Things To Learn For DevOps

Managing modern infrastructure demands a broad technical toolkit. Below is a synthesis of the essential domains and practical skill sets every serious DevOps engineer should master.

Linux Fundamentals

Work rarely begins or ends without touching a shell. Non-negotiables:

• Proficient Bash scripting (set -euo pipefail is your friend).
• Systemd service troubleshooting. Comb through logs here:

  journalctl -u my-service.service --since "10 min ago"
  

• Routine file/permission ops (chmod 700, sticky bits, ACLs).

CI/CD Pipeline Engineering

Automating builds and deployments goes far beyond a Jenkinsfile. Key proficiencies:

• Authoring multi-stage pipelines (Jenkins 2.x, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI).
• Artifact management (e.g., docker buildx, Nexus, Artifactory).
• Rollback and promotion patterns. Tip: Always tag images with both git SHA and pipeline build number: frontend:2.1.13-sha52390a0.

A gotcha: pipeline secrets leak if not using restricted context variables. See typical error:

Pipeline failed: Found unguarded secret in logs.

Configuration Management

Any repeatable infra operation must be codified.

• Ansible (2.9+): Idempotent playbooks, dynamic inventory.
• Terraform (>1.3): State file locking (backed by S3 + DynamoDB for AWS).
• Helm (v3): Manage values, chart dependencies, and post-upgrade hooks:

  hooks:
    - post-upgrade
  

Misconfigured state leads to drift; constantly audit for unexpected changes.

Containerization & Orchestration

Expect to troubleshoot pods at 2 AM.

• Docker (20.10+): Familiarity with multi-arch builds and image slimming.
• Kubernetes (>=1.25): Namespaces, RBAC, network policies.
  Live debugging:

  kubectl exec -it mypod -- /bin/sh
  

• Helm: Rolling upgrades, liveness/readiness probes.
  Known issue: Race conditions in init containers sometimes leave pods in CrashLoopBackOff.

Monitoring, Logging, and Alerts

Observability is more than metrics—it's actionable insight.

• Prometheus: Fine-tune PromQL queries for latency SLOs.
• Grafana: Custom dashboards, alert rule tuning.
• ELK/Opensearch: Grok patterns for parsing multiline logs.
  Example:

  grok {
    match => { "message" => "\[%{TIMESTAMP_ISO8601:timestamp}\] %{LOGLEVEL:level} %{GREEDYDATA:msg}" }
  }
  

Missed alerts or excessive noise = operational blind spots.

Cloud Fundamentals

Each provider hides its quirks behind APIs.

• AWS: IAM policies, VPC/subnet design, aws-cli power usage.
• Azure/GCP: IAM, managed Kubernetes (EKS, GKE, AKS).
• Cost containment: Set up budget and alert thresholds early, before you get a five-figure surprise.

Automation & Scripting

Python and Bash remain default. For larger projects, Go’s static binaries cut deployment friction.

• Practical: Automate certificate renewals, backup rotations, and zero-downtime rollouts.

Security Hygiene

Basic hygiene is table stakes, but production workloads push it further.

• Secrets management (Vault, KMS).
• CIS hardening benchmarks.
• Automated vulnerability scanning (Aqua, Trivy).

Side note: Even with static scanning, 100% coverage remains elusive—periodically run targeted pen tests.

Soft Skills That Move the Needle

Communication outpaces raw technical prowess at scale.

• Incident retrospectives: focus on blameless RCA.
• Pull request reviews: look for infrastructure anti-patterns, not just syntax.

Where to Go From Here

This list doesn’t end. Each stack element has its own learning curve—and its own dragons. Focus first on eliminating toil, then invest in resilience. Not everything claims a public how-to; some battle scars only accrue via late-night troubleshooting.

Trade-offs? Always. Choose boring tech until the problem demands otherwise.