I've been working as a junior DevOps engineer for about a year and a half now. My first job was part of a traineeship program that exposed me to a variety of tools and technologies while working with multiple clients. However, after that, I moved to a larger organization where I feel like just a small piece in a bigger puzzle. While I'm grateful for the experience, I find myself wanting to work more closely with startups and help build their infrastructure from the ground up.
Currently, I mostly handle code deployments on AWS EKS and monitoring with tools like Splunk and Datadog. I'm aware that diving deeper into these tools could benefit my career, but I also want to expand my skills in Kubernetes and get a bit hands-on with more complicated tasks.
To develop my skills, I've set up a Kubernetes cluster at home for practice and am preparing for my CKA certification. I also have a small project to help set up a friend's early-stage startup's dev server on my cluster. I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed with it all and unsure how to take effective steps forward. How should I tackle the basics to avoid feeling so lost, especially after a recent job rejection due to my lack of hands-on experience?
1 Answer
It's totally normal to feel overwhelmed, especially in your position. If you're eager to grow and become an expert, you should consider jumping into a startup environment where you can really embrace the chaos and learn on the job. It sounds like your current role is not giving you the hands-on experience you crave.
Working closely with your dev team can also be a game changer—understand their pain points and try to support them, which might help you break out of the 'pipeline monkey' role you feel stuck in. Just remember, getting that hands-on experience is critical, so don’t shy away from challenges.

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