Sarvar Nadaf for AWS Community Builders

Posted on Jan 5

How To Become DevOps Engineer

#beginners #devops #career #aws

👋 Hey there, tech enthusiasts!

I'm Sarvar, a Cloud Architect with a passion for transforming complex technological challenges into elegant solutions. With extensive experience spanning Cloud Operations (AWS & Azure), Data Operations, Analytics, DevOps, and Generative AI, I've had the privilege of architecting solutions for global enterprises that drive real business impact. Through this article series, I'm excited to share practical insights, best practices, and hands-on experiences from my journey in the tech world. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, I aim to break down complex concepts into digestible pieces that you can apply in your projects.

Let's dive in and explore the fascinating world of cloud technology together! 🚀

Today I want to share a very personal story about how I switch from Cloud Engineering to DevOps Engineering, and more importantly, how you can do the same. As you know, I started my career as a Cloud Engineer, but after three years of working with AWS infrastructure, I discovered the incredible potential of DevOps technology and methodology. This discovery changed everything for me.

After spending three years as a Cloud Engineer, I got switch to DevOps Engineer role, and it opened up a completely new world of automation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Through this detailed guide, I want to help both working professionals and freshers understand how to start their DevOps journey, what skills to focus on, and how to make this transition successfully.

Written from the real experience of someone who successfully transitioned from Cloud Engineering to DevOps Engineering. I am a 7× AWS Certified professional, an AWS Community Builder, and I've spent years working in both Cloud Operations and DevOps roles. Everything shared here comes from real projects, real challenges, and hands-on experience. If you need guidance or have questions, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or drop a comment.

My DevOps Discovery Story

When I started as a Cloud Engineer, I was primarily focused on infrastructure provisioning, monitoring, and basic automation. I was comfortable with AWS services, could troubleshoot issues, and felt confident in my cloud skills. But something was missing. I noticed that in every project, there were repetitive tasks, manual deployments, and a disconnect between development and operations teams.

That's when I first heard about DevOps not just as a set of tools, but as a culture and methodology that bridges the gap between development and operations. Initially, I thought DevOps was just about using tools like Jenkins or Docker. But as I dug deeper, I realized it was much more than that.

DevOps is about:

Collaboration between teams
Automation of repetitive processes
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Monitoring and Feedback loops
Cultural transformation in how teams work together

After three years as a Cloud Engineer, when the opportunity came to transition into a DevOps role, I was ready. The cloud foundation I had built became the perfect stepping stone into the DevOps world.

Part 1: Why DevOps Is the Future of Technology

DevOps has become the backbone of modern software development and deployment. Every successful tech company today whether it's Netflix, Amazon, Google, or any startup relies heavily on DevOps practices to deliver software faster, more reliably, and at scale.

Here's why DevOps is not just a trend, but the future:

1. Speed and Efficiency:
Traditional software development cycles used to take months. With DevOps, companies can deploy code multiple times a day while maintaining quality and stability.

2. Collaboration Culture:
DevOps breaks down silos between development, operations, and other teams. This collaboration leads to better products and faster problem resolution.

3. Automation Everything:
From code testing to infrastructure provisioning to deployment - everything can be automated. This reduces human errors and increases consistency.

4. Scalability and Reliability:
DevOps practices help build systems that can scale automatically and recover from failures quickly.

5. Career Growth and Opportunities:
DevOps engineers are among the highest-paid professionals in tech. The demand is growing exponentially, and the skills are transferable across industries.

Whether you are:

A Cloud Engineer looking to expand your skills
A Developer wanting to understand operations
A System Administrator moving to modern practices
A fresher entering the tech industry
A working professional switching domains

DevOps offers a clear and structured path for career growth. I speak from experience this transition played a key role in my professional growth and opened opportunities that were not visible to me earlier as a Cloud Engineer.

Part 2: My Transition Journey: From Cloud to DevOps

Let me share the exact journey of how I transitioned from Cloud Engineering to DevOps, including the challenges I faced and how I overcame them.

