I’ve completed around 6 months in my first job at a System Integrator, and I’m currently getting ₹25k/month. My work has been mainly infrastructure — HPE servers, VMware ESXi/vCenter, Hyper-V, Veeam, Windows Server, networking, Palo Alto, storage, etc. Since it’s an SI, I get exposure to different clients and technologies, but most of my work is implementation and technical support.

Now my company is considering spending around ₹3–4 lakh on HPE training and professional certifications for me, but they want a 1–2 year commitment in return. If I take it, I would probably become more specialized in HPE/VMware/infrastructure.

At the same time, I’ve started getting very interested in Linux, cloud, automation, Terraform, CI/CD and DevOps. I haven’t worked professionally on these yet, but these are the areas that genuinely make me curious. My current company being an SI also means I probably won’t get much DevOps exposure here.

So I’m confused about which direction is better for me:

1. Stay here for 2 years, take the HPE certification and build a career in enterprise infrastructure/virtualization/storage/networking.

2. Stay another 6–12 months, keep building cloud/automation skills on my own, and then move toward Cloud/DevOps/Platform roles.

I’m also seeing some of my friends working as SWEs at companies like Microsoft/Google and earning very well, which has made me question whether I should also consider SWE, although I’m not sure yet whether I actually enjoy software development enough to make that my career.

So what I really want to understand is: with my current background, what kind of engineer should I try to become, and would you recommend that I specialize in infrastructure through this HPE opportunity or keep my options open and move toward Cloud/DevOps?

I don't want to make the decision just based on immediate salary. I want to choose the path that gives me the strongest technical growth and career opportunities over the next 5–10 years. What would you do in my position?

I teach DevOps to career switchers and freshers, and I keep noticing the same pattern: people come out of a course expecting to "automate everything" and walk into a job that's mostly debugging pipelines someone else built, negotiating between dev speed and ops stability, and a LOT of reading logs.

Nobody tells you upfront that the job is way more about judgment and communication than tool mastery. Docker/K8s/Jenkins are the easy part — knowing when NOT to automate something, or how to explain a tradeoff to a non-technical PM, is the actual skill gap I see in new hires.

Curious if this matches what people already working in DevOps roles have experienced — did your first job look anything like what your course/bootcamp made it seem like?

Hey everyone!

I’m a university student and recently got my first job as a Junior DevOps Engineer. My background is actually in cybersecurity, and I had basically zero professional DevOps experience before this.

And now I’m sitting here thinking: what the hell am I actually supposed to do? The problem is that I’m being given tasks mostly verbally, and sometimes I leave a meeting thinking: “Okay… what exactly am I supposed to do now?” I know some basic Linux, Docker, Git, Ansible, networking, etc., and I’ve done some university/personal projects, but I’m realizing that knowing the tools is very different from knowing how things are actually done in a real production environment.

The tasks can be quite vague. I might be told to look into a service, improve some code, update something, or research a solution, but I often don’t know where to start or what the expected end result is supposed to look like.

And honestly, this is probably the most difficult part for me right now. It’s not even necessarily the technical stuff — it’s understanding how I’m supposed to approach a problem when I don’t yet know what “the normal way” of doing things is.

I’m trying to learn, but there is SO much information out there that I’m getting overwhelmed. And sometimes it feels like everyone around me knows exactly what they’re doing while I’m just sitting there trying to figure out what the task even means.

So I’d really appreciate some advice from experienced DevOps engineers:

How did you approach your first DevOps job when you didn't know much about the real-world side of things?

How do you personally approach a vague task when you don't fully understand what is expected from you?

What helped you most during your first months on the job?

Are there any resources you found genuinely useful for learning the practical side of DevOps?

I’m not expecting to become a DevOps expert overnight. I just want to stop feeling completely lost, figure out how to approach these tasks properly, and eventually become useful to my team.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

i am want to hear your experience on how you first started freelancing as a devops
i think i have the basics - linux,networking,docker,programming languages-
and i want to start freelancing but i still dont know how do it.

Hi everyone, I’ve just started learning DevOps from scratch and thought it might be fun to learn together with others here. If anyone is also starting out, we can share resources, discuss concepts, and keep each other updated on our progress.

I feel it’s always more motivating when a few people are learning the same thing together. Having a small group with the same goal makes the process more encouraging and enjoyable.

If you’re interested, feel free to comment.

Disk: 100% full. Files: only 11GB. 🤯

Both are correct. The missing space reveals the real Linux issue.

Watch the 5-minute breakdown 👇

https://youtu.be/Gm2-OtediWI?si=8BAQin5_vwO-kkoA

#Linux #DevOps #SRE #CatStack

I'm currently working in DevOps/SRE and I'm trying to better understand the gap between my current experience and what is expected from DevOps/SRE engineers in other countries.

My long-term goal is to work internationally, so I'm trying to be realistic about where I stand and what I need to improve before making that move.

I'd really like to connect with DevOps/SRE engineers who are currently working in countries outside their home country, especially people who have gone through a similar transition.

I'm interested in learning about things such as:

• What technical skills are most important for international DevOps/SRE roles?
• Which areas did you personally have to improve when moving to another country?
• How important are Kubernetes, AWS/Azure/GCP, Terraform, CI/CD, observability, security, and scripting in your current role?
• Are there any skills that people often overlook when preparing for these roles?
• What level of system design, troubleshooting, Linux, networking, and cloud knowledge is expected?
• How important are communication and teamwork skills compared with technical skills?
• What would you focus on if you were preparing for an international DevOps/SRE role from scratch today?

