Step by Step Guide How to Become a Real DevOps Professional

I’ve written this article to help guide aspiring professionals or teams in becoming real DevOps. Whether you want to change careers, build a team, or just want to up-skill. This article works for you. I love the IT industry, this is my way of bringing back to the community.

Me and my team underwent this DevOps path and I will declare it successful. No shortcuts. I want others to be successful too, that's why I’m sharing this DevOps career path recipe. Yet still, we do not call ourselves DevOps. Because you only become DevOps when you stop thinking of it and start deliberately working towards it.

There are two types of DevOps: a Jedi Master and a Jedi Knight. Jedi Master DevOps are champions focused on fixing the IT Supply Value Chain yet still able to do engineering works. Jedi Knight DevOps focuses on the pipeline, shipping code to to production in automated manner.

There is a third DevOps: The All Sizzle Way. These are those professionals who suddenly become DevOps. Symptoms are as follows: prioritize tools over competence, misunderstood motion over action, change title, and new uniforms. This is dangerous as it creates hype and over supply in industry. Haven't seen it succeed long run yet I may be wrong.

To become a DevOps professional, it doesn't matter whether you have tools or none. Thor without his Mjolnir is still the god of thunder. Ironman without his suit is still a genius billionaire playboy. You are still you. So let us start How to Become a Real DevOps Professional?

Step 1: Learn Cloud by Heart to Become a Real DevOps Professional

Whether that will be Azure, AWS, or GCP, or even a private cloud. To be a good DevOps champion or engineer, one has to learn the cloud by heart. The ideal minimum foundation to be a DevOps Professional if you go the AWS path would be:

• AWS Cloud Practitioner

• AWS Cloud Developer Associate

• AWS Cloud Solution Architect Associate

Though it is good to have a certificate, it is not a must. Certificates are there as additional proof of your skills but are not the sole basis. As a DevOps aspirant, you need at least 4 months to learn these 3 paths. These 3 paths in cloud will build your foundation of DevOps. Once you've learned these, you may need at least 2 years of experience in the cloud industry.

Reminder: Study Cloud Technology and gain experience.

Step 2: Learn Scripting and Infrastructure as Code to Become a Real DevOps Professional

After learning cloud by heart, during the journey, you need to pick one programming language that you feel or want. You do not need to be proficient with it. You just have to make sure that you can write basic code out of it when necessary. It doesn't matter if you need the internet to write code; you only need to understand the code. Python or Go Lang is a good choice, but any of your choices will do.

It will take you probably one month to learn a programming language. You do not need to become the best programmer to become a DevOps. You just need to be confident enough that you can read, troubleshoot, and write basic to intermediate code so that in the future you can troubleshoot or build a CI/CD pipeline.

You also need to learn infrastructure as code. Once you start doing cloud computing, you will be encountering this often. Infrastructure as Code turns your infrastructure into a code that serves as single source of truth for repeatable provisioning. You'll need this skill to automate provisioning of infrastructure. Some awesome infrastructure as code platforms are Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or Pulumi.

Reminder: It does not matter what programming language you choose so long as it is modern and be proficient on it. For infrastructure as code, I suggest non-proprietary one.

Step 3: Learn Containers and Kubernetes to Become a Real DevOps Professional

Containers allow us to deploy apps that can run in any environment, are lightweight, and consistent. Orchestrators enable these apps to run in the form of containers in a highly scalable, fault-tolerant, and self-healing manner. Most cloud-native apps and companies now use containers and orchestrators as the de-facto environment, replacing Virtual Machines. Therefore, I would assume that this is the right technology and where the industry is heading for DevOps.

The leading technology for containers is Docker, while for orchestrators, it is Kubernetes. There are more, but learning these two will suffice. I also suggest aspiring DevOps professionals take the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam. It will probably take you 2 months of review and pass the exam. To be proficient in Kubernetes, you probably need at least 1 year of experience. You do not need the certification, but it helps solidify your claim as a DevOps professional. At the end of the day, your skill is what matters, not papers.

Reminder: You can skip this if your plan and definition of DevOps is deploying apps in Virtual Machines but if you wanted to future proof your career. You have to learn containers and orchestrators seriously. This is the bread and butter of DevOps.

Step 4: Learn the IT Supply Value Chain to Become a Real DevOps Professional

IT Supply Value Chain is the process of how your company's products/services in IT come to life, from conceptualization to delivery on end user. A good example of this is if a product owner wanted a new feature on your website, like "product checkout." What steps and processes will it take to deliver such a feature? Usually, it goes from feature->user story creation->test case creation->development->code check-in->code review->code scanning->code build->quality assurance->security review->approval->release to staging->release to production->customer.

Why is it important to understand the IT Supply Value Chain in order to be a true DevOps professional? Because your IT Supply Value Chain is actually the process that DevOps follows. If your chain is clear, simple, and well thought off creating a DevOps pipeline is easy. However, if your IT Supply Value Chain is flawed or not working properly, it must be repaired before DevOps can be implemented. The DevOps Jedi Masters are the one that typically fixes IT Supply Value Chain.

