merge: add homelab-mastery as subdir
Moved homelab-mastery repo content into homelab-mastery/ subdirectory. Covers architecture, concepts, certifications, interview-prep, and learning-path. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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homelab-mastery/certifications/roadmap.md
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# Certification Roadmap — Cloud Engineering Track
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Your goal: Cloud Engineer. This is one of the best-paid, highest-demand roles in tech.
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Your project already demonstrates cloud engineering skills. Certs give you the vocabulary and credentials to prove it on paper.
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---
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## Your Path (In Order)
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```
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CompTIA A+ Core 1 ✅ DONE (highest score)
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↓
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CompTIA A+ Core 2 ← YOU ARE HERE
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↓
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CompTIA Network+ ← OPTIONAL (CCNA covers this and more)
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↓
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CCNA ← Strong networking foundation
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↓
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AWS Solutions Architect Associate ← Core cloud cert
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↓
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CompTIA Cloud+ ← Vendor-neutral cloud (optional, pairs well with AWS SAA)
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↓
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AWS SysOps Administrator Associate ← Operations focus (very relevant to homelab)
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↓
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Kubernetes (CKA) ← Container orchestration (natural next step from Docker)
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↓
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AI / Prompt Engineering certs ← After cloud foundation is solid
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```
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---
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## Each Cert Explained
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### CompTIA A+ Core 2 (In Progress)
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**What it covers:** Windows OS, macOS, Linux basics, security fundamentals, troubleshooting, remote support
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**Why it matters:** Completes your A+ certification — required baseline for most IT roles
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**How it connects to your homelab:** Linux troubleshooting, OS concepts, security basics
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**Study tips:**
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- Professor Messer (free on YouTube) — best A+ resource, period
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- Jason Dion practice exams (Udemy, ~$15) — take these until you consistently hit 85%+
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- Focus on Core 2's security domain — it maps directly to your Authentik/SSO work
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---
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### CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate)
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**What it covers:** TCP/IP networking, routing, switching, VLANs, subnetting, wireless, security basics, automation basics
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**Why it matters:** The gold standard networking cert. Hiring managers trust it more than Network+. Cloud engineering requires deep networking knowledge.
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**How it connects to your homelab:**
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- Subnetting: your Docker bridge networks (172.x.x.x), Tailscale (100.x.x.x) are subnets
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- DNS: you configured Cloudflare DNS for every subdomain
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- Routing: Cloudflare Tunnel routes traffic to specific containers by hostname
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- Firewalls: you configured ufw rules on kscloud1
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- TCP/UDP: you opened specific ports, understand why services bind to certain ports
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**Study resources:**
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- *Jeremy's IT Lab* (free, YouTube + Packet Tracer labs) — best free CCNA content
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- *Neil Anderson's CCNA course* (Udemy) — comprehensive paid option
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- Cisco Packet Tracer (free simulator) — build labs, don't just watch
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- Allan Johnson's *CCNA 200-301 Official Cert Guide* (Cisco Press) — the official book
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**Timeline:** Plan 3–6 months of consistent study. Don't rush it.
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---
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### AWS Solutions Architect — Associate (SAA-C03)
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**What it covers:** EC2, S3, VPC, IAM, RDS, load balancers, auto-scaling, serverless, storage, CDN, security
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**Why it matters:** Most in-demand cloud cert in the market. AWS powers ~33% of the internet. This cert is the entry point to cloud engineering jobs.
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**How it connects to your homelab:**
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- Your Hetzner VPS is essentially what an EC2 instance is on AWS
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- Your Cloudflare Tunnel is similar to AWS CloudFront + ALB
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- Your Docker networking maps to AWS VPC concepts
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- Your Tailscale private network maps to AWS VPC peering / PrivateLink
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- Your Prometheus/Grafana stack maps to AWS CloudWatch
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- Your active-active failover maps to AWS multi-AZ architecture
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**Study resources:**
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- *Stephane Maarek's AWS SAA course* (Udemy, ~$15 on sale) — the best, period
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- *Tutorial Dojo practice exams* by Jon Bonso — most accurate practice exams for AWS
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- AWS Free Tier — build the same things you built in your homelab, but on AWS
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**Timeline:** 2–3 months after CCNA. Easier once you know networking well.
