My very limited list of important computer stuff to know.

DevOps

DevOps is an overused term and means many things to many people. In my mind it means putting most of the build/deploy processes in code. Some examples of devops code are Dockerfiles and GitHub Actions workflows.

Containers

I think most applications we run today are packaged in containers. You build a container using a Dockerfile and it can run almost anywhere. You can run containers on your computer with Docker, Podman and other things. It runs in all the clouds. Kubernetes is the most popular system for organizing and running containers on a cluster of machines.

GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions is an example of a system for automating builds and deployments. It is not necessarily great but it has a generous free quota. And if you successfully deploy an application from a generic runner, then you might learn some secret management as well.

Use tools to automate configuring machines or cloud setup

Using Ansible for machine configuration and Terraform for cloud infrastructure are examples of putting configuration into code.

Security

Session management for Web/Apps

Web Applications can usually manage with Cookie based authentication. Public APIs, mobile clients or microservices should use OAUTH2/OIDC with short lived JWT tokens.

Identity providers

It is usually a good idea to use identity providers. I.e. social login (Google, Facebook) or use a dedicated provider. Making a secure identity provider is hard.

Public private key encryption

Try to know the basics. It is used in SSH, TLS and a lot of other things you use.

Find your way to manage secrets

There are many options. I use 1Password because I especially like the SSH key management.

Cloud computing

The hyperscalers

Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and others allow you to rent almost any computing service. If you need to run a service 24x7 it might be cheaper to own a machine, but renting makes sense if your needs vary over time. Be aware that managing cloud services requires knowledge and effort.

The others

There are specialized companies delivering a few services. I think fly.io and Cloudflare deliver good services in their domains.

AI or agentic coding

A good AI agent/assistant will make you a better developer as it can:

  • Write code
  • Remove obstacles (doing things you would not have the time to do)
  • Explain things

It will make everyone else better developers as well so the market for developers will change. I think this means that you have to use AI, otherwise you will lose in the competition with your peers.

There are moral problems with AI. But I don’t think a single developer can afford not to use it.