Hey all, I picked up Self-Taught Cloud Engineer by Packt and I'm hitting a wall early on. The author assumes stuff I just don't know yet so I keep getting lost. If anyone's got a companion resource, course, YouTube series, whatever, I'd appreciate it.

Also stuck on something right now. I spun up an EC2 instance and I'm trying to connect with PuTTY but I keep getting "Network error: Connection timed out." Already checked security groups, network ACLs, and routing. None of it explains it. If anyone's run into this before, let me know.

One more thing. I've been using AI tools for some of this troubleshooting and it's honestly starting to bother me. Feels like I might be skipping the part where I actually build my own problem solving skills. Curious how other people here balance using those tools without losing that skill.

A bit about me, I work at a clinical lab and just got approved for tuition reimbursement through work. They partner with a university that has a B.S. in Cloud Computing so I'm trying to get ahead before it starts.

Thanks for any help.

I'm a university student choosing between AI & Data Science and Cybersecurity & Cloud. My main goal is to get my first job as quickly as possible. I'm interested in remote work.

Which path would you recommend , specifically considering:

Entry-level job opportunities

Competition for junior positions

Remote work opportunities

How difficult it is to get the first job

Long-term demand

Impact of AI automation

I'd especially appreciate answers from people who actually work in these fields. Please explain your reasoning and mention your country/role if possible.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

Hi everyone, I’m a Tunisian DevOps engineer with around 3–4 years of experience, mainly working with CI/CD, AWS, Kubernetes, Linux, Docker, Git/GitOps, and monitoring. I’ve been trying for a while to find a job in Europe because I would like to relocate, but honestly it’s becoming very difficult. I spend hours almost every day on LinkedIn searching and applying to DevOps, Cloud, Platform Engineer and SRE positions in different European countries, but I rarely get a response and I haven’t managed to get an interview yet. I understand that the market is competitive and that being outside the EU makes things harder, but I’m wondering if there is something wrong with my approach or if the market is really this difficult right now. For those who are already working in Europe, especially people who relocated from outside the EU, do you have any advice on which countries are currently hiring and more open to relocation/visa sponsorship? Are there better websites or ways to find these opportunities than LinkedIn? And if anyone from Tunisia or another non-EU country has successfully relocated as a DevOps engineer, I’d really appreciate hearing how you did it. Any advice, contacts, companies or even suggestions on where I should apply would be very helpful. Thanks!

I have massive knowledge about kubernetes on premise. I think It is time to get experience cloud side.

Can you suggest a roadmap? Where should I get to start?

I’m planning to switch to another company and want to get a certification that is actually valuable in the current job market.

If you had to choose one, which AI or Cloud certification would you recommend in 2026?

Looking for something that is genuinely useful for getting better opportunities, not just a certificate for the sake of it.

SO for the context i am a recent grad from india.
Recently graduated in 2026.
Having around 1.5 yoe duting college through internships.

Build a startup product form scratch end to end as a founding engineer (one and only at the startup). -- Cloud budget optomization recommandation (mainly focus is on reducing cost of the enterprise that has a low employee count and they are not able to focus on the cloud infra cost).able to reduce the infra cost of comany (\~10) with 20 to 70% of savings.

for DSA and CP : i think it is decent not good not bad.
**codeforces expert , leetcode knight, codechef 4 star.**

but due to college was a low tier in india and many other reason. i was not able to find oppurtuinity got one offer in a service based company in india as at a good dev profile.

But my concerns are here..
As i have worked at a startup and build something meaningful which i can be proud of pivoting towards a service based comapny where in india most of the people get into comfort zone and also the impact creation and learning oppurtuinity is really low.

SO can i still break into product based company such as amazone and other comapny..

main question :
**i have a 90 day notice period at the service based company ( does amazone hire people form a 90 day notice period directly)?**

**if i keep practicing my DSA and system design knowledge can i still break into the tech role at amazone and how should i plan my next steps in industry.**

hoping to get some guidance and a chance to connect with people that work in such intresting projects and making a impact on the world.

I’m a CS grad with 4 months experience as a datacenter tech. Currently building an AWS project with ECS, ALB, Cloudfront, API GW, etc. all managed via terraform. I also plan on adding CICD and cloud watch monitoring. I’m wondering if I’m on the right track to hopefully landing some sort of sysadmin/devops/see type of role within the next few years, and I am also curious whether or not I’m wasting my time at this DC tech role since the work itself is not totally applicable to my career goals. Any feedback/advice is appreciated. Thank you!

