devops-project-selector

DevOps Project Selector

A web-based tool to help developers and operations professionals find their next DevOps learning project based on their current skills and background.

🔗 Try it live

🎯 What This Does

• Two specialized tracks: Developer Track and Operations Track
• Progressive skill levels: From beginner to advanced with clear steps
• Atomic project recommendations: Specific, actionable projects you can start today
• Natural progression: Each project builds on previous skills with clear upgrade/replace patterns
• Bridge convergence: Shows where dev and ops tracks meet and cross-train

🚀 Why This Exists

DevOps learning is overwhelming. There are hundreds of tools, concepts, and practices. Most people don’t know:

• What to learn next based on their current skills
• Whether they should focus on development or operations first
• How different DevOps tools relate to each other
• What projects will actually teach them useful skills

This tool solves that by providing personalized, actionable guidance based on where you are right now.

💡 Key Concepts

Two-Track Approach

• Developer Track: For people with coding backgrounds who need to learn infrastructure and operations
• Operations Track: For people with server/infrastructure backgrounds who need to learn application deployment

Atomic Learning

Instead of “learn Kubernetes,” the tool recommends specific projects like:

• “Deploy to managed Kubernetes cluster”
• “Learn Kubernetes networking and storage”
• “Implement GitOps for K8s deployments”

Iterative Progression

Projects show how you’re improving your existing setup:

• 🏗️ Build: Create something new
• 🔄 Upgrade: Make existing things better
• 🔀 Replace: Switch to better approaches
• ➕ Add: Enhance with new capabilities
• 🚀 Launch: Deploy to production

Bridge Point

Both tracks eventually converge at a “Bridge Level” where:

• Developers learn operations, infrastructure, and production concerns
• Ops folks learn development, application architecture, and developer workflows

🛠 How It Works

1. Choose your background - Developer or Operations
2. Select your current level - Where you are right now in your journey
3. Get project recommendations - 2-3 specific, actionable projects
4. See the progression - Understand how each project improves your setup
5. Level up - Come back after completing projects to see what unlocks next

📚 Learning Philosophy

This tool is based on the idea that DevOps is best learned through:

• Friction-free progression: Each step should feel like a natural next step, not a giant leap
• Building on strengths: Developers start with code, ops folks start with infrastructure
• Real projects: Every recommendation is something you can actually build
• Iterative improvement: You’re constantly upgrading and improving what you built before
• Cross-training: Eventually everyone needs to learn both sides

🏃‍♂️ Quick Start

Online

Visit the live tool:

1. Click your background (Developer or Operations)
2. Click your current skill level
3. Start with the first recommended project
4. Come back when you’re done to see what’s next

Local Development

git clone https://github.com/DarrellTang/devops-project-selector.git
cd devops-project-selector
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 to see the tool running locally.

🛠️ Technical Architecture

The tool is built with modern web technologies for better maintainability and user experience:

• Next.js 15 with App Router for server-side rendering and routing
• TypeScript for type safety and better developer experience
• Tailwind CSS for responsive styling
• shadcn/ui components for consistent, accessible UI
• Shareable URLs - /dev/containers, /ops/k8s-cloud, etc.

Project Structure

src/
├── app/                 # Next.js app router pages
├── components/         # React components
├── data/               # Project and track data
├── types/              # TypeScript interfaces
└── lib/                # Utility functions

🤝 Contributing

This tool is designed to be a living resource. Ideas for improvements:

• More granular skill levels
• Additional bridge points between tracks
• Tool-specific guidance (AWS vs Azure vs GCP)
• Time estimates for projects
• Links to tutorials and resources
• Community project sharing

Feel free to open issues or submit PRs!

📈 Example Learning Paths

Developer Journey

Git → CI/CD → VM deployment → Containerization → Managed services → Local K8s → Production K8s → Bridge (learn ops)

Operations Journey

Git → Cloud VMs → Terraform → Application deployment → Containers → Local K8s → Production K8s → Bridge (learn dev)

Convergence

Both tracks meet at advanced Kubernetes, GitOps, platform engineering, and SRE practices.

🎓 Philosophy: Start Where You Are

The biggest mistake in DevOps learning is trying to learn everything at once. This tool helps you:

• Start with your strengths instead of starting over
• Take one step at a time instead of jumping to complex topics
• Build on what you know instead of learning in isolation
• See the big picture while focusing on next actions

Happy learning! 🚀

---

Built for the DevOps community by Darrell Tang