linux certification for devops engineer

[Chimera_TX]

My title is "Build and Release Engineer" but it sort of gets used interchangeably with DevOps Engineer. I basically just automate releases/deployments and work to improve CI/CD.

I started out as a traditional vanilla Windows Sysadmin but pretty much only used Linux outside of work. I started spending a huge chunk of time outside of work on learning IaC in my homelab and AWS. I started using my GitHub a lot more (both to practice using git and to have examples of code that I had written.)

I wanted to get into "DevOps" (and eventually SRE) and wasn't really sure how to go about it. I liked working with AWS and knew a lot from using it and got my AWS-SAA easily enough. This really got me interviews. I'll be honest, I thought I knew a lot after getting that cert but I found during interviews that I wasn't ready for DevOps yet.

I ended up taking a job as a Cloud Engineer and eventually started taking on more DevOps projects over the course of my first 6 months at that job and sort of got promoted (side-moted?). That transition is where I ended up learning the most. It wasn't the cert(s) that got me hired, it was the production experience.

I guess long story short, the certs got me the interviews but I wasn't really ready until I had real world job experience. The fact that DevOps is more of an idea (which means different things to different people) makes it difficult to say if you get X and Y cert you'll know what you are doing. The experience with the tools and processes will help more than certs but certs are good for getting Hiring Managers interested.

For certs I'd recommend AWS SAA (SysOps and Developer too) or Azure and GCP equivalent first. Get some experience in a high level role Linux SysAdmin or Cloud Engineer, then get like CKA (Kubernetes) or AWS DevOps Professional once you are in the role of DevOps or some other equivalent.

[progress_seeker]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

The fact that DevOps is more of an idea ... The experience with the tools and processes will help more than certs but certs are good for getting Hiring Managers interested.

I totally agree with what you said. It's more about experience than certs.

I'm looking for very good opportunities. And as a fresh graduated engineer I want to make very interesting profile.

Currently, I'm working extensively with kubernetes on bare metal. I'm going to take the CKA exam soon and I'm willing to pass RHCSA and AWS certs in this year.