Thread by @TheNJDevOpsGuy

If you want to be successful in the cloud-native world, here's what you need to know:

- Cloud and virtualization
- Operating systems and networking
- CICD
- Coding
- Security
- Application development workflows
- Architecture

A thread 🧵

- Troubleshooting
- Containers and orchestration (Kubernetes or another orchestration system)
- Observability/monitoring

Yeah, it's a long list... let's break it down.

Cloud and virtualization are around the idea of running infrastructure workloads and services that aren't purely bare-metal. Virtualization like ESXi or Hyper-V is great, and a lot of big organizations will still have this. Cloud is also important (cont)

(can't go wrong with knowing AWS, GCP, and Azure), especially in the startup space. New companies aren't buying datacenter space anymore unless it's needed.

Operating Systems and networking are at the forefront of everything you do. If you're deploying a server, you're working with an OS. If you deploy a Kubernetes cluster, you're working with an OS. (cont)

If you're doing literally anything behind a keyboard, you're working with networking. You don't have to be a network expert, but go through the CompTIA Network+ just to get the knowledge (you don't have to actually sit for the exam).

CICD is all about taking an application or infrastructure/service and deploying them. First, you have your CI process, which packages up your code and turns it into an artifact. This code can be Terraform, application code, anything. Then, it gets deployed to it's destination.

To get by in today's cloud-native world, you need to know how to code. You don't have to build the next Twitter, but you do need to know how to automate processes. Go, Python, and Terraform are good choices.

If you aren't thinking about security when you first do something, you should. Good security practices are the make or break between an organization getting hit hard and mitigating as much risk as possible.

You don't have to be a principal developer, but you should understand application dev workflows. Understanding how and why an app is designed in a certain way helps you troubleshoot it and deploy it later.

Architecture, as in, understanding the "how" something should be built before you build it will save you a ton of time in the development phase.

Troubleshooting will be a good portion of your job. That doesn't mean you have to be SSH'd into a box. Troubleshooting could be "how can I automate this workflow". Figuring stuff out is our jobs as engineers.

Containers and orchestration are increasing in popularity for a good reason. Making deployment environments and deployment times faster, along with a smaller footprint and giving developers an easier way to test their code is key to a future of success.

Observability, as in, logs, traces, and metrics, will be the key to your troubleshooting if something ends up happening in your environment. Without a proper observability strategy, you'll be grasping for straws.

#devops #cloud #engineering