DevOps engineer — John Knight

After working in various IT roles and achieving a degree and other professional computing certifications, John secured a job as a DevOps engineer for leading medical equipment manufacturer Tristel Global

How did you get into this career?

I came to DevOps from a programming background and have held a number of roles, including:

• database administrator
• server engineer
• team lead
• cloud engineer.

My interest in IT started at an early age when I wrote simple programs on the family computer (before the introduction of Microsoft Windows). I then started building desktop PCs, learning about the internet, and writing websites before moving to databases and servers and dabbling in mobile app development for my dissertation.

I have a degree in computing from Arden University, which I achieved remotely while working full time. I've also gained relevant Microsoft certifications such as AZ-900 (Fundamentals) and AZ-104 (Azure Administrator).

What are your main duties?

They include provisioning and maintaining the Cloud infrastructure for our digital app, which is used by medical organisations worldwide.

This covers all the hardware you'd usually see in a traditional server room, such as:

• networks
• servers
• firewalls
• and everything that works between and on them (but provisioned via code).

My first project at Tristel involved codifying the new infrastructure that was being designed to make it easier and quicker to deploy, more efficient, and more reliable with less manual configuration.

What three qualities are most important for being a DevOps engineer?

• Ability to learn - From pre-employment through to veteran, it's so important to keep learning and developing your expertise in the technologies you're using, as well as keeping an eye on what's coming over the horizon.
• Communication skills - You'll be working with technical colleagues, managers/directors, product teams, and many other people. Therefore, it is vital to be able to explain things appropriately to your audience.
• Perseverance - There will be days when you're stuck on the same problem, feeling like you're getting nowhere, so you need to be able to keep pushing forward. The ability to switch tactics and attack the problem from a different angle will help you through and give you a sense of achievement afterwards.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The opportunity to continuously learn and improve my skills and knowledge. The technology we use is always changing and (mostly) improving. There are always more efficient and secure ways of doing things to achieve our goals.

There is a great online community for DevOps, and people are always willing to help you benefit from their experiences. That could come in the form of guiding you through an issue you're currently held up by, recommending alternative methods, or sharing the pros and cons of a particular piece of technology or software.

How necessary are industry certifications for this career?

Industry qualifications are really helpful in getting your foot in the door, whether that's with:

• Microsoft Azure
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• or Google Cloud Platform.

However, what's more important is the individual's ability to go beyond what certifications teach and solve real-world problems. If you can show a potential employer that you can bring solutions rather than just theory, concepts, or the ability to memorise cloud services, then that carries a lot of weight.

What are the main benefits of being a member of a professional body or industry group?

It is not as important to be a member of a professional body as it might be in some other professions. Instead, joining online communities and real-life groups would be more beneficial.

Meeting with like-minded people can inspire and spark new ideas. There are conferences around the country, including DevOpsDays, where you can listen to speakers - industry leaders and people like yourself - share their knowledge.

What advice would you give to others interested in working in this area of IT?

• Explore the career pathways to find your niche. There are several similar roles in this area of IT, such as cloud engineering, platform engineering and, more recently, AI SecOps (artificial intelligence security operations) engineering. Research the roles and responsibilities to see what resonates with you.
• Get some hands-on experience. Start with free online training from the leading cloud providers. There's no need to spend thousands of pounds on boot camps or fancy training, as a lot of the material is online. There are also YouTube channels producing some excellent content.
• Learn cloud skills. These are so important as they can take you in many directions. Most of the skills are transferable to different roles, such as coding and development.

Find out more

• Discover how to become a software engineer.
• Explore IT courses.
• Consider getting IT work experience.
• Read about the work of Tristel Global.