CLOUD & INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING · free public beta

From zero to hero in infrastructure engineering.

Learn to build, run and improve the systems behind modern software and AI. Made for people switching into a technical career. Start with no experience, build your foundations, investigate realistic browser-based incidents, and learn from feedback on the decisions you make. Ask CLIVE, the AI guide, for help when you want it.

Explore the learning path See access and pricing

No prior infrastructure knowledge required. A free profile with a verified email saves your progress. No card.

  • Foundations is free for everyone and will never sit behind a paywall.
  • During the beta, every open part of CloudCaive is free. After the beta, Foundations stays free and later phases are priced separately.
  • Current guided service incident · browser-based simulation · no real system involved

Free public beta · ends 1 November 2026

Everything open is free for everyone until the full public release.

until release · 00:00 GMT

The full public release is scheduled for Monday 2 November 2026 at 00:00 GMT.

YOUR CLOUDCAIVE JOURNEY

Start with an idea.
Build deeper skills.

Build practical judgement through short lessons, safe browser practice and guidance from CLIVE when you ask.

The systems behind software connect. Follow one thread from the portal into the skills you can practise.

SIX CONNECTED TOPICS

See how the parts work together.

Choose a topic for a preview. This is a map of connected ideas, not a claim that every lesson is open.

01Cloud

Understand what the cloud runs on and how applications reach it.

  • Servers and containers
  • Cloud networks and access
  • Infrastructure as code
02Linux

Get comfortable finding your way around a Linux system.

  • Files, paths and permissions
  • Pipes and log searches
  • Processes and shell commands
03Networks

Follow a request and work out where a connection fails.

  • DNS and name resolution
  • Ports and service connections
  • Network access rules
04Data

Understand the data a service depends on, and keep it recoverable.

  • Database connections
  • Persistent data and state
  • Backups and restore checks
05Services

Read the evidence behind a service’s behaviour.

  • Processes and service status
  • Logs and health checks
  • Containers and dependencies
06Recovery

Restore a failing service, then prove the user’s journey works.

  • Evidence before changes
  • Safe repairs and rollback
  • End-to-end verification

ONE LEARNING PATH

Foundations → Build and Operate → Design and Improve

Foundations is free forever. The first Understand and Apply lessons are open; later lessons and Design and Improve are still being built. Build and Operate is open during the free beta.

Explore the learning path
On this page

What you work with

  • Linux
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • Terraform
  • Git
  • Python
  • PostgreSQL
  • nginx
  • Bash

These are curriculum tools, not partner endorsements. What is free and what is priced is in access and pricing.

01 · Your learning path

Start with no experience. Here is the path, and what is ready today.

Everyone follows the same three phases. You begin in Foundations, where the first lessons are open now and the rest of the stage is still being written. Anything in development is marked in the path itself. Finishing a stage is learning progress; it is not a qualification or a job guarantee.

Your first three activities

Begin with one idea, then one decision.

These Foundations activities are open now. CLIVE can explain a term or give you a hint when you ask; you make the decision yourself.

  1. Understand the work

    What DevOps actually is

    Meet the people and work behind reliable software.

  2. Meet the cloud

    The cloud, explained without fog

    Start with the idea before the terminology.

  3. Try a first incident

    The website is down!

    Choose a safe next step in a fictional incident. No commands needed.

A free profile with a verified email opens these activities in CloudCaive. No card.

  1. Phase 1 · Foundations · free forever · first lessons open now

    Understand → Apply → Connect → Challenge.

    Learn what a server, a network, an identity and a log actually are, then use a terminal (a text window where you type commands) to look at them yourself. Every new term is explained the first time it appears.

    1. UnderstandOpen now

      After this stage you can explain, in your own words, what DevOps work is, what the cloud is, and why one bad release can take a website down.

      • PrimerWhat DevOps actually is3-minute read
      • PrimerThe cloud, explained without fog3-minute read
      • PrimerContainers, explained from zero3-minute read
      • PrimerDeployments: how code goes live3-minute read
      • SimThe website is down!about 8 minutes · decisions only, no commands
      Open these lessons in the Lab →
    2. ApplyFirst lessons open

      After the first lessons you can connect to a Linux server, run a few real commands and read what they print.

      • PrimerSSH: the front door to every server3-minute read
      • SimFirst shift on a Linux serverabout 9 minutes · real commands, real output

      More Apply lessons are being written. They appear here as they open.

      Open these lessons in the Lab →
    3. ConnectIn development

      Planned: follow one problem across several connected parts of a system, such as a website, the service behind it and its database.

      Not open yet and not for sale. It appears here when it is ready.

    4. ChallengeIn development

      Planned: one guided challenge that brings the stage together, with the CloudCaive guide switched off so the work is your own.

      Not open yet and not for sale. Completing it will be learning progress, not a certificate.

