0 · The Toolkit
Terminal fluency, git, and technical writing — the tools you’ll use every single day. Start here →
The Missing Semester of DevOps & Security
Build a real server. Build a real network. Secure it, automate it, and host the proof yourself. The hands-on foundation for a career in DevOps and cybersecurity.
Why this exists
Section titled “Why this exists”Universities teach algorithms and theory. Jobs demand people who can stand up a server, debug a network, harden a system, and automate all of it. Almost nobody teaches the gap in between — how computers, networks, and production systems actually work.
Inspired by MIT’s Missing Semester, this curriculum closes that gap for DevOps and cybersecurity — but with a twist: everything is built on real, cheap hardware you own. A used micro PC becomes your server. An OpenWrt router becomes your network. Your own homelab hosts your portfolio.
The closed loop
Section titled “The closed loop”This curriculum has a signature: your documentation site is both the deliverable and the proof. You self-host your own blog and git repositories on infrastructure you built, reachable through an overlay network you configured, secured by hardening you applied. When an employer visits your portfolio, the fact that the page loads at all is your résumé.
The curriculum
Section titled “The curriculum”1 · How It Actually Works
CPUs, memory, processes, TCP/IP, DNS, TLS — watched live in your own packet captures. Module 1 →
2 · Build the Server
Turn a $50 used micro PC into a hardened Linux server, from BIOS to systemd. Module 2 →
3 · Build the Network
Flash OpenWrt, carve VLANs, run your own DNS and DHCP. Understand every packet’s path. Module 3 →
4 · Storage & Virtualization
Disks, filesystems, RAID, backups you actually test, and your first hypervisor. Module 4 →
5 · Overlay Networks
WireGuard by hand, then Tailscale, then Cloudflare Tunnel — and when to use each. Module 5 →
6 · Self-Hosting
Reverse proxy, real TLS certificates, and your own public blog + git server. Module 6 →
7 · Automation & CI/CD
Ansible, pipelines, and the DevOps mindset: never do it manually twice. Module 7 →
8 · Security Operations
Scan, harden, monitor, detect. Attack your own lab and find yourself in the logs. Module 8 →
9 · The Bridge
Map your homelab to cloud equivalents, polish the portfolio, get hired. Module 9 →
How to use this site
Section titled “How to use this site”- Self-paced. Every module has standalone notes, labs, and a checkpoint checklist. No lectures required.
- Hardware-first. Check the hardware guide — the full lab costs less than one certification exam.
- Public by default. From Module 0 onward, everything you do lives in a public git repo. Your progress is your portfolio.
- Finished? Submit your self-hosted site to the showcase.