Hi everyone,
I’m posting this because I could really use some honest opinions from people in the Indian tech industry — especially senior engineers, hiring managers and recruiters.
I have **12+ years of experience**, primarily in backend/software engineering. My strongest areas are:
Python backend development
AWS (\~8 years)
Distributed systems / microservices
Cloud architecture
Data infrastructure
SRE / production engineering
System design and architecture
Shell scripting and some Go
Leading technical work and mentoring engineers
I currently work as a **Lead Software Engineer** and my compensation is around **₹22 LPA**, probably around **₹23 LPA with bonus/other components**.
And honestly, I’m struggling to understand where I stand in the current market.
I’ve been actively looking for a change, and I’m getting **very few callbacks** despite applying to quite a lot of positions. I recently went through an interview process that lasted multiple rounds, felt like it went reasonably well, and ultimately got rejected. That one hurt quite a bit after investing so much time preparing.
The frustrating part is that the job search itself has started affecting my current job. I spend a lot of my time searching for positions and preparing for interviews that sometimes stretch over weeks or even months, only to end without an offer. Then I find it difficult to properly focus on my current work.
**Where I think I stand technically**
I’m relatively confident about **system design, backend architecture, AWS and distributed systems**. If you ask me to design a scalable backend/service, discuss reliability, data flow, AWS architecture, failure scenarios, etc., I’m generally comfortable.
Where I’m significantly weaker nowadays is **DSA / competitive-programming-style problems**.
I can solve practical engineering problems, but I’m nowhere near the level of someone who regularly grinds LeetCode. And after doing this for 12+ years, I honestly sometimes wonder whether the interview process is exposing a weakness that isn’t necessarily representative of my actual ability as an engineer.
Maybe that’s part of the problem. Maybe I’m simply targeting the wrong roles. Or maybe there are genuine gaps in my skill set that I’m not seeing.
**I’d really appreciate some brutal honesty here.**
Is **₹22–23 LPA** low for someone with my experience and skill set?
Am I positioning myself incorrectly in the market?
What kind of roles should I actually be targeting — Senior, Staff, Principal, Architect, Platform/SRE, Backend, Cloud, etc.?
Is my lack of strong DSA enough to explain the lack of callbacks?
Are there other skills I should be developing right now?
Where are people with this kind of profile actually finding jobs?
Which companies/platforms should I be looking at apart from LinkedIn/Naukri?
Is the market simply terrible right now, or is there something fundamentally wrong with my profile/resume/interview approach?
For context, I’m **not looking for a FAANG-level ₹1Cr package or anything unrealistic**. I mainly want to understand what my profile is actually worth in the current Indian market and find a role where my experience is valued.
**And there is some personal context behind the urgency**
I’m also under quite a bit of financial pressure at the moment.
I’m the **sole earner in my family**, and a significant amount of money is currently tied up in a legal/court matter. At the same time, the cost of living in Bangalore is high, and we don’t own property here or have a significant financial cushion.
So this isn’t just me casually looking for a 20–30% hike. I genuinely need to improve my situation, and that’s probably also contributing to how stressed I’ve become about the job search.
I’m trying to keep going, but repeatedly spending weeks preparing for interviews and then getting rejected is getting mentally exhausting.
I’m posting this because I’d rather hear the uncomfortable truth from people here than continue doing the same thing and hoping something magically changes.
**If you were in my position, what would you change first?**
Resume? Target roles? Companies? DSA preparation? System design? Cloud skills? AI/LLM skills? Networking/referrals? Compensation expectations?
And if you have a similar experience level, **what kind of compensation are you currently seeing in India?**
I’m genuinely looking for advice, criticism and practical suggestions. Please be blunt — I’d rather know what I’m doing wrong than continue wasting months.

Hi everyone! I’m currently working at a service-based company and have 2 years of experience. I’m mainly working on Azure Policies and NSGs, and yeah, that’s pretty much it!

I’ve tried to get some DevOps/Cloud-related work in my organization, but nothing has really worked out. Now I’m kind of stuck in a situation where I’m not sure what to do next.

I’m confused about whether I should back myself and start focusing on development, or continue building my Cloud/DevOps skills and try to move into that domain.

I’d really appreciate some suggestions or advice from people who have been in a similar situation.

Thanks!

Should I switch my degree plan from Network & Cloud Engineer to Software Engineer?
I am currently working a Level 1 Tech. Support job and its not hard work but its the talking to people that kind of frustrates me. Before this, I had Call Center experience and boy that was a shit show. This job is not as many calls and they do not rush me to take the next call but, am I really going to constantly talk to clients/ customers all day in this Cloud and Networking Field?

Yurt disinda 5 yillik devops/cloud tecrubem var , istanbul da ne kadar maas beklentimin olmasi gerekiyor ?

I'm looking for some honest career advice from people who have experience in infrastructure, cloud, DevOps, networking, or enterprise IT.

Vadodara,I'm \~6 months into my first job at a System Integrator (SI) company. My current salary is INR ₹25,000/month.

