How Can You Learn DevOps Faster 🚀🚀

Summary

In this video, the speaker shares three common mistakes people make when learning DevOps or cloud technologies: signing up for lengthy courses, relying too much on books, and trying to learn everything too quickly. Instead, they suggest a practical, hands-on approach—start by learning the bare minimum and gradually build your knowledge through experimentation and real-world use cases. The key is to dive straight into practical tasks, like setting up tools or creating cloud accounts, and learning through trial and error to gain momentum and avoid burnout.

Takeaways

• 😀 Avoid signing up for long courses immediately when starting to learn DevOps or Cloud; many people get overwhelmed and drop out.
• 📚 Don't rely heavily on books for learning tools like Terraform or Ansible, as they may become outdated quickly. Books are more useful for fundamental concepts that don’t change often.
• ⏳ Don’t try to learn too many things in a short amount of time. This can lead to forgetting and burnout.
• 🔍 Focus on learning the bare minimum required to get started with a tool or technology, such as understanding its purpose and the problem it solves.
• 🖥️ Begin with practical steps, such as installing and using tools like Terraform, instead of spending hours in theoretical learning.
• 📄 Use the official documentation and hands-on practice as your main learning resources. This will help you develop a deeper understanding naturally.
• 💡 Look for common interview questions related to the tools you're learning and practice answering them. This helps focus your learning on what’s relevant for job applications.
• 🌐 When learning cloud platforms like AWS, start by creating an account and exploring practical tasks like launching an EC2 instance.
• 🚀 Practical experience is key to maintaining momentum in your learning. Each small task will contribute to building your confidence and skills.
• 📝 Set goals, write down tasks, and focus on completing practical steps rather than finishing lengthy courses. This approach accelerates learning and prepares you for real-world applications.

Q & A

What is the first mistake people make when trying to learn DevOps or Cloud technologies?

The first mistake is signing up for a long course, such as those on Udemy or Pluralsight. Many people feel overwhelmed by the amount of material and lose motivation after completing only a few modules.

Why does signing up for a course right away often lead to failure?

Courses can be overwhelming due to the amount of content, including tools, technologies, and theoretical concepts. As a result, learners often feel demotivated and may revert to distractions like games or movies, leading to incomplete courses.

What is the second common mistake when learning DevOps or Cloud?

The second mistake is buying a book to learn specific tools like Terraform or Kubernetes. Books are better suited for learning stable, theoretical concepts rather than fast-changing tools and technologies.

Why are books not ideal for learning DevOps tools like Terraform or Ansible?

Tools like Terraform or Ansible are constantly evolving, and by the time a book is published, the information may already be outdated. It's better to use official documentation or websites to learn these tools.

What is the third mistake people make when trying to learn too many things at once?

The third mistake is trying to accumulate too much knowledge in a short period, leading to burnout and forgetting much of what was learned, especially when preparing for interviews or job roles.

What approach does the speaker suggest to learn DevOps or Cloud effectively?

The speaker suggests learning the bare minimum required to get started with a tool or technology. Instead of taking lengthy courses, learners should focus on practical steps, such as understanding the tool’s purpose, solving specific problems, and following official documentation.

What are the key steps the speaker recommends when learning a new tool like Terraform?

First, learn what the tool is and what problem it solves. Next, install the tool by following official documentation. After that, begin with simple use cases, like provisioning an EC2 instance with Terraform, while gradually learning more advanced features like variables and providers.

Why is it important to learn by doing rather than just studying courses or books?

Learning by doing builds practical knowledge and helps create connections between different concepts. It mimics on-the-job training, allowing learners to explore related topics and gain hands-on experience, which accelerates understanding.

How does the speaker suggest learners should approach interview preparation for DevOps or Cloud roles?

The speaker recommends looking up common interview questions for the specific tool or technology, such as Terraform, and practicing those. Writing down the questions and focusing on practical tasks can prepare learners effectively for interviews.

Why is it important to start with practical tasks like setting up an AWS account when learning cloud services?

Starting with practical tasks provides a sense of accomplishment and increases motivation. For example, creating an AWS account and exploring services like EC2 can spark curiosity and lead to incremental learning, which builds confidence and knowledge faster.

What is the overall learning strategy suggested by the speaker for mastering DevOps or Cloud technologies?

The strategy is to focus on learning the bare minimum needed to get started, avoid overwhelming courses or books, and prioritize hands-on practice and practical tasks. This incremental approach allows learners to build knowledge gradually and more effectively.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Common Mistakes When Learning DevOps or Cloud

The speaker introduces three common mistakes made by beginners when learning DevOps or Cloud technologies. First, they often sign up for long courses on platforms like Udemy or Pluralsight, which can overwhelm them with content, causing them to lose motivation. The speaker shares a statistic that less than 5% of people who sign up for such courses actually finish them. They emphasize avoiding this mistake and promise to offer better learning strategies later in the video.