    Start Foundations Free profile · verified email · no card

  2. Phase 2 · Build and Operate · open during the beta

    Practise connected operational work

    Short drills, terminal practice and browser-based incidents like the one further down this page. Free during the beta; priced afterwards. See access and pricing.

  3. Phase 3 · Design and Improve · in development

    Develop systemic engineering judgement

    Scaling decisions, multi-stage delivery, data work and platform improvement appear when their criteria and scenarios are ready. Not open and not for sale.

The path is free to start. What does the rest cost, and when?

02 · Access and pricing

The beta is free. All of it, for everyone.

Everything open today costs nothing. Below is what stays free, what will be priced after the beta ends on 1 November 2026, and what is only planned.

Public beta · free for everyone

The CloudCaive free beta

£0

31 August – 1 November 2026

Every open part of CloudCaive, free for anyone with a verified email. No payment, no card, nothing to cancel.

What you get

  • Foundations and Build and Operate, plus any Design and Improve work that opens during the beta
  • Browser-based incident simulations, drills and the primer articles
  • CLIVE with 5 responses per rolling 24 hours, each freeing up 24 hours after use
Create a free profile Read the beta detail →

All it needs is a free profile with a verified email address. 18 or over. No application, no waiting list, no card.

What happens commercially

Nothing is charged. Nothing renews.

  • No card is collected during the beta.
  • Saved progress is untouched when the beta ends on 1 November 2026.
  • Foundations stays free with no automatic charge or conversion.
  • Later-phase membership is a separate, deliberate choice and is not yet on sale.

Live now · always free

Foundations

£0

Understand, Apply, Connect and Challenge. Short drills, browser terminal practice, guided incidents and 5 CLIVE responses per rolling 24 hours. The first lessons are open now and the phase is permanently free.

Start Foundations

Priced after the beta · checkout not open

Later phases

£49 monthly

or £350 annually

Build and Operate, then Design and Improve, as Core Pro membership: priced practice, simulations, primer articles and 20 CLIVE responses per rolling 24 hours. Free until 1 November 2026. Human review is not included.

Practise it free now

Free to start. Now see what a lesson feels like, with one real decision.

03 · One decision, then the feedback

Make the decision before you see the explanation.

Further along the path, lessons look like this: a realistic problem, a choice you make before the answer appears, and feedback specific to that choice. Below are two optional Build and Operate previews. They run in your browser, nothing is saved, and you can skip them and come back after the first Foundations lessons.

  1. InvestigateSeparate one explanation from another.
  2. DecideChoose a useful action and understand its trade-offs.
  3. VerifyCheck the user-facing result, not only the command output.
Guided incident · browser-based simulation · optional preview

The application looks healthy. Its database is not.

Inspect the dependency path, repair PostgreSQL (the database) and prove the user-facing result. If a term is new to you, ask CLIVE for a hint inside the incident. Nothing is saved, and no profile is needed.

Orders path · PostgreSQL inactiveSimulated world
  1. InspectWeb and API are healthy; PostgreSQL is offline.
  2. ConnectUse attempt-only training credentials for the fictional db-01 host.
  3. DiagnoseThe host responds; postgresql.service is inactive.
  4. RepairStart the modelled service and watch the dependency recover.
  5. VerifyThe simulated user path returns 200 OK.

Browser-based simulation · no real or production system involved

Another incident · two decisions · optional preview

The orders path above models a service repair. This separate Kubernetes snapshot asks you to find one failing replica, then read its previous logs before choosing a recovery plan. It never changes a cluster or records learning credit.

Kubernetes · 2-minute investigation

One copy keeps crashing.
Can you find the evidence?

Three apps. Six replicas. Find the failing copy, then use its logs to choose a recovery step.

Simulated cluster · fixed hints · no account needed

  1. 01 Inspect replicas
  2. 02 Read logs & choose recovery
What happens with the feedback

Decide. Get specific feedback. Meet the idea again under changed conditions.

Feedback changes what happens next. Uncertain ideas come back on a spaced schedule, and the same objective returns later inside a different scenario.

  1. 01Meet a scenario

    A symptom leaves several explanations open.

  2. 02Choose your next move

    Inspect evidence or take an action before seeing the answer.

  3. 03Get specific feedback

    Learn what the move reveals and what it cannot prove.

  4. 04Revisit uncertainty

    Short practice returns on a spaced schedule.

  5. 05Check transfer

    The same objective returns in a changed scenario.

Your decision

“Inspect the Orders API first.”

A reasonable move. The API is the thing returning errors to users.

Later, changed conditions

A healthy service beside a broken dependency returns in a different scenario.

Same objective, different system, so the change in your reasoning is visible rather than assumed.

That is the learning loop. What does the UK career outlook show?

04 · UK career outlook

The work is real. The market moves.

