Watch Overview of Terraform Learning Path here, which is just one part of a full DevOps Bootcamp
☝️ What is Terraform and Why to Learn it?
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has become a cornerstone of modern DevOps practices, and Terraform stands out as one of the most used tools in this domain.
IaC is a practice, where infrastructure provisioning and management are automated through machine-readable configuration files rather than manual processes.
It enables consistent and repeatable setups for computing resources like servers, networks, and storage.
Key Principles of IaC
Version Control: Infrastructure code is stored in repositories, allowing tracking of changes, rollbacks, and collaboration
Automation: Tools, like Terraform automatically provision and configure resources based on defined code
Consistency: Repeated deployments result in identical environments, reducing configuration drift
Scalability: IaC supports scaling infrastructure by simply modifying code and redeploying
Benefits of IaC
Faster Deployments: Automation reduces deployment time
Reduced Errors: Codified infrastructure minimizes manual errors
Collaboration and Transparency: Teams can collaborate using version control tools
Disaster Recovery: Rebuilding infrastructure becomes quicker and more reliable.
Popular IaC Tools
Terraform: Most widely used
AWS CloudFormation: Native to AWS
Pulumi: Supports writing IaC using your favorite programming languages, instead of needing to learn a domain specific language
In this blog article I want to show you a hands-on learning roadmap with 5 demo projects that will help you master Terraform. 🚀
🚀 5 Hands-On Projects to Learn Terraform
These projects, provide a comprehensive path to understanding and applying Terraform in real-world scenarios 👇
These are just snippets from our
complete DevOps bootcamp projects list 📋
You can download the full project list of all DevOps technologies we cover in the bootcamp here: DOWNLOAD DEMO PROJECTS ⬇️
Terraform Demo Project 1
This “beginner project” introduces the fundamentals of Terraform:
Provision key AWS resources such as VPCs, Subnets, Security Groups, and EC2 Instances
Deploy a Docker container on an EC2 instance automatically
Why It’s Important: This project gives you hands-on experience with Terraform syntax and core concepts like providers and resources.
Terraform Demo Project 2
In this project, you’ll refactor Terraform code to use modules:
Create reusable modules for VPCs, EC2 instances, and Security Groups
Pass variables and outputs between modules
Why It’s Important: Modularization is a critical best practice that improves code reusability, scalability, and maintainability.
Terraform Demo Project 3
Learn how to use Terraform to:
Provision a fully functional Kubernetes cluster on AWS (EKS)
Configure Node Groups, VPCs, and IAM roles
Why It’s Important: This project demonstrates how Terraform works with Kubernetes and prepares you to deploy containerized applications in the cloud at scale.
Terraform Demo Project 4
You won’t work alone on projects. So in collaborative environments, managing state is crucial.
This project covers:
Configuring an AWS S3 bucket as remote storage for Terraform state files
Using state locking to prevent conflicts during team deployments
Why It’s Important: Understanding state management ensures smooth collaboration and prevents configuration drift in multi-user environments.
Terraform Demo Project 5 - Capstone Project
This advanced project explores integrating Terraform into a complete CI/CD pipeline:
This project covers:
Automate server provisioning with Terraform as part of the CI/CD process
Configure Terraform to create EC2 instances and deploy Docker containers on them
Adjust a Jenkinsfile to include Terraform provisioning steps
Why It’s Important: This project showcases how Terraform integrates with CI/CD pipelines to automate infrastructure provisioning during application deployments .
These five projects create a step-by-step roadmap to mastering Terraform, starting from basic infrastructure automation and advancing to CI/CD integration and Kubernetes deployment ✅
Btw, these real-world projects are actually all from our DevOps Bootcamp curriculum.
If you need help in implementing these, we go through this setup in detail, understanding every touch point and every configuration step, from setting up the CI/CD pipeline to connecting to servers to executing Terraform, in the Terraform course within the DevOps Bootcamp.
We don't skip any details, to make following the steps to build even such a complex project, super easy and intuitive ✅
📚 BONUS: Fully Secure IaC Pipeline for AWS EKS
As a bonus, this advanced project takes your Terraform expertise to the next level by integrating security best practices into your IaC pipelines:
Project steps:
Create a CI/CD pipeline for Infrastructure Code using GitOps Principles
Establish a secure connection with AWS using GitLab's Web Identity Provider
Use AWS Security Token Service (STS) to access the EKS cluster with temporary, expiring access tokens, reducing the risk of leaked credentials
Just one of many projects from our DevSecOps Bootcamp.
Why It’s Important: This project emphasizes the security-first approach to IaC, ensuring that your infrastructure remains safe from unauthorized access while aligning with DevSecOps principles.
Expanding your knowledge in this area will set you further apart as an IaC expert 🥷
I hope this guide inspires you to embrace hands-on learning and take the next step in your Terraform journey 😊
📚 Learning Roadmap - How to Learn Terraform
These are just few of the projects that you learn to build in the Terraform course within our DevOps bootcamp.
We cover Terraform, it's core components, Terraform architecture, commands and syntax and tons of real-life projects in the Terraform module, so you become an absolute pro in using Terraform for any type of Infrastructure Automation job 🥷
This skillset will undoubtedly make you a much more valuable engineer, no matter what your engineer role may be 💎