DevOps From Scratch: A Student’s Diary (Entry #00)

Why I'm stopping the "Tutorial Hell" and starting a journey to 2027 🚀

Hello, world! 🌍

I’m currently a Computer Science student at Queen Mary University London (Class of '27). Like many of you, I’ve spent the last year (actually no, I 'officially' started 'learning' how to code when I created my Dev.to account, which was in 2022, AND ALL I HAVE DONE IS POSTPONE, and felt like I was never ready for anything😢) getting comfortable with the basics: writing Python scripts 🐍 and pushing code to Git 🐙.

But lately, I’ve been feeling a massive gap between my code working on localhost and understanding how it actually lives in the real world. I’m tired of the "Works on my machine" excuse! 😅

I’ve decided to document my journey from a "standard coder" to a DevOps Engineer. One of the main reasons why I created this account in the first place was to document my journey, so a couple of years from now I could read this and be proud of myself, I guess? This isn't just about learning tools, it's about building System Awareness.

🛑 The "Blank Screen" Struggle is Real

I’ll be honest, I always struggle with Imposter Syndrome. Not just with code, but with life in general. especially having traits of ADHD and not being able to concentrate a 100% on a given task at a certain time. I want to make my blogs fun to read, not like starring at the official python docs and yawning every 3 seconds💀

Whenever I see an explanation for Docker or Kubernetes, I think, "I get it while I'm reading it, but could I build this from scratch?" Usually, the answer is a scary "No." This blog is my way of fixing that. I’m going to "learn in public," break things, and explain them until they stick in my brain.

🍕My First Lesson: The Pizzaiolo’s Skewer (FIFO)
To kick things off, I’ve been looking at data structures through a real-world lens. Did you know a traditional pizza chef (pizzaiolo) is a master of FIFO (First-In-First-Out)?

I recently wrote a Skewer class in Python(an example in my lecture notes) that mimics how orders are stacked and "baked" in order.

The Logic: New orders go to the top (Tail).

The Action: The oldest order is pulled from the bottom (Head).

This is the foundation of every CI/CD pipeline I'll be building later. If you can’t manage a pizza queue, you can’t manage a server deployment! 🍕💻

🗺️The Roadmap (2025 - 2027)
Here is what I’ll be tackling in this series. If you're a student or a career-changer, you can come join me!

🐧 Linux Fundamentals: Moving beyond the GUI and living in the Terminal.

📜 Bash & Scripting: Making my computer do the boring stuff for me.

📦 Containerization: Finally figuring out what a "Docker Image" actually is.

☁️ Cloud Infrastructure: Navigating AWS without getting a surprise $1,000 bill.

♾️ CI/CD: Automating everything from testing to deployment.

👀 The "User POV" Mindset

One thing I’m focusing on is the User Experience. I want to design software as if I’m the person who just installed it from a package manager. If it’s hard to install, the system design is broken. 🛠️

Are you also a student in the "Class of '27" or currently learning DevOps? Let’s connect in the comments!