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Oliver Buchannon
Akum Blaise Acha

Senior DevOps Engineer| Backend Engineer|

The CI/CD Pipeline Mistakes That Are Quietly Slowing Your Team Down

Apr 26, 2026

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10 min read

The CI/CD Pipeline Mistakes That Are Quietly Slowing Your Team Down

Flaky tests, long build times, missing rollback steps, environment drift, and the fixes that compound over time.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Blue-Green vs Canary vs Rolling Deployments: When to Use Which and Why It Matters

Apr 19, 2026

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9 min read

Blue-Green vs Canary vs Rolling Deployments: When to Use Which and Why It Matters

A real comparison with tradeoffs, rollback strategies, and what breaks each approach.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
How to Build a Zero-Downtime Deployment Pipeline from Scratch

Apr 12, 2026

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15 min read

How to Build a Zero-Downtime Deployment Pipeline from Scratch

Database migrations, feature flags, traffic shifting, and the sequence that keeps production alive.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Database Sharding: When to Do It, How to Do It, and When You've Gone Too Far

Apr 5, 2026

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16 min read

Database Sharding: When to Do It, How to Do It, and When You've Gone Too Far

A practical guide to horizontal partitioning without destroying your queries.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Secrets Management: How Senior Engineers Protect Credentials in Production

Mar 29, 2026

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13 min read

Secrets Management: How Senior Engineers Protect Credentials in Production

Vault, environment variables, and what not to do.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Breaking Into Tech from a Non-CS Background: What I've Seen Work

Mar 22, 2026

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12 min read

Breaking Into Tech from a Non-CS Background: What I've Seen Work

Real paths, real people — including from Africa.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Docker vs. Kubernetes: When to Use Which (And When You Don't Need Either)

Mar 15, 2026

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12 min read

Docker vs. Kubernetes: When to Use Which (And When You Don't Need Either)

Most engineers overcomplicate this. Let's fix that today.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
How to Build a Portfolio as a DevOps Engineer (That Actually Gets You Hired)

Mar 8, 2026

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10 min read

How to Build a Portfolio as a DevOps Engineer (That Actually Gets You Hired)

What to build, what to document, and where to put it — so the right people find you.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
From Help Desk to DevOps in 18 Months

Jan 25, 2026

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6 min read

From Help Desk to DevOps in 18 Months

A real journey — and the exact roadmap that made it possible

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
The 5 Career Mistakes I See Junior DevOps Engineers Make

Jan 18, 2026

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6 min read

The 5 Career Mistakes I See Junior DevOps Engineers Make

Real patterns from our community — and how to avoid them early

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Why Cameroon’s Tech Talent Is Africa’s Best-Kept Secret

Jan 11, 2026

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5 min read

Why Cameroon’s Tech Talent Is Africa’s Best-Kept Secret

How DevOps engineers here are competing globally — without leaving home

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Why Most DevOps Engineers Panic During Incidents

Dec 21, 2025

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5 min read

Why Most DevOps Engineers Panic During Incidents

And how to stay calm when everything is on fire.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
The One Skill That Instantly Makes You a Better DevOps Engineer

Dec 14, 2025

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6 min read

The One Skill That Instantly Makes You a Better DevOps Engineer

Why clear thinking matters more than knowing more tools.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
How to Stand Out as a DevOps Engineer — Even When Everyone Else Seems More Experienced

Dec 7, 2025

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5 min read

How to Stand Out as a DevOps Engineer — Even When Everyone Else Seems More Experienced

Experience gets you in the room. Visibility gets you remembered.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
How to Survive (and Succeed) in Your First 90 Days as a DevOps Engineer

Nov 16, 2025

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6 min read

How to Survive (and Succeed) in Your First 90 Days as a DevOps Engineer

The first three months will shape the rest of your journey.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
How to Ask Smart Questions in DevOps Interviews

Nov 2, 2025

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6 min read

How to Ask Smart Questions in DevOps Interviews

Curiosity makes you stand out — if you know how to use it.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
How to Talk About Your Projects Like a Senior Engineer

Oct 19, 2025

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5 min read

How to Talk About Your Projects Like a Senior Engineer

The difference between “I built it” and “Here’s what it achieved.”

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Why Most Engineers Struggle in Their First DevOps Role

Oct 12, 2025

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5 min read

Why Most Engineers Struggle in Their First DevOps Role

The shift from coding to reliability thinking.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Why Most DevOps Engineers Fail Their First Interview

Oct 5, 2025

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6 min read

Why Most DevOps Engineers Fail Their First Interview

The missing mindset that makes you forget everything you practiced.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
The Hidden Skill That Makes Engineers Indispensable: Mentorship

Sep 28, 2025

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5 min read

The Hidden Skill That Makes Engineers Indispensable: Mentorship

Teaching others accelerates your own growth.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Why Most Tech Resumes Are Bad — and How to Fix Yours

Sep 21, 2025

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5 min read

Why Most Tech Resumes Are Bad — and How to Fix Yours

Your resume isn’t a project list. It’s a story of impact.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
How to Pick Side Projects That Actually Get You Hired

Sep 7, 2025

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6 min read

How to Pick Side Projects That Actually Get You Hired

Stop building another to-do app. Start building projects that prove your value to employers.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
The Business Side of Engineering: Thinking Beyond Code

Aug 31, 2025

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6 min read

The Business Side of Engineering: Thinking Beyond Code

The most valuable engineers don’t just write code- they solve business problems with engineering thinking.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
Getting Unstuck: How Senior Engineers Solve Problems Faster

Aug 24, 2025

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6 min read

Getting Unstuck: How Senior Engineers Solve Problems Faster

Everyone gets stuck. The difference is how quickly you find your way out.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
The One Skill Every Engineer Needs That Isn’t Taught in Bootcamps

Aug 17, 2025

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6 min read

The One Skill Every Engineer Needs That Isn’t Taught in Bootcamps

Writing code is the easy part. The hard part — and the skill that makes you indispensable- is learning to explain your thinking.

Akum Blaise Acha
Akum Blaise Acha
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The Engineering Ladder

The Engineering Ladder

Every Sunday, I break down career-changing lessons in DevOps and Software Engineering to help you level up fast. Whether you’re trying to break into tech, grow in your current role, or stand out as a top-tier engineer — you’ll get straight-to-the-point lessons, real-world tactics, and exclusive resources to help you grow into a skilled DevOps Software Engineer and a respected leader in your career.

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