GitHub Actions for Cloud & DevOps Engineers¶
Duration: 6–8 weeks · Difficulty: Beginner → Expert
Production Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) with GitHub Actions — design workflows, operate runners, ship containers, deploy to Kubernetes and cloud, automate Terraform, and harden the supply chain.
Course status
Curriculum follows the REBASH GitHub Actions technology prompt (16 modules). Tutorials use the academy standard with Excalidraw diagrams under docs/assets/excalidraw/ (not D2). Regenerate with python3 scripts/generate-excalidraw-svg.py. Start with CI/CD Fundamentals.
1. Course overview¶
Purpose¶
Treat delivery as software: versioned workflows under .github/workflows/, reviewable checks on pull requests, OIDC to cloud (no long-lived keys), reusable actions, and environment-gated production deploys.
Target roles¶
DevOps · Cloud · Platform · SRE · DevSecOps · Software Engineer
Prerequisites¶
- Git (required)
- Docker · Kubernetes · Terraform for later modules
- Basic cloud knowledge (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud)
Learning arc¶
| Phase | Modules | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Foundations | 1–2 | Beginner |
| Core CI | 3–6 | Intermediate |
| Delivery & platforms | 7–10 | Intermediate → Advanced |
| Hardening & scale | 11–14 | Advanced |
| Production & ops | 15–16 | Advanced → Expert |
Capstone outcomes¶
Reusable workflows · self-hosted runners · OIDC · multi-cloud · Kubernetes · Terraform automation · security scanning · release automation · rollbacks
2. Modules¶
| Module | Focus | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CI/CD fundamentals | Fundamentals |
| 2 | Actions basics | Workflows · jobs · steps |
| 3 | Runners | Hosted & self-hosted |
| 4 | Workflow syntax | Matrix & reusable |
| 5 | Secrets & variables | Secrets · OIDC |
| 6 | Artifacts & caching | Artifacts & cache |
| 7 | Docker pipelines | Docker · GHCR |
| 8 | Kubernetes | Deploy with Actions |
| 9 | Terraform | Plan & apply |
| 10 | Cloud deployments | AWS · Azure · GCP |
| 11 | Security | Supply chain |
| 12 | Testing | Tests & gates |
| 13 | Releases | Tags & releases |
| 14 | Reusable components | Composite & workflows |
| 15 | Production | Environments & CD |
| 16 | Troubleshooting | Debug & optimise |
3. Practice¶
- Labs · Projects · Quizzes
- Cheat sheets · Interview · Capstone
- Roadmap · FAQ · Certifications