DevOps Insiders Batch 18: a classroom repository of cloud notes and assignments

The repository is a course store, not a software project

The Batch 18 repository is the official repository for a DevOps Insiders training batch, and the description says what is inside it: a well structured collection of class notes, assignments and hands-on code samples generated during the sessions.

The subject list is broad. Azure, AWS, GCP, DevSecOps, FinOps, GitOps and MLOps are all named, which is a wide spread for a single cohort and tells you the batch covers a full curriculum rather than one specialty. The primary language of the repository is recorded as HCL, which is the Infrastructure as Code language used by Terraform, and that is a sensible marker for a cloud training repository where the hands-on artefacts are mostly infrastructure definitions.

The three documented areas are class notes, assignments and code samples. The notes are described as useful for quick revision, for catching up on missed sessions, and for strengthening core DevOps and cloud concepts, which is a clear statement of the intended audience: people who sat in the sessions and people who did not.

The assignments section says all Batch 18 assignments are shared and submitted through the repository, with the stated purposes being to practise real world DevOps scenarios, to track progress, and to share solutions collaboratively. That makes the repository a submission point as much as a reference, which changes how you should read it: the notes are the teaching content, and the assignments are the cohort's work in progress.

The code samples section is described as containing live demo code, automation scripts, CI/CD pipelines, cloud and Kubernetes configurations, and DevSecOps and MLOps examples.

The documented structure no longer matches the directory listing

This is the most concrete thing in the repository, and it is a mismatch between the documentation and the tree.

The readme describes a three folder structure:

/ClassNotes     → All Batch 18 class notes  
/Assignments    → Practice and homework tasks  
/CodeSamples    → Live demos and DevOps implementations  

The actual top level entries are a longer list. Alongside ClassNotes, Assignments and CodeSamples there are directories named B18 WAR ROOM, ConceptUnlocked-AzureLandingZone, DhuaDhuaRevisionClassNotes, Documents, LinkedInClassNotes, MahaTandav Crash Course and RecapFromScratchNotes, plus the README, LICENSE and a .gitignore.

Several of those names are session brands rather than topic folders, which is the clue. A WAR ROOM, a crash course, revision class notes and notes on a specific topic such as an Azure Landing Zone all look like they map to individual live sessions, with the content for each session parked in its own directory. The MLOps and DevSecOps content the readme promises is therefore probably spread across those session folders rather than collected under CodeSamples.

That is a normal outcome for a repository that grows by accretion during a cohort, and it is not a criticism. But it does mean the readme is a description of the intended organisation rather than the current one, and anyone using the repository as a reference should look at the real tree rather than trust the three-folder diagram.

The interesting engineering folder is ConceptUnlocked-AzureLandingZone, whose name suggests a hands-on landing zone build, and it is the only top level entry that names a specific technical artefact rather than a session or a document set.

Contributions are the point, and there is no tooling to speak of

The contributing section is short and asks for four things: adding your own notes, improving documentation, sharing optimisations, and submitting pull requests. The readme describes the project as a community driven learning space.

There is no contribution tooling beyond that. No template, no style guide, no review checklist, no automated checks described anywhere in the readme, and the top level carries no workflow directory. The visible infrastructure is a .gitignore, a LICENSE, the README and the content directories.

That is worth stating as a fact about the artefact rather than as a complaint, because a classroom repository has different requirements from a library. Notes are prose, code samples are illustrative, and an assignment submission is a one-off contribution from a learner rather than a maintained module. Enforcing a heavy process on that traffic would be disproportionate.

The use instructions are correspondingly informal. Clone the repository, navigate to the relevant folders, practise regularly using the notes and code, and pull updates frequently to stay current. The documentation does not give a clone command with a URL, and it does not describe a local toolchain, a test suite or a way to run the code samples, so the code in CodeSamples is something you read and adapt rather than something the repository knows how to build and verify.

If you are a trainer thinking of using this as a template, that is the gap to fill: a documented folder convention, a pull request template, and some way to know which sample still runs.

Licence, activity and the absence of releases

The licence is GPL-3.0, with a LICENSE file at the root of the repository. For a repository whose main content is written notes and illustrative code, that is a generous and reasonable choice: the notes can be reused and adapted with attribution and under the same terms, which suits a community training space.

The repository is not archived, the default branch is main, and the last push was on 2026-10-18, three days before the current date, so content is being added as the cohort progresses. There are no GitHub releases, which is expected for a repository of notes and assignments where there is nothing to version as a binary or a package.

What that means in practice is that there is no stable point to reference. If you cite a specific file from this repository in your own work, cite the commit rather than the branch, because the folder names and the contents of the session directories will change as the batch continues and as the next batch inherits the structure.

The organisation behind it describes itself as a leading DevOps training community focused on real world skills and career transformation, with a website at devopsinsiders.com. The readme also points to a Discord community, and the recurring Batch numbering implies a series, which suggests the repository is one instance of a repeating pattern rather than a one-off.

What this is not, and who it is actually for

There is a clear boundary here, and it is the boundary between course content and reference content.

This is not a DevOps toolkit, a set of production-ready Terraform modules, or a curated list of best practice documents. The code samples are described as live demo code, which means they are what was typed during a session, including the shortcuts and the assumptions of that session. The notes are notes, written for people who were present.

It is also not a substitute for the vendor documentation it draws on. A set of class notes for Azure, AWS and GCP compresses a documentation set that runs to thousands of pages, and a learner who treats the notes as complete will hit gaps the notes do not cover, particularly around the newer services that the curriculum may not have reached.

The audience is narrow and the repository is good for that audience. A Batch 18 participant who missed a session has a way to catch up. A participant who wants to submit an assignment has a place to submit it. A participant who wants to see how a CI/CD pipeline or a Kubernetes manifest was configured live has the code. A trainer in the same community has a template they can fork for the next batch.

For anyone outside that cohort, the honest value is as a sample of how a training cohort publishes its course content, and as a set of configuration examples to skim. Both are real, but neither is what the readme's language sells.

Editorial conclusion

This repository suits a learner in the DevOps Insiders Batch 18 cohort who wants the session notes, the assignment submissions and the demo code in one place, and it suits a trainer who wants a template for publishing a cohort's course content. It does not suit a general DevOps learner looking for a curated reference, because the notes are written for one cohort's sessions and the readme documents no tooling, no setup and no prerequisites. Before relying on it, clone it and look at the actual folder names, because several of them are named after individual sessions rather than the three top level areas the readme describes.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. devopsinsiders/azure-aws-gcp-devsecops-mlops-batch-18 on GitHub
2. Issues
3. License: GPL-3.0
4. README