FinOps Certified Practitioner
fundamentals
Adam MoradManages $10M+ in annual multi-cloud spendCourse Syllabus · 9 Weeks
Last updated August 26, 2026
A 9-week course for the era when AI agents start doing the execution work — aligned with the FinOps Certified Practitioner (FOCP) exam.
Why This Course.
Most FinOps courses teach the framework. This one teaches the framework for a world where half the execution work — anomaly triage, tagging enforcement, RI lifecycle management — is about to run on agents, not people. You'll learn the FinOps Foundation's own vocabulary well enough to sit the FOCP exam, and the judgment to know which of those decisions an agent can actually be trusted with.
What You’ll Walk Away With.
- ✓Build a cost dashboard directly from SQL over a real CUR export, with a findings memo that explains what's driving spend.
- ✓Forecast cloud spend and back a commitment recommendation — RI, Savings Plan, or CUD — with real ROI math.
- ✓Write an optimization report that rightsizes workloads and quantifies the savings.
- ✓Assess a FinOps practice against the Crawl / Walk / Run maturity model and recommend the governance to close the gap.
- ✓Classify a real cost-automation candidate as Go, Check, or Stop before it touches production.
- ✓Prototype a working automation, gated by that trust framework, and record a demo.
- ✓Defend a capstone pitch for one real agentic FinOps use case, end to end.
Why Not Just a Crash Course.
There are already FOCP prep videos out there. This is a different kind of course:
- ✓Text + interactive, not a 6-hour video you scrub through looking for the part that matters.
- ✓Built by a practitioner, not just a certified instructor — someone who manages $10M+ in real multi-cloud spend.
- ✓Covers the agentic-workflow shift — automation, trust frameworks, Go / Check / Stop — that no FOCP crash course touches yet.
Scroll right to see the full comparison →
| Option | Price | Format | Agentic / AI FinOps |
|---|---|---|---|
| This course | $89 | Text + interactive | Yes |
| Typical Udemy FOCP crash course | $15–90* | Video | No |
| Official FOCP exam (FinOps Foundation) | $325 exam-only, or $500 w/ their course | 50-Q exam, 1 hr, self-study | N/A |
*Udemy pricing fluctuates heavily with frequent promotional discounts.
Who It’s For.
Data analysts with SQL and dashboarding experience who want a credible, structured path into FinOps roles — not a reading list, a portfolio.
It's not for complete beginners with no SQL or dashboarding background, and it's not for working FinOps practitioners looking for a fast, cheap exam cram — that's what the $15–90 crash courses in the comparison table above are for.
Your Instructor.
Adam Morad
Cloud FinOps & Data Engineering. Manages $10M+ in annual multi-cloud spend, with a track record of cutting cloud costs 20–30% through rightsizing and commitment management.
LinkedIn →Worked With
Anodot
Wiv.ai
DoiT
Previously Worked At
Exam-mapped throughout. Every week is tagged to the official FinOps Framework domain and phase it covers, and Week 8 walks through the FOCP exam format directly — including how to build the reference sheet the real exam allows you to bring.
Curriculum.
01 · Foundations · Principles & Personas
FinOps Foundations, Principles & Personas
- What is FinOps? The Inform → Optimize → Operate lifecycle
- The 6 FinOps Principles — threaded through a large share of the FOCP exam
- Personas & Motivations — engineering, finance, procurement, product, leadership
- How cloud billing works: AWS / Azure / GCP pricing models
- Reading a real cloud bill
- The FinOps platform landscape: AWS Cost Explorer, AWS FinOps Agent, CloudHealth (Broadcom, resold in Israel via Matrix/CloudZone), Umbrella (Anodot), and Wiv.ai
02 · Domain: Understand Usage & Cost · Inform Phase
Understand Usage & Cost
- Domain overview: Data Ingestion, Allocation, Reporting & Analytics, Anomaly Management
- SQL over billing exports (CUR schema)
- Building a cost dashboard (Power BI / Tableau)
- Tagging & allocation strategy, showback vs. chargeback
03 · Domain: Quantify Business Value
Quantify Business Value
- Forecasting, Budgeting, KPIs & Benchmarking, Unit Economics
- Building a cloud cost forecast
- Unit economics: cost-per-customer / cost-per-transaction modeling
- Which KPIs matter to which persona (callback to Week 1)
04 · Domain: Optimize Usage & Cost · Optimize Phase
Optimize Usage & Cost
- Rate Optimization, Usage Optimization, Workload Placement, Sustainability, Licensing & SaaS
- Rightsizing methodology
- RI / Savings Plan / CUD economics
- Cloud sustainability basics; SaaS & license cost management
05 · Domain: Manage the FinOps Practice · Operate Phase
Manage the FinOps Practice
- Governance, FinOps Assessment (maturity models), Executive Strategy Alignment, Intersecting Disciplines
- Crawl / Walk / Run maturity model walkthrough
- Governance & policy design
- How FinOps intersects with Procurement, Security, Sustainability
- Communicating the cost story to leadership
06 · Capability: Automation, Tools & Services
Automation, Tools & Services: The Agentic Shift
- Why FinOps fits agents: repetitive, clear signal, bounded scope
- Real patterns: anomaly triage, tagging enforcement, RI lifecycle automation
- Case study walkthrough
07 · Applied · The Trust Framework
The Trust Framework + Build a Prototype
- Why "just let the agent fix it" is dangerous
- The three questions: reversibility, blast radius, cost ceiling
- Classifying real actions: Go / Check / Stop
- Build one real automation, gated by the framework
08 · Career & Exam Prep
Career Transition & FOCP Exam Prep
- Reframing a data-analyst resume/portfolio for FinOps roles
- What interviewers actually probe for (callback: Personas & Motivations)
- FOCP exam walkthrough: format, the 40/30/30 weighting, question style
- Building your reference sheet (notes are permitted in the real exam)
- Timed practice questions
09 · Capstone
Capstone
- Design one real agentic FinOps use case, end to end
- Apply the trust framework
- Produce a polished pitch one-pager
- Present & defend the idea
Frequently Asked.
How much time does this take?
Do I need cloud experience already?
Is this the official FinOps Foundation course?
What if I don't pass the FOCP exam?
What happens once I pass the FOCP exam?
Interested?.
$89
One-time payment · full 9-week course, all exercises, and FOCP exam prep.
Not right for you? Refunds are handled per our refund policy — email support@finopscourse.com.
Try the free Week 1 lesson, then reach out with any questions about the full course.
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