I Need a DevOps Job! What Certifications Do I Need?!

For the 300th time this month...An IT certification will not sprinkle magic pixie dust on you and pay you USD $100k, $200k or $300k a year. No hiring official is sitting there rubbing their hands waiting for you to do Disney Magic for their company. DevOps is NOT for anyone who has no foundational IT knowledge or hands-on experience (e.g. projects, hands-on labs, simulated real-world or real-world tasks completion). You cannot just "wing" it. You have to have some hands-on and understand IT fundamentals.

IT Certifications Can Help You Get In The Door and Past HR or That Non-Super Technical Hiring Manager

IT Certifications will not keep you employed if you cannot do the actual job. Let me say this again. You MUST know how to do real work. IT Certifications are a by-product of a hardcore grind, a bunch of labs and time spent dedicated and focused on learning and days, nights, weekends and missed fun or entertainment to achieve a goal. If you are tired of working crap jobs, commuting daily and burning up gas if you are not remote or just being poor and suffering. Maybe you live in country X, Y, or Z with minimal opportunities and you have no family member that can bribe someone to get you a job and you know no one in politics. You do have an Internet connection and you can get a laptop on the cheap right?! You have to hustle to open a new door for your life! IT Certifications are the gateway drug to change, but you NEED to know technical fundamentals and have hands-on experience with projects or hands-on labs.

If you think you can brain-dump or cheat your way into a job. You are in for a RUDE awakening buddy.

It does not matter how you get there. You need to buckle down and study, do labs and focus on what you need to learn. Being broke and poor is not a handicap...it's a motivation! When you are too comfortable, you are not hungry. It's when you are uncomfortable and fed up that you push yourself. Physical hunger, stress and suffering should be your motivation, not your depression! If you do not have the money, study and learn on your own. Stop whining and making excuses!!! If that won't work for you, find a reputable boot camp that is project-driven and people-unifying. Whatever floats your boat works for you and is within what you can afford. Do it!! You will not get anywhere without dedication, focus, determination and a very strong will to succeed. Period. Expect problems and difficulties!!

You will not accomplish anything studying for 2-3 hours a day! You need to GRIND to make it in IT!!!

You do NOT need a college degree. What you need is an immortal-level determination to hustle, learn and breathe this stuff! Seriously, when you dream about typing on a keyboard and doing labs...you have hit the Matrix! ROFL! You have to become a serious crack addict addicted to learning and doing projects. In all seriousness, you have to have maximum focus and a stomach of cast iron to get it done.

Life will happen! Expect hatred, jealousy, and negative comments. "Let No be your vitamin!" (-Les Brown) If you think everyone will support you, you are out of your mind. Expect no one to believe in you. You have to believe in YOURSELF!

When you are ready to stop making excuses being lazy and doubting yourself. Sit down, and write down your goal on PAPER! Stick it on your bathroom mirror or somewhere you can see what you want to accomplish EVERY...SINGLE...DAY!. Accomplish one goal at a time and be realistic! When you're going through the process. Document your projects! Build your own brand. Build a free blog website. Medium is fine. When you're ready to go live, I would very highly encourage using a paid option for long-term viability. It also shows a better face to recruiters or customers if you going to launch your own company or do consulting where you expect someone to pay you $$$!!! You have to say to yourself, "Would I trust this person with my money?". If you can't honestly agree, then...fix whatever you doing.

Companies pay you money to fix their problems or to achieve their goals, dreams or business objectives! As long as you are doing that...you will get paid! If not...they will DUMP you and replace you with somebody who will do what they want!!!

Stop whining about remote work if you are broke or unemployed or have a job that sucks. It's not all fun and games and happiness. You do get sick and tired of being in the house daily. (If you do work remotely, get out of the house and go study, learn, or do projects at a cafe or local place you can study or work in peace.) You're welcome. Especially, if you have a spouse/significant other or CHILDREN!!! If you have to go to an office to hustle. WHO CARES! Do IT! Remote work is a luxury. Appreciate it if you have it or can get it. If not, get off your lazy butt and drive, ride the bus, matatu, tuk-tuk, bike, train, or plane into that office. As long as you get paid on time. Who cares...Seriously. Focus on getting more money in your pocket and investing so you don't have to work like a dog when you are old and feeble. Your mind will not be strong forever and you won't have energy or health past a certain age!

Ready? Set?! Ok...Let's Go!!!!

PROTIP: You can follow this list step-by-step. Do NOT start
        learning a Cloud (AWS/GCP) platform first!

WRITE IT DOWN OR YOUTUBE IT ALL! BRAND YOURSELF

  1. HOW TO CREATE A WEBSITE ON THE CHEAP

LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS! DO NOT SKIP THIS!!!

PROTIP: YOU WILL CRASH AND BURN ON AN IT INTERVIEW IF YOU DO NOT
        KNOW BASIC IT FUNDAMENTALS! LEARN THEM!!!
HIRING OFFICIAL EXPERIENCE: QUESTIONS CAN COME FROM ANY GENERAL
       BASIC SKILLS: SERVERS, NETWORKING, SECURITY, DNS, WEBSITES
  1. Google IT Support Certificate (This is a Certificate, Not a Certification!)

