Emmanuel shares his journey from the challenges of being laid off to how the DevOps bootcamp gave him the skills and confidence to land a senior engineering role at a large company in the defense industry 🚀💼
Hi Emmanuel 👋 What's your current role?
Hi, my name is Emmanuel and I live in the United States 🇺🇸
I’m currently a Senior Member of the Engineering Staff, working for a company in the defense industry. We work on a lot of DevSecOps projects.
We have a Kubernetes environment, where we work with microservices that run on containers, so that’s mainly what I work on.
Before joining this bootcamp, I already had some exposure to DevOps, but I was looking to deepen my knowledge and become more proficient with DevOps tools like Jenkins, Kubernetes, and Ansible.
With this blog article, I'm happy to give you some insights into my ups and downs of my journey 😊 👇
1️⃣ Lay-Off and Discovering the Need for Deeper Knowledge
A couple of years ago, I took a live DevOps class, which lasted for six months.
Although it helped me get the foot into the DevOps world and I found a job, I felt that I lacked something 😣
But first I didn’t know.
"That gap in practical knowledge became clear only once I started working."
For example, while I understood the basics of Jenkins and Kubernetes, I didn’t really know how to apply them effectively in a real-world environment.
So ultimately, I was laid off a while later.
Then, I figured that I should use that time to improve my knowledge 💪
2️⃣ What convinced me to finally enroll into Nana's DevOps Bootcamp
I was watching some of Nana’s videos on YouTube, and what struck me was how she explained things—she could explain a concept ten different ways until you really understood it.
But I needed something more structured and I wanted something that would bring all the concepts together and show a workflow that goes from one tool to another.
And I knew that from watching her YouTube videos, if I bought her bootcamp, I would get more value from it 💎
I knew that the free videos were just a taste and that the paid content would be more in-depth, so I decided to make that investment in myself, even though I was out of work at the time.
"If I need knowledge, I will go for the knowledge and to be able to learn efficiently. I don't want money to hold me back, when I know I need to learn something."
Btw, the price of Nana's DevOps Bootcamp was much less and offered much more depth than the other class.
3️⃣ The Bootcamp Experience: Hands-On Learning that Sticks
Honestly, it was even more than I expected.
The hands-on projects were incredibly valuable.
By walking through the lectures and doing the projects myself, I built muscle memory with the tools we were using, like Jenkins, Terraform, Docker and Kubernetes.
Before the bootcamp, I didn’t know how to set up a Jenkins pipeline from end to end.
Now, after the bootcamp, I’m able to do that, and it runs seamlessly. The same applies to Ansible—before, I had some idea about it, but I didn’t really know how to use it in depth.
The bootcamp gave me that deeper understanding, and I now use all these tools in my job.
Also Nana’s way of explaining things is so detailed, yet simple enough to grasp. She also revisits complex concepts from different angles, which helps a lot.
4️⃣ How the Bootcamp Landed Me the Job
The bootcamp played a huge role in landing my current job and I actually got the job before I even completed the bootcamp.
During interviews, I was able to explain the concepts I learned in the bootcamp in a way that impressed the interviewers.
For example, the way Nana explains Kubernetes is exactly how I explained it during my interviews 🗣️
So her teaching style really stuck with me and this definitely helped me stand out and secure the job that I now have.
Her language helps me to be able to then explain to other people in an interview or on the job.
"The DevOps bootcamp definitely gave me the confidence and knowledge I needed to not only succeed in those interviews, but more importantly ON the job"
5️⃣ Using my skills in my day-to-day work
Everything I learned in the DevOps bootcamp is directly applicable to my day-to-day work.
One of the biggest examples is with Jenkins.
During one of the projects, I followed Nana’s example to create a Jenkinsfile, and later, I used that exact structure at my job.
I just adapted the parameters to fit our company’s specific needs, and the pipeline worked perfectly ⭐️
Before I took the bootcamp, I didn’t even know what a Jenkinsfile was, nor I knew the syntax of Groovy scripting.
And it wasn’t just Jenkins either—I applied what I learned in Kubernetes as well.
I now manage microservices on Kubernetes clusters at the company, and I feel confident in setting up everything from scratch, thanks to the bootcamp 🙏
This has made a huge difference in my work.
The fact that I could take what I learned in the bootcamp and directly apply it to my job, almost without modification, shows how practical and industry-relevant the DevOps training is.
6️⃣ "Knowledge is a powerful tool"
My success didn’t go unnoticed by my peers.
When friends and colleagues approached me for advice, I have pointed them toward Nana’s bootcamp multiple times 😊
Continuous improvement is key in this industry, and her bootcamps offer that in a very practical, accessible way.
So if there is one piece of advice to anyone:
Don’t hesitate to invest in yourself.
Knowledge is a powerful tool💡
And if you want to grow in your career, it’s worth the time and money.
The DevOps bootcamp provided me with the in-depth understanding I needed, and it’s been paying off ever since. Thank you Nana.
Do YOU want to upskill in DevOps or Cloud?
Emmanuel’s success story is proof that with the right mindset, dedication, and learning resources, you can transform your career and achieve your goals.
Whether you’re new to DevOps or looking to deepen your expertise, the DevOps Bootcamp might just be the push you need to get to the next level 🚀
So if you too, want to level up your skills with tremendous career opportunities, that's exactly what we do best. We've already helped 1,000s of engineers on this journey with our Bootcamps! 🤗
We can help you go from absolutely zero DevOps knowledge to becoming a senior engineer, who is proficient in DevOps within just few months, with our meticulously structured, fully up-to-date DevOps Bootcamp 🚀
Before starting with the DevOps bootcamp, you can even book a FREE orientation call, where we will guide you and help you plan your DevOps and Cloud career journey!