The latest articles on DEV Community by Shams Ali Shaikh (@shamsalishaikh). https://dev.to/shamsalishaikh https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4104387%2F2a225a63-6b6a-4e95-be12-fc4b1344b356.jpg https://dev.to/shamsalishaikh en Shams Ali Shaikh Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:13:00 +0000 https://dev.to/shamsalishaikh/from-it-works-on-my-machine-to-production-my-devops-journey-2kk1 https://dev.to/shamsalishaikh/from-it-works-on-my-machine-to-production-my-devops-journey-2kk1 <h1> From “It Works on My Machine” to “Why Is Production Down?” </h1> <p>Hi, I’m Shams Ali Shaikh, a Software Engineer passionate about building applications and figuring out how to make them actually work in production.</p> <p>Writing code is one thing.</p> <p>Deploying it without breaking the server is a completely different adventure.</p> <p>Over the past few projects, I’ve been exploring application deployment, servers, DevOps, infrastructure automation, and production architecture.</p> <p>Here are some of the topics I’ll be sharing:</p> <ul> <li>How I Deploy Next.js Applications Using Nginx</li> <li>Complete Docker Deployment Guide for Node.js</li> <li>CI/CD Pipeline Using GitHub Actions</li> <li>Terraform for Beginners: Infrastructure Automation</li> <li>How I Configure Production Servers</li> <li>MERN Application Deployment Architecture</li> </ul> <p>Because building an application is only half the job.</p> <p>The real challenge starts when you hear:</p> <blockquote> <p>"It works perfectly on my local machine."</p> </blockquote> <p>Then production introduces you to:</p> <ul> <li>Nginx configuration issues</li> <li>Docker containers that suddenly stop</li> <li>Missing environment variables</li> <li>SSL certificate problems</li> <li>Firewall rules</li> <li>Port conflicts</li> <li>PM2 processes</li> <li>CI/CD pipeline failures</li> <li>And, of course, the legendary 502 Bad Gateway</li> </ul> <p>My goal is to document everything I learn while building, deploying, breaking, fixing, and optimizing modern web applications.</p> <p>I’ll be sharing practical experiences around:</p> <ul> <li>MERN Stack Development</li> <li>Next.js</li> <li>Node.js</li> <li>Docker</li> <li>Nginx</li> <li>GitHub Actions</li> <li>CI/CD</li> <li>VPS Deployment</li> <li>Terraform</li> <li>DevOps</li> <li>Production Infrastructure</li> </ul> <p>No unnecessary theory. No overcomplicated tutorials.</p> <p>Just practical development, real deployment problems, infrastructure challenges, and solutions discovered along the way.</p> <p>If you're interested in building applications and taking them from localhost to production, follow along.</p> <p>Because writing the code is easy.</p> <p>Finding out why it works locally but not in production is where the real character development begins.</p> <p>— Shams Ali Shaikh<br> Software Engineer | MERN Stack | DevOps | Deployment</p> cicd devops docker terraform