r/cloudengineering

I've been into coding for as long as I can remember. Even though I've never worked professionally as a software engineer, tech has always been a huge part of my life. I was fortunate enough to always be good with my money, and if I ever needed help, my mom had my back (which honestly wasn't often). Because of that, I never felt forced to jump into the first coding job I could find.

I've worked in non-tech jobs my whole life, but I was always the person everyone came to when something tech-related broke or needed to be figured out.

During the pandemic, I paid out of pocket to attend the Rutgers Coding Bootcamp. Looking back, that bootcamp was the icing on the cake. I had already been teaching myself for years, but after finishing it, everything just clicked. My JavaScript improved dramatically, I became a stronger programmer overall, and even data structures and algorithms started making a lot more sense.

Then ChatGPT came along, and that changed the way I learned even more. Instead of getting generic Google results, I could ask follow-up questions, dive deeper into concepts, and actually have conversations about programming. It became one of the best learning tools I've ever used.

The moment I realized I'd come a long way was when I started talking with other developers. I've had conversations with people who have been in the industry for several years and with people who had just graduated. Sometimes I was teaching them concepts they hadn't seen before, and other times I was learning from them. Those conversations made me realize I actually knew a lot more than I gave myself credit for.

This Fourth of July weekend, I found myself watching AWS tutorials and cloud engineering project videos on YouTube because I'm trying to break into cloud engineering and DevOps. Somewhere in the middle of those videos, I realized something: I genuinely love learning this stuff. Whether it's AWS, backend development, networking, or software architecture, I enjoy figuring out how everything works.

I'll be honest, frontend development has never been my favorite. I can do it, and I've gotten pretty good at it over the years, but backend, cloud, infrastructure, and system design are what really keep me interested.

This weekend alone, I built two AWS-focused projects:

• A Dropbox-style cloud storage application using Amazon S3 with secure file uploads and downloads, along with a React/Next.js frontend.
• A production-style AWS networking project with a custom VPC, public and private subnets, security groups, IAM roles, and a foundation that's ready to grow into a larger cloud architecture.

Right now I'm working on adding database support so uploaded files can have metadata stored instead of relying only on S3. I'm thinking about integrating PostgreSQL or DynamoDB, adding user authentication, file ownership, sharing permissions, presigned URLs, logging, monitoring with CloudWatch, and eventually deploying everything with Docker, Terraform, and a CI/CD pipeline.

I'd love to hear from people already working in cloud or DevOps. If this were your portfolio project, what would you add next to make it stand out to recruiters or hiring managers? Is there anything you'd expect to see in a production-ready cloud application that I'm missing?

It honestly reminded me why I started coding in the first place. I don't just enjoy writing code. I love understanding how entire systems fit together, and I'm hoping to turn years of self-learning, side projects, and curiosity into my first opportunity in the industry.

Hi everyone,

I'm a BCA student from India and I'm considering a career in Cloud Computing, but I'm still unsure if it's the right path.

I'd love to hear from people who are already working in Cloud (Cloud Support, Cloud Engineer, DevOps, SRE, Solutions Architect, etc.).

A few questions:

• How did you get your first cloud job?
• Was it difficult to get hired as a fresher?
• Do you still think Cloud is a good career in 2026?
• What does your day-to-day work actually look like?
• How much coding do you use?
• What do you enjoy the most, and what do you dislike?
• If you could start over today, would you still choose Cloud? If not, what would you choose instead?
• What roadmap would you recommend to someone starting from scratch?

I'm looking for honest experiences, not YouTube hype. I want to understand what working in Cloud is really like before I commit to this career.

Please mention your role (Cloud Support, Cloud Engineer, DevOps, SRE, Solutions Architect, etc.) and years of experience, so I can understand your perspective.

Thanks in advance! 🙏

https://preview.redd.it/3xmq3vww8fbh1.png?width=722&format=png&auto=webp&s=dc6afb8d5c308105df6b907023dda89d50bf7826

Some companies rejected me as over qualified for 4.5LPA then what can I aim for ?

