I've been working in IT for around two years and have earned the CompTIA trifecta, CCNA, and Jamf Pro certification. Since finishing the CCNA, I've felt unsure about what direction to pursue next. I started studying for the MD-102 Endpoint Administrator certification about a month ago, but I'm finding it boring and don't think I want to work as an Endpoint or Intune administrator. I'm considering dropping it.
Instead, I'm thinking about building a small full-stack web application as a practical project. I have little frontend experience and only about a month of Python study, but I could use the app to learn Docker, Terraform, CI/CD, and deployment by hosting it on my Proxmox server. I realize building the application could take a long time, and frontend development isn't strictly necessary for a DevOps path, but I'm interested in learning it. Does this sound like a sensible plan, or would it be better to focus on something else?
4 Answers
The project idea is solid, but keep the application extremely small. A basic CRUD app is enough to give you something real to containerize and deploy. The valuable parts for a DevOps-focused project would be Docker, Terraform, CI/CD, secrets management, logging, backups, monitoring, and basic security—not building an impressive user interface.
You also don’t need to become a frontend developer before starting. Build just enough of an interface or API to make the project usable, then move fairly quickly to the infrastructure and operations work. That’s probably more useful than forcing yourself through a certification you already dislike.
Before committing to another certification, think about whether you actually enjoyed the earlier ones or only enjoyed the feeling of completing them. Certifications can be useful, but they shouldn’t become the default answer when you’re unsure about your direction.
A hands-on project may give you more clarity. If you enjoy provisioning systems, automating deployments, troubleshooting containers, and improving reliability, that’s a good signal that DevOps or infrastructure work suits you. If you enjoy building the application itself more, you can explore software development further.
Try to focus on one primary direction for a while. IT has an almost endless list of technologies to study, and being broadly familiar with many areas can help, but constantly switching topics makes it difficult to build meaningful depth.
If infrastructure and DevOps are what interest you, create a simple application you can deploy and then prioritize infrastructure as code, automation, and maintenance. The application doesn’t need to be polished or commercially useful. It just needs to be substantial enough to give you something realistic to operate.
You could skip most of the frontend and start with an API. Build a small Python service with a database, containerize it, deploy it with Terraform, and create a basic pipeline that tests and releases it. Add a minimal web interface later if you still want to learn frontend development.
That approach lets you make progress toward DevOps without turning the project into a year-long full-stack detour.
That makes sense. I’ve probably been slowing myself down by treating the frontend as a requirement. I’ll start with a small API and move into deployment and automation sooner.