Compare the Ops disciplines

DevOps, SRE, Platform Engineering, MLOps… they overlap, but each has a different focus, toolset and career track. Use this table to choose — or to plan your next path.

Path	Focus	Level	Time	Key tools	Top certifications	Typical roles
DevOpsDelivery & Automation	Go from Linux and Git to shipping secure, observable software on Kubernetes and the cloud, on demand.	Beginner → Advanced	32 weeks 7 stages · 25 topics	Git GitHub Actions Docker Kubernetes Terraform Prometheus	AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400) Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer	DevOps Engineer Build and Release Engineer Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
DevSecOpsSecurity	Build security into every commit, pipeline, cluster and cloud account without slowing delivery down.	Beginner → Advanced	26 weeks 6 stages · 26 topics	Semgrep Trivy Sigstore Kyverno Falco Vault	DevSecOps Certified Professional (DSOCP) Kubernetes and Cloud Native Security Associate (KCSA) Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS)	DevSecOps Engineer Application Security Engineer Cloud Security Engineer
MLOpsData & AI	Take predictive ML models from notebook to reliable, monitored, governed production on Kubernetes and cloud.	Beginner → Advanced	30 weeks 7 stages · 28 topics	MLflow Kubeflow KServe Ray Feast Evidently	AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer Microsoft Certified: Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate (AI-300)	MLOps Engineer Machine Learning Engineer ML Platform Engineer
AIOpsReliability & Operations	Turn telemetry into action: cut alert noise, predict incidents, find root cause and automate fixes with AI.	Intermediate → Expert	27 weeks 6 stages · 28 topics	OpenTelemetry PagerDuty Dynatrace Datadog ServiceNow BigPanda	AIOps Certified Professional (AIOCP) OpenTelemetry Certified Associate (OTCA) Prometheus Certified Associate (PCA)	AIOps Engineer Site Reliability Engineer Observability Engineer
Platform EngineeringPlatforms & Cloud	Build internal developer platforms as products: golden paths, self-service APIs and guardrails at scale.	Intermediate → Expert	29 weeks 7 stages · 27 topics	Backstage Kubernetes Crossplane Argo CD Terraform Kratix	Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineering Associate (CNPA) Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineer (CNPE) Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)	Platform Engineer Platform Architect Platform Product Manager
SREReliability & Operations	Run production like a software problem: SLOs, observability, incident response and automation at scale.	Beginner → Advanced	25 weeks 6 stages · 25 topics	Prometheus Grafana OpenTelemetry Kubernetes PagerDuty LitmusChaos	SRE Certified Professional (SRECP) SRE Foundation Certified (SRE-FC) Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)	Site Reliability Engineer Production / Infrastructure Engineer Observability Engineer
FinOpsCloud Economics	Get more value from every cloud, AI and SaaS dollar with shared data, engineering action and accountability.	Beginner → Advanced	24 weeks 6 stages · 23 topics	AWS Microsoft Azure Google Cloud OpenCost Kubecost Infracost	FinOps Foundation Certified Practitioner (FinOps-FCP) FinOps Certified Practitioner (FOCP) FinOps Certified Engineer	FinOps Practitioner / Analyst FinOps Engineer / Cloud Cost Engineer FinOps Lead / Practice Manager
CloudOpsPlatforms & Cloud	Run secure, reliable and cost-aware workloads on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud with automation-first operations.	Beginner → Advanced	31 weeks 7 stages · 25 topics	AWS Microsoft Azure Google Cloud Terraform AWS Systems Manager Kubernetes	CloudOps Foundation Certified (CloudOps-FC) AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)	Cloud Operations Engineer Cloud Administrator Landing Zone / Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
DataOpsData & AI	Ship trusted, tested and observable data products with software-engineering discipline and automation.	Beginner → Advanced	32 weeks 6 stages · 24 topics	dbt Apache Airflow Dagster Databricks Snowflake Apache Iceberg	DataOps Certified Professional (DOCP) dbt Analytics Engineering Certification Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate	DataOps Engineer Analytics Engineer Data Platform Engineer
GitOpsDelivery & Automation	Run apps, clusters and cloud infrastructure from Git with Argo CD, Flux and continuous reconciliation.	Intermediate → Expert	16 weeks 7 stages · 22 topics	Argo CD Flux Kustomize Helm Argo Rollouts Crossplane	Certified GitOps Associate (CGOA) Certified Argo Project Associate (CAPA) Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)	GitOps Engineer Platform Engineer Release Engineer
NetDevOpsNetworking	Automate, test and operate networks as code, from Python and APIs to CI/CD, telemetry and AI agents.	Beginner → Advanced	32 weeks 6 stages · 23 topics	Python Ansible NetBox Nautobot Batfish Containerlab	CCNA Automation CCNP Automation CCIE Automation	Network Automation Engineer NetDevOps Engineer Network Reliability Engineer
LLMOpsData & AI	Build, evaluate, serve, observe and secure LLM, RAG and agent applications in production at a sane cost.	Beginner → Expert	28 weeks 7 stages · 26 topics	vLLM LangGraph LlamaIndex Langfuse promptfoo Hugging Face	AWS Certified Generative AI Developer – Professional (AIP-C01) Databricks Certified Generative AI Engineer Associate Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate (AI-103)	LLMOps Engineer AI Engineer GenAI Platform Engineer

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