Notes from 8 years of DevOps
What I've learned about pipelines, Kubernetes, cloud costs and working with AI tools, from software engineer to DevOps engineer.
I started as a software engineer in Vadodara writing ASP.NET and SQL. Today I'm a DevOps engineer in Riga working with Azure, Kubernetes and AI tools. Here are the lessons that stuck along the way.
1. Automate the second time
The first time you do something by hand, you learn it. The second time, you script it. The third time, it should be in a pipeline.
2. If it isn't in Git, it doesn't exist
Infrastructure, pipelines, configuration and dashboards all belong in version control. Git is the team's memory.
3. Understand the people, not just the system
As a business analyst I learned to ask what users actually need. That habit made me a better DevOps engineer. A pipeline is only good if it helps the people who use it.
4. Learn a second cloud
AWS, Azure and Google Cloud share the same ideas with different names. Learning a second one taught me the concepts, not just the console.
5. Keep it boring
The best platforms are predictable. Excitement in production is never a good sign.
6. Use AI, but check its work
I use AI tools like GitHub Copilot every day for scripts, YAML and explaining errors. They make me faster. They don't replace understanding what the code does.
7. Teach what you know
Mentoring and bootcamps taught me more than any course. Explaining something is the fastest way to find out what you don't know.
This site is where I'll keep sharing what I build, break and learn. More posts soon.