05:02

📚 Mistake 2: Relying on Books for Learning Tools

The second common mistake is starting with books, especially for tools like Terraform or Kubernetes. The speaker warns that technical tools change frequently, making books a less effective resource. Books are better suited for foundational concepts, such as security or networking principles. The speaker advises against using books to learn specific tools and suggests relying on up-to-date online resources instead.

10:03

⏳ Mistake 3: Trying to Learn Too Much Too Quickly

The third mistake people make is trying to learn too many things in a short time. This overloads them with information and leads to quick burnout. The speaker compares this to cramming for college exams, which is inefficient for long-term retention. Instead of trying to master everything at once, learners should pace themselves and focus on gaining practical, applicable knowledge step-by-step. For certifications, however, signing up for a course is useful.

🔍 Learn the Bare Minimum to Get Started

To avoid these mistakes, the speaker suggests focusing on the bare minimum required to get started with a tool. For example, when learning Terraform, start by understanding what it is and the problems it solves compared to other tools. The speaker emphasizes knowing the tool's purpose and challenges before learning to install and use it, which builds clarity and helps learners make faster progress.

🚀 Hands-On Learning with Terraform as an Example

Once a basic understanding of a tool is gained, the speaker suggests diving into the practical aspects, such as installation and execution of commands. Using Terraform as an example, they explain that learning through hands-on experience creates a web of interconnected knowledge. This method mimics on-the-job learning and provides an effective way to deepen one's understanding of tools like AWS or GCP while practicing real-world tasks.

💡 Practical Steps to Master DevOps and Cloud Tools

The speaker advises incrementally practicing tasks to maintain momentum, using tools like Terraform or cloud platforms like AWS. They stress the importance of setting up an AWS account and diving directly into practical work, which leads to continuous learning. This method builds confidence and prepares learners for job interviews, where practical questions like Docker deployments or state file management are often asked.

📈 Summary: Focus on Practical Learning and Incremental Progress

The speaker concludes by reiterating that to learn DevOps or Cloud efficiently, learners should focus on practical application rather than completing lengthy courses. Incremental learning and setting realistic goals, such as small tasks, help maintain motivation. This strategy works best for students and professionals trying to break into DevOps or Cloud roles, where practical experience is more valuable than passive learning.

Keywords

💡DevOps

DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten the systems development lifecycle and provide continuous delivery of high-quality software. In the video, DevOps is mentioned as a field that people want to learn, and the speaker explains the mistakes often made by beginners, such as signing up for courses and trying to learn too much at once.

💡Cloud

Cloud refers to cloud computing, where resources like servers, storage, and applications are delivered over the internet (the 'cloud'). The video focuses on learning cloud services, and the speaker provides tips for avoiding common mistakes in learning cloud technologies, such as not immediately signing up for courses or reading books. Cloud technologies like AWS and GCP are referenced in the discussion.

💡Courses

Courses, particularly online courses from platforms like Udemy or Pluralsight, are mentioned as a common starting point for learners. However, the speaker argues that signing up for a long course can overwhelm learners, leading to burnout. They advise against relying solely on courses and suggest learning through practical experience and documentation instead.

💡Books

Books are mentioned as a traditional method of learning, but the speaker advises against using books to learn rapidly evolving tools like Terraform or Kubernetes. They argue that books are better suited for understanding stable, theoretical concepts (like security or networking), and that learning tools is better done through hands-on practice and documentation.

💡Mistakes

The video revolves around common mistakes that learners make when approaching DevOps and cloud technologies. These mistakes include signing up for long courses, trying to learn from books, and attempting to learn too many things at once. The speaker explains how these approaches can be counterproductive and suggests more practical ways to learn.

💡Practical Experience

Practical experience is emphasized as the best way to learn DevOps and cloud technologies. Instead of focusing on theory or long courses, the speaker encourages learners to dive into hands-on tasks, such as installing and using tools like Terraform or setting up cloud accounts. This approach allows learners to build knowledge incrementally and avoid burnout.

💡Terraform

Terraform is a tool for provisioning and managing infrastructure across multiple cloud providers. In the video, it is used as an example of a tool that learners should approach by first understanding its purpose (solving multi-cloud management issues) and then practicing its usage by installing it and creating basic configurations. The speaker discourages learning tools like Terraform through books or long courses.

💡AWS

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a leading cloud service provider mentioned in the video. The speaker uses AWS as an example of a cloud platform that learners should explore practically by creating an AWS account and experimenting with services like EC2. They argue that starting with practical steps in AWS can help build momentum and provide a faster path to learning.

