The One Skill That Instantly Makes You a Better DevOps Engineer

Hello “👋”

Welcome to another week, another opportunity to become a great DevOps and Software Engineer

Today’s issue is brought to you by TheEngineeringLadder→ A great resource for devops and software engineers. We break down career-changing lessons in DevOps and Software Engineering to help you level up fast.

💡 PS: Before we dive into today’s topic, I have something special to share with you...

If you’ve been following TheEngineeringLadder, you know I always talk about one thing —
Proof of skill is more powerful than potential.

And that’s exactly why I created something game-changing for Software and DevOps Engineers who want to stand out in the job market:

The 90-Day Career-Ready Engineer Challenge
A fully practical, build-focused program where you’ll engineer 15 real-world portfolio projects that recruiters, employers, and clients can’t ignore.

This isn’t another “watch and learn” experience.
It’s a build-and-show experience. It’s designed for engineers who are ready to create undeniable EVIDENCE.

Here’s what you’ll get:
✅ 15 projects you can add to your portfolio and resume
✅ Hands-on guidance and accountability for 90 days
✅ Systems you can deploy, document, and showcase internationally
✅ A competitive environment with a prize for the top engineer

Whether you want remote roles, better offers, global visibility, or stronger confidence — this challenge gives you the evidence to make it happen.

🔥 I’m taking only 10 engineers. Once the seats are gone, it’s closed.
Send me a message here if you want in.

Build proof. Build leverage. Build your career.

A few days ago, I was helping a junior DevOps engineer debug a deployment issue.
She had tried everything — restarting containers, clearing caches, re-running the pipeline.

When I asked her to walk me through her thought process, she paused and said:

And I smiled — because I’ve been there.
Every engineer has.

It’s a sign of something deeper:
We learn tools quickly, but we learn structured thinking slowly.

DevOps isn’t about knowing Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, or CI/CD.
Those are just tools.

The real skill — the one that makes you grow fast — is clarity of thought.

Why Clear Thinking Matters in DevOps

When a system goes down, nobody cares how many tools you know.
They care about whether you can answer one question:

“What’s the most likely cause?”

Clear thinking helps you:

• Troubleshoot calmly

• Communicate effectively

• Prioritize correctly

• Make decisions without guessing

It’s the difference between chaos and control.

The 3-Step Thinking Process I Teach All My Mentees

If you master just this, your performance will jump immediately.

1️⃣ What changed?

Incidents rarely come out of nowhere.
A config updated.
A deployment happened.
Traffic spiked.

Start here — it narrows your search by 80%.

2️⃣ What evidence do I have?

Logs.
Metrics.
Alerts.

If you can’t see the problem, you can’t solve it.

A DevOps engineer without monitoring is like a doctor diagnosing without scans.

This Week’s Challenge

Next time something breaks:
Before touching anything, write down your first three thoughts.

Not solutions — thoughts.
You’ll start to see patterns in how you reason.

That’s how clarity grows — one problem at a time.

3️⃣ What’s the smallest next step?

Not the smartest…
Not the flashiest…
The smallest.

Restart the failing service.
Revert one config.
Scale one resource.
Validate one assumption.

This is how seniors troubleshoot — methodically, not emotionally.

Final Thoughts

Tools will change.
Cloud providers will evolve.
Automation will improve.

But your ability to think clearly?
That’s what makes you valuable — in any company, any role, any country.

The best DevOps engineers aren’t the ones who know the most.
They’re the ones who understand the fastest.

PS:

If you want to turn your work, projects, and achievements into a resume that actually gets callbacks, check out my new Notion template:
🎯 Resume Mastery for Software & DevOps Engineers
https://excelintech.com/b/SE7wA

It teaches you how to document your wins, quantify impact, and communicate your value clearly — the exact skill we talked about today.