Hmmm

So i am known as what some people would say a jack of all trades in tech, but i have no tech certification.

I am that guy that when something is wrong on you pc or phone, you reach out to and i tell you how to solve it (most times leaving you wondering -"why didn't i think of that")

From a very young age, i have always wanted to get into tech, but new had the opportunity or time to learn.

Fast forward to December 2022, and i finally taken the decision that i would learnt something in tech this year no matter what.

So i got started in Dev ops.

Well what a journey i undertook.

I started my training with a school called My Landmark Tech.

From the onset, let just say i chewed more than i bargained for, but being a Nigerian meant, they is no way my money is going to waste at all.
So i kept at.

From learning about linux for the first time and for some reason hating it initially then loving it gradually. Before being hit with Bash shell scripting. "Omo i hear am for this one". but after a while i started writing some basic scripts and was like "na me be this".

While i was basking in my shine, the come nack me with the not so wonderful world of Git, i was initally sceptical as it was another thing way i no sabi, But God de, as i gradually began to find out that that the internet is your friend and stack overflow was there to help (sometimes).

I did the whole Git hustle for a bit, then they announced during the class, that they were heavy on java and to prepare for Maven.
At this point i was asking myself, what is the essense of all this so far, but one mind said carry on.

So for us to get into Maven, they first had to to teach us about aws and how to setup an ec2 instance and how to login or ssh into your instance. They also had to teach us about security groups and creating your pem keys.

Then they taught us how to setup maven on an ec2 instance, it was then i began to understand why i needed to learn linux and bash shell scripting.

And then things began to pickup big time, from Maven, we hit sonarqube, from sonarqube we hit nexus, from nexus we hit jenkins.
With jenkins we ran throught connecting all the previous things.

Bash scripting to git, to jenkins, jenkins running ci/cd through maven, sonarqube and nexus. (ensuring all this worked during a pipeline build was hell- a lot of late nights and free time in the office, a lot of aws ec2 instances and a lot of burnt aws accounts as ran down free tier after free tier). It took me three weeks to understand the pom.xml setup for maven and another 1month to get my ci/cd pipeline to work.

When i finally got things to work, and was celebrating my success. I was hit with terraform and docker.

It took me another month to learn terraform, and another two months to get from docker to docker file to docker compose and docker swarm.

I still have Kubernetes, Ansible, Grafana, Helm and Promethus to learn, chai.

Then i still have to learn on my own, other different Devops related softwares, platforms, cloud platforms etc. (Chai X2), all of it required before i can even begin to compete with other advance or intermediate devop engineers out these.

Am i enjoying this

Truly

Yes

I have learnt a lot i didn't know about before, i have even picked up on python and kotlin on the side, and i am enjoying each challenge all of this brings. The fun of sending time to solve a problem, hitting a brick wall and going back to the drawing board and coming back strong.

It hasn't been easy though, as my classes are between 1am and 4am twice a week and on Saturdays and to revise from each lesson i usually spend 5-6 hours.

But, i love every minute of it.

So to anyone looking to get into Devops, know it is not a rush job, take your time to learn and understand what you are doing.

Also i am open to help with pointers and directions to anyone who needs it.

I will update from time to time once i am done with my training.

Chai X 4

Good to read your story. And I hope more 40+ folks get motivated to start of a career in Tech. Loads of space in the industry to cater for mature entrants. And I'm glad to read you talk about stuff other than SWE. Loads of play room in stuff outside SWE. Customer/Technical support is a low resistance route for those looking to get started. Can always pivot from Helpdesk to many other roles.


1am to 4am can be brutal, especially if you have an 8-5 day job.

One thing with US remote is that it fxcks up your circadian rhythm. Big time. Worse when they shift the clocks 1 hr back in winter.

Oh boy!!! Well done bro.

Nice one chief.

Age is just a number unless it is JavaScript

Many will be motivated by story.Dont give up on your dream ,keep the candle burnings!

airsaylongcome:
Good to read your story. And I hope more 40+ folks get motivated to start of a career in Tech. Loads of space in the industry to cater for mature entrants. And I'm glad to read you talk about stuff other than SWE. Loads of play room in stuff outside SWE. Customer/Technical support is a low resistance route for those looking to get started. Can always pivot from Helpdesk to many other roles.


1am to 4am can be brutal, especially if you have an 8-5 day job.

One thing with US remote is that it fxcks up your circadian rhythm. Big time. Worse when they shift the clocks 1 hr back in winter.

