Originally reported by DevOps.com. Post date: June 9, 2020.
Linux Foundation and CDF Launch Free Jenkins Course
The Linux Foundation, in collaboration with the Continuous Delivery Foundation (CDF), launched a free introductory course on Jenkins, the widely used open source CI/CD platform. The course is the first in a planned series of both free and paid online training resources focused specifically on DevOps tooling.
Clyde Seepersad, general manager of training at the Linux Foundation, explained that while the foundation had previously offered higher-level conceptual DevOps courses, the formation of the CDF provided a focused organizational home from which the Linux Foundation could build tool-specific curriculum. The CDF operates as an arm of the Linux Foundation.
What Is Covered and What Comes Next
The Jenkins course is designed as an introduction to the platform, targeting practitioners who are new to CI/CD pipelines or looking to formalize their knowledge. Beyond Jenkins, Seepersad indicated that the Linux Foundation plans to release courses on Spinnaker—a continuous delivery platform originally developed at Netflix—as well as other DevOps tools maintained under the CDF umbrella.
Projects currently hosted under the CDF include Jenkins, Jenkins X, Spinnaker, and Tekton, among others. Providing structured training on these tools supports the CDF’s broader mission of growing the continuous delivery ecosystem.
Why Free DevOps Training Matters
Seepersad cited accelerating demand for DevOps skills as a key driver behind the initiative. Organizations undergoing digital transformation—a trend that intensified significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic—are increasingly adopting cloud-native technologies to build more flexible and resilient applications. Platforms like Jenkins help IT teams ship those applications faster and with greater reliability.
Free, accessible training lowers the barrier to entry for IT professionals who want to upskill but cannot invest in expensive certification programs. Expanding the pool of practitioners benefits the broader DevOps ecosystem, employers looking for qualified talent, and individuals seeking to advance their careers.
Tools Alone Are Not Enough: The Culture Problem
A recurring theme from Seepersad is that technical training must be paired with organizational change. Many companies underestimate the cultural transformation required to make DevOps work in practice. Handing developers a new tool without rethinking the workflows between development and operations teams often generates friction rather than efficiency.
His advice: foster an open dialogue about DevOps processes rather than avoiding the difficult conversations. Resistance to change grows when legitimate concerns go unaddressed. Training is one lever—but leadership, process redesign, and honest communication are equally important.
The Business Case for DevOps Expertise
DevOps practitioners are in strong demand across the industry. Teams with DevOps skills can:
- Automate application build, test, and deployment pipelines, reducing manual toil.
- Programmatically manage infrastructure at a scale that GUI-based administration cannot match.
- Enable organizations to scale IT capacity without a proportional increase in headcount.
- Improve deployment frequency and reduce mean time to recovery (MTTR) when incidents occur.
For IT organizations trying to do more with constrained budgets and smaller teams, these capabilities are not optional extras—they are operational necessities.
How to Access the Jenkins Course
The free introductory Jenkins course is available through the Linux Foundation Training portal. Interested learners should visit the site directly and search for the Jenkins course listing, as specific URLs and catalog contents may change over time. No prior Jenkins experience is required to begin the introductory course.
Key Takeaways
- The Linux Foundation and the CDF released a free introductory Jenkins CI/CD course in June 2020.
- Additional free and paid courses on Spinnaker and other CDF-hosted tools are planned.
- Demand for DevOps skills is rising, making accessible training strategically important.
- Cultural change within IT organizations is as critical as technical skill adoption.
- The course is available via the Linux Foundation Training portal at no cost.