Docker & Containers Roadmap
Beginner to advanced
Containers from first principles: what docker run actually does, how images become a supply chain, networking, Compose, and modern image building. Workshop, video series, and deep-dive articles.
4 stages · 14 resources ready · 2 in the works, all free · every stage ends with a checkpoint you can verify on a real cluster
Your journey: 14 steps. Check them off as you go, this page remembers.
First principles
~1 weekA container is not a VM. Understand the primitives and everything else stops being magic.
✓ Checkpoint: you can now
Explain what a container actually is: namespaces, cgroups, and a tarball.
⚡ Prove it
Explain docker run flag by flag, or run a container with unshare and chroot, no Docker.
Images done right
~1 weekYour image is your supply chain. Learn to build small, fast, and verifiable.
✓ Checkpoint: you can now
Cut an image in half and know exactly what is inside everything you ship.
⚡ Prove it
Take any real Dockerfile and reduce the final image size by 50% with multi-stage builds.
Networking & state
~3-4 daysContainers are isolated until they need to talk and remember things. This is where most confusion lives.
✓ Checkpoint: you can now
Debug 'container cannot reach X' methodically instead of restarting things.
⚡ Prove it
Connect two containers across a user-defined network and trace how the packets flow.
Multi-container & beyond
~1 weekReal apps are several containers. Compose them, ship them, and know when to graduate to Kubernetes.
✓ Checkpoint: you can now
Compose a full stack, and recognize the moment you have outgrown Compose.
⚡ Prove it
Ship a 3-service app with Compose, then write down what would break at scale.
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