External Training Recommendations
Recommended courses, learning paths and certifications from external training partners for Support Engineers
This page recommends specific courses, learning paths and certifications from GitLab’s external training partners that are relevant to Support Engineers. The recommendation is to first complete the internal Support Training modules and specialised domain tracks, then use the resources below to supplement that knowledge or move into intermediate and advanced levels within a specific area.
Recommendations are split into two broad categories:
- General technical skills: Linux, networking, containers, Kubernetes, Git internals, databases and observability
- GitLab-specific skills: Ruby on Rails, Go (Gitaly and GitLab Runner), PostgreSQL, CI/CD concepts and Helm chart deployments
Each section notes the platform, the access method (request or free) and a suggested priority for Support Engineers. Costs for external training may be covered through the Growth and Development Fund. If you’re interested in pursuing any paid resources, discuss it with your manager in your next 1:1.
| Platform |
Access method |
Notes |
| LevelUp |
Free (internal) |
GitLab’s own learning platform |
| Hone |
Individual team members require request/approval |
Live classes; leadership and soft skills focus |
| O’Reilly Learning |
Engineering: request; Non-Engineering: expense |
Books, videos, interactive sandboxes, live events |
| Google Cloud Skills Boost |
Requires request |
Labs, courses and certification paths on GCP |
| Linux Foundation |
Course access: request/approval |
Self-paced courses |
| Codecademy |
Free tier available |
Interactive code-based learning; Ruby, Go, SQL, Python, Bash |
Part 1: General technical skills
These are foundational skills that every Support Engineer benefits from, regardless of which GitLab product areas they focus on.
Linux system administration
Support Engineers regularly troubleshoot GitLab Self-Managed instances running on Linux. Strong Linux fundamentals are essential for reading logs, understanding process management, debugging networking issues and navigating the filesystem.
Linux Foundation (request/approval)
O’Reilly Learning
Git internals
Support Engineers troubleshoot Git operations daily: push/pull failures, repository corruption, merge conflicts, LFS issues and server-side hooks. Understanding Git internals (packfiles, refs, objects, transfer protocols) is directly applicable.
Linux Foundation
O’Reilly Learning
Containers and Docker
GitLab Runner uses Docker executors, GitLab.com and Dedicated uses Kubernetes, and many Self-Managed customers use container-based deployments. Understanding container fundamentals is important for debugging CI/CD job failures, registry issues and deployment problems.
O’Reilly Learning
Kubernetes
GitLab can be deployed via the official Helm chart on Kubernetes, and GitLab.com itself runs on GKE. Support Engineers regularly troubleshoot Helm chart deployments, pod failures, ingress configuration, certificate issues and resource limits.
Linux Foundation
O’Reilly Learning
Google Cloud Skills Boost
Networking
Networking issues are among the most common and complex problems in Support: DNS resolution failures, proxy and load balancer misconfigurations, TLS/SSL certificate problems, firewall rules blocking traffic and SSH connectivity issues.
O’Reilly Learning
Networking is covered well within the Linux books already recommended:
- How Linux Works, 3rd Edition chapters 9-10 cover TCP/IP, DNS, firewalls, DHCP, NAT and routing
- Learning Modern Linux chapter 7 covers the networking stack, DNS, SSH and Wireshark
Google Cloud Skills Boost
Observability: Prometheus, Grafana and logging
GitLab ships with built-in Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards. Support Engineers use these to diagnose performance problems, identify resource bottlenecks and understand system behaviour during incidents.
O’Reilly Learning
- Learning Modern Linux chapter 8 covers Prometheus, Grafana and observability strategy
- Prometheus: Up and Running, 2nd Edition by Julien Pivotto and Brian Brazil (O’Reilly)
Google Cloud Skills Boost
DevOps and SRE concepts
Understanding DevOps and SRE principles helps Support Engineers contextualise customer workflows and speak the same language as the teams they support.
Linux Foundation
Google Cloud Skills Boost
Part 2: GitLab-specific skills
These skills relate directly to the technologies that GitLab is built on. They help Support Engineers read and understand the GitLab codebase, debug application-level issues and work more effectively with development teams.
Ruby and Ruby on Rails
GitLab’s core application is a Ruby on Rails monolith. While Support Engineers are not expected to write production Ruby code, being able to read Rails controllers, models and service objects is extremely valuable for:
- Understanding how a feature works when the documentation is unclear
- Tracing the root cause of a bug through the codebase
- Writing more accurate and useful bug reports for development teams
- Understanding error messages and stack traces in logs
Codecademy (free courses)
O’Reilly Learning
Go
Gitaly (the Git RPC service) and GitLab Runner are both written in Go. Support Engineers encounter Go stack traces in Gitaly logs and Runner debug output. Being able to read Go code helps with:
- Understanding Gitaly error messages and behaviour
- Debugging GitLab Runner executor issues
- Reading and understanding Gitaly and Runner source code when investigating bugs
Codecademy (free courses)
O’Reilly Learning
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is GitLab’s primary datastore. Support Engineers regularly help customers with database performance issues, migration failures, replication problems, Patroni/PgBouncer configuration and backup/restore procedures.
Codecademy (free courses)
O’Reilly Learning
Python and Bash scripting
Python and Bash are useful for writing automation scripts, parsing logs, interacting with the GitLab API and building internal tooling.
Codecademy (free courses)
Many GitLab customers deploy on GCP, AWS or Azure. GitLab Dedicated runs on GCP and AWS. Understanding cloud fundamentals helps Support Engineers advise customers on infrastructure-related issues.
Google Cloud Skills Boost
O’Reilly Learning
Part 3: Soft skills and leadership (Hone)
Hone offers live, cohort-based classes focused on professional development. While not technical, these skills are valuable for Support Engineers who collaborate across teams, mentor colleagues and communicate with customers.
Relevant class categories include:
- Communication skills: giving and receiving feedback, difficult conversations, written communication
- Collaboration: working across teams, influencing without authority
- Time management and productivity: prioritisation, managing workload
- Career development: goal setting, self-advocacy