Hello, as title says i am a student planning to deploy or emulate cloud infra in local device (computer)

WHY ??

I am learning AWS and my free tier is over and i need to build projects for my internship

SO, does building projects in local environment is considered in interviews ??

I have no idea what to do now , Suggestions are opened and appreciated

Hi everyone,

I'm currently studying BCA in India.

I chose BCA because I wanted to work in tech, but I've realized that I don't enjoy coding enough to make it my full-time job. I don't mind learning some coding if it's required, but I don't want to spend my entire career writing code.

A few people have suggested Cloud Computing and DevOps. Are these actually good career options in 2026?

I have a few questions:

• Is there good demand for Cloud/DevOps in India and abroad?
• Can freshers realistically get Cloud/DevOps jobs, or do most companies expect prior experience?
• How much coding is actually involved?
• Is it a good long-term career with decent salary growth?
• If Cloud/DevOps isn't the best choice, what field or job role would you recommend for someone like me?
• If you were in my position, what career path would you choose and why?
• What roadmap and certifications would you recommend for a BCA student starting from scratch?

I'm genuinely confused and don't want to spend years learning the wrong skill. I'd really appreciate honest advice from people working in the industry or anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Thanks in advance!

I built a small tool to catch infra risks before production releases
I’ve been working on a project called Beacon.
The idea came from a very practical problem I’ve seen in distributed systems: before a release, teams usually have dashboards, logs, Terraform files, Kafka configs, Kubernetes manifests, runtime snapshots, etc. But still, the actual question is usually very simple:
“Is this system safe enough to release to production?”
Beacon tries to answer that.
It scans infrastructure/config/runtime inputs and gives a production-readiness decision with ranked risks, possible root causes, and suggested next actions. Right now it has examples around Kafka, Kubernetes, Terraform, Helm, runtime snapshots, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Schema Registry, CI/CD, and flow degradation.
This is not meant to replace observability tools. The way I think about it is:
Observability tells you what is happening.
Beacon tries to tell you what is risky, why it matters, and what should be fixed first.
You can try the demo without setting up Python locally.
Run the UI with Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/mishraricha1806/beacon:latest

docker run --rm -p 8765:8765 ghcr.io/mishraricha1806/beacon:latest ui --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8765

Then open:

http://127.0.0.1:8765/

For the simplest demo, use the sample bad infrastructure example from the repo:

examples/bad-infra/

In the UI, choose the static/readiness input, upload the files from that folder, run the scan, and check the readiness score, top reasons, grouped risks, and next actions.
You can also run the same demo from CLI:

docker run --rm \
  -v "$PWD:/workspace/project:ro" \
  ghcr.io/mishraricha1806/beacon:latest readiness static \
  /workspace/project/examples/bad-infra \
  --environment prod \
  --no-html \
  --no-open-report

Expected result is the tool should flag the setup as NOT READY, with risks like replication, storage/message-size, and missing governance context.
There is also a Black Friday style demo for payment/event pipeline readiness:

docker run --rm \
  -v "$PWD:/workspace/project:ro" \
  ghcr.io/mishraricha1806/beacon:latest readiness all \
  --static-path /workspace/project/examples/demo-black-friday \
  --snapshot /workspace/project/examples/demo-black-friday/runtime-snapshot.yaml \
  --environment prod \
  --no-html \
  --no-open-report

Repo: https://github.com/mishraricha1806/beacon
I’d be interested in feedback from people who work with Kafka, Kubernetes, Terraform, platform engineering, SRE, or release governance.
Mainly looking for thoughts on:

• Does this kind of readiness gate feel useful before production releases?
• What signals would you expect such a tool to check?
• Would you prefer this as a CLI, CI/CD gate, or lightweight UI?

GitHub

GitHub - mishraricha1806/beacon: Detect infrastructure risks before production.

