I'm starting my first full-time DevOps infrastructure position next week at a large space systems company, and I'm excited but nervous. I graduated about a year ago with a bachelor's degree in management information systems. My background includes a junior-year DevOps internship, an AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification, Security+, and two home lab projects.
I'm most comfortable with Terraform, CI/CD, Docker, VPCs, scripting, and YAML. I can understand and troubleshoot code better than I can write Python or other programming languages from scratch. During the interview, I was able to explain my projects and show that I'm comfortable learning through experimentation.
The position involves a greenfield project focused on AWS and Terraform, which are areas I know reasonably well. However, the team also works with air-gapped systems and high-side/low-side pipelines, which are completely new to me. My future lead engineer also mentioned that some software engineers may initially question my abilities, and that has been on my mind because I want to prove that I belong.
I know I should review Linux, the AWS CLI, Git, Terraform, and networking fundamentals, but I'd appreciate advice from people who have been in a similar situation. How did you prepare before starting, and what helped you become comfortable during your first few weeks or months on the job?
4 Answers
Infrastructure work isn’t about memorizing every tool or being the strongest programmer on day one. Troubleshooting carefully, asking precise questions, understanding the impact of changes, and documenting what you learn are all valuable skills. Since the company hired you knowing your experience level, they’re probably looking for potential and a solid learning attitude—not a senior engineer immediately.
You already bring useful skills, and the rest of the team will have strengths that you don’t have yet. That’s the point of working together. Read through the codebase, architecture documentation, runbooks, and old pull requests, and ask questions about why things were designed a certain way. Keep detailed notes so you can retain what people explain.
As a junior, they should expect you to learn a lot on the job. In the beginning, focus less on proving yourself and more on meeting the team, understanding their processes, and learning how the existing systems work. Being approachable and willing to learn will take you much further than pretending to know everything.
Don’t feel pressured to demonstrate that you belong during your first few weeks. Rushing or hiding gaps in your knowledge can create bigger problems. Take time to understand the environment and its risks, especially with air-gapped and high-side systems. Those areas have specialized constraints, so be honest about what you don’t know and learn from the people already operating them.
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