Job interview take home assignment

This company basically has me implementing a single node cluster locally and doing the entire write up and documentation in one day along with readme’s for each tool (ex: helm, tf, overall repo).

The sent me a few dirs and files(skeleton) and everything was practically blank/empty safe for empty templating and helm configs (thank God i didn’t have to make that up too). I have to add and test all dependencies with versioning. Create and configure all necessary terraform files.


Is this normal? This is the last step in the interview process. Although I’m finding it fun and understand the “why”, it’s just really taking quite a bit of time. I have been interviewing with other companies and none of them requested anything similar.

https://redd.it/1i2680q
@r_devops

Should My Startup Use Cloud Services or Local Equipment for Hosting?

We’re a small startup preparing to launch our web application. Our outsourcing partner recommends purchasing local equipment for hosting, but we’re considering cloud services like AWS for flexibility and easier maintenance.

Here are the key factors:

1. Early stage with unpredictable resource usage.
2. Limited budget but need scalability.
3. We want to minimize costs without compromising service quality.

What approach would you recommend for startups in this situation? Are cloud services generally more cost-effective and scalable in the long term, or should we start with local equipment and later migrate?

Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated!

https://redd.it/1i2abdp
@r_devops

Are YAMLs and Bash enough for CI/CD?

I’ve been doing CI/CD for a while, from Jenkins to GitLab CI and GitHub Actions. Recently, with this whole platform engineering approach, I’ve started feeling stuck with the CI platforms. And it’s not just CI/CD—it’s also about automations for resource ochestration, ephemeral environments, spinning up new services, custom tests, and so on.

We’re building increasingly complex automations, and sometimes plain Bash just isn’t enough. I really love Bash, but we all know how hard it can be to develop, debug, test, and reuse code with it. On top of that, we often end up creating custom images every time we need something like jq, yq, or docker.

I’m considering introducing a programming language like Python or Go for these more complex automations. The idea would be to use the CI platform just to define when and where scripts run, keeping the logic portable.

I’ve looked into tools like Dagger.io, but I’m hesitant to add another dependency when I’m trying to reduce them. Also know Humanitec have a "Platform Ochestrator" to handle this complex logic, but again, is another commitment.

Have you implemented something like that? How was it? Was it worth it?

You recommend doing full Python/Go/etc scripting or mixing some bash for less complex automations?

How much do you value the “portability” property on your automations/CI Scripts? 

Is this being discussed somewhere? 

Would love to hear your thoughts!

https://redd.it/1i29vyv
@r_devops

Share your story about how you manage to automate your job in your company

I’ve always been curious about how people manage to automate everything, and get so much free time to a point where they basically can get a second job and still not worried about their system being unstable. How do you guys do it?

https://redd.it/1i2dnpk
@r_devops

Has anyone checked out Pagerduty’s AIOps?

Has anyone used this or taken a deeper dive into it? Curious if it’s legit or if it’s too good to be true?

https://redd.it/1i2dvyn
@r_devops

Docker: still worth relearning?

I'm not trying to make myself super marketable, but I also don't want to learn a dying technology. I used to know basic docker skills about 10ish years ago (give or take), and I'm wanting to spin up some basic web apps partly for the fun of it. Is docker worth investing my time or should I leverage something else to handle my infra needs?

https://redd.it/1i2g0mm
@r_devops

Has anyone successfully used Cursor AI with a PostgreSQL database?

I’m trying to write and run my SQL scripts directly from the Cursor IDE instead of copying and pasting them into the Google Cloud SQL console. I’ve already downloaded the PostgreSQL extension (developed by Chris Kolkman) and connected my database to Cursor. However, I can’t seem to run the scripts. Cursor gives me this error message:
“You don’t have an extension for debugging 'MS SQL'. Should we find a 'MS SQL' extension in the Marketplace?”

Has anyone else managed to run SQL commands from Cursor with a PostgreSQL database? If so, what steps did you follow to get it working?

https://redd.it/1i2f7q7
@r_devops

Anyone have a good Adobe pdf editor alternative?

Adobe is raising prices on acrobat and I’m not sure why we pay this much just so users can edit pdfs. We tried CutePDF but users hate it. Any luck with other options?

https://redd.it/1i2ht5x
@r_devops

Does having a masters increase your job prospects?

Hello, Im 29, have 6 years of experience in devops/ sysadmin. I worked for 2 companies within those 6 years.. However I do not have even a degree and all the job postings I've seen has degree/masters as a requirement for the job.

