Getting Started in DevOps and SRE
The Kampala DevOps Community recently hosted an insightful webinar titled "Getting Started in DevOps and SRE," featuring guest speaker, Promise Edah Frank, a Site Reliability Engineer at TeamViewer. Promise shared her unique journey and invaluable insights into the world of DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE).
Here are some key highlights from her talk
Promise's Journey: From Business to SRE
Promise's path into tech is a testament to self-driven learning and curiosity. With a background in business and management, her interest in technology sparked during the COVID-19 pandemic. She began with Python for data analysis and was fascinated by the ability to automate tasks with just a few lines of code. Her discovery of cloud computing further fueled this interest, eventually leading her to transition her hobby into a career.
She emphasized that her learning was entirely self-directed, relying heavily on free resources like YouTube. A crucial aspect of her success was her deep curiosity about how tools work, not just how to use them. This foundational understanding, rather than memorization, allowed her to excel, securing a junior SRE role in Germany within eight months of dedicated learning.
Demystifying DevOps and SRE
Promise clarified the distinct yet intertwined concepts of DevOps and SRE:
DevOps: Described as a culture rather than just a role, DevOps emphasizes collaboration between development and operations teams. The goal is to achieve seamless, automated software delivery through continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD). It promotes a shared responsibility where developers also consider how their code will be deployed and maintained.
SRE (Site Reliability Engineering): Originating from Google, SRE is about applying software engineering principles to operations. The core focus is on building and maintaining systems that are reliable, available and scalable. SREs are deeply involved in monitoring, observability, and managing concepts like Service Level Indicators (SLIs), Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and error budgets to ensure system performance and recovery from failures.
Essential Technical Skills for Aspiring DevOps/SREs
Promise outlined key technical areas to focus on:
Operating Systems (Linux): A strong understanding of Linux is fundamental.
Cloud Providers: Begin by understanding one cloud provider
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform): Essential for provisioning infrastructure.
Containers and Orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes): Crucial for modern cloud-native applications.
CI/CD Pipelines: Understanding the mechanics and rules for building efficient pipelines.
Monitoring and Observability: Especially for SREs, familiarity with tools like Prometheus and Grafana is vital.
Scripting (Python, Bash): While AI tools can assist, a foundational understanding of scripting is critical for effective use and debugging.
Version Control (Git): Tools like GitLab and GitHub are universally used.
Learning Strategies and Standing Out
Promise offered practical advice for aspiring professionals:
Set Clear Expectations: You don't need to know everything to get started; focus on mastering the basics.
Go Beyond the Tools: Understand the underlying mechanics and purpose of tools, not just how to use them.
Continuous Learning: The tech landscape is constantly evolving, requiring ongoing learning.
Importance of Certifications: For those from non-technical backgrounds, certifications are crucial for validating knowledge and gaining credibility.
Specialization: Picking a niche, such as Kubernetes, can help you stand out in a competitive job market.
Leverage Free Resources: Promise highly recommended books like "The Google SRE Book," "The DevOps Handbook," and "The Phoenix Project." She also highlighted the abundance of free online resources, communities, meetups and conferences for learning and networking.
For Females: Programs like "Cloud Up for Her" can cover certification costs.
Avoid Bootcamp Overload: She cautioned against short bootcamps that promise quick mastery, advocating for a longer, more in-depth learning period (around 1.5 years) to truly grasp concepts.
Don't Get Discouraged: The field can be challenging, but it's important to persevere and know when to seek help, especially if stuck on a problem for more than two hours.
The Evolving Landscape
Promise noted that DevOps and SRE are increasingly intertwined with other engineering disciplines, such as Machine Learning. Regardless of the specific role, an understanding of CI/CD pipelines and cloud environments is becoming essential across various tech domains.
Catch the full recording
The recording of this insightful webinar is available on YouTube
We extend our sincere gratitude to Promise Edah Frank for sharing her expertise and inspiring insights with the Kampala DevOps Community!
Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/promise-edah-frank-959673159/
You can always reach out to her for free mentorship.
Join Kampala Devops Community here - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9867864/
Follow us on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@kampaladevopscommunity