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---
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### AWS SysOps Administrator — Associate (SOA-C02)
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**What it covers:** Monitoring, logging, automation, deployments, security, cost management, high availability
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**Why it matters:** More hands-on than SAA. Directly maps to what you did in your homelab — keeping systems running, monitoring them, troubleshooting.
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**How it connects to your homelab:** This is literally your homelab at enterprise scale. Prometheus → CloudWatch. Docker → EC2/ECS. Cloudflare Tunnel → ALB. Tailscale → VPC.
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**Take this after SAA.** Many people skip it — don't. It makes you a better engineer.
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---
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### Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
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**What it covers:** Container orchestration, Kubernetes cluster management, deployments, networking, storage, troubleshooting
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**Why it matters:** Docker Compose is what you use at home. Kubernetes is what companies use in production. This cert is highly valued at mid-to-senior level.
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**How it connects to your homelab:** You run containers with Docker Compose — Kubernetes is the enterprise version. Your `kitestacks` Docker network maps to Kubernetes namespaces. Your services map to Kubernetes Deployments.
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**Study resources:**
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- *Mumshad Mannambeth's CKA course* (KodeKloud) — industry standard
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- KodeKloud labs — hands-on practice environment built specifically for this exam
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**When to take it:** After AWS certs. Kubernetes before cloud fundamentals is backwards.
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---
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### AI / Prompt Engineering Certifications
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Since you're already running Open WebUI + LiteLLM, you have a head start.
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| Cert | Provider | Cost | Best For |
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|------|----------|------|----------|
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| **AWS AI Practitioner (AIF-C01)** | AWS | ~$150 | Cloud AI fundamentals, pairs with your AWS path |
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| **Azure AI-900** | Microsoft | ~$165 | Broad AI concepts, vendor-neutral feel |
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| **Google Generative AI Fundamentals** | Google Cloud | Free | Quick badge, good starter |
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| **DeepLearning.AI — Prompt Engineering** | Coursera/DeepLearning | Free (audit) | Best hands-on prompt content |
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| **Vanderbilt Prompt Engineering Specialization** | Coursera | ~$50 | Certificate for LinkedIn |
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**Honest advice:** For prompt engineering, a portfolio beats a cert. Document your LiteLLM/Open WebUI setup. Show model routing configurations. Write about the decisions you made. That's more valuable than any certificate.
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---
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## Certification Timeline
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Given where you are today:
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| Timeframe | Milestone |
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|-----------|-----------|
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| Next 1–2 months | CompTIA A+ Core 2 ✅ |
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| Months 3–8 | CCNA |
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| Months 9–11 | AWS SAA-C03 |
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| Months 12–14 | AWS SysOps Associate |
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| Months 15–18 | CKA (or CompTIA Cloud+) |
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| Months 18+ | AI/ML certs |
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---
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## Why This Order Matters
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**Networking before cloud:** AWS, Azure, and GCP are all just managed networking + compute. If you don't understand subnets, routing, and DNS, cloud will be confusing. CCNA first makes cloud certs 3x easier.
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**Associate before specialty:** Don't skip to advanced certs. The associate level forces you to learn breadth. You'll encounter scenarios in the SysOps exam that directly map to what broke in your homelab.
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**Hands-on alongside study:** The fastest way to pass any of these is to *build the thing* while you study. You already have a homelab. Use it. Every AWS service you study — ask yourself: "what's the equivalent in my homelab?"
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---
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## What These Certs Say to a Hiring Manager
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| You Have | They Hear |
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|----------|-----------|
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| A+ | You know how hardware and OS work |
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| CCNA | You understand networking deeply, not just surface level |
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| AWS SAA | You can architect solutions in the cloud |
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| AWS SysOps | You can keep cloud infrastructure running in production |
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| CKA | You can manage container workloads at scale |
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| Homelab project | You do this for fun, not just for a paycheck |
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The last row is the most important one.
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