Year 1-3: Building Cloud Foundation

During my first three years as a Cloud Engineer, I focused on:

AWS infrastructure management (EC2, S3, VPC, RDS)
Basic automation with shell scripts
Monitoring and troubleshooting
Infrastructure provisioning (mostly manual)
Basic understanding of Terraform

The Turning Point

In my third year, I was working on a project where we had to deploy applications multiple times a week. The manual process was:

Developers would finish coding
They would hand over the code to operations
We would manually deploy it to servers
If something broke, we would spend hours troubleshooting
Rollbacks were painful and time-consuming

I saw how organizations were adopting DevOps to automating deployments, reducing manual effort, and delivering software faster with greater reliability. What stood out even more was how rapidly DevOps was gaining momentum across the industry everywhere from startups to large scale enterprises. Seeing its tangible benefits and widespread adoption, I knew this was the right time to transition into DevOps.

Skills I Developed During Switching

CI/CD Pipelines: Started with Jenkins, then explored GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipeline
Containerization: Learned Docker thoroughly, then moved to Kubernetes
Infrastructure as Code: Advanced my Terraform skills and learned Ansible
Monitoring and Logging: Explored Prometheus, Grafana, and ELK stack
Version Control: Mastered Git workflows and branching strategies
Scripting: Improved my Python and Bash scripting skills

Part 3: DevOps Fundamentals: What You Really Need to Know

Based on my experience, here are the core areas you need to master to become a successful DevOps Engineer:

1. Version Control and Collaboration

Git is non-negotiable. Every DevOps process starts with version control.

Essential Git skills:

Basic commands (clone, add, commit, push, pull)
Branching strategies (GitFlow, GitHub Flow)
Merge vs Rebase
Resolving conflicts
Working with remote repositories

Why it matters: In DevOps, everything is code - infrastructure code, pipeline code, configuration code. Git helps you manage all of this systematically.

2. CI/CD Pipelines

This is the heart of DevOps. You need to understand how to automate the journey from code to production.

Key concepts:

Continuous Integration (CI): Automatically testing code when it's committed
Continuous Deployment (CD): Automatically deploying tested code to production
Pipeline stages: Build, Test, Deploy
Automated testing strategies
Deployment strategies (Blue-Green, Canary, Rolling)

Tools to learn:

Jenkins: Industry standard, highly customizable
GitHub Actions: Modern, cloud-native, easy to start with
AWS CodePipeline: If you're working in AWS ecosystem
GitLab CI/CD: Integrated with GitLab repositories

3. Containerization and Orchestration

Containers have revolutionized how we deploy and manage applications.

Docker fundamentals:

Understanding containers vs virtual machines
Writing Dockerfiles
Managing images and containers
Docker networking and volumes
Docker Compose for multi-container applications

Kubernetes basics:

Pods, Services, Deployments
ConfigMaps and Secrets
Ingress controllers & Networking
Basic kubectl commands
Understanding YAML manifests

Why containers matter: They solve the "it works on my machine" problem and make applications portable across environments.

4. Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

This was my strongest advantage coming from a Cloud Engineering background.

Terraform (Essential):

Providers and resources
Variables and outputs
Modules for reusability
State management
Remote backends
Terraform Cloud/Enterprise

Configuration Management:

Ansible: Agentless, YAML-based, great for configuration management
Chef/Puppet: More complex but powerful for large environments

5. Monitoring and Observability

You can't improve what you can't measure.

Key areas:

Metrics: What is happening in your system
Logs: Detailed information about events
Traces: Understanding request flows in distributed systems
Alerting: Getting notified when things go wrong

Tools to explore:

Prometheus + Grafana: Open-source monitoring stack
ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana): Log management
AWS CloudWatch: If working in AWS
Datadog/New Relic: Commercial solutions

6. Cloud Platforms

Having cloud knowledge gives you a huge advantage in DevOps.

AWS DevOps Services:

CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline
ECS and EKS for container orchestration
CloudFormation for infrastructure as code
Systems Manager for configuration management

Multi-cloud awareness: Understanding that DevOps practices work across different cloud providers.

Part 4: The DevOps Mindset: Beyond Tools

One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking DevOps is just about tools. During my transition, I learned that the mindset and culture are equally important.

