10th Website Anniversary

It has been a decade of blogging! The time of self-reflection is inevitably upon us. And we shall. But first, happy New Year everyone!

Thank You

As I reflect on my 10 years of blogging, it’s hard not to be inspired by the journey – not just of the posts I’ve written, study guides I’ve created or the skills I’ve acquired, but of the people I’ve met along the way. To all of you who ever messaged me or talked to me in person – thank you!

Motivations Behind the Blog

When I first started this blog a decade ago, I was a university graduate, a nobody, trying to become somebody by using words. I saw blogging as a tool for documenting things and keeping it all in one place for future references. Over time, my passion for technology turned into a platform for sharing and learning that the wesbite is today.

The early days of the blog were a mix of youthful enthusiasm, curiosity and exploration. I wrote about everything that fascinated me – from using Arch Linux on a RaspberryPi, to setting up LUKS encryption (that was back in 2013!), to compiling Linux kernels for fun. There was a lot of content about Linux and network security as well: SSH, VPN, Ntop, Ncrack, Nessus, firewalls etc.

A few years later I started working with RHEL and went onto becoming a self-taught RHCE. I created my very first Red Hat study guide. In hindsight, it marked a transition from seeking knowledge to being a source of it. The amount of messages I received from people asking for all kinds of support with their studies was simply overwhelming. To all of you who used this blog as a study resource in any capacity and passed their exams – congratulations, and truly well done!

Professional Growth and Changing Content Landscape

It is safe to say that the blog has been a witness to my professional growth, marked by a career milestone I never imagined I would reach: becoming a Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA). Looking back, it’s likely that initial motivations weren’t just about building a blog; they were also about building a professional identity. I just didn’t realise that at the time. The blog became a reflection of my journey in this big wide IT world, evolving, even if just a little bit, with every article.

Initially my posts were heavily focused on the foundational aspects of technology like Linux systems, server security, TCP/IP networking, installation of applications. These topics somewhat mirrored my personal learning curve. As the years progressed, so did the complexity and range of topics covered. This shift was also a reflection of my growing experience.

One of the most significant changes in content came with the introduction of DevOps and container technologies like Docker, Kubernetes and OpenShift. These topics weren’t just new things for me to learn, they were also becoming widely adopted by sysadmins and development teams. And so technologies that were cutting-edge a decade ago (e.g. AWS cloud computing or Ansible automation) were now considered fundamental. The journey of understanding and implementing Kubernetes became the dominating topic of the blog (for better or worse), resonating the most with those readers who were navigating similar transitions in their careers.

What the Future Holds

Progress is impossible without change, and change, very much like Thanos, is inevitable. During the pandemic, we have seen the world move to remote working (where feasible) in a matter of months. This has changed the way DevOps is perceived as a role: work is where your laptop is. I’ve been working remotely for the last few years and it has been godsend (remember that everyone’s experiences are different).

We have also seen the release of ChatGPT, and how quickly AI chatbots got adopted and started popping up virtually everywhere. Continued progress in AI research, leading to even more intelligent chatbots and autonomous systems (like self-driving cars) across various industries will be the space to watch. For what it’s worth, this page could have been generated by an AI. Not really… Maybe… You can’t tell.