Study Plan

CKA · Terraform · AWS SAP · FinOps
Q4 2026
📚 Study Plan · Q4 2026

CKA · Terraform Associate · AWS SAP

Three certifications sequenced to unlock the Senior Platform Engineer tier. Total commitment: ~140-180 study hours across ~6 months. Each cert builds on the previous. Q4 2026: SAP-C03 is now the bar — SAA-C03 alone is no longer enough on its own. Optional 4th lane: FinOps Certified Practitioner ($180-235K base).

📅 6-month timeline 📊 140-180 study hours 🎯 $165-210K target band 💰 ~$950 in exam fees
Certification Sequence · 6-month plan
1 CERT 01 · Months 1-3

CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator)

12-16 weeks · 60-80 study hours
📝 2h hands-on exam💰 ~$445
2 CERT 02 · Months 3-4

HashiCorp Terraform Associate

4-6 weeks · 25-30 study hours
📝 1h multiple-choice💰 ~$205
3 CERT 03 · Months 4-6

AWS Solutions Architect — Professional

8-10 weeks · 50-65 study hours
📝 3h multiple-choice💰 ~$300
Module 1 · CKA
1
Certified Kubernetes Administrator · 12-16 weeks · 60-80h CRITICAL · 100% of JDs

The single highest-impact cert for the DevOps Platform Engineer tier. 100% of live postings require k8s production experience. The exam is a 2-hour hands-on lab — you actually run kubectl commands against a live cluster.

Exam Length
2h hands-on
Pass Score
66%
Valid For
2 years
Cost
~$445
WK 1-28h

K8s Fundamentals

  • Pods, Deployments, Services
  • ConfigMaps, Secrets
  • Lab: k3s on a 2nd node
WK 3-412h

Networking & Storage

  • Ingress, NetworkPolicies
  • PersistentVolumes, StorageClasses
  • Lab: Deploy WordPress + Postgres
WK 5-612h

Workloads & Scheduling

  • StatefulSets, DaemonSets
  • Affinity, Taints, Tolerations
  • Lab: Migrate 3 services from Compose
WK 7-812h

Cluster Operations

  • etcd backup/restore
  • Node maintenance, upgrades
  • Lab: HA cluster with 3 control planes
WK 9-1010h

Security & RBAC

  • ServiceAccounts, Roles
  • NetworkPolicies, PodSecurityStandards
  • Lab: Lock down multi-tenant cluster
WK 11-1210h

Troubleshooting + Mock Exam

  • kubectl debug, logs, events
  • 2x full mock exams
  • Exam on week 12 or 13
Resources
OFFICIAL DOCSkubernetes.io FREE LABSKillercoda PRACTICEkiller-sh/cks-course EXAMCNCF CKA Page GUIDEDtechiescamp/k8s-fundamentals
Module 2 · Terraform
2
HashiCorp Terraform Associate · 4-6 weeks · 25-30h HIGH · 95% of JDs

The de-facto standard for IaC. Take this right after CKA so your k8s cluster can be Terraform-managed. 1-hour multiple-choice exam. Much shorter prep than CKA.

Exam Length
1h MCQ
Format
Multiple-choice
Valid For
2 years
Cost
~$205
WK 16h

Terraform Basics

  • Providers, Resources, State
  • Variables, Outputs
  • Lab: Provision a Linode VM
WK 26h

Modules & State

  • Module composition
  • Remote state (S3/GCS)
  • Lab: k8s cluster as a module
WK 36h

Multi-Cloud + Workspaces

  • AWS + GCP + Azure providers
  • Workspaces for env isolation
  • Lab: Multi-region deploy
WK 46h

Mock Exam + Final Review

  • HashiCorp official practice exam
  • 3rd-party mock exams
  • Exam on week 4
Resources
OFFICIAL TUTORIALSHashiCorp Learn REFERENCETerraform Docs K8s + TFlearnk8s.io EXAMHashiCorp Cert Page
Module 3 · AWS Solutions Architect Professional
3
AWS Solutions Architect — Professional · 8-10 weeks · 50-65h HIGH · 89% of JDs · +$22-42K base

The cloud cert that moves offers. Q4 2026: SAP-C03 is now the bar — SAA-C03 alone is no longer enough on its own. Take SAA-C03 as a prerequisite, then SAP-C03. 3-hour exam with scenario-based questions.

Exam Length
3h scenarios
Pass Score
~75%
Valid For
3 years
Cost
~$300
WK 1-212h

SAA Refresher (if needed)

  • EC2, VPC, IAM, S3, RDS core
  • Skip if you have AWS experience
  • Lab: Deploy 3-service app on AWS
WK 3-412h

Multi-Tier Architectures

  • ALB + ASG + RDS multi-AZ
  • CloudFront + S3 + Lambda@Edge
  • Lab: Migrate 2 services from your stack
WK 5-612h

Resilience & DR

  • Multi-region, Route53 failover
  • RTO/RPO, backup strategies
  • Lab: Multi-region WordPress deploy
WK 7-812h

Hybrid + Cost Optimization

  • Direct Connect, Transit Gateway
  • RI/SP strategies, Cost Explorer
  • Lab: FinOps dashboard with CUR
WK 9-1010h

Mock Exams + Final Prep

  • Tutorials Dojo practice exams (x4)
  • Steady bite-sized study
  • Exam on week 10
Resources
OFFICIAL EXAMAWS SAP Page PRACTICE EXAMSTutorials Dojo REFERENCEAWS Well-Architected VIDEO COURSEStephane Maarek (Udemy)
Module 4 (Optional) · FinOps
4
FinOps Certified Practitioner · 4 weeks · 20-30h HIGH · $180-235K base

Q4 2026: FinOps has moved from "emerging" to "established" (KORE1 Q4 2026 cloud architect guide: $180K-235K base). Pairs perfectly with your AWS SAP — cost optimization is the #1 differentiator for platform engineers. 1-hour exam, ~20-30 study hours.

Exam Length
1h MCQ
Pass Score
~70%
Valid For
2 years
Cost
~$300
WK 16h

FinOps Fundamentals

  • Cloud cost models, unit economics
  • FinOps lifecycle (Inform/Manage/Optimize)
  • Lab: Set up AWS Cost Explorer + budgets
WK 26h

Cost Optimization

  • RI/SP strategies, Savings Plans
  • Right-sizing, spot instances
  • Lab: FinOps dashboard with CUR
WK 36h

FinOps + Platform

  • Chargeback/showback for platform teams
  • Cost attribution in Backstage IDP
  • Lab: Cost-per-team dashboard
WK 46h

Mock Exam + Final

  • FinOps Foundation practice exam
  • 3rd-party mocks
  • Exam on week 4
Resources
OFFICIALFinOps Foundation AWSCost Management EXAMFinOps Cert Page
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