1. Automation-First Thinking

Whenever you encounter a repetitive task, your first thought should be: "How can I automate this?"

Examples from my experience:

Manual server provisioning → Terraform automation
Manual deployments → CI/CD pipelines
Manual testing → Automated test suites
Manual monitoring → Automated alerting

2. Collaboration and Communication

DevOps is about breaking down silos. You need to:

Understand both development and operations perspectives
Communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
Work effectively with cross-functional teams
Share knowledge and document processes

3. Continuous Learning and Improvement

The DevOps landscape evolves rapidly. You need to:

Stay updated with new tools and practices
Learn from failures and incidents
Continuously optimize processes
Experiment with new approaches

4. Security Integration (DevSecOps)

Security should be built into every process, not added as an afterthought:

Secure coding practices
Automated security scanning
Infrastructure security
Compliance and governance

Part 5: Learning Path for Different Backgrounds

Let’s break this down by professional background what advantages you already have and which focus areas will help you transition successfully into DevOps.

For Cloud Engineers (Like My Journey)

Advantages you already have:

Infrastructure understanding
Basic automation skills
Cloud services knowledge
Troubleshooting experience

Focus areas for transition:

CI/CD Pipelines: Start with GitHub Actions or AWS CodePipeline
Containerization: Learn Docker thoroughly, then basic Kubernetes
Advanced IaC: Improve Terraform skills, learn modules and best practices
Monitoring: Explore Prometheus/Grafana or CloudWatch
Collaboration: Learn Git workflows and team collaboration

For Developers

Advantages you already have:

Programming skills
Understanding of application architecture
Version control experience
Testing knowledge

Focus areas:

Infrastructure Basics: Learn cloud fundamentals (AWS/Azure basics)
Infrastructure as Code: Start with Terraform
Containerization: Docker and Kubernetes
CI/CD: Build pipelines for your applications
Monitoring: Application performance monitoring

For System Administrators

Advantages you already have:

Server management experience
Networking knowledge
Troubleshooting skills
Security awareness

Focus areas:

Cloud Migration: Learn cloud platforms
Automation: Python/Bash scripting, Ansible
Containerization: Docker and orchestration
CI/CD: Understanding modern deployment practices
Version Control: Git and collaboration workflows

For Complete Beginners

Start with fundamentals:

Linux Basics: Command line, file systems, networking
Programming: Python basics for automation
Version Control: Git fundamentals
Cloud Basics: Choose AWS, Azure, or GCP
Containerization: Docker basics
CI/CD: Simple pipeline creation

Part 6: Hands-On Projects to Build Your DevOps Portfolio

Theory is important, but employers want to see practical experience. Here are projects that will demonstrate your DevOps skills:

Project 1: Automated Web Application Deployment

Objective: Deploy a simple web application using CI/CD pipeline

Technologies: Git, Docker, Jenkins/GitHub Actions, AWS/Azure

What you'll learn:

Setting up CI/CD pipeline
Containerizing applications
Automated testing
Deployment strategies

Steps:

Create a simple web application (can be a basic HTML/CSS site)
Containerize it with Docker
Set up automated testing
Create CI/CD pipeline for deployment
Deploy to cloud platform

Project 2: Infrastructure as Code with Monitoring

Objective: Provision infrastructure using code and set up monitoring

Technologies: Terraform, AWS/Azure, Prometheus/Grafana or CloudWatch

What you'll learn:

Infrastructure automation
Monitoring setup
Alerting configuration
Infrastructure documentation

Steps:

Design a simple 3-tier architecture
Write Terraform code to provision infrastructure
Set up monitoring and logging
Create dashboards and alerts
Document the entire setup

Project 3: Microservices Deployment with Kubernetes

Objective: Deploy and manage microservices using Kubernetes

Technologies: Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, Ingress

What you'll learn:

Container orchestration
Service mesh basics
Scaling and load balancing
Configuration management

Steps:

Create 2-3 simple microservices
Containerize each service
Write Kubernetes manifests
Set up service communication
Implement scaling and updates

Project 4: Complete DevOps Pipeline

Objective: End-to-end DevOps implementation

Technologies: All previous tools combined

What you'll learn:

Integration of multiple tools
Real-world DevOps workflow
Troubleshooting complex issues
Performance optimization

Steps:

Multi-environment setup (dev, staging, prod)
Automated testing at multiple levels
Security scanning integration
Performance monitoring
Disaster recovery planning

“Important: When an interviewer asks about real-world experience, always speak from actual project challenges. Explain the issue you encountered, the impact it had, and the step-by-step approach you used to resolve it. This reflects true hands-on learning and separates practical engineers from those with only theoretical knowledge.”