What is the roadmap to getting customer/technical support roles. Are there resources for one to learn online

silento:
Age is just a number unless it is JavaScript

That language frightens me
Python & machine learning intermediate level user here

airsaylongcome:
Good to read your story. And I hope more 40+ folks get motivated to start of a career in Tech. Loads of space in the industry to cater for mature entrants. And I'm glad to read you talk about stuff other than SWE. Loads of play room in stuff outside SWE. Customer/Technical support is a low resistance route for those looking to get started. Can always pivot from Helpdesk to many other roles.


1am to 4am can be brutal, especially if you have an 8-5 day job.

One thing with US remote is that it fxcks up your circadian rhythm. Big time. Worse when they shift the clocks 1 hr back in winter.

I de tell you men, the time frame really messes with me.

I am still looking at SWE (software engineering as well, but not for now. Make i finish one before i enter another one first.

Really appreciate the feedback

silento:
Age is just a number unless it is JavaScript

Omo, i laugh in madarin, chai X5

Codevalley:
Many will be motivated by story.Dont give up on your dream ,keep the candle burnings!

Big thanks, much appreciated

yinkeys:

That language frightens me
Python & machine learning intermediate level user here

My brother, at this age i have a lesson i have leanrt that i can impact to you.

If you regularly keep at something, you will get throuh it
Like a stream running through a mountain
The stream kept testing and test till one day it got through an created a part
You are human, it is normal for us to avoid looking back
We are not good at look behind us or checking our past.
But if you can develop the habit to go back and try and try and try again
Success awaits beyond the dawn

cj1080:


My brother, at this age i have a lesson i have leanrt that i can impact to you.

If you regularly keep at something, you will get throuh it
Like a stream running through a mountain
The stream kept testing and test till one day it got through an created a part
You are human, it is normal for us to avoid looking back
We are not good at look behind us or checking our past.
But if you can develop the habit to go back and try and try and try again
Success awaits beyond the dawn

Thanks

Nice one chief, keep going & i hope you make it through.

I paid for Devops course one time but too tired from work to even continue, kind of regret it but will still go back in the future. As one grows older, paying for courses or resources will be easy but finding time is extremely hard. Paid for so many courses on Udemy that I left hanging.

Everyone is now porting to DevOps because of the high salary it carries



Very soon Devsecops will be getting much heat like DevOps

genaro2000:

What is the roadmap to getting customer/technical support roles. Are there resources for one to learn online

Help desk

tosinhtml:
Nice one chief, keep going & i hope you make it through.

I paid for Devops course one time but too tired from work to even continue, kind of regret it but will still go back in the future. As one grows older, paying for courses or resources will be easy but finding time is extremely hard. Paid for so many courses on Udemy that I left hanging.

I agree with you. At a time I was buying books for the love of it and hardly read. I also paid for so many courses that I never completed.

cj1080:


My brother, at this age i have a lesson i have leanrt that i can impact to you.

If you regularly keep at something, you will get throuh it
Like a stream running through a mountain
The stream kept testing and test till one day it got through an created a part
You are human, it is normal for us to avoid looking back
We are not good at look behind us or checking our past.
But if you can develop the habit to go back and try and try and try again
Success awaits beyond the dawn

Very true words. I always appreciate those who go above and beyond in their professional development. Thanks for sharing your experience, You're doing well sir.

Congratulate but as for me i find it very difficult to learn by watching tutorials. I always learn by understanding the fundamentals, give myself a complex task then die there.
With this approach i learn alot and work with some foreign companies and also develop a profitable SAAS platform from scratch and monetize it.

tosinhtml:
Nice one chief, keep going & i hope you make it through.

I paid for Devops course one time but too tired from work to even continue, kind of regret it but will still go back in the future. As one grows older, paying for courses or resources will be easy but finding time is extremely hard. Paid for so many courses on Udemy that I left hanging.

Bruv

Totally get this

Omo I had to really task myself to find time to practice what I was thought in class.

It was never easy finding that time, particularly at work, even at home, I still come back from work and handle responsibility with my wife and fam then from eleven till 1am I fight sleep and keep practicing.

But truly, I am able to it because I actually like it.

You got to find the time dear, even if it's to start and do 10mins, and stop for the day.

I found each time I push my self to start and only do 10-15mins of training a day.

I end up doing way more.

Just give it a try

PedoBear:




Help desk

I followed this roadmap initially before I started my class and learnt that you can pick where to start and grow from there

https://roadmap.sh/devops

Please can I connect to you? Am looking forward for a career in DevOps. I want to start with Python this year. Help me drop ur email so I can please connect with you

I don't know how much Linux you know, I need help with my practical assignment on Operating Systems course:
1. Analysing the behaviours of three Linux commands (cp, remove and cat);
2. Memory exploitation techniques.

Resilience is all there is to this tech thing.