I will start with this, I'm not a Cloud Engineer. I'm a junior SDE. Never worked on Azure (used Azure Repos and Azure Pipeline here and there once). recruiter said that it will be an hour long pure-technical interview. I am going through John Savill's Azure Masterclass for now but have no idea what will be asked and this masterclass is not enough to answer in-depth.

JD had AZ-104 and AZ-204 listed. Can anyone guide me what should I do and what kind of questions should I expect?

Hey all, Looking for honest advice on transitioning into DevOps from a dev background.

My background: 2026 graduate, ~1 year professional experience as a Software Developer at a UK-based startup

Active open source contributor, merged PRs in Kubernetes, ArgoCD, and Apache Airflow Comfortable with CI/CD, containers, and cloud-native tooling from working on these projects, but haven't held a DevOps title yet

What I'm trying to figure out: Does OSS contribution to projects like K8s/ArgoCD actually move the needle for DevOps hiring, or do recruiters mostly filter on job titles/years of experience? Should I be targeting "Junior DevOps Engineer" roles or is my OSS work enough to aim higher? Any certs (CKA, Terraform Associate, etc.) actually worth the time at this stage, or is that just resume padding? How do you frame OSS work on a resume/LinkedIn so it doesn't get glossed over by ATS or recruiters?

I'm actively job hunting and open to joining a company for this role right now. But if the general feeling is that I need to build up more first, I'm genuinely happy to hear that too, would rather spend a few more months leveling up than apply too early and waste everyone's time.

Not looking for a shortcut, just want to know if I'm focusing my time on the right things before I start applying seriously. Appreciate any input, especially from people who've hired for DevOps roles or made a similar switch.

Hey everyone,
I’m a Cloud/Platform Engineer with 3+ years of experience, mainly working with GCP (along with some DevOps/Platform Engineering). I’ve been trying to switch jobs recently, but despite applying to many companies, I’m barely getting interview calls. The market feels extremely competitive.
I still see a lot of openings for Cloud Engineers, DevOps Engineers, SREs, and Platform Engineers in India, but I’m wondering whether this demand is sustainable or just temporary.
With AI advancing so quickly, I’m confused about what the next 5–10 years will look like for cloud engineering. Should I continue building my career in cloud/platform engineering, start focusing heavily on AI-related skills, or prepare for CAT and aim for a top MBA? I also considered a Master’s abroad, but given the current job market and costs, I’m not sure it’s worth it.
For those with 5–15+ years of experience, what would you do if you were in my position today? Where do you see the best long-term career growth?
I’d really appreciate honest advice from people already working in the industry.

Hey everyone,
I’m a Cloud/Platform Engineer with 3+ years of experience, mainly working with GCP (along with some DevOps/Platform Engineering). I’ve been trying to switch jobs recently, but despite applying to many companies, I’m barely getting interview calls. The market feels extremely competitive.
I still see a lot of openings for Cloud Engineers, DevOps Engineers, SREs, and Platform Engineers in India, but I’m wondering whether this demand is sustainable or just temporary.
With AI advancing so quickly, I’m confused about what the next 5–10 years will look like for cloud engineering. Should I continue building my career in cloud/platform engineering, start focusing heavily on AI-related skills, or prepare for CAT and aim for a top MBA? I also considered a Master’s abroad, but given the current job market and costs, I’m not sure it’s worth it.
For those with 5–15+ years of experience, what would you do if you were in my position today? Where do you see the best long-term career growth?
I’d really appreciate honest advice from people already working in the industry.

can a fresh undergraduate get a job in this field? or should i do IT first?

Hi guys! I'm a 4th semester Network Engineering student, and I'm interested in Cloud and DevOps. I've been learning through college, self study, and personal projects, but I feel like that's still not enough. I want to gain real world experience, but it's been really hard to find internships or junior positions in this field.

What should I do?

