Hey, fellow server dweller 👋

I get this question a lot, so after answering it for the Nth time in a private DM, I figured I should write my thoughts down in the form of a proper post and share it publicly. If you're not looking for a job at the moment, you may still find the things I'm about to say relevant because the investment in tomorrow's dream gig starts today.

Ok, here it goes. My two cents on how to stand out in the tech job market as a DevOps/SRE/Platform engineer.

Hands-on experience and real-world problem solving skills are two factors that truly differentiate tech candidates. Certificates? IMO, not so much. The latter often focus on Linux or Kubernetes trivia and command-line muscle memory, which are becoming of questionable day-to-day utility, especially with AI generating better and better YAML manifests and CLI commands.

However, the question is, how to prove your experience and provide evidence of your infrastructure skills? Showcasing software development skills is somewhat easier - devs can create GitHub repositories with their code and even deploy sites demonstrating their work. But how to prove your DevOps/SRE/sysadmin abilities?

This is the problem that shareable online Linux playgrounds can solve.

When you encounter an interesting automation use case or nail a particularly tricky multi-server setup, or bend a Kubernetes cluster to your will, I recommend preparing a custom iximiuz Labs playground​ to demonstrate the problem and the solution(s) you've come up with.

Some examples:

• ​Set up Kubernetes the Hard Way​
• ​Configure a HA Kubernetes Cluster​
• ​Configure an etcd Cluster (often overlooked)​
• ​Compare two alternative projects (e.g., OpenBao vs. Vault)
• ​Set up an ELK Stack​
• ​Make Docker work on Btrfs​
• Deploy a 3-tier web app (and record a demo)

All of the above are technically just remote Linux VMs, configured in a certain way and exposed publicly with a URL, which makes them a perfect shareable unit of experience. Now, instead of including a link to a GitHub repo with a bunch of Terraform files (which may or may not be AI slop working), you can include a link to an interactive environment that the hiring team can actually start and explore (and get impressed by your Linux, Docker, or Kubernetes talent).

Getting started with custom playgrounds is straightforward: fill out the name and (optionally) description on labs.iximiuz.com/new/playground and click "Create".

Once the playground is created, you can use the UI constructor to add or remove virtual machines, deploy custom init scripts, set up multiple networks, or add extra drives:

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Of course, all of the above can also be done in the command line with labctl:

• labctl playground create to get started
• labctl playground manifest to view a YAML manifest of an existing playground
• labctl playground update to update the playground
• labctl playground start to start a new instance of the playground

You can find a few more practical examples of how to create custom playgrounds in this blog post, and, of course, you can always get some inspiration from the playgrounds published by other iximiuz Labs users​ - there are quite a few already! The best part about it is that you can always explore how the existing playgrounds are implemented (by either adding /settings to the playground URL or using the labctl playground manifest command). And you can even clone an existing playground and base your own work on it, dodging the "blank page" trap (a.k.a., writer's block).

By assembling a few Linux, networking, Docker, or Kubernetes playgrounds, you'll likely gain valuable insights into the target technology, navigate and resolve several automation challenges, and deepen your own understanding (even if you thought you were already an expert - happens to me all the time, even after all the years of tinkering).

But don't stop at scripting! The playground is only done when other people can understand how (and why) to use and learn something from it.

Prepare a good problem description, add a diagram or two, and write helpful welcome messages that people will see when they log in to your playground VMs. It'll make the playground much easier to share on social, in a blog post, or with teammates, and including a link to such a well-crafted playground in your resume will showcase another key skill hiring managers look for: clear communication.

Finally, by sharing your work publicly long enough, you'll signal your professional interests to the outside world, attract like-minded people, and form the much-needed connections for a successful career, gaining people's trust. Start investing in your public profile today, one playground, blog post, or side project at a time.

Happy hacking hunting!

Cheers

Ivan