Web Operations

From Apprentice to Master

When you allow yourself to meditate on a question, the answer most often is simple and rather unoriginal. It turns out that being a master web operations engineer is no different from being a master carpenter or a master teacher. The effort to master any given discipline requires four basic pursuits: knowledge, tools, experience, and discipline.

Knowledge

Knowledge is a uniquely simple subject on the Internet. The Internet acts as a very effective knowledge-retention system. The common answer to many questions, "Let me Google that for you," is an amazingly effective and high-yield answer. Almost everything you want to know (and have no desire to know) about operating web infrastructure is, you guessed it, on the Web.

Limiting yourself to the Web for information is, well, limiting. You are not alone in this adventure, despite the feeling. You have peers, and they need you as much as you need them. User groups (of a startling variety) exist around the globe and are an excellent place to share knowledge.

If you are reading this, you already understand the value of knowledge through books. A healthy bookshelf is something all master web operations engineers have in common. Try to start a book club in your organization, or if your organization is too small, ask around at a local user group.

One unique aspect of the Internet industry is that almost nothing is secret. In fact, very little is even proprietary and, quite uniquely, almost all specifications are free. ...