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My path to DevOps. Why did I choose DevOps as a career?

My journey into the world of DevOps began with leaving my comfort zone, uncertainty, fears, and big changes.

Between 2010 and 2021, I worked for a big television company.

The company worked with most of the major TV channels in the world, and my task was to install our systems, train people, and provide technical support. I have traveled all over the world, made many friends, and made incredible memories.

However, during the last two years of my work, I fell into a comfort zone trap, and I was okay with that.

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I felt confident and calm those days.

Managers trusted me. Colleagues asked for my advice. Clients requested me at their sites for system installation and maintenance.

On the other hand, I felt that I was not developing myself at all. I had no need to learn any new technologies or ask any questions. I felt that the whole industry was flying forward at the speed of light, leaving me behind.

The worst thing was that I felt a lack of desire to develop.

And then the management began to close one project after another.

Along with the projects, people left. The situation smelled very bad. I felt that very soon it would be my turn. My responsibility, which I have been fulfilling for the last ten years, has been too narrowly focused to easily find a job elsewhere without losing part of my salary.

I decided that I needed to do something. I needed to change my mindset and my habits.

I sat down and wrote down what kind of future I wanted as an employee.

• This must be an in-demand field. In the event of layoffs or whatever, I should be able to find a new job without any problems.
• The daily job should be varied. Writing the same code every day is not for me. It should be interesting.
• It must be something well-paid.
• It must be something that will keep me learning as long as I do it.
• I want to make an impact on the company’s products, and I should be difficult to replace.

After spending long hours on the Internet (at that time there was no ChatGPT), I decided that the DevOps field fits all these criteria.

The next week, I signed up for a six-month DevOps course at one of the local colleges.

I attended an evening class once a week, where we would cover a specific topic and then dedicate the entire week to a related project. In addition, I started reading a lot of books and watching videos about DevOps.

Six months later, the company informed me that they were closing down my product and no longer needed my service. When management found out that I had completed the DevOps course, they offered me a relocation to Poland. After thinking for a while, I refused (due to financial reasons).

I spent the next few months looking for my first DevOps job and doing personal projects to add to my resume. I wrote several games and mobile applications and created CI/CD for them.

However, I couldn’t find any junior DevOps jobs for a long time. There were thoughts about giving up and returning to my previous profession, but I continued to search.

In September 2021, I applied for a junior DevOps engineer role at a large financial company. Even though I failed the technical interview, I was able to reach an agreement with the company.

We agreed that my salary would be 20% less for the first three months and would increase if I showed competence.

In terms of salary, I took a step back, but only to take off.

Looking ahead to my first DevOps job, I would say I did very well. I did excellent onboarding and completed a significant logs and alerts project. Over the next two years, I significantly improved CI/CD, automations, deployments, security, and much more.

I felt (and still feel) that I had found what I loved to do. I felt like my natural environment was doing DevOps.

Like a fish in water.

For me, DevOps has become more than just a job. It became my mindset.

I bought and read a lot of books, started blogging, did some open-source projects, and started writing on Medium and LinkedIn.

Every day as a DevOps engineer was different from the previous one, and it was really interesting. I felt professionally that in two years as a DevOps engineer, I grew more than in ten years in the previous role.

Two years later, I decided to take up my career in systems design, studied for half a year, and received a much better job offer compared to the previous one.

In my case, the juice was worth the squeeze, and I made the right decision.

Here are the insights I came up with from my experience:

• No matter how loudly the company says that you are family, they will fire you without a second thought in order for the shares to rise in price.
• If you get fired, don’t treat it as a loss. It’s always an opportunity to grow professionally and in terms of salary.
• Always have a plan in case of termination.
• Never stop learning.
• Prepare for your next role. If you are currently employed as a DevOps engineer, consider preparing for a Cloud Architect role, etc.
• Always be interviewing, even if you don’t want to leave your job now. You get practice and insight into interview questions, and you get an idea of how much you are worth.
• Start building your personal brand as soon as possible. It will open up new opportunities for business and career growth.
• You can become anyone you want.

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