Software and DevOps
Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers
Learn Docker from scratch and run edge software such as an MQTT broker and a dashboard from one Compose file on a plant machine.
Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for automation engineers and developers. It has 11 modules and takes about 7 hours, with written notes, a practice task per module, a practical project and a final assessment of 15 questions (pass mark 60%). Learning costs nothing and needs only a free account. The optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code, is a one-off US$23.99 for you; it is not a vendor credential. Updated 1 November 2026.
- Free
- Beginner
- 7 hours
- Self-paced
- Certificate optional
No card, no trial. The course is free for good. Certificate US$23.99, optional.
- Who it is for
- Automation engineers and developers
- Jobs
- Roles that use this skill: devOps engineer, software engineer, platform engineer and automation developer. No course guarantees a job.
- Tools
- Docker Desktop on Windows or Mac, or Docker Engine on Linux. Docker Engine is free for any use. Docker Desktop is free for personal use, education, non-commercial open source and small businesses, and larger organisations need a paid subscription. A text editor and a free Docker Hub account. Hardware: any laptop or industrial PC with about 8 GB of RAM and hardware virtualisation enabled. No PLC, gateway or plant hardware is required.
- Updated
After this course you can
By the end you will be able to:
- Run, stop, inspect and remove containers from the command line
- Find why a container failed using its logs
- Write a Dockerfile that builds your own application into an image
- Bring up a multi-service stack from one Compose file
- Keep data across restarts and upgrades with named volumes
Who it is for, and what you need first
Who it is for
Automation engineers and developers.
Level: Beginner. Beginner. You need to be comfortable typing commands at a terminal. No prior container, cloud or Linux administration experience is assumed, and no PLC knowledge is needed to follow the lessons.
What you need
Software: Docker Desktop on Windows or Mac, or Docker Engine on Linux. Docker Engine is free for any use. Docker Desktop is free for personal use, education, non-commercial open source and small businesses, and larger organisations need a paid subscription. A text editor and a free Docker Hub account..
Hardware: Any laptop or industrial PC with about 8 GB of RAM and hardware virtualisation enabled. No PLC, gateway or plant hardware is required.. What to download, and how.
How this course works
Watch the lessons
Short video lessons, one module at a time, at your own pace.
Read the notes
Open the Reading tab for the written notes and diagrams of the module.
Check yourself
Answer the questions to see what stuck before you move on.
Final assessment
Pass the final once you have been through the modules.
Certificate, if you want oneOptional
Optional, with a page anyone can use to verify it.
What you learn
11 modules in order, at your own pace. 7 hours of video lessons, with written notes and a practice task in each module.
- 1What a container is, and why it is not a virtual machine15m
- 2Images, registries and the workflow you will follow14m
- 3Installing Docker and running your first container20m
- 4Everyday commands, and looking inside a running container26m
- 5Developing against containers instead of installing software21m
- 6Writing a Dockerfile and building your own image24m
- 7Private registries: keeping your images off the public internet16m
- 8Docker Compose: a whole stack from one file23m
Show the other 3 modules
- 9Volumes: data that survives a restart19m
- 10Production practices, and what sits above Docker24m
- 11Final assessment
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Show what to download (3 tools)
Required
- 01Free for personal use, education and small businesses
Docker Desktop
Docker, Inc.
- Runs on
- Windows 10 64-bit version 22H2 (build 19045) or Windows 11 64-bit version 23H2 (build 22631) or later, with WSL 2 and hardware virtualisation on, 8 GB RAM. Also macOS and Linux.
- Account
- None needed
Free for personal use, education, non-commercial open source projects, and businesses with fewer than 250 employees and less than 10 million US dollars in annual revenue. Larger businesses need a paid subscription. Docker Engine on Linux is open source and is not covered by these terms.
Steps
- 1.Open docker.com/products/docker-desktop and download the installer for your system.
- 2.On Windows, install WSL first (wsl --install) if you do not have it.
- 3.Run the installer and keep the WSL 2 option selected.
- 4.Restart if asked, then start Docker Desktop and accept the subscription terms.
- 5.Open a terminal and run: docker run hello-world
- Turn on virtualisation in BIOS or UEFI if Docker says it is not available.
- On Linux servers, install Docker Engine instead of Docker Desktop.