💡Dopamine

Dopamine is referenced as a motivator in the learning process. The speaker mentions that when learners achieve small wins, such as creating an AWS account or provisioning an instance, it triggers a dopamine release in the brain, encouraging further exploration and learning. This idea highlights the importance of practical, step-by-step learning in maintaining motivation.

💡Interview Preparation

Interview preparation is a key reason why people learn DevOps and cloud technologies. The speaker suggests that instead of focusing on long courses or theoretical learning, learners should focus on practical knowledge and real-world tasks that are likely to come up in job interviews. For example, practicing Terraform and AWS tasks that are commonly asked in interviews can be a more effective way to prepare.

Highlights

Mistake 1: Signing up for courses too early without having a practical approach leads to burnout and low completion rates.

Less than 5% of people who sign up for Udemy courses actually complete them.

Mistake 2: Relying on books for learning fast-evolving tools like Terraform or Ansible leads to outdated knowledge.

Books are better suited for static theoretical concepts such as networking or security rather than tools that frequently change.

Mistake 3: Trying to learn too many things too quickly leads to forgetting and burnout.

Many learners follow a college-like approach, trying to memorize everything, which isn't effective for tech learning.

Practical tip: Learn the bare minimum required to get started instead of focusing on theory and long courses.

Example: To learn Terraform, first understand what Terraform is and what problem it solves.

Learn by doing: Install tools like Terraform and start running simple commands to learn through practice.

Direct practice with tools will help create a 'tree of knowledge' as you encounter new challenges and solutions.

Use interview questions from sites like Glassdoor to guide your learning and practice specific skills.

Certifications: Taking a course for certification is helpful, but for general learning, avoid long video courses.

Momentum: Creating an AWS account or similar is a quick, practical step that immediately engages you and encourages further exploration.

Incremental learning through practice boosts motivation and keeps knowledge retention high.

Summary: Focus on starting small, practicing daily, and avoiding the trap of long, overwhelming learning paths.

