About

Hello, my name is Gerry and I currently work as a Cloud Systems Engineer at an enterprise company. My current focus is leveraging Infrastruce As Code (IaC) to deploy resources into Azure by utilizing multi-step Pipelines to accomplish this. In addition, I like to leverage any technologies for automation with powershell or python. This blog serves as a place to store and search my lessons learned over time, maybe you can find it helpful as well.

My Interests Over Time:

1. Cloud Systems Engineer (current):
   • Daily tools used:
     • Deploying of all Azure Services using Azure Devops/Github Actions + Terraform. Everything is done through IaC instead of Azure Portal. Challenge mode on!
     • AKS deployment/management. Will post more on this in the future but for now just learning how to use kubectl and k9s for interacting with deployed clusters. Stay tuned.
     • Powershell + Python scripting to be ran by Azure Automation/Logic Apps/Function Apps. This will never change as scripting is an incredibly valuable skill that can be used anywhere/anytime for automation.
   • So instead of using the Azure portal to deploy serverless applications, I now mostly write them in Terraform and deploy with Azure Devops.
   • In previous positions, I always source controlled what I could so this is just the next logical step.
2. Automation Engineer:
   • Azure, Github, Docker, Python, Ansible
   • I’m trying to be serverless as much as possible so I use Azure Functions and Azure Containers when possible
     • See my Azure category and cloud tag for example.
   • Try to check the skills in: How to be a Cloud SysAdmin
   • Must read post
   • Trying to break in? Get to learning. More info can be found on this recurring thread
   • Most common tags for 2021 so far:
     • Azure-Automation
     • Azure-FunctionApps
     • Azure-KeyVault
     • Azure-LogAnalytics
     • Azure-LogicApps
     • CICD
     • ConfigManagement
     • Scripting-Powershell
     • Scripting-Python
     • Scripting-RestAPI
     • VersionControl
3. Systems Administrator:
   • Powershell, Windows Server
   • I was a Windows SysAdmin but tried at every job to use Linux instead (where it makes sense (not for Active Directory for example)):
     • How to be a Linux SysAdmin
     • How to be a Windows SysAdmin
   • Having trouble breaking in? See this post
   • Already in? how far in? Please don’t be cocky, read the wiki to always improve your skills.
4. Remote Support Tech:
   • Mostly break fix and learning to script
   • Learn to troubleshoot
   • Everyone should read this at the beginning of your career and really understand what it is saying. This is not to be condescending, but I refuse to help people who do not try to help themselves. 80% of people who ask me questions about something are doing it out of sheer laziness - no more, redirect them to this page and ask them “show me where you got stuck…”
5. How to Advance:
   • Look for a new demanding job once you feel you have learned all you can and you don’t see upwards mobility.
     • Make sure to interview them more than they interview you :)
     • Try to give your current position 3 years minimum, it can look bad if you jump ship too often.
   • Try to never be the smartest person the room
     • I’m a fan of skills checklists so that I’m always learning something new, see above.
   • Be a tinker by nature:
     • When you install programs, do you modify the themes, settings, sync options, encryption options? See my tweaks tag for example. For example, it drives me crazy that people install vscode and don’t know about settings.json tweaks and extensions.
     • Do you regularly go out of your way to learn how $x works? See this list of things you can install in your homelab.
       • See my setup tag for example.
       • After you stand something up, take notes of each step and then post them on a blog so you can showcase your skills.
         • This can be a self hosted Wordpress instance or preferably, Github Pages with many blog links pointing to your Github repos.
     • Last but not least, focus mostly on scripting. I would do powershell for Windows and bash/python for linux servers.
       • I always explain scripting to be like legos - Super small chunks of things that you learn that build the foundation for any kind of automation you can think of. If you are interested in learning I would suggest Powershell or Python (or both)
         • See this post on powershell.
         • See this post on python.
       • You will never not have an in-demand job if you know how to write scripts, especially if built on a SysAdmin foundational knowledge (how to build servers, how to picture networking, how to use orchestration tools for example)
   • Work on your people skills yo!

My Certs:

1. 2021-10-02: Azure Solutions Architect
   • 
   • 2021-10-02: Microsoft Azure Architect Design (AZ304)
   • 2021-08-01: Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies (AZ303)
   • Verify
2. 2020-05-16: Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ103)
   • 
3. 2016-06-17: Cisco Certified Network Associate: Routing and Switching (CCNA R&S)
   • 
4. 2015-05-02: Testout Network Pro
   • 

Archived:

Looking for the older version of this page? Check here