A lot of people have delusions about DevOps that it is just a tool, while some are unsure about its approach, philosophy, culture, and aims. There is no single DevOps tool but rather a set of DevOps tools considered important for DevOps engineers, developers, operators, and others in the team. In general, we can define DevOps as an amalgamation of practices, cultural philosophies, and tools to increase the ability of an organization to deliver IT services and applications faster than traditional development processes.
By adopting DevOps, organizations can improve their products, serve the customers well with quick feedback and fixes, get a competitive edge in the market, and achieve their business objectives faster.
Let us listen to our expert Mr. Vijaykant Khowal. He has 15 years of experience in networking, security, Linux and Cloud. He is well versed in IT Administration, Windows/Linux Servers, Intranet implementation, Web Hosting, cloud platform(AWS, GCP and Azure) management. He had worked in various capacities at OSScube and currently working as DevOps Technical Lead at Happiest Minds Technologies. We seek his guidance to learn more about DevOps as a subject and a profession and also his career trajectory in DevOps and systems administration.
Q1. Can you share more about your journey and why did you choose this field?
Answer: This journey has started mistakenly. I was really into sports. I was a player in football at ground level at Jawaharlal Stadium. In the meanwhile, I got a call from a company that they have an opening in IT and at that time I was interested in IT as well. So because I have done my diploma in computer networking hardware. Since I was doing a diploma in IT, which forms an interesting part of my life of being involved in IT things, so I just completed my course.
At that time I was playing stadium playing football as fast forward player and I got the call which changed my life. I had previously given an interview at the company, but they suddenly opened the positions again and informed me that I was selected. They asked me are you available? are you still available for this position? can you join? This I considered to be a changing point in my life and I had to decide will I be with football or IT.
IT was my passion when I just joined it. In my starting days I was working as a hardware engineer like I was repairing the hardware, and machines, and assembling hardware and software installation. My first job was in 2004 when I joined a company as a hardware engineer. That job was a field job and at that time I was doing the night shift as I was still studying and had to manage it along with the job. At that time, I worked completely on the night shift from 9 pm to 6 am. 9 am my classes of the course I was pursuing used to begin at 1 pm. I used to get only 3-4 hours of sleep.
So I used to come back home, have lunch and again at 3 pm my another class and then in my job time. That was the start of my journey.
Q2. Is DevOps relevant for system administrators or IT managers?
Answer: Basically, there are quite different roles. Because IT system managers, engineers, and administrators worked only on-premises work like system issues, server implementation, server management, and internal server management kind of things. But the DevOps part is completely different. I have started my journey on hardware and networking so after 1 year of fieldwork, I joined company of value tech ltd. So in that company my roles was to manage local systems and internal customers like the members working as an employee.
That work is also customer following as internal customers. I took the night shift not comprising with my studies. After that, I started working on a windows server, how the server works, server implementation, and server installation all of these I learned during my jobs and studies. Then I started working on learnx and mail servers. In early 2009, I started learning learn, an open-source thing. After 2 years of practising in learnx, my boss told me that since I’m already working and learning on learnx, why don’t I go for certification?
So I tried for it and luckily got it cleared in RSCE. After that, I thought I have learned enough about windows and servers and that probably I should go for the certification of Microsoft as well. I pursued MCSC, for which there is 7 exam which needs to clear. Luckily I cleared all of them and got certification. My company has a lot of expectations for me because of my learnings, the things were going good for me. In 2011-12, the cloud was introduced. My boss asked me to learn to work on cloud-AWS, which was the first cloud. After some years I did certification in AWS as well. And I have learnings about AWS, GCP, AZURE, and other clouds too.
Currently, I am managing 6 people in the team and handling clients as well. In starting of my salary I used to get 2500/pm. That time was very hectic as I used to get 2-3 hours of sleep only. I had no choice but to choose between football and IT, and I chose IT.
Q3. Which DevOps tools are in more demand in the market and more remunerative for professionals?
Answer: DevOps is not a small entity but a vast area. In DevOps, there are multiple things to be learnt, the various tools like version cover tools, the concept of learnx, knowledge of software development and deployment and familiarity with infrastructure as a code. The understanding of CS/CD pipelines, networking security and cloud providers and services. All these are present in DevOps. You cannot say that these kinds of tools can be used in DevOps only. There is multiple things. DevOps is a kind of merger of small and big tools.
Q4. What should a fresher learn to get a job in DevOps?
Answer: For the people who started learning DevOps, the first thing is they must be aware of open source technologies like learnx and windows. After that DevOps software development cycle, they should know. They must have basic knowledge of project planning, software development, quality assurance, and security maintenance. They can start with these. After joining the organization, they will get to work in a live environment with the clients and internal employees, so they will learn in real scenarios.
Q5. How do you keep yourself updated with new developments in DevOps?
Answer: For nowadays, the internet is the best thing to keep yourself updated about new technologies and new things introduced in the market. You must be aware that in lockdown, people worked and learned online. There was no other way available. On daily basis, I check what all new tools have been introduced, and why social media like LinkedIn was introduced. So the internet is the best thing for me and for everyone to be updated about technologies and everything.
Q6. What is that one quotation you live by your life?
Answer: I must say “looser in the one who didn’t play”. Like if you haven’t tried, you won’t ever know it’s easy or difficult. It is not about winning or losing. It is about doing. Negative thoughts limit mental and emotional aspects, that is what I believe in. I also believe in nothing is impossible. Impossible is what you don’t want to do.
