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Certifications / 3 tiers

Three credentials. Three different jobs.

Each ZopDev University certification verifies a specific operational capability. Operator runs the tool. Engineer builds with it. Architect owns the practice. Pass the exam, list it on your résumé.

I
Operator
II
Engineer
III
Architect
Tier I / Operator

ZopDev Certified: Operator

For whoever runs ZopNight day to day.

Operator certification

You can run ZopNight in production.

Hand them ZopNight on Monday. They'll have schedules running, an estate audited, and the on-call team trained by Friday.

Lessons
56
Course time
9 hr
Exam
30 min
Pass mark
80%
What it proves
  • Reads a cloud bill and names the four cost categories
  • Connects a cloud, runs estate discovery, audits tags
  • Builds schedules, sets safe-window overrides, routes notifications
  • Manages groups, RBAC roles, and the audit log
Path
  1. Foundations
  2. Operator
  3. Operator exam
Tier II / Engineer

ZopDev Certified: Engineer

For engineers building cost-aware systems.

Engineer certification

You can shape the cost surface.

Not just running the tool, building the practice. Tagging at the IaC layer, scaling for events, handling cost incidents like real incidents.

Lessons
143
Course time
21 hr
Exam
45 min
Pass mark
80%
What it proves
  • Reads the 450+ rule library, configures auto-remediation
  • Schedules K8s + Databricks workloads, pre-scales for events
  • Tags at the IaC layer (Terraform / Pulumi / CDK)
  • Runs a cost incident: detect, diagnose, remediate, postmortem
Path
  1. Operator
  2. Engineer
  3. DevOps Cost Discipline
  4. Engineer exam
Tier III / Architect

ZopDev Certified: Architect

For platform leads owning the cost-discipline practice.

Architect certification

You own how the org thinks about cost.

The senior conversation. Finance asks for forecasts. Security asks for posture. The CTO asks what the next twelve months look like. You have answers.

Lessons
94
Course time
14 hr
Exam
60 min
Pass mark
80%
What it proves
  • Multi-org RBAC, audit-log architecture, SOC 2 / ISO posture
  • FinOps Foundation framework, KPIs, maturity model
  • Forecasting, commitments (RIs, SPs, CUDs), unit economics
  • AI-powered ops via MCP, agentic remediation, guardrails
Path
  1. Engineer
  2. Architect
  3. FinOps Mastery
  4. AI Ops
  5. Architect exam

Every credential is publicly verifiable.

A hiring manager pastes the ID, reads the candidate's name, tier, and date. No login. No marketing wall.

Each certificate ships with a credential ID in the format ZDU-XX-YYYY-XXXX-XXXX. The candidate puts the ID on their résumé. The verifier pastes the ID, sees three lines, knows it's authentic.

The credential is the artifact.

What it stands for is the operating practice you'll bring to your team. Start where you are.

See all courses →

Start with the bill.

Foundations takes about five hours. The first lesson is nine minutes.

Open curriculum. No login. No paywall. 237 lessons across 7 courses, three publicly verifiable credentials. Read it on the train, take the exam on a Saturday, list the credential on your résumé Monday.

5h median time to finish Foundations
0 logins, paywalls, or marketing forms
open curriculum, public credential verifier
Multi-cloud automation· Production-ready in 30 min· SOC 2 · ISO 27001· 30% average cloud cost cut· 4 platforms · 1 console· Multi-cloud automation· Production-ready in 30 min· SOC 2 · ISO 27001· 30% average cloud cost cut· 4 platforms · 1 console·