I want to play a game with you. Heard that phrase before? Nobody ever really thinks about it, but every day we’re playing a game—and it’s a pretty tough one to beat.

Today, let’s talk about how to set goals the right way. Goals that actually lead to something. Goals that don’t burn you out. Goals that make you want to keep going.

So why are we playing a game?

Hardcore gamers will immediately recognize the word "build". A build is a step-by-step guide that helps you develop your character in a video game so they can win, conquer everything, and become unstoppable. A build helps you develop in a way that the game becomes easier, and you become the king! Sounds cool, right? But why are we even talking about this if the article is in the IT section?

Well, it’s simple. Let me tell you something: you’re living in a video game. (Where’s that research again that says our world is probably a simulation?) Awesome? Yeah, I think so too.

Anyone who’s played games knows how addictive it is to level up, grind for gear, hunt down enemies, and upgrade your character. Dopamine levels shoot through the roof, your motivation spikes, and it feels like you're almost there—but what “there” even means is unclear. The game just doesn't want to end =) The reward system is rock solid.

So what does this have to do with real life?

Well, when you’re leveling up your in-game character and want to unlock a powerful skill or ability, you usually need to invest in the lower-tier skills first. Here's what that looks like:

But if you think life works any differently—you’re wrong.

When you're a baby, you start by building the base: holding up your head, sitting, crawling, making sounds, walking, thinking, wanting, learning emotions, developing tastes—and that's just the beginning.

Then, when you go to school, you start expanding your knowledge: math, biology, history, philosophy, chemistry, languages, physical education.

Sound familiar? Looks kinda like that skill tree, right? These are all branches of knowledge and professions, and to get anywhere with them, you need the basics. Think about sports—it’s always about mastering the basics before going for the advanced techniques.

The more “branches” you’ve developed in life, the more interesting, well-rounded, and capable you are. So, just think for a second: which development branches have you upgraded in your life?

Now let’s talk about how to upgrade a specific branch of your character in a way that makes you want to do it.

How to set goals? Haha, I’m a DevOps guy. Naturally, it’s gotta be the DevOps way.

Let’s remember what CI is: "The key goals of continuous integration are to find and address bugs quicker, improve software quality, and reduce the time it takes to validate and release new software updates."

This means that in DevOps, we work with small changes, small goals that add up to huge visible results. Small goals are easier to grasp, manage, evaluate, and apply. They’re less frustrating when they don’t work out—and that means you can keep trying. You won’t end up quitting the whole thing just because something didn’t go perfectly. You can always tell yourself, “Hey, it’s just one kilometer—look, you already ran 20, what’s one more?”

Of course, real life is messier. You don’t just read one book and suddenly become an expert. Life looks more like this:

So what’s up with DevOps? It’s all the same little circles or skill trees. You start from scratch:

  1. Network
  2. Operating System
  3. Scripting
  4. Cloud
  5. IaC (Infrastructure as Code)
  6. CI/CD
  7. Monitoring
  8. Containers

If you go step by step—you can conquer it all.

Let’s break it down with concrete examples.

Don’t go chasing the big goal right away—it’s way too hard to hold in your head. And here’s the fun part: while upgrading one skill, you often discover better approaches to improve another. Let’s go:

  1. Network – Start with the OSI model. Understand how DNS works, what HTTP and HTTPS are, what TTL is, how to troubleshoot networking issues, how to verify if the network’s working, and learn about dynamic routing—BGP, EIGRP, IGRP, and so on.
  2. Operating System – What is a file system? What happens when a computer boots up? What are the core components of both Linux and Windows? What are the key metrics? The most common issues? How do subsystems work?
  3. Scripting – Once you’re working with networks and OS, you’ll inevitably start using some scripts or running basic commands to find stuff. Just keep going. Learn what OOP is, understand the differences between Bash, Python, and PowerShell. Work with variables, data formats, objects and their attributes, data conversions, remote config updates, error catching, logging, and notifications. Learn to work with stacks, tables, and plain text files.
  4. Cloud – With all the previous skills, you’ll easily set up a small network, launch a server manually, connect to it, and tweak or run a web server. Learn what load balancers your provider offers, how to scale infrastructure, how costs are calculated, how to improve security, and much more.
  5. IaC – Clicking everything manually wasn’t fun, was it? So let’s combine scripting and cloud! Let’s describe our infra as code and deploy it. Read about working with large infrastructures, modules, multi-provider setups, state storage, and managing different environments =)
  6. CI/CD – The easy part. Just launch what you’ve already written. Make sure it works and gets a good response.
  7. Monitoring – Teach your system to say “ouch.” Alerting, forecasting, proactive monitoring—it’s all super useful.
  8. Containers – You’ve already built a solid foundation, now welcome to the container world. It’s a little different here, but the rules are the same: deploy, monitor, secure, and optimize deployment speed and maintenance costs.

You just leveled up the DevOps branch of your character (yes, that character is YOU). The exact same principle applies to every area of life—whether it’s IT, house chores, or working out.

Simulate a video game in your life, and you’ll see that even the most impossible-feeling goals suddenly become much more reachable and real.

DevOps for everyone and do remember that you can “build” any goal!!!