Part 7: Tools and Technologies Roadmap

DevOps has a wide range of tools, which can feel overwhelming at the beginning. From my experience, I’ve created a list of essential and advanced tools. You only need to focus on one tool from each category to get started effectively. Let’s dive in.

Essential Tools (Must Learn)

Version Control

Git: Master branching, merging, and collaboration workflows
GitHub/GitLab: Platform-specific features and integrations

CI/CD

Jenkins: Industry standard, plugin ecosystem
GitHub Actions: Modern, cloud-native approach
AWS CodePipeline: For AWS-centric environments

Containerization

Docker: Container fundamentals, Dockerfile optimization
Kubernetes: Orchestration, scaling, service management

Infrastructure as Code

Terraform: Multi-cloud infrastructure provisioning
Ansible: Configuration management and automation

Monitoring

Prometheus + Grafana: Metrics and visualization
ELK Stack: Log management and analysis

Advanced Tools (Learn After Basics)

Service Mesh

Istio: Traffic management, security, observability
Linkerd: Lightweight service mesh

GitOps

ArgoCD: Kubernetes-native continuous deployment
Flux: GitOps operator for Kubernetes

Security

Vault: Secrets management
Snyk: Runtime security monitoring
Trivy: Vulnerability scanning

Advanced Monitoring

DataDog: Distributed tracing
Fluentd: Log collection and forwarding

Part 8: Learning Resources

“In this section, I’ll share the resources I personally explored and found valuable, including both free and paid options. I primarily relied on free resources because they often offer multiple perspectives on the same topic, helping build a deeper and more practical understanding. I have also included one paid resource below, along with detailed information about the instructor and course coverage, for those who want structured, real-world project exposure.

1. Free Learning Resources

YouTube Channels

TechWorld with Nana: Excellent DevOps tutorials
Kunal Kushwaha: DevOps and cloud content
That DevOps Guy: Practical DevOps implementations
Abhishek Veeramalla: DevOps project tutorials

Documentation and Tutorials

Official tool documentation: Always start here
Katacoda: Interactive learning scenarios
Play with Docker/Kubernetes: Hands-on practice environments
AWS/Azure/GCP free tiers: Practice with real cloud services

Books

"The Phoenix Project": DevOps culture and principles
"The DevOps Handbook": Practical implementation guide
"Site Reliability Engineering": Google's SRE practices
"Continuous Delivery": CI/CD best practices

2. Paid Resources (Worth the Investment)

In this section, I am recommending only one instructor, based on my personal learning experience. Through his courses, I gained a clear understanding of how real-world DevOps projects are designed, implemented, and executed in production-like environments. The teaching approach is practical, structured, and closely aligned with industry expectations, which is why I highly recommend it.

The instructor offers three DevOps-related courses. While you may choose to enroll in all three, it is not mandatory. If your primary goal is hands-on exposure, I strongly suggest starting with the real-time DevOps projects course, as it provides the most practical value and simulates real project workflows. Before making any purchase, I recommend reviewing course feedback and ensuring it aligns with your learning goals.

Instructor Profile:
Imran Teli

Recommended Courses:

DevOps Prerequisites: https://www.udemy.com/course/devopsprereqs/
Decoding DevOps: https://www.udemy.com/course/decodingdevops/
Real-Time DevOps Projects (Highly Recommended): https://www.udemy.com/course/devopsprojects/

My overall recommendation is to start with free resources first, build foundational understanding, and then invest in paid courses when you are ready to apply concepts in real-world projects. This approach ensures better learning outcomes and avoids unnecessary spending.