I was wondering if doing a master's degree would be worth the time, money and effort to increase my career prospects and help my job application standout, especially in other countries as I want to find a job abroad, I have been told that since in countries like north America and Europe the amount of job application is so high they use some software that autofilters applicants and currently its a pain to land an IT job



https://redd.it/1i2k9xe
@r_devops

Chef - the credentials toml file is empty in Chef Automate and Infra installation

Hello

I have deployed chef automate and infra at the same time within using below command. This is supposed to automatically generate toml credential file.

sudo chef-automate deploy --product infra-server

It installed everything and when i opened the toml credential file, it was empty. I can access the the fqdn url but I don't have admin password.

Is there anyway I can generate toml credential file using command?


Thanks

https://redd.it/1i2kmqc
@r_devops

Got my first assessment at internship but no Guidance.

I recently got DevOps internship at a startup, i got first assessment of making a alert rules based on metrics logs and traces using signoz (observability tool ) i dont know where can i see matrics and how can i create alerts properly please guide me step by step

https://redd.it/1i2hesq
@r_devops

From Struggling to Thriving: Building a DevOps Accountability Community

I wanted to share my journey and why I decided to start an accountability group. Like many, I've struggled with staying consistent and focused, especially working from home as a DevOps Engineer. I found myself juggling too many tasks, overcommitting, and falling behind. Despite being passionate about productivity, I wasn't always following my own advice, and that gap between knowledge and action was frustrating.

At one point, I was placed on a performance improvement plan, struggling with procrastination and feeling overwhelmed by imposter syndrome or simply not having a clue what I was doing. It was a tough place to be, but things have turned around now.

I first started out by joining a generic accountability Discord server, and it worked to some extent. However, I wanted something more focused on DevOps, blending professional development with personal growth. That's when the idea of creating a specialized accountability group came to life. I wanted a space where people could share goals, track progress, and support one another through challenges. It wasn't just about ticking tasks off a list it was about fostering consistency, building momentum, and celebrating progress, no matter how small.

After recognizing these challenges, I took proactive steps to turn things around. I reached out for counseling to tackle self-doubt and develop a more positive mindset. I also began implementing small daily habits like meditation and walking to ground myself and regain focus. These changes started making a difference, but I realized I needed more structure and support.

Since starting the group last year, we've had some great successes. Many members are actively pursuing certifications like the CKA, CKS, and CKAD, and one member recently passed their CKAD! Some have even moved on in their careers, taking on new roles and advancing professionally. Personally, being part of this group has helped me hit other goals, such as starting to meditate every day and passing my Taekwondo grading. Being part of this close-knit community keeps me engaged in the subject and allows me to make new discoveries through shared experiences and insights. It's a powerful reminder that our actions influence others, and together we can inspire positive change.

This experience has reinforced the power of community and accountability in personal and professional growth. If you're struggling to stay on track with your goals, consider finding or creating a space where you can grow alongside others. The support and shared commitment can make all the difference.

Would love to hear from others who've found accountability helpful or are thinking about starting their own groups! Also, if you're interested in joining our accountability group, feel free to DM me! We're always open to sharing insights and feeding back into the wider Reddit DevOps community to help others grow and succeed.

Stay productive, Alan

https://redd.it/1i2m2ep
@r_devops

Please roast my resume, not getting any callbacks

Hi Everyone,

A little background about me: I'm from India and I have 8 years of experience in full stack and 3 years of experience in DevOps. I transitioned from development to DevOps at my previous job as I was more interested. I quit my full-time job 6 months ago to try something on my own, but it didn't go as well as I expected, so I had to shut down my product and am now looking for a full-time job again.

To my surprise, I've been applying for the past month but haven't received even a single call from recruiters. Do they see my 6 months as a career gap or is it a red flag?

I don't have Kubernetes experience as my company always insisted on using cloud container orchestration (Cloud Run, Google App Engine). I'm planning to prepare for CKA, but the pressure of being jobless is driving me nuts and I can't really focus on certification at the moment.

I've been applying via LinkedIn but not getting any responses back. Any tips or suggestions?

Here is my resume: https://imgur.com/a/VyAxTfD

Thanks!

https://redd.it/1i2okqt
@r_devops

Need Help: "domain doesn't support a secure connection" issue

Hey everyone,

I'm dealing with a frustrating issue on one of our sites and could really use some help. I've tried Google, ChatGPT, and even the Cloudflare community, but no luck so far.

Some users are randomly seeing a warning that says, "example.com doesn't support a secure connection." I’ve double-checked the SSL and Apache configurations, and everything seems fine on my end.

The strange part is that it doesn’t happen to all users—just a random subset. Our domain is set up with Cloudflare, which then proxies to an EC2 instance hosting a WordPress site.

I’d prefer not to share the domain publicly, but I can DM it if that helps troubleshoot the issue.

