Put Yourself Out There

When you feel like you have enough to contribute, take a chance and publish what it is you know online so others can benefit from your knowledge.

I noticed it was time to start giving back when people began to ask me questions about what I thought on these topics, and really listened to what I said. I then started to believe maybe it's time to start writing. I also want to give back to the community, no sense in keeping it all in my head when others might learn something from it. I have also started using this as my playbook or reference guide when people ask me questions about this subject matter.

Worries throughout the process:

Is what I have to say relevant? Will I just be mocked? What if I am wrong? What if someone actually listens to me?

I just want to publish what has worked for me in the past so that others might use some of these ideas for their own gain. There are always going to be critics out there. There may better methods of doing what I present here. I accept that and want to learn from others to improve my own skills. Please give me feedback!

Why post about this?

I have not found a plethora of articles online on these subjects, granted I may be looking in the wrong places. This is intended to be a guide / framework which might be useful to people in the same space as me. I have some unique perspective based on these concrete things I have accomplished in the past.

What makes Tier 3 / DevOps / SRE interesting?

We are the original tech-ninjas: we have to be the jack of all trades and know how to work on most things in the company, oh and the work needed to be done yesterday.

In the professional life I have led there are no excuses for the work not being done. The pressure comes from services being down, or customers are threatening to quit. Problems can range from any part of the software stack, so you have to know most of it to be able to support. This kind of pressure leads to a not-for-all work life as we can be constantly needed for various tasks. There are no deadlines set in the future, the time is now to make changes as they have direct impact for those around us to make everyone's lives better.

Why give back?

The simple answer is I have to. So many have lovingly given their time to help me become the success I am. I owe it to them to pass the buck on and keep giving back to others. I hope this is the most efficient means possible.

The fear of the whole world to keep you on your toes...

When publishing something online, knowing the whole world could at any moment stumble across my writing is a powerful motivator to ensure what I am saying is quality work which is beneficial.