I'm not looking for job offers or referrals. I'm mainly trying to identify my knowledge gaps, learn from people with real experience, and build a better learning path.

If you're working abroad as a DevOps/SRE engineer and are open to sharing your experience, I'd really appreciate a chat. Even a short 15–20 minute conversation would be very helpful.

Happy to connect with others who are on a similar path too. We can exchange what we're learning and help each other improve.

Thanks!

​

For people who work in these fields:

- Which field is more realistic for a fresher to break into?

- How difficult is it to get the first job in DevOps compared with Data Engineering?

- What skills/tools are actually expected from entry-level candidates?

- Are certifications useful, or should I focus mainly on projects?

- What kind of projects would actually make a fresher's resume stand out?

- If you were starting again in 2026, which path would you choose and why?

I’m not looking for a "which field pays more" answer. I’m mainly interested in job availability, entry-level opportunities, learning curve, and long-term career growth.

Any advice from people who have actually worked in either field would be appreciated.

I'm pursuing Btech in IT (I just started second year rn, my clg is really bad)

I can get an attendance waiver from my clg if I'm working. Also studying for exams is not that difficult (I can study a week before the exam and get an 8 sgpa)

Path 1: Helpdesk job

spend 2-3 months learning about active directory, networking, getting relevant certs, lab experience, doing some projects and start applying for help desk roles, work for 18-24 months and then eventually pivot after.

I'll obviously try my best to upskill along with it but yes if I choose the latter path, it would be significantly easier.

The reason I've even thought about doing such a thing is because of what I've seen on IT subreddits about the situation of the job market. Even in entry-level job postings on linkedin, I've been noticing that no company wants freshers. And I rarely find internship postings on there.

Path 2: Networking /Cloud/ Devops/ CySec

Focus on one of these fields, spend all my time on it, network, build a decent GitHub portfolio, get relevant certs and try my best to land internships throughout my btech course and in the end apply everywhere and get a job (I might even be jobless for a year after graduation)

Dilemma

I really can't decide on which path to consider; I don't know anyone in this field irl that can answer.

I have talked to a few people and I got mixed answers, some of them pointed out that path 1 is specifically for a person who is getting into IT without a degree and that I should focus on path 2 since I'm already pursuing btech, another advice that I've received is that I might even end up with a help desk role after going through path 2, so go for path 1 without being too optimistic because a lot of the applicants for that role will be over qualified.

I really need advice from someone who is in this field.

Buying help

Budget: ₹80,000

Country: India

Use Case: Coding, Linux, Docker/Kubernetes practice — currently doing a Cloud Computing & DevOps course, will also use it for work after

Preferred Specs: Intel i5 or better / Ryzen 7, 16GB RAM (512GB+), ideally with RAM/storage that's upgradeable later

Trying to find the best laptop for someone getting into Cloud/DevOps — so it needs to handle Docker containers, VMs, and multitasking well, not just basic coding. Do I need to buy one with GPU or not?

Looking at options like the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (Ryzen 7), ASUS Vivobook 16, ,hp Victus and Acer Aspire 5 so far — open to other suggestions too. Also want it to run Linux well (dual boot or WSL2), and last a few years without feeling outdated.

Would love to hear from people actually working in DevOps/cloud roles — what do you wish you'd bought when you started out?

i’m Im a recent graduate and thinking of building a Kubernetes-inspired container orchestrator from scratch
with:
Resource-aware scheduler
Worker nodes + heartbeats
Failure detection & self-healing/rescheduling
Service discovery
Docker integration
Prometheus/Grafana

Unique feature: predictive + cost-aware scheduling
Chaos mode to simulate node/container failures

I’d be building the core concepts myself rather than just wrapping Kubernetes APIs.

I’ve completed my 1st year of B.Tech and I’m now in 2nd year. I want to go into DevOps, but I’m confused about where I should start learning from.

My friend suggested learning DevOps from GeeksforGeeks. Is their DevOps course actually good?

Or would you recommend some other course or platform that is better for learning DevOps from scratch?

I’m looking for something that covers the basics properly and also has good practical/hands-on work.

Would love to hear suggestions from people who are already working in DevOps or are learning it..

Hi everyone! I’m from Pakistan and currently studying Cybersecurity. Recently, I’ve been learning SOC fundamentals and doing some home labs to build practical skills.

Now I’m trying to decide between DevOps and Identity & Access Management (IAM) as my main career path.

I have around 1 year left until graduation, so I want to choose a field that gives me the best overall opportunities for the future.

I’m mainly looking for a career with:

• Good demand in Pakistan and internationally
• Good salary potential
• Strong future growth
• Lower risk of being replaced by AI
• Relatively easier entry-level opportunities
• Good long-term career progression

One important point: I’m not very strong at coding/programming, so I’d also like to know how important coding is in DevOps compared with IAM.

For people working in these fields, which one would you recommend: DevOps or IAM? And why?

Any advice based on the current market and future prospects would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hey! Im doing Computer Science . In vacations i decided to do one proper skill and get expert in it. So i decided to work on DEVOPS . so please give me its roadmap .

And share me top 10 skills to do in CS.