A release that depends on someone remembering seven manual steps in the right order is not a process — it is a risk waiting for a bad day. Automated CI/CD pipelines exist to remove that risk, and this course exists to help technical teams build pipelines that are fast without becoming reckless.

Delivered by Arab British Fellowship Training Academy, the Shipping Software Faster, Safely programme works through the full delivery chain: source control and continuous integration, build automation, Jenkins and GitLab pipelines, artefact repository management, deployment stages, automated testing and quality gates, release management, and pipeline security and governance.

Rather than presenting these as separate tools, the course treats them as one connected system — a pipeline that takes code from a commit through validation, packaging, staged deployment and release, with visibility and control at every step. Participants examine how organisations reduce manual intervention while keeping production environments stable.

Positioned within the Information Technology and Programming category, the course is built for DevOps professionals, software engineers, release managers, IT operations teams and technology leaders responsible for how software actually reaches production.

By completing this programme, participants will be able to:

• Design pipeline architecture that connects development, testing, approval and production stages.
• Apply continuous integration practices that give development teams fast, reliable feedback.
• Build and manage automated workflows using Jenkins and GitLab pipelines.
• Apply build automation practices that reduce manual, repetitive work.
• Manage an artefact repository for controlled storage, versioning and distribution.
• Structure deployment stages across development, testing, staging and production with appropriate controls.
• Integrate automated testing and quality gates to prevent unsuitable builds from progressing.
• Manage release cadence and coordination without compromising operational stability.
• Apply security, access control and auditability across pipeline execution.
• Monitor pipeline performance to identify bottlenecks and resolve issues faster.

Target Audience

This course is for anyone whose work is affected by how reliably — and how often — an organisation can ship software.

• DevOps Professionals and Platform Engineers responsible for pipeline automation.
• Software Development Managers and Software Engineers involved in delivery workflows.
• IT Operations Professionals and Cloud/Infrastructure Professionals integrating pipelines with infrastructure.
• Release and Deployment Managers coordinating approvals and release cadence.
• IT Managers and Technology Leaders assessing CI/CD maturity across teams.

Module 1: Why Manual Releases Don't Scale

• Continuous integration, continuous delivery and continuous deployment defined in practice.
• Pipeline architecture and workflow dependencies.
• Aligning pipeline architecture with organisational delivery requirements.

Module 2: From Commit to Confidence — Source Control and CI

• How code changes enter automated workflows.
• Branch management, change validation and automated triggers.
• Giving development teams rapid feedback on software quality.

Module 3: Automation Platforms — Jenkins and GitLab Pipelines

• Jenkins pipeline configuration, job orchestration and execution controls.
• GitLab pipeline definitions, stages, runners and dependencies.
• Choosing and structuring platforms to support repeatable delivery.

Module 4: Turning Code into Packages — Build Automation

• Automated compilation, dependency handling and package generation.
• Build validation and repeatable build processes.
• Reducing manual intervention in the build stage.

Module 5: Where Builds Live — Artefact Repository Management

• Storage, versioning, retrieval and access management for build outputs.
• Package promotion and traceability across environments.

Module 6: Moving Safely Through Environments — Deployment Stages

• Environment-specific configuration across development, testing, staging and production.
• Approval controls, validation processes and deployment sequencing.
• Reducing deployment risk through controlled transitions.

Module 7: Catching Problems Early — Automated Testing and Quality Gates

• Testing triggers, validation processes and failure handling.
• Preventing unsuitable builds from progressing through deployment stages.

Module 8: Releasing on Your Terms — Release Management and Cadence

• Release planning, scheduling, approvals and rollback considerations.
• Balancing delivery speed with operational stability.

Module 9: Security, Governance and Keeping Pipelines Healthy

• Access controls, credentials management and auditability.
• Monitoring pipeline performance, failed jobs and workflow bottlenecks.
• Building a mature, enterprise-wide CI/CD operating model.