The Gurugram DevOps Timeline — What Happens After the Course
A common mistake is treating course completion as the career transition point. It is not. Here's the realistic timeline from a testing, support or sysadmin background.
Weeks 1–16
Structured training
Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Terraform, AWS, monitoring — live sessions with real-time Q&A. Attend every session. Ask when stuck.
Weeks 12–18
Build and deploy
An application on Kubernetes with a CI/CD pipeline, infrastructure in Terraform, monitoring dashboards showing something real. All public on GitHub with a README that explains what broke and what you changed.
Weeks 14–20
The internal conversation
If you already work at a captive or consulting arm, this is your highest-leverage move. Tell the platform team you're learning this and ask what a move would require. Twenty minutes, free, better hit rate than fifty cold applications.
Weeks 18–26
Apply externally
Target one employer type rather than all four. Captives for pay, consulting arms for entry, product for ownership. Use the corridor guide above to sort the postings.
Weeks 24–36
First offer
For most switchers with a solid foundation and a deployed portfolio, the realistic window from starting to offer is 6–10 months of serious effort. Longer than most course marketing suggests, and it is the honest number.
People who go in with the 6–10 month expectation succeed. People who expect to be employed three months after starting set themselves up for disappointment. Realistic expectations produce better outcomes.