Hey Reader,

Have you ever watched an average person using a computer?

There are literally people out there whose only job is to copy and paste data between e-mails and spreadsheets.

These people will do the same repetitive action for years, but they never stop and think "is there a way how I could make this more efficient? Could I automate this?"

This is wild to me. It’s part of our human nature in everything we do.

You only have to look at the machinery that the Romans used two thousand years ago. It's clear that our species has always striven to make their lives easier by using technology.

Yet, for some reason, the average person does not apply this principle to their digital life.

Why is that the case?

Before the chainsaw was invented, lumberjacks used an ax to cut down trees.

If you have ever used an ax in your life, you'll know that the sharper your ax is, the faster you'll be able to finish your work.

With every chop you make, the ax bites deeper into the wood if it is sharper. So you can go home to your wife and kids sooner.

The sharper the ax, the faster he will finish his work.

This quote, attributed to Abraham Lincoln, captures it nicely:

Now here's where we come back to DevOps.

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I want you to approach your computer like an ax.

With everything you do on your computer, you have to start thinking like an engineer.

Question every workflow that you use every day, and ask:

• Is there a way how I can do this faster?
• Can I save a few seconds by using my keyboard instead of my mouse?
• Can I automate this action completely?

By doing this for years, you will arrive at a keyboard-only workflow that is based completely on the command line. This is where I and all of my mentors have always ended up. If you want to see what that looks like, you can watch this video where I show my complete workflow updated for 2026.

To me, it seems completely natural to sharpen my ax like this.

But the average person never considers the fact that they can become more efficient at using the tool that they spend most of their lives using.

When you're learning DevOps from free YouTube tutorials or cheap Udemy courses, you'll almost always be clicking around in the cloud portals or using browser labs to do simulated playgrounds.

There are plenty of people out there who call themselves a "DevOps Engineer" but who become afraid when they're asked to use the command line.

It is so easy to be exceptional these days.

Spend some time sharpening your ax and your life will change.

I didn't start out as a CLI master either. I was a nurse working in the hospital 7 years ago. But when I made my career change I could recognize the importance of craftsmanship, and I was lucky to have good mentors who showed me the way.

In today's market, if you want to stand out and actually land a six-figure job, you need more than a few Udemy courses.

You have to approach it like a craftsman. Like a lumberjack spending 2 hours sharpening his ax.

​KubeCraft, the place where I teach people to land six-figure tech jobs, was named this way for a reason.

Kube for Kubernetes (the tool), and Craft for Craftsmanship.

My students take the long route. They learn Linux on a deep level, They learn how to work 100% on the command line.

And it works. You can listen to one of my students talk about that in this video. ​

He'll explain the long route he took under my guidance and how he went from being stuck in his career to DevOps engineer.

People who do a "bootcamp" where you learn Jenkins and how to run a couple of VMs in AWS are not going to make it.

Hiring managers don't want run-of-the-mill bootcamp graduates.

They want Craftsmen who understand their skill with axes honed to perfection.

Go sharpen that ax.

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Mischa

P.S. The reason why KubeCraft is landing jobs every single week is because I teach people how to become Craftsmen instead of running a few VMs. You learn how to think like an engineer and how to master the tools that you use every day. This is what gets you hired. Click here to submit your application, there are only 4 spots left in February.