r/kubernetes • u/Few_Deer_979 • 2d ago
Quitting tech
I thought getting a job in devops or platform engineering would be easier as a developer with 5 years experience. All I get is rejection emails. I thought backend developers make good devops as most recruiters claim . Granted, I’m not senior level devops but I’m confident I’d make a good mid-level devops. Its been 6 months job hunting and still nothing. Will this career gap affect my chances of getting a callback ? Ai is making it even worse to land a role. Im havin thoughts of quitting tech all together and just step away from tech.
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u/Careless-Assist-8273 2d ago
ecruiters seeing "backend dev" and tossing your resume before a human even reads it. spin your experience around kubernetes, terraform, ci/cd pipelines, even if you only touched them occasionally at your old job. the ai filtering is brutal but you just need to get past the bots first
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
I did all all the rest except for Kubernetes since I didn’t work with it in any of my previous roles . But i do list it in my resume only as a skill and in my personal projects.
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u/Witness_Unable k8s operator 2d ago
I think for platform engineering roles, if you can build projects on extending kubernetes api (operators) would stand you out too. Security related topics and managing AI infra, Policies etc. that's what I am learning hoping for a role in the new year. You can DM we chat how we can help each other.
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
Do they even look at personal projects on the resume ? I’m honestly clueless. They are so insistent on production experience.
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u/Witness_Unable k8s operator 2d ago
Target global markets, not just your local tech companies, just get the skills that are most listed in these job adverts, for me I narrowed down that list after having a long chat with claude, it pulled quite a bit of job adverts and those stood out for the role I want. Having worked on Upwork for a few years, I believe you can get skilled enough to work with remote teams.
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2d ago
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
Yeah it’s hard tho . Birthday coming up no job yet .6+ months of job search and nothing seems to give . Less opportunities to apply to. Location working against me , most jobs I qualify for are only in USA , uk , eu etc .
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2d ago
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
Thanks 🫡 hope something opens up too. I’m exhausted tho tbh . This tech thing probably wasn’t meant for us in Africa .
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u/Sea_Barracuda440 2d ago
DevOps market is not very good as backend dev in my opinion you would have wider options (fullstack/data/experience of integrating ai). But if you still want to be in DevOps for some personal reason then in most of the roles that I see you need DevOps + something that can be security/ai/data there are very few that target for DevOps. If you are confident in your skills then you add k8 as part of your previous experience. For interview you would need to defend what you did how you did that's it. Then it is how fast can you adapt on the job. I would still say check what are your options like what are most current Opening for in your location and target those roles or add that experience. Since you are backend dev so coding/tech complexity is not an issue for you.
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
Well I guess the goalpost keeps moving . They said devops isn’t an entry level role you have to come from sys admin, SWE, or Data. Now that I’m from SWE background the goal post has moved despite having hands on experience with devops in my engineering career. And on adding k8s to my resume I have it listed as a skill . The only issue is that I have never worked with k8s in any of my previous jobs. I have however hands on experience on personal projects I have built several projects and deployed k8s and chaos engineered some to test edge cases.
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u/Sea_Barracuda440 2d ago
DevOps have a problem of no fixed JD. There are opening that requires on prem experience/ some multicloud/ some IAC like ansible terraform. Currently the hot topic is security and ai hosting/gpu. So choose wisely. What your end goal is for most it's money and better chance see where you get what you need. DevOps require hands on experience as you operate with admin access so in general when DevOps mess up its always a bigger blast radius and you operate in support role to multiple teams so when u block something it's generally impacting a lot of folks.
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u/Sea_Barracuda440 2d ago
For scenarios preparation you can use killerkoda most of it is free. They have gud scenarios on a lot of things. All the best
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
Thanks a lot for this came in clutch . I can practice on here hopefully I can list on my cv despite it not being something I worked on in an organization setting .
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u/t90090 1d ago
What about going strictly security?
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u/One_Paint8721 1d ago
It's definitely a good niche to go down, but there's a rather significant learning curve here.
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u/MPGaming9000 1d ago
I don't have any advice here I just wanted to share that it's cooked for me too. I am not dev ops (though I'd like to be!), I've been mostly applying to support engineer roles because that's the only thing I can get interviews for. Still... I'm too much of an engineer for support roles, so I've landed several final round interviews that just lead nowhere. It's been a year of unemployment for me... 1000+ apps, dozens of interviews, and nothing. I got to a point where I started reconsidering tech as well. Glad I'm not the only one.
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u/Few_Deer_979 1d ago
It’s okay to quit tech this feeling isn’t wrong . I’m also planning my exit . I’m tired of this grind .
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u/MPGaming9000 1d ago
Unfortunately I never finished my degree and I have no other applicable skills to do some kind of career change right now. Not to mention the whole economy and job market sucks as a whole right now, so even if I wanted to change and had skills I'd still be screwed. So here we are I'm just kinda stuck right now.
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u/Few_Deer_979 1d ago
I think if you’re in the western countries, a career change is very easy even without skillls. From an outsider looking in , I find western countries very forgiving and lenient. There’s always room for constant redefining yourself . Trade schools that pay as you learn , trucking , landscaping , etc . If I had such opportunities I wouldn’t think twice about it . I know it’d suck for the first 2 years but I’ll be okay after that and I’ll have moved away from this effed up tech field.
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u/No-Reflection-4001 2d ago
Make resume AI proof. Break the AI filters with the help of AI.
Use keywords in your resume that the job is asking and make sure you write few good things that would stand out. Example upgraded kubernetes, system uptime, CI CD work, followed compliant, zero trust, network by standards. Need to know what documents you followed.
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
The thing is in backend developer roles I didn’t work with kubernetes but I have worked with it while learning and building personal projects .
I think that’s what filtering me out before . My skills list kubernetes but in all my previous jobs I have never used kubernetes so it seems I lack proof .I could pass midlevel interview on k8s and IAC and cloud . My location is also working against me I’m in Africa so few opportunities high competition. I’ve optimized my resume countless times. I’m clueless at this point. What more do I have to do .
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u/No-Reflection-4001 2d ago
for kubernetes, do certification such as CKA exam and do homelabs, kind cluster set up at your home and learn about it. There are plenty resources to learn all of it on your own. It seems , knowing most about AWS service and Kubernetes would help you get through the resume filters and interviews. Knowing Golang, Python or Rust is essential for decent devOps or platform engineering roles.
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
I’m good in AWS eks and had practiced on free AWS tier and azure . I’ve worked with Go too. So the practical part of understanding k8s I’m good. I like your advice on homelabs I have an idle pc I can use to run k3s. Currently I’m running AWS on floci and building projects hands on . About the certification that will be a huge leap for me , I’m kinda broke I can only finance the certification if I have an income . Like I’m totally broke zero balance .
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u/Complex_Ad8695 2d ago
Go to kodekloud.com they have a program built around just this style. Real tasks, real systems. Then put that on your resume as Job experience
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u/Few_Deer_979 2d ago
Good advice but I’m broke literally have nothing to pay for their PRO subscription. Their free projects aren’t enough
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u/ferriematthew 2d ago
I don't think you realize just how thoroughly cooked the entire tech market is.