Easiest way to Gain DevOps experience (FOR BEGINNERS!)
So many people are actually frustrated searching for jobs, and they don’t know how to get started. Regarding the issue of finding a job, I’ve had a lot of people reaching out to me saying, “Hey Mike, I want to get started with a job. I’ve applied for several interviews and opportunities, but I haven’t been called.”
The focus of today’s article is to share with you one site that helped me when I started my journey in the cloud industry. If you visit this site, you can get yourself started, and you can be sure you’ll gain the necessary skills. Once you go to this site and get yourself some free gigs, you’ll be able to start matching the skills you put on your resume with real-world tasks.
The site I want to share with you is called Upwork. When I started my journey in cloud computing, I was often depressed and unsure where to begin. Who would recruit me? How could I get started? Then, I went to Upwork and set up a freelancer account.
By clearly pitching my portfolio on Upwork, I was able to land some gigs. These gigs allowed me to practice and implement the skills I had gained while learning cloud computing. Some people find it difficult to retain jobs they secure, but with Upwork, you’ll find a vast number of gigs from clients looking for experts to solve specific problems.
Once you have an Upwork account and set up your profile, you can start taking gigs that will help position you for a full-time job. I started my career as a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) after landing a role on Upwork. This role gave me the opportunity to implement skills I had learned during my cloud computing journey.
Why am I sharing this with you? Because I want you to take a few minutes of your time to go on Upwork, set up your profile, and start applying for jobs. You don’t need to rely only on platforms like Indeed or LinkedIn. With Upwork, you can get gigs that will keep you busy solving problems and give you more opportunities to practice your skills.
Upwork is a global platform that’s straightforward to use. It’s not just for cloud computing experts but covers a wide variety of fields like development and IT, design and creative work, sales and marketing, writing and translation, legal work, engineering, finance and accounting, admin, and customer support. There are over 853 skills listed on Upwork, making it a valuable resource for professionals from various domains.
For example, if you have cloud skills like AWS, Terraform, Jenkins, or Kubernetes, you can find jobs that match these skills. You can also explore DevOps-specific roles like Site Reliability Engineer, Cloud Engineer, Solutions Architect, or other related positions.
If you’re specifically searching for DevOps gigs, type “DevOps” in the search bar on Upwork, and you’ll see numerous opportunities. These jobs are often remote and allow you to negotiate terms and conditions with clients. For example, one listing might require a consultant for ELK Stack, while another may look for a lead DevOps engineer or an infrastructure expert.
Once you’ve set up your Upwork profile, consider reading some of my other articles on setting up project repositories and performing hands-on AWS tasks that can help you land your first job. After gaining practical experience, you’ll be ready to position yourself for bigger opportunities.