  2. CompTIA A+

PROTIP: COMPTIA A+ is good if your going to physically work in a
datacenter, Computer Company (e.g. MicroCenter, BestBuy, or
equivalent, etc) or running your own IT repair company. If you are
not working with physical laptops, servers, etc. It may not be worth
your time if your focused on Cloud, Server Administration or DevOps.
  1. Technical Fundamentals

  2. Networking Fundamentals

  3. Advanced Networking

  4. Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) - YouTube (Network Chuck)

  5. Physical CCNA, CCNP, CCIE Hardware (Ebay) - 2RUNNET

  6. Buy a Cheap Laptop If you're broke! (Linux, Mac or Auctions)

Linux (LFCS or RHCSA) - Hands-On Practical Exam

  1. Linux Commands - YouTube (Network Chuck)

  2. Linux for Beginners - YouTube (Network Chuck)

  3. Linux Foundation Certified Systems Administrator (LFCS) - KodeKloud

  4. Linux Foundation Exam Simulator (LFCS)

  5. Red Hat Certified Systems Administrator (RHCSA)

PROTIP: DO NOT TAKE ANY MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAMS FOR LINUX!!! TAKE THE
HANDS-ON EXAMS ONLY! THEY WILL HELP YOU WITH REAL WORLD WORK!

HIRING OFFICIAL EXPERIENCE: LFCS/RHCSA IS MORE CREDIBLE FOR HIRING
INSTEAD OF COMPTIA LINUX+ OR LPI MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAMS!!

GIT

  1. Git

  2. Github - Hands-On Exercises

  3. GitLab Certified Git Associate

Jenkins

  1. Certified Jenkins Engineer (2023) - Free

  2. Certified Jenkins Engineer (2023) + Hands-On Labs - Paid

  3. Jenkins - Playground + Hands-On Labs

Terraform

  1. Hashicorp Certified: Terraform Associate (003)

  2. Terraform

Python

  1. PCEP: Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer

  2. PCAP: Cisco Networking Academy - Self-Paced (Free)

  3. Python Hands-On Exercises

Docker

  1. Docker (Beginners)

  2. Docker Certified Associate (DCA)

  3. DCA Exam Registration

Kubernetes - Hands-On Practical Exam

  1. Kubernetes (Beginners)

  2. Kubernetes Playground (Built by Docker)

  3. Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

  4. Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) - Linux Foundation Registration

  5. Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) - Mock Exam

  6. Linux Foundation Exam Simulator (Killer.SH) - Exam Simulator (CKA)

PROTIP: THE CKA EXAM IS A HANDS-ON PRACTICAL EXAM FROM THE LINUX
FOUNDATION. YOU MUST SPEND A MINIMUM OF 100 HOURS STUDYING AND
PRACTICING IF YOU EXPECT TO PASS THE EXAM! WITHOUT HANDS-ON, YOU
SHALL NOT PASS!!!!

Monitoring

  1. Prometheus Certified Associate - Linux Foundation

Cloud (AWS)

  1. AWS Fundamentals

  2. AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate

  3. AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate + Hands-On Labs (Whizlabs)

  4. AWS Certified Developer Associate

  5. AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate

  6. AWS Practice Exams

PROTIP: DO NOT JUMP STRAIGHT INTO STUDYING FOR AN AWS EXAM. TAKE THE
TIME TO COMPLETE A MINIMUM OF 10+ PROJECTS HANDS-ON!!! YOU MUST
UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE AWS, IT'S TERMINOLOGY AND HOW AWS BREAKS
BEFORE JUMPING INTO ANY EXAMS.

Cloud (GCP)

  1. Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer

  2. Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer + Hands-On Labs (Whizlabs)

  3. Google Cloud Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer

  4. Google Cloud Practice Exam

PROTIP: IN THE REAL WORLD, YOU CANNOT DO EVERYTHING. PICK A CLOUD
AND STICK TO IT. UNLESS YOUR ORGANIZATION HAS GCP AND AWS, DO NOT
WASTE TIME LEARNING BOTH. GO BY REQUIREMENTS OF YOUR ORGANIZATION!!
FOCUS ON WHAT WILL EARN YOU ACTUAL MONEY. IF IT IS A GCP SHOP, DO
NOT WASTE TIME LEARNING AWS UNLESS ACTUALLY REQUIRED TO DO YOUR JOB!

BROKE? NEED TO LEARN ON A BUDGET?

SELF-PACED BOOTCAMPS (FOR THE HUNGRY)

  1. The Ultimate DevOps Bootcamp (KodeKloud on Udemy) - Hands-On

  2. KodeKloud DevOps Learning Path

  3. TechWorld With Nana

  4. Linux Foundation DevOps Bootcamp

  5. AOSNotes

  6. Pluralsight ACloudGuru DevOps Learning Path (DEVOPS) - Hands-On

  7. Pluralsight ACloudGuru GCP DevOps Learning Path (GCP) - Hands-On

  8. Pluralsight ACloudGuru AWS DevOps Learning Path (AWS) - Hands-On

Live Long and Prosper!!! Hand...SALUTE!

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