My DevOps Journey — How I Went From Being A Technical Support Guy to a Solutions Architect
DevOps is a cultural shift in building software, not just vendors or products. A successful DevOps transformation requires technical and cultural changes, making it challenging for many companies. Here’s my journey How I Went From Being A Technical Support Guy to a Solutions Architect in just a few years.
A few years back..
I entered the IT field five years ago as a Technical Support Officer. I had no mentor, guidance, or one to watch my back. I had no CS degree when I started, yet I was hoping to go to the world and work for an organization that would help me achieve my goals. I had some IT college knowledge but couldn’t find a job using it. Because of this, I had no choice but to enter the IT sector by becoming a Technical Support officer. Without the skills to find a job in the industry, I needed to accept the Technical Support position as a source of income. In addition, I needed to find a job to keep up with the house rental payments.
Lesson 01:
Jump into the IT industry at the entry-level position if you don’t have a CS degree or a CS degree but don’t possess enough skills to land a Software Engineering role.
I went in for an interview for a tech support position and answered all the questions honestly. By the end of the interview they were satisfied with my answers and offered me the position.
Lesson 02:
Be honest, bold, and willing to learn.
I had no guidance in that job. I did my work and was left to do it alone. I was given a piece of work to finish, and Senior Engineers would help me only if I got stuck on a task. I was not aware of the things I was learning, so I gave my all every day. I didn’t understand that I was gaining so much knowledge. I had no idea I was acquiring so much knowledge to assist me in my journey. I gave my all every day and was lucky to have a supportive supervisor. I handled incoming calls, created Jira issues, and assigned them to the appropriate developers.
The company I was working for used Linux servers to run production workloads. To be able to work on Linux servers instead of funneling phone calls and Jira tickets, I had to learn Linux. So, I installed Ubuntu on my virtual machine and started studying. I utilized free resources on the internet to understand the fundamental commands. I subsequently learned how to set up Nginx, Apache, and database servers on Linux. I knew enough Linux in one month to work with real-world Linux servers.
Lesson 03:
Learn Linux
After three months, my Tech Lead gave me access to development environment servers. I still remember my first task was setting up a web server and a database server to host a word press site after that. Some interns later used that website. After that, I was allowed to work on production servers. While working, I learned more about Linux, SQL, Web server optimization, Docker, Jenkins, and Ansible. I was promoted several times and worked for two years at my first company until I received an unexpected DevOps Engineer offer through a co-worker who left the company a while back. As a result, my salary got increased 4x!
Lesson 04:
Learn new technologies as much as possible and make friends at the workplace. At least be friendly. People observe what you do at work as it might help you get unexpected offers from your former co-workers.
After three months, my Tech Lead gave me access to development environment servers. I still remember my first task was setting up web server and a database server to host a word press site after that. That website was later used by some interns. Later I was allowed to work in production servers. I learnt more about Linux, SQL, Web server optimization, Docker, Jenkins, and Ansible while working. I was promoted several times and worked for two years at my first company until I received an unexpected Devops Engineer offer through a co-worker who left the company a while back. My Salary was 4x increased!
Lesson 04:
Learn new technologies as much as possible and make friends at work place at least just be friendly. People observe what you do at work as it might help you get unexpected offers through your former co-workers.
First DevOps Engineer Offer
My First DevOps Engineer offer came through my former co-worker. But there was one problem. The company interested in hiring me for a DevOps position was not financially stable and was on its path to bankruptcy. So my friends advised me not to go to that company and leave the steady job I have right now. So now I had to decide whether to stay in comfortable, stable employment and continue to work at the Technical Support team or take the risk of becoming a DevOps engineer and officially changing my Job title.
I decided to take the risk because great things do not come without taking risks. I took a calculated risk. I knew there is a chance I might lose my job if the company went broke. So what? I can find another job because I am confident in my skills and I believe in myself.
The interview was pretty simple and practical. In the interview, the interviewer asked me to Deploy an Nginx application on the Ubuntu server. So I had to set up Redis, install Nginx, and configure a reverse proxy to deploy the Nginx app. I did it within 30 minutes, I remember. That’s it!
The following interview was with the project manager, who asked me general questions. The final round was the HR interview. We discussed the package, and HR agreed to what I requested. The salary was 4x higher than my starting salary two years ago. Once I accepted the offer, I resigned from my current company. However, before taking my resignation, my current HR manager and Tech Lead strongly suggested not to accep the DevOps role in the new company because that company is not financially stable. So I asked them to match their offer, but they were not ready to make that move. So I took the risk, accepted the job offer, and walked away from the current company. But of course, I made sure to hand over my work correctly and gave Knowledge transfer to the recruit to my position.
At this moment, I was entirely into DevOps and started learning Kubernetes. I introduced the DevOps practice in the company. Before me, Developers were deploying the application manually. I built the entire CI/CD using Jenkins with Automated testing. Written many python automation to get rid of the manual tasks developers were doing at that time. Because of my automation, CI/CD developers could entirely focus on building the application.
But unfortunately, the company could not recover from the losses they were making, and after five months, they could not pay other developers and me on time, and sometimes I had to work the whole month without a salary.
