LearnCMD Is Now Live
After more than a decade working as a software developer and platform engineer—from big banks to game studios like Activision Blizzard—I noticed something that kept coming up: a lot of developers were uncomfortable with the terminal.
Some avoided it entirely. Others had picked up bits and pieces but didn’t feel confident using it day to day. And honestly? I don’t blame them. The terminal can seem like a black box if you didn’t grow up with it. Most tutorials are either too shallow or assume you already know your way around Bash. And that’s how a lot of developers end up stuck in 'tutorial hell'—endlessly hopping between YouTube videos, blog posts, and Stack Overflow threads without making real progress. So I decided to build something better. I know how easy it is to fall into 'tutorial hell'—jumping from one guide to the next without ever feeling truly confident. LearnCMD is designed to break that cycle by helping you build real, hands-on experience in a structured way.
Why I Built LearnCMD
Over the past two years, I put my evenings and weekends into creating LearnCMD — a fully interactive, browser-based course that helps you actually learn the terminal.
This isn’t a playlist of videos. Every lesson includes a real terminal you can use in your browser, running inside a container, so you can type real commands and get real feedback. It’s like having a guide while you work your way through real problems.
What You’ll Learn
LearnCMD is structured into focused, hands-on modules. Here’s what you’ll dive into:
- Intro to the Terminal – Get comfortable with the basics: moving around directories, listing files, using help commands, and understanding the shell environment.
- Manipulating Files and Directories – Learn to create, copy, move, and delete files and folders efficiently.
- Text Processing – Master redirection, pipes, and tools like
sed,cut,wc,sort, anduniqto manipulate and filter text like a pro. - Advanced Shell Features – Work with variables, command substitution, exit statuses, quoting, and other powerful Bash capabilities.
- Permissions and Access Control – Understand
sudo,su, file permissions, user and group management. - Process Management – Explore how to view, control, and manage running processes in a Linux system.
- Networking – Use tools like
curl,wget, andsshto interact with remote systems and APIs. - Text Editing in the Terminal – Get hands-on with editors like
nanoandviso you can edit files on any server. - Package Management – Learn to install and manage software packages using tools like
apt. - Shell Scripting – Put it all together by writing and running your own shell scripts to automate tasks.
Each module includes real examples and step-by-step exercises in a live terminal so you're not just learning—you’re doing.
Why It Matters
Getting comfortable with the terminal is one of those things that quietly makes you a better developer. It helps you solve problems faster, automate repetitive work, and understand what your system is actually doing.
If you want to work in DevOps, backend development, or anything Linux-based, this stuff is non-negotiable.
Get a Certificate When You Finish
When you complete the course, you get a certificate of completion. It's a real asset for your resume or LinkedIn profile—proof that you know your way around the command line and didn’t just copy-paste a few commands.
It’s Live Now
LearnCMD is available now. This is the initial version of the course—I'll be improving it and adding more lessons based on your feedback. It’s a one-time payment for a full year of access. No subscriptions, no surprises.
In addition to the interactive lessons, there are also helpful articles and cheatsheets to support your learning and give you quick reference material while you practice.
The first two modules are free, and you don’t need to enter a credit card to try them.
I’m proud of how far this has come, and I hope it helps you feel at home in the terminal. If you try it out, let me know what you think.
Thanks for reading,
– Alen