Got rejected after 50 applications, by the way :(

Hello everyone,

I have just completed my BCA degree and am trying to map out my career path. I am very interested in becoming a Network Engineer, with the ultimate goal of moving into Cloud Engineering or Cybersecurity down the line.

However, I am feeling quite confused and stuck. When looking at the current job market, it seems like software development and data analytics roles have frequent hiring and a high volume of fresher openings. On the other hand, entry-level networking roles seem much rarer and harder to come by.

I would really appreciate some guidance from the community on a few questions:

• Is Networking a good foundation? Is starting as a network engineer a strong, viable pathway if my long-term goals are Cloud or Cybersecurity?
• Job Market Dilemma: Should I pivot to a more "traditional" path like development or data analytics because of the higher hiring frequency, or is it worth fighting through the competitive job market for a networking role?
• Fresher Strategy: What specific skills, projects, or certifications (like CCNA) should a 2026 fresher focus on right now to stand out for entry-level infrastructure roles?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

Hello guys

Sorry for that long post but I need your help and expertise I am still learning

I have a very huge application that have these dockerized components

- Nodejs web app
- API application
- clickhouse
- neo4j
- posgresql
- redis
- Kafka
- minio s3
- zookeeper
- 3 different data prosessing containers

I used to deploy all that together on one vm that have 32gb ram and 8 cores along with 32 tb ssd storage, I know that this seems dump to do this but our applications where working with no problems till we decided to start collecting more data and processing more data so we need to have everything in place with no issues at all but to be honest idk what to search about in order to get the knowledge of how to deploy that correctly

I thought of having each thing on it's dedicated version of cloud like dedicated clickhouse cloud and so on but idk if that is the right thing or not

The architecture is built on easy horizontal scalability basis so the only problem is how to maximize the performance, deploy correctly and have the minimal cost

So please guys help me to figure this out and know what to do

Hi everyone,

I'm a Data Analyst with 1.5 years of experience, and I'll be starting an MSc in Data Science in the UK this September.

I've used a few AWS services before, and one of my master's modules is Large-Scale Data Engineering, so I'm considering the AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate. My long-term goal is to become a Data Scientist.

Which certification would you recommend: Data Engineer Associate or Solutions Architect Associate? Which would be more valuable for my career?

Also, what are the best resources for preparation, and roughly how long does it take? I'm a fairly fast learner.

Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for a female study partner who’s learning Python, Linux, Git/GitHub, cloud computing, or working toward MLOps/AI Infrastructure.

I’m currently a beginner and studying consistently for 2–3 hours a day. My goal is to become an MLOps/AI Infrastructure Engineer.

It would be great to:
Keep each other accountable
Study together
Share resources
Build small projects
Stay consistent

This is strictly for studying and accountability—nothing else. If you’re interested, feel free to DM me.

I always loved cloud things and resources. And enjoyed so much entra, azure and ect. I decided to be a cloud engineer but today had my first cloud engineer interview and wow i got a coding expertise and honestly im a bit surprised as I did know there is coding in cloud automation but I thought the jobs are more architecture type/design/ ect

I am a financial analyst in the uk. Total work experience more than a decade in Asia and the UK. Based on my reading I have come to know that FinOps people do not have expertise in both worlds (as they should I think). I have finance qualifications and experience but I dont have the cloud side and for that I have already done AWS Cloud Practitioner. Currently I am doing AWS Solutions Architect Associate. Next stop will be FinOps Certified Practitioner and FinOps Focus Analyst. This is my phase 1. After completing phase 1 I plan to go get my hands dirty. Get a temp role or an entry level job. Then after a while I plan to do phase 2 of certifications like Kubernetes Admin, Terrform, AWS Solutions Pro etc. Intention is to become an expert with experience in the cloud infrastructure world and I already have the finance side I believe. Am I heading in the right direction? My goal is to be able to understand any cloud infra fully as I believe without that you cannot do any cloud financial management. Please drop your advice and let me know if I need a reality check or calibration.