I'm at a pivotal moment in my career after almost six years as a DevOps engineer specializing in CI/CD using GitLab, IaC, and automation tools like Ansible. Lately, I've been diving deeper into the Kubernetes ecosystem, particularly with GitOps using Argo and Helm. I'm currently on the CI/CD team, but I've been offered a chance to join a Kubernetes platform team that handles cluster creation and maintenance. Meanwhile, my CI/CD team is considering expanding into MLOps and AIOps. I'm feeling torn about which path to take for my future career growth. I'm excited about the Kubernetes opportunity, but I've read that cluster management is fading with services like EKS and GKE. What are your thoughts on the best way forward? Any advice would really help!
2 Answers
I think cluster management isn't going away just yet. Depending on where you are, on-prem setups are still crucial due to concerns about cloud trust, knowledge gaps, and costs. Even with managed services like EKS, Kubernetes is complex, and knowing how to manage what's happening inside is vital. It’s what they call 'platform engineering'—you'll be managing resources for developers and users, governance, and integrations. There will always be companies needing help with Kubernetes migrations or management, so it can be a solid path!
Just like with VM management, right? It hasn't disappeared. Even managed K8s requires a solid understanding of the internals, so you can troubleshoot effectively when issues arise. It's good to be prepared for when your provider updates break things.
Both paths have their perks! Getting up to speed on Kubernetes and then exploring tools like Argo could be really rewarding, especially if you enjoy helping software engineers boost their productivity. The experience in both fields can complement each other very well!
I've been working with Argo for a couple of years, and I feel comfortable with it now. I'm curious if it’s time for me to venture beyond just Argo and see what else I can learn!
Thanks! I appreciate that perspective. For me, it’s about digging deeper into Kubernetes and learning something new. I feel confident about CI/CD, and with our hybrid setup, it seems like there’s still a strong need for on-prem solutions versus full cloud.