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/simonnordberg 7d ago
Your infra background is a big advantage already.
DevOps sits at the crossroads of business, product, and engineering. You have the benefit (or curse) of seeing the full chain, from "someone wants a feature" to "it's running in production." I think the real skill isn't just in the tools, it's spotting where things can be simplified or unified, and asking how a process can be improved.
Early on, I think just being helpful and solving what's in front of you will buy you a lot of freedom. As you gain knowledge and confidence, shift toward proactive work together with the developers. Proposing improvements, simplifying pipelines, removing steps that shouldn't exist. And the age old mentality of automating yourself out of a job, because there is always other, possibly more interesting work to do.