Many friends laughed at me after hearing about the situation. I did not pay attention. I started looking for a new DevOps role, and it just took me one week to find another one. I went in for the interview, and the technical interview was easy. The interviewer asked many questions about Kubernetes to check my Kubernetes knowledge, and I was very comfortable with Kubernetes, so I answered all the questions.
I received an offer that was 50% higher than the current package!
Lesson 05:
Don’t be afraid to take risks. Without taking risks, you will not achieve greatness. But, most importantly, follow your guts and ignore what others think about you.
Becoming Solutions Architect
Fast forward to 2020, I excelled at Python, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Jenkins, etc. After becoming a DevOps engineer, I did not stop learning. My friends went out on Friday night, but I stayed home learning and practicing.
Early morning while others were sleeping, I was learning and working. It was pure hard work. I don’t know about smart work because I am an average person with bigger dreams. So to achieve bigger things, I had to work very hard.
During this time, my LinkedIn profile started to get traction. I received an offer from a company for a Solutions Architect position, and the interviews were brutal. I had to face Six interviews. I will talk more about the DevOps interviews in upcoming articles.
The First Technical interview was about AWS. The interview lasted two hours, and the interviewer asked me about all the AWS essential services. One interviewer even asked me to create a VPC and asked more profound questions about subnetting.Other interviews focus on cloud infrastructure design, Terraform, Jenkins, and, most importantly, in-depth Kubernetes questions.
Lesson 06:
Never stop learning.
Dawn of the remote jobs
While working as a Solution Architect because of the pandemic, I started working from home. One day, I was searching online about how I could make money online as a DevOps engineer and found Topcoder. Topcoder has a Gig work section where you can apply for short-term & Long term jobs, which will pay you in USD. It was so exciting that I started applying for some of the job posts, and surprisingly I got an interview invitation. So I went in for the interview, got the offer, left my full-time job, and started to pursue remote work.
I will talk more about finding remote work as a DevOps engineer and what kind of interviews you need to face to land in one of the high-paying remote DevOps work. It isn’t easy to write everything in one article.
I will publish more about remote work, DevOps interviews, and a complete guide about becoming a DevOps engineer and transitioning to a Solutions Architect position.
Now let’s look at some of the essential skills you must build to succeed in this field.
Be a lifelong learner
There will always be someone more intelligent than you. There will always be someone who can teach you more than you. There will always be someone who can guide you better than you. There will always be someone who can solve your problems better than you. There will always be someone who can show you better ways of working than you. There will always be someone who can show you your mistakes. Finally, there will always be someone who can make you learn from your mistakes.
I was a lifelong learner throughout my career as a Solutions Architect. I have always on lookout for what is happening around my field. I always wanted to know what features and enhancements were coming in the technology I was working on. I always wanted to know what other companies were doing in the space. I always wanted to know how different companies were solving their business problems with technology. I always wanted to know what conferences were happening.
I have always wanted to go to conferences happening in my field.
I always wanted to learn from people who are senior to me. I have always wanted to learn from people who are more knowledgeable than me. I always wanted to learn from people with expertise in areas where I was weak. I always wanted to know what books people were reading. I always wanted to learn from the books people were reading. I always wanted to know what books people were writing. I always tried to read books from people who were more knowledgeable than me. I always wanted to know what books are recommended to me by people who are more knowledgeable and senior.
Build up your Networking skills
You have to work on your networking skills. First, meet people in your field. Attend conferences, events, and seminars related to your work. Go and meet people who are senior to you. Make friends and build a network of people. Network with skilled people who have expertise in areas where you are weak. You might find that networking is an easy way to discover the right questions to ask and the right things to learn. Remember, though. Networking is not just about meeting people; it’s also about showing them value and making a lasting impact. You can start genuinely by asking questions, trying to understand their challenges, and seeing if there is something you can do to help them out.
Build up your Automation skills
Automation is the key to success in DevOps. If you can automate repetitive tasks, you can save time and money. Automation means you write scripts and programs to take over repetitive, mundane, and time-consuming tasks, which is what a DevOps engineer does. He writes code and automates tasks. As a Solutions Architect, you will build and manage a Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery pipeline. You will create standards for your team to follow. You will introduce new best practices and automation in your team. Finally, you will create visibility across the entire software delivery pipeline.
Build up your Scripting/Programming skills
Automation and scripting are two ways to do the same thing. For example, you can either build an automation framework using Python, Ruby, etc. or a script using your language of choice like PowerShell, Bash, etc. You will have to work on scripting and programming when you have to build tools and create standard workflows which are reusable across the team. You will have to work on scripting and programming when you have to develop tools to automate repetitive tasks. You can map the process flow and break it down into smaller sub-processes. Automation and scripting are two different things. Automation is designing a self-controlled device or process to perform a task that people usually do. Scripting is writing instructions in a computer language so that a computer will perform a series of actions.
Summary
This blog details my journey from being a technical support guy to a solutions architect. It talks about how I changed my attitude towards work and life to succeed in this field. I advise everyone to be a lifelong learner, be open to criticism, network with people, and be available to change. If you have dedication and focus to succeed, you can achieve it.
I will talk more about remote jobs and DevOps interviews in upcoming articles. So, follow me on Twitter and Medium to get notified when I publish my next article.
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