🚀 My Week 1 DevOps Journey: What I Learned, Faced, and Figured Out (Beginner Insights)

Hey devs 👋

I’ve just wrapped up Week 1 of my DevOps journey, and let me tell you — it was an exciting, sometimes confusing, but deeply satisfying start. If you're also starting out with DevOps or curious about how to begin, I hope my experience helps you learn (or avoid) a few things.

Here’s what I covered this week, what tripped me up, how I solved it, and a few useful insights for fellow beginners 👇


☁️ What I Learned This Week

1. What is Cloud Computing?

I finally got a grip on the difference between:

  • IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Where you rent virtual hardware (like AWS EC2).

  • PaaS (Platform as a Service): Managed app platforms (like Heroku).

  • SaaS (Software as a Service): Apps delivered over the internet (like Google Docs).

👉 I watched this amazing video that made it click for me:
🎥 [Insert YouTube Link: Cloud Computing Basics]


2. What is DevOps?

Before this week, DevOps was just a buzzword for me. Now I understand it's a culture + tools combo that makes software delivery faster, safer, and more efficient.

I explored:

  • CI/CD pipelines

  • Version control

  • Containers (a bit, just the concept)

  • Automation using tools like Git, scripts, etc.

🎥 I followed freeCodeCamp's DevOps Beginner Roadmap — super beginner-friendly.


3. Git + GitHub Basics

I did a Git + GitHub crash course, and learned the core commands:

  • git init, git add, git commit, git push, git pull, git clone

🔧 I set up my first repo with a Hello World HTML page and a proper README.

🗂️ My GitHub repo: [Insert Link Here]


4. Linux & WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

I installed Ubuntu using WSL on Windows and learned:

  • Basic commands (ls, cd, touch, nano, chmod, etc.)

  • Navigating file structures

  • Managing permissions

🎥 Tutorial I used: Ubuntu Terminal for Beginners – freeCodeCamp


⚠️ Challenges I Faced (and How I Solved Them)

❌ Problem 1: WSL Setup Was Confusing

At first, I had no clue how to even access Ubuntu on Windows. I installed WSL but couldn't find the terminal.

✅ Fix: I watched a simple step-by-step WSL install video, and made sure to set WSL 2 as default using PowerShell:

bashCopyEditwsl --set-default-version 2

❌ Problem 2: GitHub Authentication

I got stuck with GitHub asking me for a username/password during git push, but it kept failing.

✅ Fix: I learned that GitHub now uses personal access tokens instead of passwords. I generated a token and used it in place of the password — worked perfectly!


❌ Problem 3: Terminal Commands Were Overwhelming

Honestly, switching from GUI to command-line felt alien at first.

✅ Fix: I wrote down common Linux and Git commands on a sticky note and kept a cheat sheet handy. Practicing daily helped a lot.


🔍 Useful Insights from Week 1

  • Don’t skip the basics. It’s tempting to jump into tools like Docker and Jenkins, but without Git and Linux, you’ll struggle.

  • Hands-on > just watching videos. I pushed a dummy repo to GitHub and immediately felt more confident.

  • Join a community. Reading Reddit threads and Hashnode articles helped me realize others face the same issues.


📌 What’s Next (Sneak Peek of Week 2)

Next week, I’ll be diving into:

  • Shell scripting basics

  • File automation

  • More advanced Git commands

  • Maybe even touching Docker 👀


🙌 Final Thoughts

If you're starting DevOps, trust me — the first week is more about mindset than tools. Get comfortable with terminals, understand version control, and embrace the learning curve. You'll thank yourself later.

Feel free to drop your questions or experiences in the comments — let’s grow together 💪

Follow me here if you’d like to see how Week 2 goes — it’s only getting better from here!

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Written by

Mritunjay Tiwari
Mritunjay Tiwari