GitLab CI/CD Pitfalls & Fixes - A DevOps Playbook

A short playbook for DevOps engineers working with GitLab CI/CD.

It covers 10 common problems we all hit, slow pipelines, flaky tests, broken rollbacks, fat Docker images, messy caching, and shows practical ways to fix them. Each section has YAML examples, tips that last, and checks so you know it’s working.

Made for engineers who want their pipelines to stay boring, fast, and observable.

Related Hands-On Guides

If you’re working deeper in Kubernetes and platform engineering, you may also find these useful:

• Conquer the CKA Exam : a hands-on, scenario-driven guide for preparing for the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam with real exam-style labs.
• NGINX Ingress Migration Checklist : a free, structured Excel checklist for migrating off ingress-nginx, covering discovery, validation, production cutover, rollback, and ownership.

Together, these resources cover CI/CD reliability, Kubernetes mastery, and real-world migration workflows, the areas most DevOps engineers struggle with under time pressure.

You can also find additional free eBooks and practical resources on my Gumroad store:

👉 https://devopsdynamo.gumroad.com/