Cloud Native Platform Engineering by Pearson

Course details

Go from a Linux beginner to a cloud-native engineer with hands-on, project-based course. Build command line skills—from basic navigation to advanced system administration—before moving on to containerization with Docker and resilient orchestration with Kubernetes. Dive into core DevOps practices and cloud-native architectures like Infrastructure as Code (IaC), cloud platform management, CI/CD pipelines, and version control with Git. Review microservices, serverless computing, and essential operations including networking, security, observability, and troubleshooting. By working through real production scenarios, you will gain the practical know-how to build, deploy, and maintain scalable applications in today’s fast-paced tech environments.

Concepts

Introduction

Cloud Native Platform Engineering - Introduction

Platform Foundations and Mindset

Module 1 - Foundations of cloud native platforms introduction
Learning objectives
Why platforms matter
Core principles of platform engineering
Platform engineering scope (vs. DevOps and SRE)
Platform as a product - Roles, MVPs, and value
Role of a platform product manager
Developer portal demo - Service catalog and discovery
Lesson takeaways

Increasing Value and Eliminating Friction

Learning objectives
Reducing cognitive load for developers
Value stream mapping - Mapping your path to production
Golden paths - Designing opinionated self-service
Measuring value - DORA, SPACE, and PVM
The adoption conundrum
SPACE framework demo
Developer portal showing golden paths and pipelines
Lesson takeaways

Software-defined Infrastructure

Learning objectives
Platform product SDLC
Platform product domains and boundaries
Infrastructure pipelines - DRY, TDD, smart scripts
IaC validation demo - Testing and security automation
Lesson takeaways

Control Plane and Identity

Module 2 - Platform architecture and operations introduction
Learning objectives
Abstracting platform customer identity
Networking and identity foundations
OIDC device-auth-flow for access control
Identity demo - Secure cluster access with SSO
Lesson takeaways

Governance, Trust, and Compliance

Learning objectives
Balancing autonomy and control
Compliance at the point of change (CPOC)
Software supply chain security
Policy-as-code and resource governance
Detecting threats with runtime security
Compliance demo - Automated policy enforcement
Lesson takeaways

Observability and Reliability

Learning objectives
Observability-driven development (ODD)
SLIs, SLOs, and error budgets
Shared responsibility model
SLO demo - Automated error budget monitoring
Lesson takeaways

Platform APIs

Learning objectives
Why platform APIs
API-first platform delivery
Custom orchestration APIs
Platform management APIs
API demo - Self-service resource provisioning
Lesson takeaways

Golden Path Accelerators

Module 3 - Scaling cloud native platform engineering introduction
Learning objectives
Service mesh extensions for security and routing
DNS and certificate automation
CLIs, accelerators, and starter kits
Automation demo - Secure ingress and traffic control
Lesson takeaways

Scaling Platforms

Learning objectives
Scaling control plane roles
Dynamic release pipelines
Event-driven platform architecture
Operators for stateful workloads
Automation demo - Event-driven pipelines
Lesson takeaways

Future of DevEx

Learning objectives
Cultural shifts and team topologies
IDPs vs. developer portals
AI-driven automation and insights
Continuous feedback and platform evolution
AI demo - Intelligent diagnostics and maturity tracking
Lesson takeaways

Summary

Cloud native platform engineering - Summary