From Software Development Bootcamp to Junior
DevOps Engineer
Cookie Lanfear
Why
• Diversity

• Experience
• Consider a non-traditional entry
route into the field 

• Either for yourself

• Or for your future colleague/
employee
Onboarding and Mentoring Apprentices with DevOps Culture -
Mercedes Coyle video
• Why hire an Apprentice?
• You have a strong desire to mentor and grow a new engineer
• Give back to the labour pool and tech community at large
• You can teach them your way of doing things
• They don’t yet have bad habits
• Inculcate DevOps culture and collaboration from the start
• New engineers bring with them infectious enthusiasm
• Source: https://vimeo.com/115484860
Popular Psychology - Self Help/Motivation Binge
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You - Cal Newport
• Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
• Winners - Alastair Campbell
• How To Have a Good Day - Caroline Webb
• Grit - Angela Duckworth
• Mindset - Carol Dweck
• A Mind for Numbers (and Coursera Learning How to Learn course) - Barbara Oakley
Self Help/Motivation Binge
“Why skills trump passion in the quest for work you love”
Craftsman Mindset > Passion Mindset*
*(when first starting to consider what you want to do for a job/
career) 

It is important to eventually cultivate both.
Topics we covered at CodeClan
16 Week Software Development Bootcamp
- Programming languages: Ruby, Java, JavaScript

- Object-Oriented Programming

- Working in teams: stand-up/emotional therapy, countless paired
programming labs, Git

- Introduction to algorithms, SOLID principles, RESTful APIs

- Web applications with Sinatra, Express

- Databases: SQL, SQLite, MongoDB

- 3 projects: 

- 1. Ruby, SQL, Sinatra

- 2. Java, IDEs, Android, SQLite

- 3. Group Project: JavaScript, Express, Google Maps API

- Learning from others way more experienced and knowledgeable
than I was
Friendship
Pear Programming
Dramatic re-enactment in graph form of what I knew (or
rather what I didn’t know and had to learn on the job)
That I knew nothing*
* I didn’t really know
how much I didn’t
actually know, and
probably still don’t
What is DevOps???
DevOps (a clipped compound of "development" and
"operations") is a software engineering practice that aims at
unifying software development (Dev) and software operation
(Ops). 



- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DevOps
What is DevOps???
Resources, Books and Training Courses, Oh My.
https://linuxacademy.com/
https://www.safaribooksonline.com/
https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-
devops-transforming-linuxfoundationx-
lfs161x

https://github.com/open-guides/og-aws
Resources, Books and Training Courses
A few cool projects I have been a part of
• Simple things like AMI rotations
• Terraform to create the AWS infrastructure to implement
Blue-Green deployments
• Monolith -> Microservices
• Reusable Terraform Modules
A few cool projects I have been a part of
Hypothetical Lesson Plan for the first 6 months
Reading List:
• Open Guide for AWS
• The Phoenix Project
• The DevOps Handbook
• Continuous Delivery
• Sign up for Linux Academy and Safari Books Online
Hypothetical Lesson Plan for the first 6 months
• Month 1 - just general on-boarding - write off anyway
• Get through the necessary security training etc
• Must feel comfortable with asking stupid questions
• Read ‘The Phoenix Project’
• Have the DevOps Handbook and Continuous Delivery on hand to refer to and read once finished
• Start own research as to what they want to learn
• Try not to break anything, but it’s okay if you do
• Start shadowing Mentor/colleague
• Be exposed to the problems and questions that other people ask
• Be involved with the general upkeep of services
• learn simple task like rotating an AMI and deploying and testing through environments
• As a team, documentation is very important for helping to on-board
Hypothetical Lesson Plan for the first 6 months
• Month 2-3
• Start and aim to complete Linux Essentials from Linux Academy
• Research the Cloud Computing Service of choice - ex. AWS
• Continue shadowing and working with mentor, taking time to progress through
Tuckman’s (1965) model of Team Development (Forming, Storming, Norming,
Performing) to finish a major project
• Deploy, learn more about Jenkins
Hypothetical Lesson Plan for the first 6 months
• Month 4
• Work with mentor on a couple of simple projects - start to learn another tool to
help with work Chef, Puppet, Terraform, Ansible, Docker etc etc
• Month 5 - build on previous work and knowledge, learn another tool
• Month 6 - finish another major project
• Reward them with a shout-out to validate their existence
• Be patient
What is DevOps?
• A whole team working together through the full work cycle to design, create, implement, protect, monitor and
deploy quickly and safely
• Using whatever tools we can to solve other people’s problems
• UPTIME
• It’s not a person, an occupation or a team
• A way of doing things that is business minded and factory inspired to improve the workflow of your team
Culture
What is DevOps?
• At this point I’m less concerned over the definition and I just
want to do whatever it takes to be able to do my job well
• Everyone has their own experiences and thus attribute
different definitions
Things I still have to learn
• EVERYTHING - I have so much more to learn and so far to go, but I think I will always
feel this way
• Gain better knowledge of current tools/skills set
• Refresh knowledge of programming and programming languages
• Pretty ‘Ops-centric’ at the moment
• Get more involved in the ‘Dev’ side of things?
• The next new shiny things
• More Linux
• Jenkins
• Get better at documentation
Failures/Lessons
• Trying to run before I could walk 