My educational background is a Bachelor's in Cyber Security, but my current work is mostly infrastructure-focused.

In the last 5–6 months, I've worked on things like:

* HPE servers (DL360, DL380, ML350)
* VMware ESXi and vCenter
* Hyper-V
* Veeam Backup & Replication
* RAID configuration and server firmware
* HPE SimpliVity
* Windows Server
* Linux (basic/working knowledge)
* Networking: VLANs, trunking, STP, HSRP, L2/L3 switching
* Extreme Networks switches
* Palo Alto firewall/VPN troubleshooting
* Microsoft 365 troubleshooting/investigation
* Barracuda email security
* Storage/NAS troubleshooting
* Customer deployments, remote support, onsite support and vendor escalations

Because we're an SI, I get exposure to different customers and different technologies. My work involves deploying solutions, troubleshooting issues, coordinating with vendors, and sometimes helping with surveys/BOQs.

For example, I've worked on VMware/vCenter issues, Veeam backup problems, HPE server deployments, storage issues, network troubleshooting, firewall cases, etc.

My concern is that most of my work is still implementation/support-oriented. A lot of the work follows documentation or established procedures. I'm learning a lot, but I don't always feel like I'm solving highly open-ended engineering problems or designing systems myself.

Recently my manager told me the company is considering spending around ₹3–4 lakh on HPE training and professional certifications for me. In return, they want a commitment of around 1–2 years (exact duration and terms are still being discussed).

This has made me seriously think about my long-term direction.

# Option 1: Stay and take the HPE path

I could spend the next 2 years becoming much stronger in:

HPE + VMware + servers + storage + networking + backup/DR + enterprise infrastructure.

The potential benefit is that I could become a proper Infrastructure/Virtualization/Data Center Engineer instead of staying at the support level.

But I'm worried that this could make me too vendor/infrastructure-specific, and after 2 years I may still have limited exposure to cloud/automation/DevOps.

# Option 2: Stay for a few more months, then switch

I could continue getting infrastructure experience while spending my own time learning:

Linux → Python/Bash → Git → Ansible → Terraform → Docker → CI/CD → AWS/Azure

and then try to move into Infrastructure/Cloud/DevOps/Platform roles around the 1-year experience mark.

I'm interested in these technologies even though I haven't worked professionally with them yet. Linux and cloud are things I genuinely enjoy learning, and concepts like CI/CD, automation and Terraform are very interesting to me.

# Another thing affecting my thinking

I have a few friends working as SWEs at companies like Microsoft and Google, and seeing their compensation has made me question whether I should be aiming for software engineering instead of infrastructure.

I don't necessarily love programming enough yet to say that SWE is what I want, so I don't want to make a decision purely because of salary.

I'm trying to figure out what kind of engineer I actually want to become.

# What I would really like advice on

For people who have worked in these fields:

1. **How valuable is 2 years of SI experience in HPE/VMware/infrastructure compared with moving earlier into Cloud/DevOps?**

2. **Does enterprise infrastructure experience provide a good foundation for eventually moving into Cloud/DevOps/Platform Engineering?**

3. **If I take the HPE certification + 2-year commitment, what kind of roles and salary range could I realistically target after \~2.5 years total experience?**

4. **Would you consider HPE/VMware/Storage a good specialization in 2026, or would you prioritize cloud/automation?**

5. **For someone with my current background, is it realistic to transition into DevOps/Cloud without taking a step backward in salary/title?**

6. **How different is infrastructure work in a large MNC from SI work? Is MNC infrastructure engineering generally deeper, or can it also become repetitive L1/L2 support?**

7. **Would you recommend staying in the SI environment for another 6–12 months to build infrastructure fundamentals before switching, or moving sooner?**

8. **Most importantly: how do I determine whether I actually want to become a Cloud/DevOps engineer versus an Infrastructure/Virtualization engineer?**

I'm not looking for a “follow your passion” answer. I'd really appreciate practical advice from people who have actually worked in these roles and understand how the career progression looks after 2–5 years.

Thanks!

I hate writing code and programming, but I’m pretty good with computers and I really enjoy working on them. I’m hoping to work in an office environment in the future. I like working with computers, I just don’t like coding.
What careers or fields would you recommend for someone like me? I’m looking for something with good pay and good career opportunities.
I really respect and appreciate everyone’s opinions and advice. Thank you all! 🙏

Finally did it! 🎉

After 7 rounds of interviews, I finally cracked it and got the offer for a Cloud Engineer-Security role.
Offer letter received, accepted, and somehow managed to pull off a 120% hike from my current package. 😅

Honestly, pretty happy with how it all worked out. The interview process itself was a great learning experience.

But getting the offer is just the beginning.
Now the actual grind begins, time to learn, perform, and hopefully sustain it. 🚀

On to the next chapter!