My DevOps Journey: From Business to Cloud Architect Dreams

Who Am I?

Hi, I’m Dalton Ousley.

I’ve always wanted work that gave me freedom—the freedom to live anywhere, spend time outdoors, provide for my family, and actually enjoy what I was doing. It took a few twists and turns, but I eventually found that path in the world of technology.

How I Got Here

I’ve always been a builder at heart. As a kid, it was forts and woodworking. Later, it was furniture that still sits in my home. My parents and teachers thought I’d become an architect. The idea made sense, but I wasn’t sold on the heavy math. So instead, I chased flexibility through a business degree at the University of Florida, followed by an MBA.

Out of college, I landed in accounting—making just above minimum wage. It wasn’t for me. I pivoted into digital marketing, drawn in by videos promising clients worth thousands a month. I dove in headfirst: SEO, ads, even website design. Scary at times (I still remember not knowing what a webhook was!), but it opened doors.

Marketing gave me freedom. I moved to the Rocky Mountains, worked remotely, and partnered with amazing clients. Eventually, I co-founded a coaching and course business for cleaning companies. For three years, we generated over $2M. I was the “backend guy”—designing funnels, automating workflows, and integrating systems. It was exciting work, but by spring 2025, both my partner and I felt the pull in different directions. He wanted to scale his main business. I was falling in love with coding, cloud architecture, and automation.

That’s when my DevOps journey began.

What Is DevOps, Anyway?

If you’re not familiar, DevOps is short for Development + Operations. It’s the practice of bringing these two worlds together to make software delivery faster, more reliable, and more collaborative. Instead of developers building in a silo and tossing code over the wall to IT, DevOps engineers create a smooth, automated pipeline that carries code from idea → production.

It’s about:

Collaboration between teams
Automation to reduce manual work and errors
Continuous improvement of systems and processes

In practice, that means working with tools like Docker (to package applications in containers), Kubernetes (to orchestrate those containers at scale), Terraform (to manage infrastructure as code), and monitoring platforms like Prometheus and Grafana to keep everything running smoothly.

Where I’m Heading Now

At first, I thought AI coding assistants like Cursor would let me bypass the “hard stuff.” I quickly learned otherwise. Sure, I could spin up a Next.js app and deploy it—but when things broke, I didn’t have the depth to fix them. That’s when I put my foot down and decided to learn the fundamentals.

I started with JavaScript and loved it. That led to Python and SQL, where I discovered how the backend really works. Soon, I was diving into Linux, containers, and the world of DevOps—and that’s where everything clicked. The frontend was fun, but the infrastructure and automation behind the scenes? That’s where the magic happens.

Today, my career goals are clear:

Cloud Engineer
Solutions Architect
Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

These roles combine everything I enjoy: programming, infrastructure, and automation.

So far, I’ve:

Learned JavaScript, Python, and SQL.
Taken Linux courses and am preparing for the LPIC-1 certification.
Spent the last month studying for the Google Professional Cloud Architect exam.
Experimented with Docker, APIs, and Terraform.
Begun scratching the surface with Kubernetes.

It’s a lot—but it excites me every single day.

Building My Home Lab

The next big step in my DevOps journey is building a home lab—a personal playground where I can practice everything I’m learning.

I’ll be:

Deploying apps as microservices on Kubernetes
Writing Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Setting up Prometheus and Grafana for monitoring
Hosting private tools like n8n and a VPN

This lab will be my chance to turn theory into reality and showcase hands-on experience. It’s also the perfect way to prepare for certifications like:

LPIC-1 (Linux administration)
Google Professional Cloud Architect
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

These aren’t just badges. They’re proof points that I can design, deploy, and manage real-world systems.

Lessons Learned (and What’s Next)

Looking back, it’s funny: my parents and teachers were right. I did become an architect—not of buildings, but of cloud systems and infrastructure.

The last five years taught me what I don’t love (accounting, pure marketing) and what lights me up (automation, infrastructure, problem-solving). Every twist in the road got me here.

So, what’s next? More building. More learning. More sharing. This blog will be where I document my path—successes, failures, and everything in between.

Want to Collaborate or Follow Along?

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I hope my story resonates, whether you’re:

On your own DevOps journey
Curious about becoming a DevOps engineer
Or just a friend cheering me on

If you'd like to connect:

Reach out on LinkedIn
Contact me directly through my website

The journey is just getting started—and I’d love to share it with you.