Don't forget: Understanding the IT Supply Value Chain is crucial for anyone aiming to excel as a DevOps professional. Without this knowledge, DevOps efforts may become stagnant. As you progress in your DevOps journey, you will face challenges beyond technical issues. Acquainting yourself with the IT Supply Value Chain will help you overcome these obstacles effectively. Regrettably, there isn't a manual for this; practical experience and domain expertise are essential.

Step 5: Learn CICD Pipeline to Become a Real DevOps Professional

Well done on reaching this point in the article or perhaps you are currently progressing through your DevOps learning journey. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CICD) is the technology that connects your IT Supply Value Chain in order to automate the process. For instance, if your IT supply value chain involves Feature->Develop->Checkin Code->Build Code->Automate Testing->Deploy, CICD tools like Jenkins will automate this entire flow. Initially, the prerequisites mentioned above may seem confusing. However, as you begin implementing CICD, everything will start to make sense and shape on your DevOps journey.

My suggestion is to familiarize yourself with CICD tools like Jenkins, ArgoCD, and Circle CI. I prefer using open-source options. As I've mentioned before, I believe in utilizing reputable open-source tools rather than investing in expensive proprietary technology. Here is an article that explores various CICD tools. Choose any of them, you can't go wrong.

Keep in mind: To learn CICD effectively, you should create a simple IT Supply Value Chain or at least become acquainted with the release process. You then use CICD to ties these processes in an automated manner.

Step 6: Learn Observability and Container Runtime Monitoring Tools to Become a Real DevOps Professional

DevOps Observability and Container Runtime Monitoring provide comprehensive visibility into the performance, security, and reliability of your containers and orchestrators. This is essential for troubleshooting, investigating, and enhancing your DevOps performance, ensuring the health and security of your orchestrator.

By now, you likely have significant experience in DevOps and possess a high level of competence. I strongly advise you to invest in a DevOps tool for monitoring and observing container runtimes at this juncture. Take the time to fully understand the capabilities of these tools. While there are open-source options available, I suggest considering tools such as SysDig and Dynatrace. If you are just starting out DevOps the ELK Stack will suffice.

What is the reason behind my strong opposition to purchasing tools prematurely? I have witnessed numerous instances where individuals acquire costly tools but struggle to interpret, understand, or analyze the information provided by the tool. These experts tend to simply extract a list of findings from the tools and urge their colleagues to address them without fully grasping the implications or verifying their validity or business impact. By following the steps outlined above, from Step 1 to Step 5, a DevOps professional can understand the insights provided by these tools and avoid blindly implementing them, which could potentially lead to further issues. This is not always the case, some are not but I've seen this pattern often.

Remember: Go Step 1 - 5 before buying DevOps monitoring tools. You should be the master of these tools, not the other way around. And remember; with or without a tool, you are Thor god of thunder even without Mjolnir.

Step 7: Finally Join or Build a Winning Team to Become a Real DevOps Professional

DevOps is a collaborative effort that requires a team approach. Success in DevOps hinges on being part of a skilled team or establishing one if the opportunity arises. Working alongside your team members, you will acquire expertise in DevOps as the team evolves. This collaborative learning process represents the pinnacle of DevOps. Given that DevOps plays a crucial role in the IT Supply Value Chain, any weak link or bottleneck among team members must be addressed promptly to maintain the integrity of the DevOps workflow.

There is a book named "Talents Are Overrated" by Geoff Colvin. He describes how to deliver an exceptional performance. I see it applies to all, including those aspiring to be real DevOps professionals. According to the book, there are three key recipes to deliver great performance:

1. Deliberate Practice involves carefully planning to excel as an athlete, professional, or practitioner. I designed Steps 1 to 7 of my article with the intention of guiding you in deliberate practice.

2. Supporting Medium - Achieving exceptional DevOps performance requires a support in your career. This support system could be your family, like my wife in my case. She allows me to study DevOps on a Sunday afternoon while she does the stuff. Your company and co-workers also plays a vital role by in becoming a DevOps professional. They provide resources, trust, and growth opportunities to craft your skill. I am fortunate to be currently part of such a wonderful company.

3. Environment - To succeed as a professional DevOps practitioner, being in the right environment is essential. This environment includes factors such as the market, opportunities, and current situation. Even if you possess great skills, without projects to apply them to, your expertise may diminish over time.

Reminder: Culture plays an important role in nourishing DevOps.

Conclusion:

So there you have it. The step by step guide on how to become a real DevOps professional. One thing for certain; there is no cutting corners. You have to undergo to a personal transformation "Start-up of you" to become one. Once again; you will only become a DevOps when you stop thinking being a DevOps engineer or champion. Borrowing Malcom Gladwell, you need 10, 000 hours of practice to succeed and be the best. I my self are still in permanent beta. I keep learning DevOps and is still far for being one of the best in the industry.

The final step of your DevOps journey is to thank the people and the team that made it happened or contributed in your personal transformation. DevOps is always about a team in my case I was blessed with A Class Team members from Cloud Services who I worked with for the past 5 years. That Team composes of intelligent gentleman. I could have not done it without them. Luckily we work in a beautiful company in the Philippines that gave us a chance to put our DevOps aspirations into reality.