I'm a DevOps Engineer. I manage the infrastructure and deployment pipelines that get software safely from a developer's laptop all the way into production. I started out as a developer who was genuinely afraid of the command line, so owning the whole pipeline now is a big leap for me. I get to automate, build, and keep things reliable, which I find deeply satisfying. It's the most rewarding work I've ever done.
I began as a junior developer. I could write code well enough, but Linux servers and deployments intimidated me, and I avoided them whenever I possibly could. I wanted to own more than just the application I was writing, but the operations side felt like a wall I couldn't get over. Getting past that wall became my personal goal. I knew I'd never grow the way I wanted to if I kept avoiding it.
I was drawn to DevOps because I didn't want to just hand my code off and hope it ran somewhere else. I wanted to actually understand and control the systems it lived on. The idea of automating deployments and owning reliability really appealed to the engineer in me. It felt like the natural next step in my growth rather than a sideways move. I wanted the whole picture, not just my slice of it.
CertLabz put me in a real shell with real tasks instead of letting me hide from it. The command-line labs let me practice file systems, permissions, services, and scripting until the terminal genuinely stopped scaring me. The performance-based questions threw realistic problems at me, and I solved them hands-on rather than in theory. By the end, operations felt like home rather than foreign, hostile territory. That shift in confidence was everything for me.
"The command-line labs were exactly what I needed. RHCSA gave me the foundation to move into DevOps."
Juan Shen Lee, DevOps EngineerLinux turned out to be the key that unlocked everything else for me. Once I was truly comfortable there, containers and pipelines followed much more naturally than I expected.
Earning my RHCSA was the clear turning point in my career. It proved I had real Linux administration skills, which is the genuine backbone of DevOps work. With that credential and my existing development background, I moved into a DevOps role in Silicon Valley. It gave me both the confidence and the credibility I needed to make the jump. That certification told employers I could be trusted with infrastructure, not just code.
What I valued most was being forced, in a good way, into the parts I'd been avoiding. CertLabz didn't let me stay in my comfort zone of just writing code. The hands-on labs made the scary parts familiar through sheer practice. I also appreciated how realistic the tasks were, because they mirrored the actual job. That realism is what made the transition feel seamless once I got hired.
If the command line scares you, that's exactly where you need to spend your time. Don't just read about Linux; live in it until it genuinely feels natural to you. A credential like RHCSA proves you've actually done the work and gives employers real confidence in you. Owning the whole pipeline is absolutely worth the effort it takes to get there. Face the part you fear, and the rest opens up.
Next, I'm going deeper into Kubernetes and cloud-native infrastructure to round out my DevOps skills. I'd like to grow into a senior engineering role and eventually help design systems at real scale. Coming from development, I love that I can now bridge both worlds, code and operations. I'm also keen to mentor other developers who are intimidated by the command line, like I once was. The pace of the field keeps me learning constantly, which is exactly what I wanted. That ongoing challenge is a big part of why I love this work.
