How I went from Operations Manager to Site Reliability Engineer In 6 Months!
To set some context up front I just want to be up front and tell everyone this article is based on my experience and this is just a guide that helped me make the transition from operations manager to Site Reliability Engineer in 6 months time. This is not a guarantee you will become an SRE in the same time frame as myself nor will you get a job at a company the same as I did.
To start let’s talk about my past or should I say my previous career before becoming an SRE. I attended a technical college local to my city. This program was 18 months long which my mission was to become a heavy Diesel Truck Technician. I went on to spending another 12 additional weeks in a Advance power generation class which is invite only. This class prepared me to use my skills and education I learned in the Diesel Technician program to actually advance and become a Power Generation Technician. These are the generators that power hospitals and big industrial buildings when the main electrical power goes out. So this was around 2013 when I finally graduated my technical college program and had a job offer from a big company that services and maintains industrial generator sets.
After being a field service technician for a couple years I was interested in becoming a manager. This was due to my ability to communicate clear and precise information to a customer so they could understand it while having the ability to solve problems and come up with solutions on the fly. This was only the case because I actually knew how to machines and products worked in and out. As I found that it was very difficult to just become a manager with my current company I had to do something that was difficult So…….
I had to move out of my current company and apply to a management position with another company. This move sometimes this is the only way to make this happen to actually achieve your goals. I knew I wanted to become a manager to lead a team and solve a customer’s problem. So once I finally found a company that would hire me as a manager and take a chance on me I dove right in. I learned as much as possible. I learn everything about all of the equipment our company sold or offered and I became like a walking book of knowledge. I wanted to be the company that a customer called and would get the answer they wanted. Even if I couldn’t answer the question right away I would do whatever it took to make sure I found the answer for the customer. This made it to where our customer retention rate was very high from any other previous manager’s in the past.
I took my job very serious day in and day out. It would get to the point where I would go in early and stay late to make sure everything was taken care of for not only the internals of the company but the customer’s as well. Now after doing this for awhile I started to get burnt out. And let me tell you I could feel it coming fast. I could feel I couldn’t perform at my best anymore because of this. I even talked with my manager and because I have been doing such a great job and my numbers were amazing I got this reply in return “Brian you are doing a great job, This location is actually making money so we need you to keep doing what you have been doing.”
There was no, Hey go ahead and take a couple days off and rest or go spend some time with your family. I could see it was all about the company. Now as I understand a company is in business to make money and profit from that I believe your most valuable asset is the employees doing the work. So at this time I knew I had put myself in a corner that would be hard to get out of. I asked for a promotion and I was told your doing such a great job here it would be hard to replace you. So it looks like I actually pigeonholed myself which means I’m stuck. This is the day I decided I wanted to get into the technology industry.
Now I have always thought about the technology industry because the equipment we service and sell have tons and tons of technology in them. Such as modules, GPS, Calibrations tools etc. So I did some research and landed on wanting to become a DevOps Engineer. This was because I found that the Cloud Computing industry was growing and blowing up and a DevOps Engineer was critical to bridging that gap between Developers and Operations which again Operations was my background while I was a manager.
I did hours and hours of research on how long it takes to become a DevOps Engineer to all of the technologies that were used in this specific job. I researched classes and even programs that offer training to become a DevOps Engineer. I finally ended up attending Level Up In Tech. This was an online program that was a duration of 6-Months of learning all of the in-demand technologies that a DevOps Engineer uses.
So I took the leap of faith and signed up for the October 2022 Cohort. I found out our cohort had about 27 students. Now while attending this program I was still working as an Operations Manager so I needed structure and that is what this program gave me. I needed a plan I could follow after work to achieve my goals of becoming a DevOps Engineer. While doing this program I learned everything from Linux to the Cloud Platform AWS and even infrastructure as code such as Terraform. Now there were more specifics on what I learned during the program but I won’t get into those details. Now something I did learn I can get into is failing and trying again. I knew I was a hard worker and could get anything done if I focused and kept trying. This is something that I have found that helped me a ton while attending the program. I had times where I didn’t think I was cut out for the technology industry and I also had long nights and weekends where I had to complete projects or course work rather than spend time with my family.
