Real world DevOps training
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I'm an Ops guy, I have a history of working in IT operations and I think of myself as a “technician” or “ITPro”. To be honest, I don't know what to call it, but my point is that I do not have a background as programmer. I've been talking with other Ops-persons about integrating and collaborating with developer teams for quite some time now. Trying to make others understand the benefits they can both give and receive when collaborating with developers and trying to convince operations teams that we have lots and lots to learn from developers. And that is getting more true for each day now. We are suddenly not just given the tools to use code, but also tasked with the expectations to manage a bunch of things “as code”. PowerShell, Desired State Configuration and cross platform infrastructure all makes us more or less forced to embrace the mindset of programmers.
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For me that's what DevOps is all about, trying to build a better understanding between Dev and Ops in a better together kind of mindset. A few months ago a developer friend of mine told me about the conference called <a href="http://www.swetugg.se" target="_blank">Swetugg</a>, a conference for .net developers in Stockholm, Sweden. This friend didn’t just talk me in to attending the conference, he suggested I'd submit a session abstract about PowerShell. Said and done, I went straight home to write an abstract and it was accepted. I was about to give a talk on a conference for developers!
</p><figure id="attachment_390" style="max-width: 300px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<a href="/img/2016/02/TMNC-HeroesInAPowerShell.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-390" src="/img/2016/02/TMNC-HeroesInAPowerShell-300x139.png" alt="The first slide in my presentation." width="300" height="139" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The first slide in my presentation.</figcaption></figure>
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I've just gotten home from that very conference and it has been a great learning experience. I can willingly admit that a lot of the content from the sessions passed far above my head, but I learnt something new in every session I went to. But that was just the start of it! Spending two full days with developers, making new contacts, learning about the obstacles they encountered and how they made their way past them was a great experience! Not to mention being able to share stories about obstacles I've encountered and getting their view of the problems. I learned even more by just speaking to the attendants than I did on the actual sessions. And as a third bonus, I got to meet and talk with a whole bunch of great speakers.
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If there is such a thing as DevOps training I would say this is just that. If you are an “Ops” try to attend a “Dev” conference, a dev meetup or a user group meeting! And if you are a “Dev” try to get in contact with a few “Ops” in the same way. I think we have a great amount to learn from each other.
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Oh my presentation? Well no one threw rotten tomatoes, I got some attendants asking me questions afterwards and I learned a great deal about presenting. Now I can't wait for <a href="http://www.psconf.eu/" target="_blank">PowerShell Conference Europe in April </a>which will be the next time I'll give a talk.
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