Start here: what DevOps and cloud engineers do, and your roadmap
When you open the M-Pesa app, a bank's website or a school portal, it runs on servers somewhere, often in "the cloud". Someone built that infrastructure, automated how new code reaches it, and keeps it running day and night. That's the work of DevOps and cloud engineers.
What is DevOps?
DevOps joins Development (writing software) and Operations (running it). Instead of developers "throwing code over the wall" to a separate team, DevOps teams share responsibility and automate the path from code to production:
- Write code and save it in Git
- Automatically build and test it (continuous integration, CI)
- Automatically deploy it (continuous delivery/deployment, CD)
- Monitor it in production and fix problems fast
- Learn and improve
What is the cloud?
Cloud computing means renting computing resources (servers, storage, databases, networking) over the internet instead of buying and running your own hardware. You pay for what you use and can grow or shrink in minutes. The biggest providers are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Jobs in this field
| Role | Focus |
|---|---|
| DevOps engineer | CI/CD pipelines, automation, containers, deployment |
| Cloud engineer / architect | Designing and building systems on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud |
| Site reliability engineer (SRE) | Keeping systems fast and available; monitoring and incidents |
| Platform engineer | Internal tools that make developers productive |
| Systems / Linux administrator | Servers, users, updates, backups (a common starting point) |
| Cloud security engineer | Securing cloud accounts, networks and data |
Skills you'll need (and where to learn them)
| Skill | Learn here |
|---|---|
| Linux command line | Linux subject |
| Networking (IP, DNS, ports, subnetting) | Networking subject |
| Git and GitHub | Git subject |
| A scripting language (Bash, Python) | Linux: Bash scripts, Python |
| Web hosting basics | Web hosting subject |
| Cloud, CI/CD, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, monitoring | This subject |
Your roadmap (about 6–9 months part-time)
- Foundations (months 1–2): Linux, networking, Git, one scripting language.
- Cloud basics (month 3): one provider's core services; a free-tier account with cost alerts.
- Automation (month 4): CI/CD with GitHub Actions.
- Containers (month 5): Docker and Docker Compose.
- Infrastructure as code (month 6): Terraform.
- Kubernetes and monitoring (months 7–8).
- Portfolio and certification (month 9): deploy real projects; take an entry certification.
Think about it: A small online shop in Nairobi deploys new features by copying files to its server by hand every Friday night, and the site often breaks. Which DevOps practices would help first?Show answer
Put the code in Git, add automated tests and a CI pipeline that runs them on every change, deploy automatically through a CD pipeline (with an easy rollback), and add monitoring with alerts. Smaller, frequent, automated releases break less than big manual ones.
Summary
- DevOps automates the path from code to production and shares responsibility for running it.
- Cloud computing rents servers, storage and services on demand (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
- Roles: DevOps, cloud, SRE, platform, sysadmin and cloud security engineers.
- Learn Linux, networking and Git first, then cloud, CI/CD, Docker, Terraform and Kubernetes.
Check yourself
What do the letters CI stand for? (two words)
Show answer
continuous integration
Name one of the three biggest cloud providers. (one word or abbreviation)
Show answer
aws
What should you turn on from day one to avoid surprise cloud bills? (two words: billing ___)
Show answer
alerts