If You're Diving Into DevOps, Start Here (No, Not with Kubernetes)

Let me tell you something I wish someone had drilled into my head sooner... Before I touched a single kubectl command... Before I wrote my first docker-compose.yml... Before I even thought about spinning up an EC2 instance... I should have learned Linux. And now? I say it to anyone who'll listen (and even those who won't): Learn Linux before anything else. I Made the Same Mistake You're Probably Making When I got into tech, I did what most people do: I ran straight to Kubernetes because it sounded cool and everyone was talking about it. "It'll look great on my CV!" I thought. And sure, it does. But guess what? I was completely lost. Everything I did in Kubernetes felt like black magic. Something wouldn't work, I'd Google a fix, copy-paste a command, and pray. Spoiler: Sometimes it worked, but I had no idea why. That's a terrible way to build confidence. It wasn't until I hit a wall (more like slammed into it full speed) that I realized the problem wasn't Kubernetes or Docker or the cloud provider. The problem was... I didn't know how Linux worked.

Apr 18, 2025 - 17:48

If You're Diving Into DevOps, Start Here (No, Not with Kubernetes)

Let me tell you something I wish someone had drilled into my head sooner...

Before I touched a single kubectl command... Before I wrote my first docker-compose.yml... Before I even thought about spinning up an EC2 instance...

I should have learned Linux.

And now? I say it to anyone who'll listen (and even those who won't): Learn Linux before anything else.

I Made the Same Mistake You're Probably Making

When I got into tech, I did what most people do: I ran straight to Kubernetes because it sounded cool and everyone was talking about it. "It'll look great on my CV!" I thought. And sure, it does. But guess what?

I was completely lost.

Everything I did in Kubernetes felt like black magic. Something wouldn't work, I'd Google a fix, copy-paste a command, and pray. Spoiler: Sometimes it worked, but I had no idea why. That's a terrible way to build confidence.

It wasn't until I hit a wall (more like slammed into it full speed) that I realized the problem wasn't Kubernetes or Docker or the cloud provider.

The problem was... I didn't know how Linux worked.