Part 9: Getting Your First DevOps Job

Breaking into DevOps requires more than tool knowledge. You need proof of hands-on experience, the right mindset, and the ability to explain how you solve real-world problems. This section focuses on how to position yourself effectively for your first DevOps role.

Building Your Profile

Your profile should clearly demonstrate that you can design, automate, and operate systems not just talk about them.

GitHub Portfolio

Your GitHub profile acts as your practical resume and is often the first thing interviewers check.

Showcase real-world DevOps projects with clear README documentation
Explain the problem statement, architecture, tools used, and outcomes
Contribute to open-source projects to demonstrate collaboration
Maintain clean, structured, and well-commented repositories
Include Infrastructure as Code examples using Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar tools

Certifications That Matter

Certifications help validate your foundational knowledge and improve shortlisting, especially in competitive job markets.

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
Docker Certified Associate
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate

Certifications do not replace experience, but they strengthen your profile when paired with real projects.

Building Experience

Practical experience is the most important factor in landing a DevOps role, regardless of your background.

If you’re currently employed:
Use your existing role as a learning ground to apply DevOps principles in real environments.

Implement DevOps practices within your current responsibilities
Automate repetitive tasks and manual deployments
Volunteer for CI/CD, monitoring, or reliability improvements
Propose pipeline and infrastructure optimizations
Track and document improvements using measurable metrics

If you’re looking for your first DevOps role:
Focus on creating exposure that mirrors real production environments.

Build strong personal projects that simulate real-world systems
Contribute consistently to open-source DevOps projects
Participate in hackathons and technical challenges
Engage actively in DevOps communities and local meetups
Share your learning through blogs, posts, or demos

Interview Preparation

DevOps interviews test how you think and respond to real situations, not just how many tools you know.

Technical Skills Assessment

Interviewers expect you to reason through scenarios and justify your decisions.

Scenario-based questions: “How would you design a CI/CD pipeline for a microservices application?”
Troubleshooting questions: “A production deployment failed how would you debug and resolve it?”
Tool-specific discussions: Be prepared to go deep into tools listed on your resume

Practical Demonstrations

Your ability to explain real implementations sets you apart from theoretical candidates.

Explain your projects end to end with clarity
Walk through GitHub repositories confidently
Discuss architectural decisions and trade-offs
Describe real issues faced and how you resolved them step by step

Part 10: Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Every DevOps journey comes with obstacles technical, career-related, and organizational. Understanding these challenges early and knowing how to approach them practically can save you time, frustration, and burnout.

Technical Challenges

These challenges usually appear when you start working hands-on with tools, pipelines, and real environments.

Tool Overload

DevOps offers a vast ecosystem of tools, which often overwhelms beginners.

Problem: Too many tools to learn, leading to confusion and lack of focus
Solution: Focus on core fundamentals first. Learn tools only when a project demands them rather than trying to master everything at once.

Integration Complexity

As you connect multiple tools together, integration becomes more challenging.

Problem: Difficulty integrating multiple tools into a single CI/CD pipeline
Solution: Start with a simple pipeline, add complexity gradually, and document each integration step clearly.

Debugging Pipeline Issues

CI/CD pipelines often fail in ways that are not immediately obvious.

Problem: Pipeline failures with unclear or misleading error messages
Solution: Develop strong log-reading skills, implement proper logging, and debug step by step instead of making random changes.

Career Challenges

These challenges are more personal and often affect confidence, consistency, and long-term growth.

Imposter Syndrome

Almost everyone entering DevOps experiences self-doubt at some stage.

Problem: Feeling like you do not know enough or are not ready
Solution: Accept that learning never stops in DevOps. Focus on steady improvement and acknowledge small wins along the way.

Keeping Up with Technology

DevOps tools and platforms evolve rapidly.

Problem: Difficulty keeping up with the constant release of new tools and technologies
Solution: Prioritize principles over tools, stay active in communities, and dedicate regular time for learning.

Getting Your First DevOps Role

Breaking into the first DevOps position is often the hardest step.

Problem: Employers expect experience, but experience requires a job
Solution: Build strong portfolio projects, contribute to open-source initiatives, and actively network within the DevOps community.

