GISI ADO Level study plan
GISI ADO Level · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Version Control with Git & Continuous Integration
Explain the DevOps lifecycle and where version control and CI sit within it, in your own words
Create a local repository and demonstrate commit, branch, merge, and rebase workflows from the command line
Resolve a deliberate merge conflict and document the resolution steps
Write a minimal CI pipeline that triggers on push and runs a lint plus test step
Your checkpoint
A public repository with a branching strategy README, a resolved-conflict commit history, and a working CI config file that passes on the latest commit
Continuous Integration & Infrastructure as Code
Configure a CI pipeline with build caching, parallel jobs, and artifact publishing
Add automated unit and integration test stages with failure gates
Write declarative infrastructure code that provisions a network and compute resource
Run a plan/preview step and interpret the diff before applying
Your checkpoint
A pipeline that builds, tests, and publishes an artifact, plus an IaC module with a saved plan output and apply log for a throwaway environment
Infrastructure as Code & Continuous Delivery and Deployment
Manage remote state with locking and separate workspaces or environments
Parameterize IaC for dev and staging using variables and environment-specific values
Define a delivery pipeline stage that deploys to staging automatically and to production on approval
Implement a rollback or redeploy path and test it once
Your checkpoint
Two environment stacks provisioned from one codebase, with a delivery pipeline that gates production behind manual approval and a documented, tested rollback
Continuous Delivery and Deployment & Configuration Management and Automation
Compare blue-green, canary, and rolling deployment strategies and justify one choice for a sample service
Write idempotent configuration management code for a server role
Apply configuration to a fresh host and prove a second run reports no changes
Integrate the configuration step into the delivery pipeline
Your checkpoint
A configuration role applied twice with an idempotence report showing zero changes on the second run, wired into the deployment pipeline
Configuration Management and Automation & Monitoring, Logging, and Observability
Refactor duplicated automation into reusable roles or modules with clear interfaces
Instrument an application with structured logs and at least three key metrics
Build a dashboard showing request rate, error rate, and latency
Define one alert with a threshold and a runbook link
Your checkpoint
A dashboard screenshot or exported definition, a sample structured log line, and one alert rule with a short runbook committed to the repo
Monitoring, Logging, and Observability & Security and Compliance in DevOps
Trace a single request across services using correlation IDs
Add secret scanning and dependency vulnerability scanning to the pipeline
Store credentials in a secrets manager and remove them from code and config
Enforce least-privilege permissions on the pipeline's service identity
Your checkpoint
A pipeline run showing secret and dependency scan results, plus a commit that removes hardcoded credentials and references the secrets manager instead
Security and Compliance in DevOps & Introduction to DevOps
Add policy-as-code checks that block non-compliant infrastructure changes
Document an audit trail from commit to deployed artifact using pipeline metadata
Map each of the eight exam domains to your own notes and flag weak areas
Re-explain the DevOps culture and feedback-loop concepts using your project as evidence
Your checkpoint
A policy check that fails an intentionally non-compliant change, plus a one-page domain-to-evidence map with weak areas marked
Introduction to DevOps & Version Control with Git & Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery and Deployment & Infrastructure as Code & Configuration Management and Automation & Monitoring, Logging, and Observability & Security and Compliance in DevOps
Review flagged weak domains and rewrite your summaries from memory
Walk through the full pipeline end to end and explain each stage aloud
Complete timed practice sets weighted toward version control, CI, CD, and IaC
List every missed question by domain and close each gap with a targeted note
Your checkpoint
A final gap-closure log listing each missed item, its domain, and the correction, with all items marked resolved
Milestones
Week 2: You can create a branch, resolve a conflict, and get a green CI run without consulting notes
Week 4: One codebase provisions two environments and deploys to staging automatically with a tested rollback
Week 6: A request can be traced end to end, and the pipeline blocks on secret and dependency scan failures
Week 8: Timed practice scores are stable across all eight domains, with no domain below your target threshold