Thanks in advance for any insights!

https://preview.redd.it/bn8l347xycde1.jpg?width=1252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f0ddefb514c29df38633076c3e6f616b395af36

https://redd.it/1i2pqpe
@r_devops

Work from anywhere companies

Hi all, hoping you can help me out here. I have ambitions to work abroad in Canada, and am close to gaining a temporary open work permit there, however I have heard that the tech job market isnt great at the moment.

What I'd really appreciate if you could suggest any companies I could apply to for roles as a DevOps/Cloud/Platform engineer that I could start in the UK but move to Canada for a couple years keeping the same role. So any companies that are truly 'work from anywhere' you could suggest would be massively appreciated.

They don't need to currently have roles open for my desired position, just getting an idea for the companies would be most helpful!

https://redd.it/1i2q1s6
@r_devops

Consolidation into DataDog -- questions and experiences

Hi,

We're considering consolidating CloudWatch, SumoLogic and Sentry into DataDog. We're currently using DataDog for APM, Tracing and so on, just not logs or error management.


I was curious whether folks here have done it before and what your experience was like, any lessons learned and any questions you'd recommend we ask in the process.

https://redd.it/1i2sbvl
@r_devops

Docker vs CapRover vs Bare Metal

Hi,

I'm a software engineer launching a web application.

I'm running the app on a basic 4GB RAM and ~45 GB hard drive.

I've been running everything bare metal, which means
- I've had to set up pgBackRest for backups
- systemd scripts for my app
- systemd script for nginx
- nginx configuration, nginx for reverse proxy to provide an additional layer of security and sometimes at some point I had a demo app running besides the main one
- letsencrypt ssl with a cron job to renew it

I'm now dealing with DB migrations, so I started making a script to copy the postgres backups to my local machine, make a restore to load them in the DB, run the app with auto migrations off so that it can generate the migrations needed. The plan after this is done is to review the changes manually, and if accepted, have another script which will connect to the server to do the migrations, and then run the script which deploys the latest version of the app to the server.

It's my first deployment on my own not as part of a big company, so even though I did have to do a bit of devops in the past, some of these are a first to me.

I'm wondering now whether I should've just use a PaaS open source tool to take care of a lot of these things so that I can just focus on developing the software.

Does anyone have experience running a PaaS tool in a low powered server? What's the real overhead? What's a minimum ram so that the overhead is not too much? Will a PaaS tool really help, or will I just be bogged down configuring the PaaS instead of writing simple bash scripts and it's not actually worth it unless running multiple servers?

Do you have recommendations between (or anything else):
- https://github.com/dokku/dokku
- https://github.com/CapRover/CapRover
- https://github.com/Dokploy/dokploy
- https://github.com/coollabsio/coolify

I'm not running your standard django or ruby application, this is in a more obsucre language, so I probably need to anyways have some script for deployment. Right now my script git clones my repo, installs dependencies, and then restarts the systemd process. Just wanted to point that out in case these tools are too tightly coupled with the popular frameworks.

Thanks in advance!

https://redd.it/1i2tt7q
@r_devops

Eks auto mode for existing clusters with blue-green node groups.

Are EKS version upgrades with auto mode possible with a blue/green node groups ? if so, how?



https://redd.it/1i2uvna
@r_devops

Is there a current "state of the art" consensus? What's still going to be good 5 years from now?

I'm with a group whose infra and applications are all nearing end of life and have been tasked with designing (then presumably implementing) the infrastructure and processes around rebuilding the apps over the next 5 years.

What I think of as our best options are from when I learned it and am wondering what the current consensus is around the best infra (we're an Azure shop and I don't see that changing), security, testing, monitoring/alerting, CI/CD, etc.

So is there any consensus around the medium term future is for those areas or even a good resource for updating my understanding to what current and coming?

https://redd.it/1i2sf02
@r_devops

What does your devops support ticket lifecycle look like?

We'd love to learn how your team handles devops support queries. Where do the requests live? (Jira??), what are the different stages of solving them? how many tickets per day does your team get? What are the most repeated queries?

We'd love to learn! We're working on an AI devops agent to automate the repetetive bits that teams handle on a day to day basis, it's super early, here's a demo.

We'd love any and all insight.

https://redd.it/1i2zvhk
@r_devops

Courses recommendations for someone already working in the field?

Hello, I recently got a job where I worked on a project where I did things that I would consider Devops:

Kubernetes deployment and management
Ansible automation
CD/CD pipeline automation
Deployment of apps and services and their integration (LDAP, SSO, etc)

While I already had varying levels of familiarity with most of the concepts, I practically never had hands-on experience with them, I've been able to learn on the go and deliver on my tasks, but I feel like I have huge knowledge gaps that make my job harder than it should.

I was wondering if you know if any recommended courses that takes you thru a project to learn hands-on?

https://redd.it/1i31ib4
@r_devops