I'm currently working part-time on an SRE/platform team at a large company in Germany, and DevOps or platform engineering is the area of software I enjoy most. I've worked with CI/CD, Terraform, Cloud Build, GitHub Actions, Cloud Run, deployment alerts, state migrations, and troubleshooting infrastructure problems. The more I learn, the more interested I become in reliability, automation, and understanding why systems fail.
The job search has been frustrating, though. Many roles labeled "Junior DevOps" expect production Kubernetes experience, multiple cloud platforms, Terraform, Ansible, networking, Linux, monitoring, security, CI/CD, and several years of professional experience with all of them. Other entry-level roles seem closer to ticket-based IT support than the automation and engineering work I want to pursue.
I don't expect to manage critical infrastructure independently on my first day. I'd like to join a team with experienced engineers, learn gradually, make mistakes safely, and grow into someone who can be trusted with important systems. I'm also not looking to job-hop constantly; ideally, I'd stay with a team for several years and become genuinely strong in the field.
For people working in DevOps, SRE, platform engineering, or cloud infrastructure, how did you get your first serious role? Did you already know most of the required tools, or did a company hire you based on fundamentals and willingness to learn? I'm open to building operations experience, but my long-term goal is an SRE role focused on automation, reliability, monitoring, and reducing repetitive manual work rather than mostly handling support tickets.
4 Answers
Another strong route is software engineering, especially at a company that develops and operates its own products. Spend a few years learning how applications are built, tested, deployed, and supported, while taking ownership of pipelines, cloud resources, observability, and incident fixes. Moving into platform or SRE internally is often easier because the team already knows your work. You don’t need every cloud provider or tool; fundamentals and the ability to investigate unfamiliar problems matter more.
There usually isn’t a straightforward entry-level DevOps path because the role combines software development, systems administration, networking, cloud, and operations. A common route is to start in software engineering, Linux administration, build and release, or another adjacent role, then gradually take on deployment and infrastructure work. That doesn’t mean support or systems work is beneath you; it gives you the operational foundation needed to automate intelligently.
You already have more relevant experience than many people applying for junior roles. Terraform, CI/CD, Cloud Run, alerts, migrations, and solving real infrastructure problems are meaningful examples, even if your current title is working student. Treat job requirements as wish lists and apply when you meet roughly 60–70% of them. Since you’re already on an SRE/platform team, an internal conversion or move may be the most realistic first full-time opportunity.
I’ve also wondered whether I’m undervaluing my current experience because of the title. I’ve had interviews where I studied the company’s tooling and built a small lab, but they still wanted several years of DevOps experience. At some point, someone has to let a junior build that experience.
Junior DevOps roles do exist, but they’re uncommon because many companies have small infrastructure teams and limited capacity to train someone from scratch. Larger organizations with formal graduate or internship programs are more likely to hire juniors and provide safety nets. Smaller teams often need someone who can work independently with Linux, DNS, networking, scripting, CI/CD, cloud permissions, and infrastructure-as-code.
Your best strategy is to target junior cloud engineer, platform engineer, build-and-release, or Linux infrastructure roles; look for internships and internal transfers; and build a portfolio that shows automation rather than just certificates. A small self-healing service, deployment platform, monitoring project, or infrastructure lab can demonstrate that you understand operations as a software problem. Keep applying to DevOps and SRE roles too—just focus on teams willing to mentor and on postings with a narrower stack.
That’s helpful. I’m especially interested in teams that hire for curiosity and fundamentals rather than expecting one person to already know every tool in their environment. The idea of demonstrating automation and reliability through a project fits the direction I want to take.
That makes sense. I’m not opposed to systems work—I mainly want to move toward automation and engineering instead of staying in a mostly ticket-driven role. My software background may be the better starting point for me.