• Trying to learn Chef before I knew Linux

• Sometimes you will read/do/look at
something and it won’t make sense - you
will need to learn and gain more context
first

• Searching online for help with DevOps
problems is a lot harder - maybe less
people to ask and answer questions,
niche 

• Generally first time mentorship
relationships don’t work out — but it’s for
the best

• Stay hungry (for knowledge) but be
patient
The Future
Continue learning, practicing and doing as much as I can
GLA - Graduate Level Apprentice
Heriot-Watt University
The idea - build upon knowledge in a variety of contexts
Ideal: Work-based projects tie into university course work
I’m able to start university knowing what I want to do and what to
focus on
Get over social anxiety and just go to more tech meet-ups
Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
• “If I have seen further it is by
standing on the shoulders of
Giants” - Isaac Newton
Cookie Lanfear
@c_lanfy
DevOps Days Edinburgh
23 October 2017
Thank you

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DOD Presentation V2

  • 1. From Software Development Bootcamp to Junior DevOps Engineer Cookie Lanfear
  • 2. Why • Diversity • Experience • Consider a non-traditional entry route into the field • Either for yourself • Or for your future colleague/ employee
  • 3. Onboarding and Mentoring Apprentices with DevOps Culture - Mercedes Coyle video • Why hire an Apprentice? • You have a strong desire to mentor and grow a new engineer • Give back to the labour pool and tech community at large • You can teach them your way of doing things • They don’t yet have bad habits • Inculcate DevOps culture and collaboration from the start • New engineers bring with them infectious enthusiasm • Source: https://vimeo.com/115484860
  • 4. Popular Psychology - Self Help/Motivation Binge • So Good They Can’t Ignore You - Cal Newport • Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman • Winners - Alastair Campbell • How To Have a Good Day - Caroline Webb • Grit - Angela Duckworth • Mindset - Carol Dweck • A Mind for Numbers (and Coursera Learning How to Learn course) - Barbara Oakley
  • 5. Self Help/Motivation Binge “Why skills trump passion in the quest for work you love” Craftsman Mindset > Passion Mindset* *(when first starting to consider what you want to do for a job/ career) 
 It is important to eventually cultivate both.
  • 6. Topics we covered at CodeClan 16 Week Software Development Bootcamp - Programming languages: Ruby, Java, JavaScript - Object-Oriented Programming - Working in teams: stand-up/emotional therapy, countless paired programming labs, Git - Introduction to algorithms, SOLID principles, RESTful APIs - Web applications with Sinatra, Express - Databases: SQL, SQLite, MongoDB - 3 projects: - 1. Ruby, SQL, Sinatra - 2. Java, IDEs, Android, SQLite - 3. Group Project: JavaScript, Express, Google Maps API - Learning from others way more experienced and knowledgeable than I was Friendship Pear Programming
  • 7. Dramatic re-enactment in graph form of what I knew (or rather what I didn’t know and had to learn on the job) That I knew nothing* * I didn’t really know how much I didn’t actually know, and probably still don’t
  • 8. What is DevOps??? DevOps (a clipped compound of "development" and "operations") is a software engineering practice that aims at unifying software development (Dev) and software operation (Ops). 
 