Transcripts

hey what's up folks this is GK when you

are planning to learn devops or Cloud

what is the first thing that you would

do as a new learner or a person who is

trying to learn devops or Cloud for the

first time

so I'm going to explain you the three

mistakes that most of the people do

whenever they want to learn a cloud

service provider or a devops tool or in

general any ID technology that they

would like to learn for the first time

now I'm also going to tell you how I

have learned devops our Cloud much

faster and I'm going to give you tips

that will definitely benefit you and you

will learn tools much much faster by

using these tips so the first mistake

everybody does whenever they think about

learning devops or cloud or whenever

somebody tells them to learn a

technology is sign up for a course

see more often what happens is that

whenever you go and sign up for a course

whether it is udemy or plural side or

any such courses where you find 30 hours

of course on devops or cloud or 15 hours

or more you will be overwhelmed when you

start the course and you'll go through

lots of tools lots of Technologies and

then some basics of python Linux by the

end of one or two modules you will feel

like this is too much I cannot do this

anymore and you'll start going into your

bad habits of playing games in my case I

would play games or watch movies or

binge watch some YouTube stuff so that's

the number one mistake and there is a

stat as well to back this argument or to

back this

mistake that only less than five percent

of the people who have signed up for the

course in udemy would actually complete

the whole course and if you are part of

the five percent then that's great

because I can tell you that whatever I

have bought in udemy I have never

completed those courses

don't sign up for a course right away

and I'm going to tell you what you

should do in the second part of the

video

the second mistake that everybody does

is start reading books now let's say you

want to learn terraform or kubernetes or

any other tool ansible or whatever tool

in the box or a cloud service provider

don't buy a book again the same thing

that happens with the video or book is

that most of the time you would never

complete the book books will be very

beneficial whenever you're trying to

learn

a theoretical concept like horizontal

scaling or vertical scaling or some

security Concepts or networking Concepts

that doesn't change often so those

are important Concepts that you can read

from books or in general from Google or

anywhere but if you have good habit of

reading books then you can buy some

fundamental books that would be

beneficial but don't buy a book that

would teach you the tools like telephone

or ansible because you know those keep

changing and you should always rely on

the websites

so that's mistake number two so mistake

number three is that trying to learn too

many things in short period of time I'll

give an example let's say you want to

learn the option I have shown in my

step-by-step videos or in the roadmap

you have to learn so many things you

have to learn these tools you have to

learn Linux python or kubernetes so when

I say that you should never go to a

python course and sign up for the course

and then you should never think like

okay now the next step is to learn Linux

and then I will go and sign up for the

next course or do Linux Administration

or I will do all these things in maybe

one month and then go for interviews

so that's a third important mistake

because devops and in general most of

the Technologies even if you want to

learn Java or python you would do this

mistake that you want to accumulate lots

of knowledge in less time and then what

will happen again is you will forget and

then you have to keep revising the way

you would do in college this is I think

the college mentality that we all carry

or the education mentality that we all

carry that whenever we want to learn

something we would go to books or try to

try to remember too many things for

preparing for interviews or to get into

a company so these are the three

mistakes that people do but again there

are exceptions for example if you want

to learn a certification then you can

sign up for a six hour course because

certification tend to ask you that is

important to get certified but otherwise

if you want to learn technology and get

a job then this is not the right way of

doing things

all right so this is how I would do it

again let me know in the comment section

if you disagree with me because not

everybody is same a lot of people would

still prefer the first way of doing

things like going through courses and

stuff but this is what I have done when

I have learned devops and this is what

you can also learn from me possible and

then get to the point faster than going

through the traditional model so the

first thing is whenever you want to

learn any tool or technology learn the

bare minimum that is required for you to

get started again example here is that

let's say you want to learn terraform or

let's say you want to learn kubernetes

any technology to start with what is

terraform and do a Google search so

terraform is infrastructure management

tool or provisioning tool it creates

infrastructure and then when you know

what is terraform the second part of the

question that you should have in your

mind is what problem that the terraform

tool is trying to solve which the other

tools were not able to do it okay in

this example in this case terraform is a

provisioning tool that will help you to

provision multi service providers

multi-cloud service providers whether it

be AWS or gcp if you're using

cloudformation that you have to use only

AWS but in the case of terraform a lot

of companies use terraform because they

want to manage multiple cloud service

providers and also workloads in

on-premise if possible now the second

important question what problem the tool

is trying to solve so when you know

these two things

I think most of the time you'll have

complete clarity about now what you're

going to do with this tool Okay the

third important thing now is that how to

install this tool and how to get started

and this is the most important thing

this is where you start so you go to

terraform website and then search for

how to set up platform on Linux or how

to install terraform on Windows

so then when you just

do the first step itself installing

terraform

I guess the half battle is one what you

do is when you're trying to install

terraform when you go through the

documentation you will build the habit

of learning from the documentation and

second when you're trying to execute

those commands in Linux now you might

you might not be knowing like how to set

this up in an environment variable in

Linux so you'll learn about that so you

will create this tree of

knowledge or you will create this is

multiple branches and leaves that you

have created in yourself in your mind

whenever you're trying to do a simple

command then you will annoyingly learn

many things it is like on job training

that you would do in any company and the

next thing is that now how to provision

AWS ec2 instance using telephone

or how do you provision a Google

computer engine using terraform so when

you do that you will also learn about

variables how to use providers and you

know lot of other things that would come

into this

so when you are doing it this way

in four or five days or when you're

practicing this or when you're doing

this in less than a week you would know

good stuff about terraform and then

while you're doing this an important tip

is that go to a glassware website or any

such website and type for the terraform

interview questions that are asked in

companies when you do that you'll see

about how to manage a state file how

State file is locked other questions

like how would you use multiple cloud

service provider blocks inside the

providers or how would you use aliases

and all those things so when you get

those questions so write them down or

store them in a notepad and then start

practicing those

and I'm telling you when you do this way

you'll learn any tool any technology

the fastest possible way instead of

spending 30 hours in a course and then

getting yourself burned out the same

applies with the cloud service provider

as well if you want to learn AWS or gcp

whenever somebody asked me what should I

do should I sign up for a course should

I join an Institute or should I join

some PG course whenever I want to learn

cloud

the first answer that I gave to that

person in a comment section was that

sign up for AWS account

that's the first thing

and incrementally when you do these

things when you directly dive into

practicals you would gain momentum

unknowingly because for example let's

say as soon as you've created AWS

account

the dopamine levels in your brain will

increase and the next thing that you

would like love to do is that explore

the account

okay then you see ec2 instance now I

would like to create an ec2 instance or

create a VM and you will keep on

increasing the wealth of knowledge and

within no time you will be ready for

interview and when you go for interview

this is what they'll be asking in the

interview so they'll be asking about how

do you start off from State files or

tell me about how you have deployed a

Docker container or how did you expose

the docker in the kubernetes engine or

in the kubernetes environment so this is

what I wanted to cover and this is

exactly how I have learned myself devops

or Cloud again the summary of this video

is that

learn bare minimum that is needed you to

get started never get into that mode of

have to complete the 30 hour course to

get ready

just get started keep practicing and

that's how you would learn like devops

or cloud or any technology

I hope this video is going to be helpful

for you all and especially for people

who are students or for people who are

in the professional background who are

trying to get into devops or cloud and

the reason why they are struggling I

know many of my friends who have been

thinking about getting into Cloud for

last one year they were not able to do

it because of the same thing they have

signed up for some course and they never

got time to finish the course so give

yourself some targets write down tasks

and get to the practicals of

implementing those tasks thank you again

for watching this video take care bye

[Music]

thank you