I'm currently working as an intern, and my company has assigned a five-month learning program. I chose Python, MongoDB, and Azure, and I'd like to use the time to build practical skills while gradually moving toward cloud and DevOps work. There will also be an assessment at the end, so I need to balance hands-on projects with learning the fundamentals thoroughly enough to score well. For people with experience in these areas, what order should I study them in, which topics are most important, and what projects would make a good learning path?
4 Answers
Keep in mind that DevOps usually builds on software engineering or systems administration experience. Alongside the requested technologies, learn Linux basics, Git, HTTP and networking, testing, deployment automation, containers, and basic monitoring. Try to understand how applications run and how systems are operated instead of treating DevOps as only a collection of cloud services.
Start with Python fundamentals, then learn MongoDB basics, and move into Azure once you can build a small application. A practical progression would be: create a Python CRUD app backed by MongoDB, provision its Azure resources with the Azure SDK for Python, deploy it to an Azure App Service or another platform service, and then add networking, role-based access control, and secret storage with Key Vault. After that, add monitoring and alerts, containerize the application, and try deploying it to Azure Container Apps. Focus on the core concepts rather than attempting to master every feature. Use the projects to connect the technologies together.
Five months is a short schedule, so divide it into phases. Spend the first month on Python and Git, the second on MongoDB and application development, the third on Azure fundamentals and identity, and the final two months on deployment, containers, monitoring, and a capstone project. Keep notes and practice questions for the exam while building one project from start to finish.
An alternative order is Python first, Azure second, and MongoDB third. Python gives you the programming foundation, Azure helps you understand the cloud environment and deployment process, and MongoDB can then be added as the application's data layer. Whatever order you choose, prioritize the skills that are most useful to your team and likely to appear in the assessment.
Thanks, this is exactly the kind of roadmap I was looking for. Combining the three technologies through progressively larger projects makes much more sense than studying each one in isolation.