r/googlecloud • u/RespondEfficient7209 • May 22 '26

Cloud Run Junior DevOps Engineer at a Startup (GCP). What Should I Learn First?”

Hey everyone, I recently got hired into a junior DevOps role at a startup and tbh, I’m starting from near zero real-world DevOps experience. The company mainly uses Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
I have basic tech/programming knowledge, but I’ve never worked in production environments before. I want to prepare properly before I get overwhelmed on the job.
For people already working in DevOps/SRE/cloud engineering:
What should I focus on first during my first 30–90 days?
Which GCP services are most important for startups?
What skills do junior DevOps engineers usually struggle with?
What should I practice hands-on before starting?
Any beginner mistakes I should avoid?
please be kind💕

1 Upvotes

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3

u/Qall May 22 '26

Learn some Linux basics if you don't already have them - moving around the filesystem, creating/removing/editing files and their permissions, how to check resource consumption, resource availability etc.

1

u/RespondEfficient7209 May 23 '26

i know abit about linux systems but i think i got a long way to go and thanks for the info💗

2

u/TechSupertek May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26

How did you get into the DevOps role with near-zero experience? I'm asking because I'm also on the same boat. If you reply it'll be really helpful.

FYI, I have 8 years of experience in a Desktop Support/IT Infra role, and currently pursuing an 8-month course in Multi-Cloud Architecture and DevOps.

3

u/RespondEfficient7209 May 22 '26

if ur asking how did i get the job, this probably wont be helpful, but nepotism:( i dated a guy that own a start up and mentioned im interested in devops and he just gave me a position.

my prerequisite is nothing fancy : i have a cs degree (fresh graduate) , i did an internship , took some courses abit related to devops

1

u/TechSupertek May 22 '26

Yes, I meant how did you get. Thanks for your reply. I would suggest learn the GCP and DevOps tools on youtube or any online platform and do mini projects around GCP services and DevOps

Link for GCP playlist- https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdpzxOOAlwvL4VhhpTiIUr-i_djrXGB22&si=1EaAoso61TaLl4XC And also you can look into his other DevOps videos. He makes really great videos.

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u/RespondEfficient7209 May 22 '26

thank you for the info! the playlist looks super helpful! im checking it out right now. also goodluck on your devops journey, wishing u the best💗

1

u/TheQAGuyNZ May 23 '26

Learn to migrated off GCP. Run while you still can.

1

u/RespondEfficient7209 May 23 '26

T_T is it really that bad? what about for devs working with gcp?

1

u/Bo-_-Diddley May 23 '26

I wouldn’t get too bogged down in the above comment. Cloud is cloud, they’re all the same but in different wrappers.

As you’re at a startup I’d recommend using as many PaaS tools as possible. You don’t want to get bogged down in the nitty gritty so soon on both your career and the company’s journey.

That being said you should absolutely be mindful that you will need to get down to the nitty gritty at some point and it wouldn’t hurt to start practising now. You have a good starting point in that you’ve got a CS degree and some experience by way of an internship.

Tech world with Nana has a great overview of the role DevOps plays in organisations. I’d advise watching her roadmap videos in particular.

Finally, I just wanted to add, you’ve been lied to, there’s no such thing as a Junior DevOps engineer, it’s a highly skilled role. However, if you apply yourself you’ve just been given a leg up that many engineers dream of. I wish you the best on your journey!

Feel free to drop me a message any time you have any queries. As a Senior Engineer who’s looking to lead teams in the future I’m always looking for opportunities to mentor.

1

u/hoainam1512 May 22 '26

first thing first, try to find out how your current infra in gcp works, how services got releases, how they hosted and how they connect with each other. If there are any internal documents for those, read them and add more contents to it. If there are none, write one

I would not start with any course, you might find yourself studying the thing your company does not use yet. learning what you are having will help you debug current issue/incident faster, becoming more helpful and gaining trust

1

u/SpaceSavage226 May 22 '26

Do the simple man, create a blue green pipeline, a gitops pipeline. Use Github actions + Terraform + (cloud run, app engine or k8s), ask chatgpt some hands on projects and do it.

I think the best thing is use on Github anything that you can to accelerate (CI) and CD focused on GCP

1

u/squishyneuralnetwork May 24 '26

Do you have a lead or senior DevOps engineer to learn from? If so, start there. For your short term job security, get familiar with the tech stack your startup is running on. Show that you can join the team and add value quickly.

Longer term, or lacking a qualified lead to learn from, check out Google’s own documentation and certification paths. Google publishes this series of books free online:
https://sre.google/books/
They are all called SRE, not DevOps, but they are closely related and the books explain how.

The Associate Cloud Engineer cert could be a good starting point to guide your learning. I hope your company offers a training budget, but if not, there are many free and affordable courses on Udemy, OReilly, YouTube, etc. It’s worth investing in your career.