Course Introduction

Welcome to the Certified Backstage Associate course! Backstage is an open-source developer portal platform that helps software teams discover, manage, and standardize their services. Organizations like Spotify, American Airlines, and Peloton have seen up to a 30% increase in developer productivity and smoother cross-team collaboration after adopting Backstage.

I’m Sanjeev Thiyagarajan, and I’ll guide you from your first Backstage setup all the way to becoming a Certified Backstage Associate. Whether you want to streamline your internal developer portal or prepare for the CBA exam, this course is engineered for hands-on learning and real-world scenarios.

Why This Course Stands Out

Instead of theory-only lectures, you’ll dive into interactive labs where you can experiment, learn by doing, and troubleshoot common pitfalls. By the end of this course, you’ll confidently tackle everyday Backstage tasks and advanced customizations.

Course Outline

We’ll explore six core modules that build on each other:

1. Fundamentals
   Get to know Backstage’s architecture. You’ll learn how to bootstrap a new Backstage app, configure the frontend and backend, and integrate essential plugins.

2. Catalog Module
   Define and manage entities, register services, components, and APIs, and explore the relationships that power your developer portal.

3. Templates
   Automate project scaffolding and infrastructure setup with custom Backstage templates. Standardize workflows and reduce onboarding time.

4. TechDocs & Search
   Publish and host Markdown-based documentation directly in Backstage. Implement full-text search to make your docs and services easily discoverable.

5. Custom UI & Plugins
   Extend the Backstage UI with built-in components or build your own plugins to meet unique organizational needs.

6. Production Management
   Configure databases, secure your Backstage instance with authentication providers, and deploy with Docker or Kubernetes for a production-ready setup.

By the end of this course, you’ll be equipped to:

• Launch and maintain a production-grade Backstage instance
• Customize Catalog entities and templates
• Develop bespoke plugins and user interfaces
• Optimize search and documentation workflows

You’ll also be ready to ace the Certified Backstage Associate (CBA) exam.

Links and References

• Backstage Documentation
• Getting Started with Backstage
• Backstage Plugin Marketplace
• KodeKloud Forums