Skip to content

Learning Path

Your Journey to PCF Mastery

This guide is structured for your specific background: advanced cloud developer new to PCF.

Timeline

  • Complete Foundation: 1-2 hours
  • Local Setup: 30 minutes
  • Labs 1-3: 2-3 hours
  • Advanced Topics: 2-3 hours (optional)
  • Labs 4-6: 3-4 hours (optional)

Total: 8-13 hours to mastery

Progressive Learning Structure

Phase 1: Context & Setup (1.5 hours)

Since you know cloud, we'll quickly review:

  1. Cloud Basics Review (15 min)
  2. How PCF fits in cloud ecosystem

  3. Quick refresher on PaaS model

  4. Container Orchestration Context (15 min)

  5. How PCF compares to Kubernetes

  6. Why cf4k8s matters

  7. Local Setup (45 min)

  8. Install cf4k8s
  9. Configure CF CLI
  10. Verify installation

Phase 2: Core Concepts (Mandatory, 2 hours)

These are unique to PCF—no skipping:

  1. PCF Architecture (30 min)
  2. Components and how they interact

  3. Deployment structure

  4. Apps & Buildpacks (30 min)

  5. How apps are deployed

  6. Buildpack magic

  7. Services & Service Brokers (30 min)

  8. Binding and credential management

  9. How services work

  10. Routing & Networking (20 min)

  11. How requests reach your app
  12. Blue-green capability

Phase 3: Hands-On Labs 1-3 (2.5 hours)

Apply learning by doing:

  1. Lab 1: Deploy First App (30 min)
  2. Push a simple app
  3. View logs and metrics

  4. Scale instances

  5. Lab 2: Scaling & Availability (45 min)

  6. Configure autoscaling
  7. Test health checks

  8. Handle failures

  9. Lab 3: Service Binding (45 min)

  10. Create a service
  11. Bind to app
  12. Use injected credentials

Phase 4: Strategic Comparison (Optional, 1 hour)

Understand what makes PCF unique:

  1. PCF vs AWS (15 min)
  2. PCF vs Azure (15 min)
  3. PCF vs GCP (15 min)
  4. Comparison Matrix (15 min)

Phase 5: Advanced Topics & Labs (Optional, 7 hours)

Go deeper:

  1. Deployment Patterns (1 hour)
  2. Blue-green strategy
  3. Canary releases

  4. Service discovery

  5. Advanced Topics (2 hours)

  6. Resource management
  7. Security & RBAC
  8. Monitoring & logging

  9. Custom buildpacks

  10. Lab 4: Blue-Green (1 hour)

  11. Implement zero-downtime deployment

  12. Lab 5: Custom Buildpack (1.5 hours)

  13. Build custom build process

  14. Lab 6: Monitoring (1.5 hours)

  15. Set up observability

Path A: "I want mastery in minimum time" ⚡

  1. Phase 1: Setup (1.5h)
  2. Phase 2: Core concepts (2h)
  3. Phase 3: Labs 1-3 (2.5h)
  4. Total: 6 hours → Productive

Path B: "I need complete understanding" 📚

  1. Phase 1: Setup (1.5h)
  2. Phase 2: Core concepts (2h)
  3. Phase 3: Labs 1-3 (2.5h)
  4. Phase 4: Cloud provider comparison (1h)
  5. Phase 5: Advanced + Labs (7h)
  6. Total: 13.5 hours → Expert

Path C: "I'm comparing PCF with alternatives" 🤔

  1. Phase 4: Comparisons (1h)
  2. Phase 1: Setup (1.5h)
  3. Phase 2: Core concepts (2h)
  4. Phase 3: Labs 1-3 (2.5h)
  5. Total: 7 hours → Informed decision

How to Use This Guide

📖 Reading Format

  • Core sections explain concepts with examples
  • Code blocks show practical commands
  • Diagrams visualize architecture
  • Labs are hands-on practice

🧪 Lab Format

Each lab includes: - Objectives: What you'll learn - Prerequisites: What you need first - Step-by-step instructions: Commands to run - Verification: How to confirm success - Troubleshooting: Common issues and fixes

📋 Reference

Success Criteria

You've mastered PCF when you can:

  1. ✅ Deploy an app with cf push
  2. ✅ Explain PCF vs Kubernetes vs IaaS
  3. ✅ Create and bind a service
  4. ✅ Implement blue-green deployment
  5. ✅ Monitor logs and metrics
  6. ✅ Understand when to use PCF vs alternatives
  7. ✅ Deploy multi-instance applications with scaling

Next Steps

Ready to start? → Phase 1: Cloud Basics Review

Or jump to specific areas: - 🔧 Local Setup - 💻 First Lab - 🆚 Comparisons

This learning path is designed for you. Feel free to adjust based on your needs. If something feels too basic, skip ahead. If you need more detail, use the reference section.