Your roadmap to real skills.

What Containers Are and Why

Explain containers vs VMs and why Docker is the default deploy format.

Docker Fundamentals

Use docker run, ps, logs, exec, stop, rm confidently; distinguish images from containers.

Writing Dockerfiles

Author Dockerfiles using FROM, COPY, RUN, WORKDIR, EXPOSE, CMD vs ENTRYPOINT; build and tag.

Docker Compose

Define multi-container apps with networks, volumes, healthchecks, and depends_on.

Docker Networking

Use bridge networks, service-name DNS, port publishing, and debug container connectivity.

Docker Volumes

Use named volumes vs bind mounts correctly; back up persistent data.

Docker in Development

Replace local service installs with containers and use VS Code Dev Containers for reproducible setups.

Docker Hub and Image Registries

Push images to Docker Hub and GHCR; tag for clean rollbacks; sign + scan.

Optimizing Docker Images

Apply multi-stage builds, layer caching, image minimization, and security scanning.

Running Real Applications in Docker

Containerize Next.js + Python + Postgres behind a Caddy reverse proxy with Compose.

Container Security

Run as non-root, use read-only filesystems and dropped capabilities, keep secrets out of images, and scan.

Passion Project: Deploy a Containerized App

Containerize an existing project end-to-end and deploy it to a VPS with a custom domain + HTTPS.

Docker Job Readiness

Translate Docker skills into resume bullets and interview answers.