Official download pagedocker.comAlternatives
- Docker Engine (Linux): Free, open source engine for Linux. Not covered by the Docker Desktop subscription terms.
- 02Free plan with limits
Docker Hub
Docker, Inc., in the browser
- Runs on
- Any modern web browser
- Account
- A free Docker account (Docker Personal plan)
The free Docker Personal plan includes one private repository and 100 Docker Hub pulls per hour when signed in, subject to reasonable use. Each image on Docker Hub has its own licence.
Steps
- 1.Open hub.docker.com and click Sign up.
- 2.Create your account with email, or with Google or GitHub, and verify your email.
- 3.In a terminal, run: docker login and enter your Docker username.
- 4.Pull an image, for example: docker pull hello-world
- Prefer images marked Docker Official Image or Verified Publisher.
- Signing in raises your pull limit compared with anonymous pulls.
Open Docker Hubhub.docker.com
Optional
Useful, not needed to finish the course.
- 03Free
Visual Studio Code
Microsoft
- Runs on
- Windows 64-bit (supported Windows client versions), macOS (latest and two previous releases), Linux (Ubuntu 20.04, Debian 10, RHEL 8, Fedora 36 or later)
- Account
- None needed
- Size
- Less than 200 MB download, under 500 MB installed
Free to download and use. Extensions from the Marketplace each have their own licence.
Steps
- 1.Open code.visualstudio.com/download.
- 2.Pick the installer for your system (on Windows, the User Installer is fine).
- 3.Run the installer. On Windows, tick "Add to PATH" if it is offered.
- 4.Open VS Code and install the extensions your course uses, for example the Python extension.
- Hardware needs are small: a 1.6 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM.
- On Windows, the "Open with Code" options in the installer let you open folders from File Explorer.
Official download pagecode.visualstudio.com
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
What you practise
Course project, about 14 hours
Containerised plant data stack on an edge PC: Node-RED, Mosquitto, InfluxDB and Grafana with Compose, volumes and a runbook
Design, build, test and document a containerised data stack for a foundry's melt shop on an edge PC. It runs Node-RED, Mosquitto, InfluxDB and Grafana from pinned images in one Compose file, plus one image of your own. Named volumes keep the data, a private registry feeds the plant machine, and a runbook you actually perform lets an electrician recover it.
- 7documents in the pack
- 8steps to follow
- 6things to hand in
- 14 hof work, at your pace
- URSUser Requirements: Melt-Shop Data Stack on Edge PC EDGE-01
- SDSSoftware Design Specification: Edge Stack gfp-edge on EDGE-01
- IP planIP Plan, Networks and Port List: Edge PC EDGE-01 and the Plant Registry
- ProcedureRunbook: Deploy, Upgrade, Backup, Restore and Rollback of the gfp-edge Stack
- Test reportValidation Report: Restart, Persistence, Limits, Security and Restore of the gfp-edge Stack
- Risk registerRisk Register: Edge Data Stack gfp-edge
The project is optional practice. The certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Free 3D lab
Process lab
Practise in your browser. Free, nothing to install.
After the course, your next step
Show what you can do, then keep going in the same field.
A certificate you can verify
Finish the modules and pass the final assessment (15 questions, pass mark 60%) and you can add a certificate with a public verification page. One-off, US$23.99 for you. It is not a vendor credential.
Want a free certificate? Do the matching Free internship: 4 weeks, nothing to buy, with a free certificate of completion.
SCADA and HMI
Eight short weeks of tags, screens, alarms and trends: notes, diagrams, a few videos and practice in LADX Mini and free web SCADA tools. Finish weeks 1 to 4 and the final, then claim a free Internship Completion Certificate with your real dates and study hours, and a QR code anyone can scan to verify it. Training, not employment.
See the internshipMore free courses
Roles that use this skill
- DevOps engineer
- Software engineer
- Platform engineer
- Automation developer
These are the kinds of roles where the skill is used. We make no promise of a job or an interview.
Plain notes
- Free: the whole course, the notes, the practice tasks, the final assessment and support from practising engineers.
- Paid, and optional: the course certificate, and the Engineer-verified internship (the Free internship costs nothing).
- No job promise: the course teaches a skill. It does not place you in a job.
