My Career Switch — 2 Years in

Juggling expectations, aspirations and many, many lessons 🪁

Two years ago, mid-2021, I was fortunate to land a role as a DevOps engineer at Capgemini’s academy. This came nearly 10 months after my graduation. I remember vividly the gloomy limbo I was in before making my career switch; like many graduates from university with little job prospects in my field, I went on a search for a new career path to undertake.

Thankfully, I found my path and have very much enjoyed my time. For those in a similar position, have a read of this article and learn from my mistakes!

Here are 4 lessons I took away.

It is Ok to Not Know Something

There is no such thing as a stupid question.
Don't let anyone make you feel inadequate.

As a junior, one can be overcome by the constant anxiety and self-doubt that is imposter syndrome. It gnaws away at your confidence and ability to grow like nothing else; call it a career debilitating disease.

You see those with experience and knowledge solve an “easy” ticket in no time whilst you have no clue where to even begin! So you stick your head into an endless pile of StackOverflow search results and plead a popular AI chatting tool to provide you a perfect answer but the answer seems ever further out of reach.

Instead, do this: Ask the more experienced engineer for help! Ask them where to start on the ticket, what to look out for and point you in the right direction. Then, you can use their advice like a map guiding you to solve the ticket or a torch illuminating your path through various google searches.

There is no such thing as a stupid question. Don’t let anyone make you feel inadequate.

Also, don’t just ask them for the answer because that just spoils the fun now doesn’t it :D

You Will Never Stop Learning

look at the market demands; 
which tools are most popular? 
What are companies looking for?

Landing a role doesn’t mean you stop developing as an engineer. Rather it is a chance to learn new tools, do extracurricular studying and sitting exams for certifications.

When it comes to learning, always start off by learning more about the core fundamental tool stack your project uses day in, day out. Outline these few tools and start by learning them all to a good level. The amazing part is that instead of doing projects outside of work, your actual work is good enough practice!

After this, look at the market demands; which tools are most popular? What are companies looking for? Start to learn these tools so you are equipped to bring benefit and enhance your performance at work, and so that you are able to make the jump once it is time to move on to another company.

Document Everything

Chances are that your future self will thank you immensely for your service.

Most of any problems you will face in your career has already been solved by someone and chances are — if you have been in the game long enough — you have solved these problems too at one point!

Good, declarative documentation is what separates a junior from a senior! Have your own documented library of crucial information, troubleshooting issues and general knowledge.

Changes are that your future self will thank you immensely for your service. Furthermore, this is an excellent way to cement your knowledge to your long term memory.

Your Opinion Matters

Try to think of new scopes of work instead of merely completing tickets 
like a mechanical robot

Do not feel that you can’t partake in discussions and meetings. Your opinions are valid too! Often, you may add a comment that changes the scope of the conversation or forces your seniors to consider points they may not have thought of before.

Also, be proactive in spotting areas for improvements and increased efficiency. Try to think of new scopes of work instead of merely completing tickets like a mechanical robot. This makes you more valuable and raises your standings in the company.

Now I am no saint, these are all areas I could have improved on myself but nevertheless, I hope this short article could have motivated you and taught you something new.

What is next?

I am currently on a journey to learn more about the ever-growing ecosystem of DevOps, cloud computing and jotting down any life lessons along the way :)

Expect to see more articles and open-source contributions. Stay tuned for more!

My page:

Feel free to contact me if you need any advice or help:

Adam Osman — Platform Engineer — Capgemini | LinkedIn