Anyone want to practice DevOps Mock Interview ?

So i am learning Devops and kubernates so I’ve built an Indian Crime Tracker to explore crime incidents and safety information across India.

I’m looking for people to try the application and share feedback. Your feedback will help me identify issues and improve the platform.

🔗 https://ict.referdin.com

Please give it a try and let me know what you think!

I’ve completed around 6 months in my first job at a System Integrator, and I’m currently getting ₹25k/month. My work has been mainly infrastructure — HPE servers, VMware ESXi/vCenter, Hyper-V, Veeam, Windows Server, networking, Palo Alto, storage, etc. Since it’s an SI, I get exposure to different clients and technologies, but most of my work is implementation and technical support.

Now my company is considering spending around ₹3–4 lakh on HPE training and professional certifications for me, but they want a 1–2 year commitment in return. If I take it, I would probably become more specialized in HPE/VMware/infrastructure.

At the same time, I’ve started getting very interested in Linux, cloud, automation, Terraform, CI/CD and DevOps. I haven’t worked professionally on these yet, but these are the areas that genuinely make me curious. My current company being an SI also means I probably won’t get much DevOps exposure here.

So I’m confused about which direction is better for me:

1. Stay here for 2 years, take the HPE certification and build a career in enterprise infrastructure/virtualization/storage/networking.

2. Stay another 6–12 months, keep building cloud/automation skills on my own, and then move toward Cloud/DevOps/Platform roles.

I’m also seeing some of my friends working as SWEs at companies like Microsoft/Google and earning very well, which has made me question whether I should also consider SWE, although I’m not sure yet whether I actually enjoy software development enough to make that my career.

So what I really want to understand is: with my current background, what kind of engineer should I try to become, and would you recommend that I specialize in infrastructure through this HPE opportunity or keep my options open and move toward Cloud/DevOps?

I don't want to make the decision just based on immediate salary. I want to choose the path that gives me the strongest technical growth and career opportunities over the next 5–10 years. What would you do in my position?

Hey everyone!

I’m a university student and recently got my first job as a Junior DevOps Engineer. My background is actually in cybersecurity, and I had basically zero professional DevOps experience before this.

And now I’m sitting here thinking: what the hell am I actually supposed to do? The problem is that I’m being given tasks mostly verbally, and sometimes I leave a meeting thinking: “Okay… what exactly am I supposed to do now?” I know some basic Linux, Docker, Git, Ansible, networking, etc., and I’ve done some university/personal projects, but I’m realizing that knowing the tools is very different from knowing how things are actually done in a real production environment.

The tasks can be quite vague. I might be told to look into a service, improve some code, update something, or research a solution, but I often don’t know where to start or what the expected end result is supposed to look like.

And honestly, this is probably the most difficult part for me right now. It’s not even necessarily the technical stuff — it’s understanding how I’m supposed to approach a problem when I don’t yet know what “the normal way” of doing things is.

I’m trying to learn, but there is SO much information out there that I’m getting overwhelmed. And sometimes it feels like everyone around me knows exactly what they’re doing while I’m just sitting there trying to figure out what the task even means.

So I’d really appreciate some advice from experienced DevOps engineers:

How did you approach your first DevOps job when you didn't know much about the real-world side of things?

How do you personally approach a vague task when you don't fully understand what is expected from you?

What helped you most during your first months on the job?

Are there any resources you found genuinely useful for learning the practical side of DevOps?

I’m not expecting to become a DevOps expert overnight. I just want to stop feeling completely lost, figure out how to approach these tasks properly, and eventually become useful to my team.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I teach DevOps to career switchers and freshers, and I keep noticing the same pattern: people come out of a course expecting to "automate everything" and walk into a job that's mostly debugging pipelines someone else built, negotiating between dev speed and ops stability, and a LOT of reading logs.

Nobody tells you upfront that the job is way more about judgment and communication than tool mastery. Docker/K8s/Jenkins are the easy part — knowing when NOT to automate something, or how to explain a tradeoff to a non-technical PM, is the actual skill gap I see in new hires.

Curious if this matches what people already working in DevOps roles have experienced — did your first job look anything like what your course/bootcamp made it seem like?

Hi everyone, I’ve just started learning DevOps from scratch and thought it might be fun to learn together with others here. If anyone is also starting out, we can share resources, discuss concepts, and keep each other updated on our progress.

I feel it’s always more motivating when a few people are learning the same thing together. Having a small group with the same goal makes the process more encouraging and enjoyable.

If you’re interested, feel free to comment.

Disk: 100% full. Files: only 11GB. 🤯

Both are correct. The missing space reveals the real Linux issue.

Watch the 5-minute breakdown 👇

https://youtu.be/Gm2-OtediWI?si=8BAQin5_vwO-kkoA

#Linux #DevOps #SRE #CatStack

I'm currently working in DevOps/SRE and I'm trying to better understand the gap between my current experience and what is expected from DevOps/SRE engineers in other countries.

My long-term goal is to work internationally, so I'm trying to be realistic about where I stand and what I need to improve before making that move.

I'd really like to connect with DevOps/SRE engineers who are currently working in countries outside their home country, especially people who have gone through a similar transition.

I'm interested in learning about things such as:

• What technical skills are most important for international DevOps/SRE roles?
• Which areas did you personally have to improve when moving to another country?
• How important are Kubernetes, AWS/Azure/GCP, Terraform, CI/CD, observability, security, and scripting in your current role?
• Are there any skills that people often overlook when preparing for these roles?
• What level of system design, troubleshooting, Linux, networking, and cloud knowledge is expected?
• How important are communication and teamwork skills compared with technical skills?
• What would you focus on if you were preparing for an international DevOps/SRE role from scratch today?

I'm not looking for job offers or referrals. I'm mainly trying to identify my knowledge gaps, learn from people with real experience, and build a better learning path.

If you're working abroad as a DevOps/SRE engineer and are open to sharing your experience, I'd really appreciate a chat. Even a short 15–20 minute conversation would be very helpful.

Happy to connect with others who are on a similar path too. We can exchange what we're learning and help each other improve.

Thanks!

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For people who work in these fields:

- Which field is more realistic for a fresher to break into?

- How difficult is it to get the first job in DevOps compared with Data Engineering?

- What skills/tools are actually expected from entry-level candidates?

- Are certifications useful, or should I focus mainly on projects?

- What kind of projects would actually make a fresher's resume stand out?

- If you were starting again in 2026, which path would you choose and why?

I’m not looking for a "which field pays more" answer. I’m mainly interested in job availability, entry-level opportunities, learning curve, and long-term career growth.

Any advice from people who have actually worked in either field would be appreciated.

Buying help

Budget: ₹80,000

Country: India

Use Case: Coding, Linux, Docker/Kubernetes practice — currently doing a Cloud Computing & DevOps course, will also use it for work after

Preferred Specs: Intel i5 or better / Ryzen 7, 16GB RAM (512GB+), ideally with RAM/storage that's upgradeable later

Trying to find the best laptop for someone getting into Cloud/DevOps — so it needs to handle Docker containers, VMs, and multitasking well, not just basic coding. Do I need to buy one with GPU or not?

Looking at options like the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (Ryzen 7), ASUS Vivobook 16, ,hp Victus and Acer Aspire 5 so far — open to other suggestions too. Also want it to run Linux well (dual boot or WSL2), and last a few years without feeling outdated.

Would love to hear from people actually working in DevOps/cloud roles — what do you wish you'd bought when you started out?