DevOps, platform engineering and site reliability are employment paths with different levels of responsibility. Here is a dated UK snapshot, with its limits visible.

Employment titles and pay belong to job adverts, not learning phases. CloudCaive cannot guarantee a role, salary or hiring outcome.

Five advertised base-pay examples

Selected UK adverts observed 14 September 2026 · annual base pay · not typical UK bands

Junior
£45k–£55k
DevOps · Xelix
Mid-level
£60k–£75k
AWS platform · Appvia
Senior
£80k–£100k
Platform · LinuxRecruit
Lead
£90k–£115k
Platform · Lottie
Principal
£130k–£170k
Platform · Automata · expired advert
£40k£110k£180k
Illustrations from individual adverts, not typical pay, entry salaries or salary ceilings. Mostly London roles; bonus and equity excluded.

Online adverts, 2021–2025

UK IT network professionals (SOC 2137) · annual new online adverts

A broad occupation proxy, not DevOps/SRE hires or people placed. Adverts fell from the 2022 peak; 2025 rose from 2024, with data-quality cautions.

Modelled replacement demand, 2026–2031

All UK IT professionals · estimated annual replacement need

An older estimate of people needed to replace leavers, not net job growth, vacancies or infrastructure-only hiring. Different measure and population from the advert chart.
Sources & limitations Snapshot · links rechecked

The five ranges are individual historical adverts, not a representative UK sample, percentiles or a salary ladder. Titles, experience requirements and locations differ. Most are London-based; adverts can close or change. The old Appvia LinkedIn job link now redirects and the Lottie and Automata Indeed listings are marked expired. None of these examples establishes a current vacancy.

History: ONS / Textkernel, 21 August 2026 workbook (January 2017–July 2026), Table 3, Total UK, SOC 2137. Annual new adverts: 2021: 20,154; 2022: 21,118; 2023: 12,960; 2024: 7,486; 2025: 8,327. Broad occupational proxy, not a DevOps/SRE-only series or hires. Official statistics in development; source changes and October–December 2025 imputation affect comparison. The latest ONS edition may revise past data.

Outlook: Migration Advisory Committee 2025 review, Table 2.10, citing Skills Imperative 2035. Estimated annual replacement demand for all IT professionals: 2026: 29,300; 2027: 29,600; 2028: 30,000; 2029: 30,400; 2030: 30,800; 2031: 31,200. A 2025 model with substantial uncertainty, not a forecast of net growth, advertised vacancies or infrastructure-only hiring. The two plots have different measures and populations and must not be compared as one series.

The figures have limits. Who built the learning, and how is feedback judged?

05 · Who built it, and how feedback is judged

Built by an engineer who learned how to teach.

Operational experience shapes the incidents. Teaching experience shapes the feedback. The standard is published, and the claims stay inside it.

Naqeeb Ghazi, founder of CloudCaive
Naqeeb Ghazi · founder

Engineering taught me how failures unfold. Teaching taught me how feedback lands.

I’m a practising Senior DevOps Engineer and a former secondary-school science teacher. In a classroom the useful sentence was never the mark; it was the one underneath naming what went wrong and what to practise next. That sentence, turned into a product, is CloudCaive.

Read the full story → LinkedIn → GitHub →

Published standard

Read Rubric v1.0

The versioned rubric states what a reviewed session would sample and the outcome language it permits. Reviewed sessions are not part of any current offering.

Read the current rubric →

Method in context

Follow one evidence trace

See how one decision becomes feedback, targeted practice and a changed-scenario check.

See how it works →

No learner outcome claims yet

Evidence is described, not inflated.

CloudCaive does not publish testimonials or improvement charts as proof. Any measured result would name its method, period, cohort and sample size first.

Read the claims boundary →

The boundaries are explicit. Straight answers, then your first step.

Essential FAQ

Straight answers before you start.

Do I need experience?

No. Foundations starts with plain system concepts and builds toward connected practice. If you already have experience, a short route check lets you start further ahead. See the progression.

What is free and what is paid?

Foundations is free for everyone, permanently. During the beta, everything open in CloudCaive is free with a verified email and no card. After 1 November 2026 the later phases are priced as Core Pro. See access and pricing.

Are these real production systems or credentials?

No. Every incident runs as a browser-based simulation with fictional hosts and training credentials. No real or production system is involved. See the honest boundary.

What is still being built?

The later Foundations stages, Connect and Challenge, and the whole of Design and Improve are in development. Unfinished work is labelled in the path itself, nothing unfinished is for sale, and verified capability evidence is not yet issued.

Read the complete free-beta FAQ →

Start from zero. Know what you can do next.

Create a free profile and open the first Foundations lessons. Foundations is free forever; everything open is free during the beta.

Start Foundations Try the incident preview

Free profile · verified email · no card · nothing to install