Track

Buildkite Pipeline Author

Currently examining version 1.0.0.

What this credential attests

The holder can express a build as a correct Buildkite pipeline, and can read a failing build well enough to find the cause. It does not attest to anything about running agents, sizing clusters, or securing an organisation — that is the Platform Engineer track.

Format

Written exam, graded automatically. 60 minutes. Pass mark 75%. Two question types: multiple choice, and pipeline YAML you write yourself and we evaluate.

YAML answers are marked per assertion, so a pipeline that gets the structure right but misses one field scores partial credit rather than zero.

Objectives

1. Step types and pipeline structure

Command, wait, block, input, trigger and group steps, and when each applies
The difference between an implicit wait barrier and explicit depends_on
Why depends_on produces a DAG and ordering in the file does not

2. Dependencies and flow control

Giving steps a key and depending on it
allow_dependency_failure and what it does to a downstream step
if conditions and branches filters, and how they differ
Recognising a step that did not run because it was broken rather than failed

3. Dynamic pipelines

Generating steps at build time and uploading them with buildkite-agent pipeline upload
Why a generated pipeline is uploaded rather than written to a file
Passing values between steps with buildkite-agent meta-data

4. Artifacts

artifact_paths versus buildkite-agent artifact upload
That artifacts upload whether the command passed or failed
Downloading artifacts in a later step

5. Failure handling

retry: automatic versus retry: manual, and choosing between them
soft_fail, and why it is not the same as a passing step
cancel_on_build_failing and fail-fast behaviour

6. Concurrency

concurrency with concurrency_group to limit jobs across builds
Why a concurrency gate on a deploy step is not the same as a queue limit

Preparing

Everything assessed here is covered in the Buildkite pipeline documentation. The exam does not test memorisation of exact flag spellings for anything you would normally look up — YAML answers are marked on structure and intent.

Modules

Modules are associated with this credential rather than owned by it — each can be completed on its own, and can count toward more than one.