Organizational Challenges

These challenges arise when DevOps practices are introduced within teams or companies.

Resistance to Change

Not everyone is comfortable with new processes and workflows.

Problem: Teams resist adopting DevOps practices due to fear or uncertainty
Solution: Start small, demonstrate measurable value, and involve stakeholders early in the process.

Cultural Barriers

DevOps often fails when teams work in isolation.

Problem: Strong silos between development and operations teams
Solution: Encourage collaboration, establish shared ownership, and improve communication across teams.

Part 11: The Future of DevOps

DevOps is evolving from a tool-driven practice into a mature engineering discipline focused on automation, reliability, and developer productivity. The future of DevOps will be shaped by smarter workflows, platform-centric models, and deeper integration of intelligence and security across the software delivery lifecycle.

Key Emerging Trends

Several trends are defining how DevOps teams will operate in the coming years:

GitOps is establishing Git as the single source of truth, enabling declarative infrastructure and automated synchronization between code and production.
Platform Engineering is gaining momentum through internal developer platforms that provide self-service infrastructure and improve developer experience.
AI/ML in DevOps is enabling intelligent monitoring, predictive scaling, automated incident response, and continuous code quality analysis.
Serverless and Edge Computing are driving event-driven architectures and distributed DevOps practices beyond centralized cloud environments.

As these trends grow, the skill set expected from DevOps engineers is also expanding.

Skills That Will Matter

To stay relevant, engineers must strengthen their cloud-native and operational foundations:

Cloud-Native Expertise: Advanced Kubernetes patterns, service meshes, serverless architectures, and multi-cloud strategies.
Security by Design: Shift-left security, automated compliance, zero-trust models, and software supply chain protection.
Observability and AIOps: Advanced monitoring, distributed tracing, chaos engineering, and machine learning–driven operations.

What’s Next After DevOps?

DevOps naturally opens doors to specialized and high-impact roles:

Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), with a focus on reliability, performance, incident management, and scalability.
Platform Engineering, centered on building internal platforms, automating tooling, and optimizing developer workflows.
DevSecOps, where security, compliance, and vulnerability management are embedded directly into CI/CD pipelines.
Cloud-Native Engineering, emphasizing Kubernetes, microservices, serverless computing, and modern cloud architectures.

In summary, DevOps is no longer just a stepping stone it is a long-term mindset that evolves with technology. Engineers who focus on fundamentals, adaptability, and continuous learning will be best positioned to grow as DevOps and cloud-native ecosystems continue to mature.

Final Thoughts: Your DevOps Journey Starts Now

My transition from Cloud Engineer to DevOps Engineer was one of the best career decisions I've made. It opened up new opportunities, increased my earning potential, and most importantly, made my work more interesting and impactful.

Key Takeaways for Your Journey

For Working Professionals

You don't need to quit your job to learn DevOps
Start implementing DevOps practices in your current role
Build a portfolio of projects that demonstrate your skills
Network with the DevOps community
Be patient - the transition takes time but is worth it

For Freshers

Focus on fundamentals before jumping to advanced tools
Build hands-on projects to demonstrate your skills
Contribute to open-source projects
Join communities and learn from experienced professionals
Be persistent - the learning curve is steep but manageable

Universal Advice

Practice consistently: DevOps is learned by doing, not just reading
Embrace failure: Every broken pipeline is a learning opportunity
Stay curious: The field evolves rapidly, continuous learning is essential
Focus on culture: DevOps is as much about people and processes as it is about tools
Document everything: Good documentation is a DevOps engineer's best friend

Remember

DevOps is not just a career change - it's a mindset shift towards automation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Whether you're coming from a cloud engineering background like me, or starting fresh, the principles remain the same: learn by doing, embrace automation, and never stop improving.

The demand for DevOps engineers continues to grow, and the skills you learn will serve you well throughout your career. The journey might seem challenging at first, but with consistent effort and the right approach, you can successfully transition into this exciting and rewarding field.

Your DevOps journey starts with a single step. Take that step today, and in a few months, you'll be amazed at how far you've come.