Continuous Delivery & DevOps from Coursera

Amazon famously delivers new code every 11.6 seconds. Just a few years ago, this was unthinkable: many ‘cutting edge’ firms would release software quarterly. When it comes to digital innovation, velocity is critical and many would say it’s the most reliable determinant of success.

Bringing an organization to the state of the art (or even functional capability) in this area requires strong work in a combination of disciplines and a combination of both technical and managerial skills. There is no single cookie-cutter approach for achieving this capability. Much like agile, the right focus and formulation depends a lot on the facts and circumstances of the team. This course, developed at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and taught by top-ranked faculty, will provide you with the interdisciplinary skill set to cultivate a continuous deployment capability in your organization.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Diagnose a team’s delivery pipeline and bring forward prioritized recommendations to improve it

2. Explain the skill sets and roles involved in DevOps and how they contribute toward a continuous delivery capability

3. Review and deliver automation tests across the development stack

4. Explain the key jobs of system operations and how today’s leading techniques and tools apply to them

5. Explain how high-functioning teams use DevOps and related methods to reach a continuous delivery capability

6. Facilitate prioritized, iterative team progress on improving a delivery pipeline

What's inside

Syllabus

The Importance of Velocity & The Jobs of Delivery

If your job is to make software, you’re probably busy. Everyone needs new features yesterday. Stuff breaks. How do you make time to work smarter? How do you know where you should focus the time you do have for process improvement? In this week, we’ll cover the fundamentals of DevOps and continuous delivery with an emphasis on the relationship between required investment and benefits.

Your Testing Stack

Focusing and automating your software testing is one of the most critical foundation elements to a continuous delivery capability. Thinking like a developer and looking at how to automate repetitive tasks is a lot of what DevOps collaboration is about. In this week, we’ll explore the test stack with a focus on the when and how’s of automated testing.

Infrastructure and The Jobs of Ops

Something like 99% of the code that delivers your functionality to the user is code you don’t write- it’s an operating system and supporting packages from third parties. The quality and availability of standard components has driven down the cost of software development exponentially. It’s also increased the importance of managing this supporting code and the environments where it runs to support your application. In this week, we’ll look at the techniques and tools teams are using to manage their environments and operations for continuous delivery.

Delivering Continuously

You now have an understanding of the key components of a continuous delivery capability. The key to success is focusing on the right things at the right time and creating momentum with your initial investments on the capability. In this final week, we’ll look at how teams get their continuous capability online and keep their pipeline healthy.

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Taught by top-ranked faculty at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia

Focuses on the DevOps skill set, which is highly relevant in industry

Develops the specialized skills and knowledge required for a continuous delivery capability

Provides hands-on experience with the tools and methods of continuous delivery

Requires prerequisite knowledge in DevOps and software development

Reviews summary

Expertly-reviewed devops & delivery

Learners say this course offers a largely positive overview of continuous delivery (CI/CD), engaging assignments, and expert insights. According to students, the course content is clear, practical, and up-to-date, with well-structured modules and a great mix of theoretical explanations, code walkthroughs, and interviews with industry professionals. The course is particularly well received by beginners who want to understand the basics of DevOps and CI/CD. However, some students note that the quizzes can be challenging and that the course assumes some prior knowledge of software development, which could make it less accessible for complete beginners. Overall, learners recommend this course for anyone looking to gain a comprehensive understanding of CI/CD and DevOps practices.

Well-organized modules and a logical progression of topics.

"It is a very interesting topic in the industry nowadays to be more productive by leveraging CI/CD pipelines. The idea of Continuous Delivery & DevOps was very well expressed by the course instructor and with the interviews, the viewers can grasp almost a full picture about why we need to think about CI/CD pipelines in depth."

"Very good and clear overview of what CICD is about, including the associated components and context (tools, teams etc. ). I really liked the mix of: - 'theoretical' explanations by the teacher, including sketches- concrete examples walks throughs by the teacher (looking at pieces of code)- interviews with people working in different companies and having different responsibilities."

Accessible for those new to DevOps or CI/CD.

"I am very thankful, it's helping me to understand how the DevOps process works, it's cover a lot of areas of CD & CI, special thanks to Alex the explanations were clear."

"Excellent course on devops and CI/CD. Provides a clear overview of concepts and techniques"

Easy-to-understand explanations and a good balance of theory and practice.

"Alex Cowan know how to balance between the high level description and the low level details."

"Very Interactive and thourough to explain your concepts better. The instructor is well versed in what he is teaching."

Valuable hands-on experience from industry professionals sharing real-world examples.

"The interviews with actual experts from this field who shared the much needed knowledge regarding the actual real world implementation of CI/CD."

"Along with the course module the interviews recordings also gives an idea of how people have implemented the DevOps concepts."

Assumes some prior knowledge of software development, which could make it less accessible for complete beginners.

"This course is extra add on skill and practice to the Software devloper and tester to understand the flow of buisness and application and for making testing plans and the pipelines in the DEVOPS"

"I thought this was a solid introduction to DevOps, especially from an Agile point-of-view."

Some quizzes can be difficult or unclear, requiring learners to search for answers outside the course material.

"I think the course is good for someone who has never done anything with CI & CD, but it was mostly just covering the theory of "why" you should do something with little in the way of practical examples."

