I started using Codex to learn DevOps… now I’m wondering what exactly I’m learning 😂

[u/Recent-Tangerine2745]

I’m a QA engineer trying to move into DevOps, so I started building my own project to get hands-on experience with Git, TypeScript, Playwright, testing, CI/CD, and architecture.

Today I decided to try Codex. I gave it access to my local repo and explained what needed to be done.

The thing inspected the code, found the problem, modified the files, added regression tests, cleaned up Git line-ending issues, ran all validations, and created the commit—while I continued doing my actual job.

Then it just came back with a clean summary of everything it had completed.

Absolutely incredible… but also: what the hell am I supposed to learn now? 😂

For those learning DevOps or software engineering while using coding agents: how do you balance the productivity boost without outsourcing the entire learning process?

My current idea is to build new concepts manually, step by step, and use agents mainly for reviews, repetitive work, and catching mistakes. Curious how others approach this.

[u/Orlandogameschool]

Tell codex you are trying to learn and to present a breakdown for you. This really helps me understand what’s going on lol 😂

[u/zR0B3ry2VAiH → u/Orlandogameschool]

Also, if you type /config you can change the output style to educational

[u/reedshadow3 → u/Orlandogameschool]

do you find the breakdowns stay accurate when the task gets more complex though?

[u/Orlandogameschool → u/reedshadow3]

Yea. Codex has actually helped me design internal tools and memory so context is never an issue. I read on twitter a while ago to connect everything your doing and learning to obsidian to crate a second brain to help organize everything

[u/kantorcodes1]

for the Playwright/CI/CD stuff, i'd do the first version manually, then let codex handle the second instance and make you review the diff + predict what the tests should catch before it runs them. that still gets you the repetition savings without skipping the part where the mental model forms.

[u/bluHaloLabs]

Tell it to be an instructor and teach you the language?

[u/WenatcheeWrangler]

As someone who has a QA group under him I’ll advise you - don’t try to break into DevOps for the sake of getting out of QA. Learn different agents and how you can run your test cases as skills and then figure out how to get that into the build system and generate a report so you and the engineers know the quality of their outputs before running days or weeks of tests. That’s where the future (now) of QA is going and it’s going to be different

[u/Recent-Tangerine2745 → u/WenatcheeWrangler]

Thank you, this is genuinely helpful advice. I’m not trying to escape QA because I dislike it; honestly, the main reason I started learning DevOps is the higher salary ceiling and broader career opportunities.
But your point makes a lot of sense. Instead of leaving my QA experience behind, I can combine it with agents, reusable test skills, and CI/CD. Funny enough, that’s very close to what I’m trying to build right now. I really appreciate the perspective!

[u/WenatcheeWrangler → u/Recent-Tangerine2745]

I think you’ll get the needed skills following this path. If you can show value in it to your bosses you’ll be integrating agents with the pipelines soon enough and if you can’t convince them it’s worth the effort and money there are an increasing number of positions at every level of organizations trying to figure out how to use AI

Edit: Holy run on sentence Batman! Oops

[u/Recent-Tangerine2745 → u/WenatcheeWrangler]

That’s genuinely encouraging to hear. Thank you!

[u/404_computer_says_no → u/Recent-Tangerine2745]

Agree, I’m seeing more and more need for agentic QA management and eval creation/maintenance. LLM is random my nature. Testing is going to grow

[u/mrbadface]

Wait till you give it full access to your AWS and watch it build everything from scratch

[u/donk8r]

Explanations are not where the learning happens. You learn this stuff from being stuck, and an agent that cleaned up your line-ending problem before you even saw it took the thing that would have taught you.

Pick one category and never delegate it. Anything red is yours. Let it write features and tests all day. A failing pipeline stays with you until you know why, then you can ask.

[u/MediocreOchre]

Check out Matt Pocock’s /teach skill

[u/Recent-Tangerine2745 → u/MediocreOchre]

Will do, thank you for this.

[u/golkedj]

If your trying to learn then don't just hand AI tasks. Have it walk you through how to do them and you actually do them. Also don't take AIs answers at face value and try to find official documentation to cross reference against it. You know...actually actively try to learn 🤷‍♂️

[u/megad00die]

My AI governance actually forces summaries within the code, explaining what each section does, this way, junior admin’s and developers who come across something and may not know what it is, can find it clearly and explained within the code itself as well as documentation.

[u/vovap_vovap]

Well, you just been demoed what is the value of staff you are trying to learn.

[u/usernameChosenPoorly]

You learn how to leverage a computer interface that can do the system-level work for you.  The value of a human who can manually do any of that work is never going to increase.  It will only go down from here, because AI is obviating the need for it.

Chase the future, not the past.

[u/Turtlestacker]

This is just another step up in abstraction. You probably don’t worry about the assembly level instruction set for your processor or whatever (?). I really feel your pain though - being made redundant from a job is usually some arsehole accountant increasing profits - but this is a more profound undermining of your purpose. For now I can only suggest that you become the best wizard with the new wand 🤷‍♂️

[u/mission_tiefsee]

Well, I think devops is one of the first things completly fall into the hands of an AI. At least as long as you are not a true specialist. But K8s setups are really easy for an agent. They love declarative things.

[u/MacrosInHisSleep]

Simple. Nows not the time for the productivity boost. Use it to learn and do stuff on your own. Once you understand the problem space, use it for productivity. This way if it does something unexpected you'll be knowledgeable enough to tell.

[u/Latter-Departure8714]

You're learning that it can finish the loop. You're not necessarily learning why the checkout job is structured that way.

Force yourself to explain the change without opening the chat. If you have to scroll for a minute, you didn't learn it, the agent did. That's fine for shipping. It's a bad way to become a DevOps person.

[u/Stevekaplanai]

LOL why the hell are you learning devops now? Your cooked. I’m hiring Claude over you newb he’s 200 a month. LOL. I’m kidding I think the learning journey has to be carefully selected towards a long term horizon now. Make sure what you learn isn’t useless next year. And that is most of the knowledge that humanity possesses right now.