What should I learn to transition from software engineering into DevOps?

Build a strong foundation in Linux, networking, scripting, cloud infrastructure, and Kubernetes. Those areas show up frequently in DevOps work. It’s also worth learning infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, logging, and security. Azure is perfectly valid, although learning some AWS could expose you to a broader range of services and architectures.

You can make the transition from software engineering without starting over. Look for repetitive manual work in your current environment and learn how to automate it safely. Improving deployments, testing, infrastructure provisioning, observability, and incident response will give you practical DevOps experience. Certifications can help structure your learning, but hands-on projects and experience operating systems are usually more valuable.

A practical path would be: Linux administration, networking fundamentals, Git, Bash or Python automation, CI/CD with a tool such as GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps, Terraform, containers, Kubernetes, and cloud architecture. Build a small project that provisions infrastructure, deploys an application automatically, and includes monitoring and rollback. Certifications such as Azure Administrator, Azure DevOps Engineer, AWS Solutions Architect Associate, or Kubernetes Administrator can support that roadmap.