- Lessons by: TechWorld with Nana. Independent creators; the lessons stream from their own channels. EDWartens wrote the study plan, notes, practice tasks and assessments.
TechWorld with Nana. If you are one of these creators and want a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@edwartens.com.
Why learn with EDWartens
What you get with this course, and what comes after it.
- Free from the first lesson to the final assessment.
- Video lessons with written notes and a project.
- An optional certificate that anyone can verify online.
- Free internships to keep practising afterwards.
Common questions
Is the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course really free?
Yes. All eleven modules, the practice tasks, the practice questions and the final assessment are free. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The certificate is the only paid item, and only if you want it.
What certificate does the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course give?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you have finished every module and passed the final assessment at 60%, with a verification code anyone can check. It is not a vendor credential and is never described as one.
Who made the video lessons in the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course?
TechWorld with Nana, on her own YouTube channel, credited at the foot of this page. EDWartens did not make the videos and the creator is not affiliated with EDWartens. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
Is this the same as a Docker or Kubernetes certification?
No. There are paid, vendor-run container and Kubernetes examinations, and this course is neither of them, is not accredited by anyone, and does not follow their exam objectives. It is preparation and practice. What you get here is an EDWartens Certificate of Completion.
Do I need to know Linux or programming?
No. You need to be able to type commands at a terminal and read the output. The course explains what each command does. If you have never used a command line, plan a little extra time on DK3 and DK4.
What do I need installed, and does it cost anything?
Docker Desktop on Windows or Mac, or Docker Engine on Linux. Docker Engine is free open-source software for any use. Docker Desktop is free for personal use, education and small businesses; larger companies need a paid subscription (Docker's pricing page gives the thresholds). You need a laptop with about 8 GB of RAM and hardware virtualisation enabled in firmware, which is worth checking before you start.
Will this help with Node-RED, Ignition or an edge gateway?
That is why it exists. Node-RED, Grafana, InfluxDB, MQTT brokers and most edge software now ship as container images, and the EDWartens Node-RED and Ignition courses assume you can run one. This course fills that gap: by DK8 you can bring the whole stack up from a single Compose file.
Does the course cover Kubernetes?
Not as a subject you learn to operate. The last module explains what Kubernetes and Docker Swarm add over Docker on a single host, and when a site genuinely needs them, so you can make that call honestly rather than adopting an orchestrator for one edge PC.
What topics does the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course cover, module by module?
The Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course has 11 modules. It opens with "What a container is, and why it is not a virtual machine", goes through "Images, registries and the workflow you will follow", "Developing against containers instead of installing software", "Private registries: keeping your images off the public internet" and "Production practices, and what sits above Docker" and ends with "Final assessment". The full list with minutes is under "What you learn" on this page.
What can I do after the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course?
After the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course: Run, stop, inspect and remove containers from the command line without guessing; Read a container's logs and open a shell inside it to find out why it stopped; Write a Dockerfile that builds your own application into a versioned image. These are the practical outcomes the course is written around, and the final assessment of 15 questions checks them.
What software and hardware do I need for the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course, and does it cost anything?
For the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course, software: Docker Desktop on Windows or Mac, or Docker Engine on Linux. Docker Engine is free for any use. Docker Desktop is free for personal use, education, non-commercial open source and small businesses, and larger organisations need a paid subscription. A text editor and a free Docker Hub account. Hardware: any laptop or industrial PC with about 8 GB of RAM and hardware virtualisation enabled. No PLC, gateway or plant hardware is required. The course itself is free.
Is the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course suitable for me, and what level is it?
Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers is rated beginner. Beginner. You need to be comfortable typing commands at a terminal. No prior container, cloud or Linux administration experience is assumed, and no PLC knowledge is needed to follow the lessons. It is written for automation engineers and developers, and takes about 7 hours at your own pace.
Which jobs use the skills from the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course?
Skills from the Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers course (for example: run, stop, inspect and remove containers from the command line without guessing) are used in roles such as devOps engineer, software engineer, platform engineer and automation developer, and in devOps engineer work. The course gives you practical evidence of the skill; it does not promise a job, and employers decide on experience and interview.
Start free today
Docker and Containers for Automation Engineers, at your own pace. Add the certificate only if you want one.