Launching Devops Career Accelerator, Upcoming Cohorts, MLOps Discussions

Hello, RealOps Crew! In our latest community call, we delved into the updates, new programs, and exciting direction we're taking. Here's a quick summary:

1. DevOps Career Accelerator: We launched this program to help members transition into DevOps careers or advance their skills. It’s a structured, cohort-based journey over six to twelve months, depending on experience. This program includes live training sessions, hands-on labs, a capstone project, and weekly coaching to help you build essential skills in cloud, containers, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, and Python scripting for DevOps.

2. Structured Learning Path: Our accelerator program now has a month-by-month schedule, beginning with AWS fundamentals in November, then moving through Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and Python essentials, all geared toward real-world applications.

3. RealOps Network Community and Podcast: We’ve rebranded our Discord community as the RealOps Network, aiming to foster a close-knit, professional DevOps community. We’re also continuing our RealOps Podcast, which brings career insights and expert discussions to help you stay ahead in DevOps.

4. Upcoming Plans - MLOps and Specialized Programs: We’ll soon introduce advanced paths from DevOps to MLOps, DevSecOps, and SRE. Stay tuned for more updates on these tracks to further expand your career.

5. Community Q&A and Resources: From the value of Python in DevOps to practical insights into MLOps, we discussed resources and communities, like the MLOps and Linux Upskill communities, to help you continue building a strong skill foundation.

Thanks to Surabhi, we also had an in-depth discussion on MLOps, exploring the skills, tools, and resources essential for anyone interested in this rapidly growing field.

Here's a breakdown of what we discussed:

1. MLOps Pathway: We touched on how MLOps is becoming increasingly important as more companies face challenges in deploying and managing machine learning models. The goal is to create a clear path for our members to advance from DevOps into MLOps, with specialized programs rolling out next year to support this transition. This program will emphasize the importance of a strong foundation in Kubernetes, Python, Terraform, and other DevOps essentials as prerequisites for MLOps.

2. Tools and Platforms:

   • We discussed popular tools like LAMA (Meta’s open-source model) for experimentation, ChatGPT and Gemini for generative AI, and alternatives like Microsoft Florence for image recognition tasks.

   • Hugging Face emerged as a major community platform offering a vast repository of models and AI tools. Many members shared how they have successfully used these resources to build various applications, underscoring the importance of finding the right tool for specific ML and AI use cases.

3. Technical Resources:

   • For those looking to get hands-on, we recommended communities like MLOps Community and Kaggle, which provide learning resources and real-world project challenges.

   • For Linux foundational skills, we highlighted the Linux Upskill Challenge, a 20-day program perfect for building core skills crucial to both DevOps and MLOps pathways.

4. Practical Advice for Tool Selection and Implementation:

   • We talked about selecting the right model for your application, factoring in biases, platform dependencies (e.g., OpenAI models are Azure-dependent), and testing extensively to ensure accuracy.

   • For those experimenting locally, members shared how to run models on CPU or GPU setups, leveraging CUDA for GPU tasks when available, making it easier to develop and test smaller applications without heavy infrastructure costs.

5. The Future of MLOps and Specialized AI Applications:

   • Members shared insights on the emerging trends in generative AI and industry-specific applications like real-time language translation models. The consensus is that AI will see more niche, domain-specific implementations, and RealOps Network aims to prepare members for this future through focused training and expert insights.

We’re thrilled about the direction of the RealOps Network and School of DevOps! If you’re ready to deepen your skills, join our RealOps Network, explore the DevOps Career Accelerator, and stay tuned to our RealOps Podcast for more insights.

Sign up today and be part of a growing network of DevOps professionals at School of DevOps. Let’s build real-world skills together!