When this happened I had to stop and look back to why I was doing all of this work anyways. Now one thing I found while attending the program was Site Reliability Engineering. This is a position in the technology industry that is very critical. This position was responsible for automating as much as possible to eliminate toil which basically means doing repetitive tasks. They were also in charge of making sure a companies technology platform was highly available and resilient for not only customers to access but internal employees as well. After doing more research I knew I wanted to become an SRE. Now DevOps Engineers and SRE are similar but have a few differences as well.
Now since I knew I wanted to become an SRE I researched all of the information that an SRE does from day-to-day. I did this for a very specific reason and that was to take my technical skills I learned in my program and combine them with my operational management skills to become an SRE. Now remember I didn’t have any technical skills before I joined the DevOps Program so this is a huge benefit for me in learning these technologies and skills. Even though I had a ton of soft skills.
Now once I felt comfortable enough to apply for jobs on the technologies I could speak on I started writing out a plan. Now I have seen multiple approaches to applying to technology jobs but I created my own plan. My plan was to apply to only Hybrid positions. NOW I know people say apply to everything or remote because it gives you the chance to work from anywhere but I want to use my strengths to my advantage and that was to get noticed the best way possible and that was hybrid roles. This meant the talent pool would be way smaller than if I applied to remote jobs which means anyone from everywhere could apply and I would be competing with thousands of people rather than 25 or 30. So I was very focused and stuck to my plan.
I researched companies that not only were in the technology space but actually invested into their technology programs. Now people may ask how do you find that information out. Well I will tell you what worked for me.
I would go to companies official websites and read the press releases or their blog posts and most of them had information on the things they planned on doing or are currently doing. This made my decision easy when I applied to a specific company. Just as much as you need to be a good fit for a company the company needs to fit you as well. Now comes the part of making sure the skills you have or are listed on your resume match the job description. I can’t tell you how many people I have talked to that just blindly apply and don’t even know what that position they are applying to is even looking for.
This is critical when applying. Companies use something called the ATS. This stands for Applicant Tracking System. This is an automated system that can tell if your resume has the skills needed for that specific position. Again you need to make sure you are adjusting your resume to that spefici role you are applying for. Please don’t take this as me telling you to fudge information that isn’t correct. I’m not doing that but I am telling you to make sure your resume closely aligns with the job description you are applying for as it gives you a better chance of getting a call from a recruiter.
So I applied to about 5 different roles with 5 different corporations that were close to my location. Again this meant I had a better chance since I would need to go to the office on a hybrid schedule. Most people want remote but I have never had a remote job and even Hybrid would be a big win for me.
So once I applied to those 5 roles I waited well not really. After some time I would reach out to people on LinkedIn. Now I made sure to do my research here. I didn't just reach out to anyone who worked for that company but I reached out to people that either worked at that location or who held the positions I was applying to. Now please don’t reach out to just any recruiter because even though they may work for the same corporation they may be hiring for different roles than you applied for. So let’s say you have two recruiters that work for Amazon and one hires for Big Data and one hires for science. Now as you can see these are both different so they probably aren’t on the same team because they hire for different positions so they may not even know each other. I made sure to be laser focused on this. Also if you are using LinkedIn the recruiters usually have somewhere on their profile what they are recruiting for. But it’s your job to take the time and find that out. Remember you want to stand out to a company and this is one way to do that by taking the time to do your research. I promise it will pay off.
Now after reaching out I had some people who were open and would schedule a chat and some where I didn’t get a response. But like the old saying goes. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” So I kept at it and started posting cool things the companies were doing that I applied for. Now no one asked me to do this but I took the extra effort and did it anyways. Again the point is to stand out. So after some time I had a few phone screening with recruiters. Then I moved on to the interview process. Now I said a few but remember I only applied to about 5 different positions which 5 different companies so my odds were pretty good right now. So when I knew I had a interview scheduled I did even more research. I wanted to talk on more than the skills needed for the position but I also wanted to talk about the company this is what really gets people to see the amount of time it took you to do the research.
