When I got my first job, cloud was not a thing.

We had rows and rows of racks holding Linux servers. As a fresh engineer just out of college, I was overwhelmed by the complexity of the systems that these Linux servers formed up. This complexity intrigued me.

I became curious to know what went on inside these boxes.

So I set to work. I studied documentations, read articles, asked questions, made a lot of notes, and did a lot of testings.

By and by, the grey areas began getting illuminated. I could almost see through what each of our Linux boxes were doing. I developed a notion of what things generally go wrong. And the overwhelmingness feeling disappeared.

I became good at my work. I became known for solving hard technical problems. I became a go-to person for certain technical matters.

I became a key resource person inside my team.

Several years later, we started the cloud transformation. We all faced a steep learning curve. I followed an approach similar to what I followed at the start of my career. And I successfully transformed into a DevOps role.

The deceptively simple mission

A DevOps engineer's responsibility is simple: move code from a developer's machine to production reliably and efficiently.

But this "simple" task is a labyrinth of complexity. The path from code to customer is fraught with variables:

To begin with, there are diverse technologies. Monolithic Java applications, Go microservices, Python-based machine learning models, and so one. Every software application is different.

Then, there are unique requirements from Dev teams, QAs, product managers, etc. The development team might need specific testing frameworks, while the business demands a 99.999% availability SLA.

Infrastructure is like a maze. There are different cloud environments like AWS, Azure, GCP, and also private cloud. In the cloud you can have Kubernetes, serverless functions, virtual machines, and a host of other cloud services.

The DevOps landscape is peppered with tools for CI/CD, monitoring, infrastructure as code, security, and more. These tools have their pros and cons. And people tend to love some tools and shun some other tools.

So, while your primary DevOps engineering objective remains simple, the things that you need to do to achieve that objective is not so simple.

As a DevOps engineer, you're the one provisioning cloud infrastructure, architecting CI/CD pipelines, fighting fires when things break, and constantly improving system visibility.

Being proficient in this work is incredibly challenging.

Your key to success

To navigate this complex territory, you need a solid understanding of how things work.

Oftentimes I see fresh DevOps engineers being satisfied by knowing just enough to get the job done. This surface-level knowledge may be enough to survive the day-to-day toil. But it limit your ability to achieve anything worthwhile.

On the other hand, when you understand the underlying principles and the nuances of networking, operating systems, and the tools you use, you unlock two superpowers:

1. You can build efficient systems. You can make informed decisions, choosing the right tool for the job and configuring it optimally because you understand its mechanics and limitations.

2. You can troubleshoot effectively when systems fail. You can reason from first principles to diagnose the problem. Time is precious at the time of a failure. You cannot waste this precious time groping in the darkness. It's only your understanding of how systems work can help you hit the nail on the head and recover the failure.

Let's be honest—diving into the technical weeds is boring.

Memorizing networking protocols or reading dense documentation isn't always glamorous. But this deep, foundational knowledge is the single greatest asset that will set you apart.

How to cultivate your (inner) highly efficient engineer

This is what I did and am still doing.

There's no reason that it will not work for you. Especially if you are a fresh DevOps engineer, these five habits can transform yourself to the highly efficient, highly sought after DevOps engineer.

#1: Take a lot of notes 📝

You will encounter a staggering amount of information in a new DevOps role. You simply cannot memorize it all. The act of writing things down cements knowledge in your brain.

Keep a notebook and jot down whatever the new knowledge you come across. Scribble the workflows, draw system architecture diagrams, and explain concepts to your future self.

This becomes your personal, searchable knowledge base.

#2: Embrace fixing faults 🛠️

An outage is not a disaster; it's a learning opportunity in disguise.

When something breaks, you have a golden ticket to explore the system's guts. To fix a fault, you have to understand what's broken and why.

Do not run away from problems. Instead, use the incident as a chance to ask questions from yourself and trace the problem through the stack.

#3: Ask "Why?" after every fix

Your primary responsibility during an incident is to restore service.

When the system is back online, many engineers call it a day. But the work isn't over for you—the highly efficient DevOps engineer. Be curious. Perform a root cause analysis (RCA) to find out why and how things went wrong.

This post-mortem investigation is where you'll discover the subtle nuances of your systems. And these insights will help you build the resilience to prevent future failures.

#4: Become a Writer ✍️

The best way to learn something is to teach it.

Writing is a form of teaching. Contribute to your company's knowledge base (or start one if it doesn't exist!). When you write an article explaining how to set up a tool or troubleshoot a common error, you force yourself to structure your thoughts and fill in any gaps in your own understanding.

# 5. Build, break, and repeat in a lab 🧪

There is no substitute for hands-on experience.

Set up a personal test lab using tools like Docker, Minikube, or a free cloud tier. A lab is a safe space where you can experiment, break things, and learn without consequence. Replicate parts of your production environment and test new ideas. This practical application of theoretical knowledge is what turns information into skill.

---

In the end, the tools and technologies will change, but the fundamental principles—and the curious mind that seeks to understand them—will always be in demand.

Your desire to pop the hood and see how the engine works is not just a personality quirk; it's your most valuable professional asset in a DevOps career.