DevOps is a tech track that can be a lot of fun. First of all DevOps is an IT track that at it’s core should people first, improve process, and fun.

According to shalb.com DevOps is

DevOps is a combination of certain culture strategies, dedicated practices and tools that help companies accelerate the process of creating applications and >services. With DevOps, the process of product development and optimization goes faster compared with the traditional model of software development.

DevOps is a track that empowers individuals to create things and also managing the operations of things. It might be the perfect tech track to look into.

I have been researching this role for a while and it’s the track that I’m the most excited about. So I wanted to share a few plays from my playbook of getting into DevOps.

Disclaimer I am still actively seeking out a DevOps role, so this playbook isn’t perfect. It’s just a mix of strategies that I am doing. I am open to feedback too!

Play 1: Linux.

At some point in your DevOps journey you will need to use Linux.

In short Linux, is a great starting point in DevOps. Linux is probably the most popular server operating system running in the cloud.

There are many free resources to get started. Finding those resources can be as simple as entering “learn linux” into a YouTube Search to get started.

A good starting Linux flavor is Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu has desktop, server, and even raspberry pi editions.

Other good starting Linux flavors are CentOs Stream, Rocky Linux, and Oracle Linux. Rocky and Oracle are good RHEL (RedHat Enterprise Linux) inspired clones.

Play 2: Choose a programming language

This is probably where most people will stop reading or think DevOps isn’t for them. Code can be intimidating, true. It’s not impossible to learn though. Learning to code does not require excellent math skills, super brain power, or whatever else.

Learning to code just requires discipline and determination.

So pick a language to learn. I choose python. Although I do know c++ too. Python is my preferrred language.

For an absolute beginner to programming, this python bootcamp 100 Days of Code: The Complete Python Pro Bootcamp for 2022 | Udemy is perfect.

Angela Yu’s style of teaching is great and the projects are fun!

Google offers a Python certification too. It’s great to learn python and automation and relation to technical support. The course also teaches on bash scripting, Linux processes, troubelshooting tools, and more. Google IT Automation with Python

Cloud Service Providers. Pick one and learn all you can about it. AWS seems to be the most popular provider.

Configuration Management: Puppet, Ansible,

Programming Langauge / get comforatble with code.

Resources to learn more about DevOps:

Play 2b: IAC - Infrastructure as Code

Learning IaC is useful for DevOps. Automating system tasks using code is the way to go. A few tools to learn are:

  • Terraform

  • Ansible

  • Puppet

Play 3: Choose a Cloud Providor

Cloud computing seems to be the go to model for companies now. It’s a good idea to understand how cloud providors work.

The top 3 cloud providors are:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  • Microsoft Azure

  • Google

I will be learning AWS and going towards the developer track.

Play 4: Study in public and take courses

I am taking a few DevOps courses currently:

I will be sharing my learning jourey here and over on Twitter ! I like to learn slow and follow the course even if I am somewhat familiar with the topic. I find it helps reinforce the learning.

Pt 1 in the books!

Hope part one of the DevOps playbook was helpful! Think I missed something feel free to hit me up!

Part 2 will dive deeper into the philosphy behind DevOps!

Stay tuned!

(image credit to this blog post! and check out this blog for more info)