Now right before the interview which all were on zoom I would set the company logo as my zoom background. Some people may call this silly but I call it a game changer. I was now acting as if I was already working for the company. You need to act the part before becoming it. So I had a first interview and the first thing I was told was “that is an awesome background I have never seen anyone do that before.” My response was I’m getting prepared to work for the company and this was a way of doing it.
Now I really had the Interviewers attention. The first interview is usually a behavior interview where they want to make sure you are a good fit for the company again this is time for you to make sure the company fits you as well. So after answering any questions they usually ask if you have any questions and please please please never say NO. Always have about 3 questions ready to ask. You can create your own but here are a few easy ones. “What does the first 6 months look like for this candidate in this position.” “What are a few things you can recommend that will make this candidate successful in this role.” Or “What technologies are used most used in this role.” They will usually list off stuff like training or learning. Again make sure you write out 3x questions you can ask. I recommend asking questions that will challenge and make the interviewer think. Something to the lines of “Why have you stayed at the company so long and do you plan to staying” This is a question I asked and the interviewer really had to think about a good response.
Now this wasn’t saying they didn’t like their position or the company but this was a question they haven’t had to answer before. So remember the point is to stand out in a good way.
Now once you ask your questions let’s say about what technologies will the candidate be using in this specific role make sure to write that down. This not only shows you are asking question but you are actually interested in what the interviewer is saying.
So if the interview went well you should get another call back if the process has multiple rounds. Now I did get another call for a 3rd interview and this was the technical interview. This interview was with the VP and the 2x lead SRE who would be testing my ability of understanding the technologies used which again when we asked our questions we got those answers on what technologies are used in this specific role. This will also prove our ability on using these technologies or at least speaking on them. Now before the actual technical interview I would research and research those technologies I was told about previously. I would watch YouTube videos on it or even create things using those technologies. This is another way to set yourself apart from the competion because most people just won’t do the research. Now you ask why and that is because most humans are lazy and that is just a fact.
So if you prepared as much as possible passing the technical interview shouldn’t be a problem. Now I’m not saying it won’t be hard but with being prepared it gives you a better chance. So once I went through the technical interview the interviewers were impressed on the way I was able to speak about the technologies they asked about and why was that possible because I prepared before hand and studied and created things with those technologies.
So the last part of the technical interview was? You guessed it, Asking them questions so please make sure you have well thought out questions. These questions can be more technical because it is a technical interview you know.
So I was able to ask very technical questions as using documentation to if they actually worked with the vendor for specific reasons as in patches or updates or hot fixes. Which again made them think about their responses. So always remember to ask good questions.
Now depending on the company they may have more rounds of interviews or the technical may be the last one. Now with my current company the technical interview was the last round. So after this interview was a waiting game or was it? Was there something else I could do to stand out? Well yes of course there is and guess what I did? I sent follow up emails sending appreciation to all of the interviewers for taking the time out of their busy schedules to meet with me. Now if you don’t have their emails or ability to send thank you emails or letters I would reach out to your recruiters and ask them to pass along the message. I had to to this for one of the interviewers.
Now after an interview it always seems like forever when you hear something back which sometimes you may not hear anything back but that is just the way it goes sometimes.
So once I heard something back I was told the company I really liked and targeted wanted to extend an offer to me to join their team as a Site Reliability Engineer. Now this was a huge huge moment for me as before I didn’t think it was possible to make a switch from Operations Manager to Site Reliability Engineer in this amount of time I did or even transition into the technology field at all!
So this is my story on how I made the transition from Operations Manager to Site Reliability Engineer in 6 Months! Now please remember everyone's path and road are a bit different so what worked for me may not work for you but hey it’s worth a shot of at least trying.
I also want people to know I’m not any different then the normal person. I work hard and stay persistent and if I fall down I get back up and try again. This is something that can help you go very far in your career.
So if you made it to this point I want to say I greatly appreciate everyone who took the time out of their busy schedule to read this article and I hope you are able to take some of the information and combine it with your own experience of transitioning into the technology industry or hey even if you are looking to move to a new company.
Now I love connecting and meeting new people so if you want to stay connected and see my technology journey please let’s connect on LinkedIn which is listed below. Thanks everyone again!
