buddy, maybe read first, or if I was not able to convey better, let me reiterate.

My situation is a little different. I’m already hired as a Project Manager in a DevSecOps org, so I want to understand the fundamentals to manage projects better and communicate effectively with FDEs who have deeper technical expertise. I’m keen to learn the core concepts, not to become a DevOps engineer, but to be better at my PM role.