 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DevOps
  • 10. Resources, Books and Training Courses, Oh My. https://linuxacademy.com/ https://www.safaribooksonline.com/ https://www.edx.org/course/introduction- devops-transforming-linuxfoundationx- lfs161x
 https://github.com/open-guides/og-aws
  • 11. Resources, Books and Training Courses
  • 12. A few cool projects I have been a part of • Simple things like AMI rotations • Terraform to create the AWS infrastructure to implement Blue-Green deployments • Monolith -> Microservices • Reusable Terraform Modules
  • 13. A few cool projects I have been a part of
  • 14. Hypothetical Lesson Plan for the first 6 months Reading List: • Open Guide for AWS • The Phoenix Project • The DevOps Handbook • Continuous Delivery • Sign up for Linux Academy and Safari Books Online
  • 15. Hypothetical Lesson Plan for the first 6 months • Month 1 - just general on-boarding - write off anyway • Get through the necessary security training etc • Must feel comfortable with asking stupid questions • Read ‘The Phoenix Project’ • Have the DevOps Handbook and Continuous Delivery on hand to refer to and read once finished • Start own research as to what they want to learn • Try not to break anything, but it’s okay if you do • Start shadowing Mentor/colleague • Be exposed to the problems and questions that other people ask • Be involved with the general upkeep of services • learn simple task like rotating an AMI and deploying and testing through environments • As a team, documentation is very important for helping to on-board
  • 16. Hypothetical Lesson Plan for the first 6 months • Month 2-3 • Start and aim to complete Linux Essentials from Linux Academy • Research the Cloud Computing Service of choice - ex. AWS • Continue shadowing and working with mentor, taking time to progress through Tuckman’s (1965) model of Team Development (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing) to finish a major project • Deploy, learn more about Jenkins
  • 17. Hypothetical Lesson Plan for the first 6 months • Month 4 • Work with mentor on a couple of simple projects - start to learn another tool to help with work Chef, Puppet, Terraform, Ansible, Docker etc etc • Month 5 - build on previous work and knowledge, learn another tool • Month 6 - finish another major project • Reward them with a shout-out to validate their existence • Be patient
  • 18. What is DevOps? • A whole team working together through the full work cycle to design, create, implement, protect, monitor and deploy quickly and safely • Using whatever tools we can to solve other people’s problems • UPTIME • It’s not a person, an occupation or a team • A way of doing things that is business minded and factory inspired to improve the workflow of your team Culture
  • 19. What is DevOps? • At this point I’m less concerned over the definition and I just want to do whatever it takes to be able to do my job well • Everyone has their own experiences and thus attribute different definitions
  • 20. Things I still have to learn • EVERYTHING - I have so much more to learn and so far to go, but I think I will always feel this way • Gain better knowledge of current tools/skills set • Refresh knowledge of programming and programming languages • Pretty ‘Ops-centric’ at the moment • Get more involved in the ‘Dev’ side of things? • The next new shiny things • More Linux • Jenkins • Get better at documentation
  • 21. Failures/Lessons • Trying to run before I could walk • Trying to learn Chef before I knew Linux • Sometimes you will read/do/look at something and it won’t make sense - you will need to learn and gain more context first • Searching online for help with DevOps problems is a lot harder - maybe less people to ask and answer questions, niche • Generally first time mentorship relationships don’t work out — but it’s for the best • Stay hungry (for knowledge) but be patient
  • 22. The Future Continue learning, practicing and doing as much as I can GLA - Graduate Level Apprentice Heriot-Watt University The idea - build upon knowledge in a variety of contexts Ideal: Work-based projects tie into university course work I’m able to start university knowing what I want to do and what to focus on Get over social anxiety and just go to more tech meet-ups
  • 24. Final Thoughts • “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants” - Isaac Newton
  • 25. Cookie Lanfear @c_lanfy DevOps Days Edinburgh 23 October 2017 Thank you