I really enjoy reading things like this, pushing forward in the face of adversities.

I started similar journey last year Sept.

I use kodekloud in my case

I would continue to use them till next year when I plan to migrate to ACloudGuru.

I’m a software engineer by the day, so it’s more or less trying to add another medal to my shoulder.

Well done chief!

halmat:
Resilience is all there is to this tech thing.

I really enjoy reading things like this, pushing forward in the face of adversities.

I started similar journey last year Sept.

I use kodekloud in my case

I would continue to use them till next year when I plan to migrate to ACloudGuru.

I’m a software engineer by the day, so it’s more or less trying to add another medal to my shoulder.

Well done chief!

I love hearing this.

Acloudguru was almost my first choice, till I went with Landmark tech

Still learning.

Currently adding some side languages to what to my devops course, as I noticed that a lot of devops has to do with the backend and for me I feel understanding some of the languages that one would be using the devops process with would also be helpful.

So I used the Christmas and few hours over the weekend of January to try to understand bits of html, Css, javascript.

Currently dabbling into Nodejs now for backend,(Omo node hard oh).

Men, it's been hard finding time to do all this, with work and family time.

Sometimes I wish I had 2 weeks straight of free time, so I could just go though all i need todo. But that won't happen anytime soon. So for now it's bit by bit.

But l, still @halmat, keep up the good work and journey hard to your dreams

cj1080:


I love hearing this.

Acloudguru was almost my first choice, till I went with Landmark tech

Still learning.

Currently adding some side languages to what to my devops course, as I noticed that a lot of devops has to do with the backend and for me I feel understanding some of the languages that one would be using the devops process with would also be helpful.

So I used the Christmas and few hours over the weekend of January to try to understand bits of html, Css, javascript.

Currently dabbling into Nodejs now for backend,(Omo node hard oh).

Men, it's been hard finding time to do all this, with work and family time.

Sometimes I wish I had 2 weeks straight of free time, so I could just go though all i need todo. But that won't happen anytime soon. So for now it's bit by bit.

But l, still @halmat, keep up the good work and journey hard to your dreams

About the bolded, trust me you can make out that time. Assuming you work an 8-5, you can maximize your after-work hours to make up those two weeks (I’m approximating 2 weeks to be 5 days of 8 hours each day). Set aside at least 2 hours everyday for study/hands-on. Take weekends and maximize your Saturdays to review all you studied during the week. Have a dedicated note book with a clearly written study plan. I’m talking writing out what you want to study daily. While studying, take notes that you review on the weekend. Study study study. Trust me e go pay. Without doubt. As an older “student”, me I know it is harder studying now than 20 years ago when the brain was younger and no “adult problems” (rent, NEPA bill, family wahala). Use study aids. I have post-it notes all over my wall at home. Different coloured ones for different topics. Gum them everywhere and have a look at them regularly. The “thing” go enter by force. Watch YouTube channels that talk about devops, go on Reddit and follow devops subreddits. Surround yourself with the material everywhere until e enter. When the results start to dey come na you go dey run. I wish you all the best

airsaylongcome:


About the bolded, trust me you can make out that time. Assuming you work an 8-5, you can maximize your after-work hours to make up those two weeks (I’m approximating 2 weeks to be 5 days of 8 hours each day). Set aside at least 2 hours everyday for study/hands-on. Take weekends and maximize your Saturdays to review all you studied during the week. Have a dedicated note book with a clearly written study plan. I’m talking writing out what you want to study daily. While studying, take notes that you review on the weekend. Study study study. Trust me e go pay. Without doubt. As an older “student”, me I know it is harder studying now than 20 years ago when the brain was younger and no “adult problems” (rent, NEPA bill, family wahala). Use study aids. I have post-it notes all over my wall at home. Different coloured ones for different topics. Gum them everywhere and have a look at them regularly. The “thing” go enter by force. Watch YouTube channels that talk about devops, go on Reddit and follow devops subreddits. Surround yourself with the material everywhere until e enter. When the results start to dey come na you go dey run. I wish you all the best

Thanks so much for the update , I am actually doing a bit of this, as after most work days between 11pm and 12:30pm, i spend time learning and taking notes.

I actually take a lot of notes, this has been really helpful for me. as i can easily fall back to the notes when i am not directly infront of the system.

I use Keep to write and store my so i can access them on the go.

I still havent developed a study plan for my learning yet, but i kind of look at my learning as "learning to solve a problem". Thus, currently my reason to learn is to develop web apps using html css, javascript and node.(example apps are an inventory management system or an erp system for my office.

Then use Devop to automate and streamline the process and keeping and managing the apps in the cloud.

This has been my drive since, so i believe i will have to develop a study plan around this.