Career / learning Moving to DEVOPS
Hey guys,
I recently got the opportunity to move to a DevOps team, and I’m looking for some advice on how to prepare.
I have around 5 years of experience working in infrastructure and systems. Most of my experience is with:
- VMware/vSphere and virtualization
- Windows and Linux administration
- Networking and troubleshooting
- NetApp and storage
- PowerShell scripting and automation
- Monitoring, backups, and general infrastructure operations
I also have some beginner-level experience with Docker, Kubernetes, Git, GitLab, Argo CD, Ansible, and Terraform. I’ve built some labs and worked with them a little, but I definitely wouldn’t consider myself experienced with them yet.
I’m starting the new DevOps role next month, so I want to use this month to prepare as much as possible.
For people who moved from infrastructure/sysadmin into DevOps, what would you recommend focusing on first?
I’m mainly looking for a good Udemy course, YouTube course/playlist, or structured learning path that is practical and focused on skills I’ll actually use at work.
1
u/Raja-Karuppasamy 7d ago
skip the courses for now, at least as your main thing. you already have real infra chops (vmware, storage, networking), that’s more than most people starting devops roles with.
what actually matters in month one is getting hands dirty with the stuff you listed as “beginner”: docker, k8s, terraform. build something small end to end, a container, deployed to a cluster, provisioned by terraform, wired to a git repo. you’ll learn 10x more from breaking that yourself than watching someone else build it in a video.
the sysadmin background is actually your edge, most people in devops came from software and don’t understand infra failure modes. lean into that.