My name is Yensyd, and I'm from the Philippines. I am an experienced Web Developer and a Cybersecurity Enthusiast. I'm aiming to learn a lot about DevOps, and build practical experience throughout my journey. I am keen to earn some Microsoft Certifications along the way, and I'm also excited to create meaningful projects, be it for myself or an idea I want to build. During my free time, I participate in hacking events, or as they call it, Capture The Flag (CTF). My goal is to learn a lot in the community, and have a place to have conversations and talk about everything DevOps. Very grateful to Mischa for setting up a community like this, I hope to get along with everyone well!

I started my learning journey toward the AZ-104 certification. As a first step, I am watching a 11 hours YouTube video to get a general sense of what will be covered in the exam. My next step will be to go through the Learning Path materials on the Microsoft site. I plan to do projects also to gain hand-on experience. Toward the end, I plan to do multiple prep exams since this helps me a lot for the AZ-900. Also following a recent email from Mischa, I plan to keep a learning journal of my daily activities and progress. With dedication, assiduity and diligence, I hope to be able to take AZ-104 exam before the end of the year.

My name is Chris, and I'm from Taiwan. I'm very interested in DevOps and want to deepen my knowledge of Kubernetes. I hope to learn more about it here.

My name is Jann Idar, from Norway. I've been doing Ops and End User Computing for 19+ years, and I'm hungry for learning DevOps. After transitioning from Windows to MacOS, a whole world of cool stuff opened up for me. I got back into coding, and opened my eyes for the DevOps community. Combining my skills with learning new skills gives more options for the future. I have AZ-104, and forced myself to use Terraform to complete all the necessary labs before the certification exam.

Aim high when entering a job: it’s much easier to get in for a high salary than to start low and grow into a high salary later on. Companies budget a role with a salary range, 70-120K for example. This means at least 70K, up to 120K (and if it was up to the company, always 70K). Aim for the maximum of an indicated salary range within reason to your qualifications, which shouldn’t matter if you reached this negotiation stage of a position. This is why somebody who just comes in fresh, can earn more than others who already spend 3 years working there.