Top Skills for DevOps Engineer in 2026
In 2026, the most in-demand skills for DevOps Engineers are Terraform, Kubernetes, CI/CD, AWS, Python - the top 5 of 535 skills we track for this role from real job postings, updated daily. Focusing on them is the fastest path to building a portfolio employers actually want.
Last updated: July 7, 2026 - Top 5 of 535 skills tracked
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Practice projects for DevOps Engineer
Automated CI/CD Pipeline with AWS and Terraform
Build a basic CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline or GitHub Actions that automatically deploys a simple Python Flask application to an AWS EC2 instance. Use Terraform to provision the infrastructure (EC2, security groups, S3 for artifacts). The pipeline should trigger on code push, run basic tests, and deploy the app. Focus on understanding infrastructure-as-code basics and pipeline stages.
Kubernetes-Based Microservices Deployment with Auto-Scaling on AWS EKS
Design and deploy a multi-service Python application (e.g., API gateway + worker service) on AWS EKS using Terraform to provision the cluster and node groups. Implement a full CI/CD pipeline that builds Docker images, pushes to ECR, and deploys to EKS via Helm charts. Configure Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA), set up CloudWatch logging and monitoring, and implement rolling update strategies. Include namespace isolation, RBAC policies, and resource quotas to simulate a production-grade environment.