"A good courses for better understanding of the importance of Continuous Delivery. It also introduce multiple topics on how to incrementally improve your pipeline."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Continuous Delivery & DevOps with these activities:

Review Web Development Core Concepts

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Review fundamental web development concepts such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to enhance your understanding of the course material.

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Review HTML syntax and structure
Practice building basic HTML layouts
Explore CSS properties and selectors
Write CSS to style and position HTML elements
Practice using JavaScript for basic interactivity and DOM manipulation

Read DevOps Handbook

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Gain insights into best practices and real-world case studies by reading this foundational DevOps handbook.

View The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class... on Amazon

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Read the book thoroughly and take notes
Identify key concepts and principles
Relate the book's content to the course topics
Discuss your learnings with your team or classmates
Apply the principles to your own projects or work

Complete Coding Challenges

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Engage in practice drills and coding challenges related to DevOps and continuous deployment to enhance your problem-solving skills.

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Identify coding platforms or websites offering challenges
Select challenges aligned with course topics, such as CI/CD, testing, or deployment
Attempt to solve the challenges independently
Review solutions and learn from your mistakes
Apply your learnings to practical scenarios in the course

Four other activities

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Create a Deployment Automation Script

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Develop a script or tool to automate the deployment process, enhancing your DevOps skills and reducing manual effort.

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Identify the deployment steps and requirements
Research and choose an appropriate scripting language
Write the script to automate the deployment process
Test and debug the script
Integrate the script into your continuous delivery pipeline

Attend DevOps Workshops

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Participate in workshops or online events focused on DevOps and continuous delivery practices to enhance your practical knowledge.

Browse courses on DevOps

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Research and identify relevant workshops
Register and attend the workshops
Take notes and actively participate in discussions
Apply the concepts and techniques learned to your own projects
Share your learnings with your team or classmates

Write a DevOps Case Study

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Develop a case study on a successful DevOps implementation, analyzing benefits, challenges, and lessons learned to enhance your understanding and critical thinking.

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Identify a suitable case study topic
Research and gather data on the case study
Analyze the DevOps practices and outcomes
Write a comprehensive report outlining the findings
Present your case study to your team or classmates

Develop a Continuous Delivery Pipeline

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Build a continuous delivery pipeline from scratch, integrating concepts covered in the course such as testing, automation, and deployment.

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Define the project scope and goals
Set up source control and versioning
Automate testing and build processes
Configure a continuous integration server
Implement a deployment process
Monitor and optimize the pipeline

Career center

Learners who complete Continuous Delivery & DevOps will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Continuous Deployment Engineer

A Continuous Deployment Engineer is responsible for ensuring that software is continuously delivered to production environments. This course may be helpful for Continuous Deployment Engineers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Continuous Deployment Engineer

Software Engineer

A Software Engineer designs, develops, and maintains software systems. This course may be helpful for Software Engineers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Software Engineer

DevOps Engineer

A DevOps Engineer is responsible for bridging the gap between development and operations teams. This course may be helpful for DevOps Engineers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for DevOps Engineer

Systems Administrator

A Systems Administrator is responsible for managing and maintaining computer systems and networks. This course may be helpful for Systems Administrators looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Systems Administrator

Operations Engineer

An Operations Engineer is responsible for maintaining and supporting IT systems and infrastructure. This course may be helpful for Operations Engineers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Operations Engineer

Cloud Engineer

A Cloud Engineer designs, develops, and maintains cloud-based systems and applications. This course may be helpful for Cloud Engineers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Cloud Engineer

Quality Assurance Analyst

A Quality Assurance Analyst is responsible for testing and ensuring the quality of software products. This course may be helpful for Quality Assurance Analysts looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Quality Assurance Analyst

Automation Engineer

An Automation Engineer designs, develops, and maintains automated systems. This course may be helpful for Automation Engineers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Automation Engineer

Release Manager

A Release Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing software releases. This course may be helpful for Release Managers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Release Manager

Solutions Architect

A Solutions Architect designs and implements IT solutions for organizations. This course may be helpful for Solutions Architects looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Solutions Architect

IT Manager

An IT Manager is responsible for managing and overseeing the IT department of an organization. This course may be helpful for IT Managers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for IT Manager

Project Manager

A Project Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing projects. This course may be helpful for Project Managers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Project Manager

Technical Program Manager

A Technical Program Manager is responsible for managing and coordinating technical projects. This course may be helpful for Technical Program Managers looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Program Manager

Engineer

An Engineer builds, tests, and repairs products, processes, and systems. This course may be helpful for Engineers looking to develop or expand their skills for continuous delivery. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery. With this knowledge, you can build and maintain products and systems more efficiently and effectively.

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Business Analyst

A Business Analyst analyzes and documents business requirements for IT systems. This course may be helpful for Business Analysts looking to further develop their skills. The course will teach you how to diagnose and improve delivery pipelines, explain skill sets and roles involved in DevOps, deliver automation tests, explain key jobs of system operations, and understand how high-functioning teams use DevOps and Continuous Delivery.

See salaries and explore the career path for Business Analyst

Continuous Delivery & DevOps

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Reviews summary

Expertly-reviewed devops & delivery

Activities

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