Michael LevanA dream job comes in all shapes and sizes. It could be that perfect company, the perfect role, the perfect work/life balance, and many other factors.
I was lucky enough to get all of them.
How did I do it? By creating an open-source project and tweeting about it.
What Was The Project?
It was last year (2019) and I was using Octopus Deploy at the company I was working for. I immediately fell in-love with the low learning curve and the lack of complexity. It was a robust product, yet so simple to use.
It was the first time that I worked with Octopus Deploy, so I started to do some Googling around to see what others had to say about it.
No one had any complaints about it from what I was able to see. Because of that, I started diving into it further. I wanted to see all of the complexities and implementations I could use.
Although I love it, I'm not a guy that's typically in a UI much. I like to be on the terminal or in code getting my work done. Because of that, I wanted to create an API wrapper.
I decided to create the API wrapper in PowerShell. At the time, PowerShell was still one of the core languages that I focused on. I thought it would end up being a fun little project.
But it ended up being a lot more than that.
The Project
You can find the link to the project on my GitHub. Keep in mind, I haven't done a good job at maintaining it. I really just created it for a few specific use-cases.
[AdminTurnedDevOps/OctopusDeploy-PowerShellPowerShell to interact with the Octopus Deploy API - AdminTurnedDevOps/OctopusDeploy-PowerShellAdminTurnedDevOpsGitHub](https://github.com/AdminTurnedDevOps/OctopusDeploy-PowerShell)
https://avatars1.githubusercontent.com/u/28905827?s=400&v=4
The project was more or less to list out a few resources and create a few resources. I ended up diving a bit deeper simply because the Octopus Deploy API was so easy to use. After I got one code base done, it was really just a copy and paste at that point.
OctopusDeploy-PowerShell Wrapper
Sharing is Caring
When I create an open-source project like this, whether it's huge or small, I typically share it out. Whether that be on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, or to friends. Not because I want to brag about it, but because I'm a firm believer that if I'm thinking about something to use, others might be too. Even if it's just one person.
I decided to share this out on Twitter and I tagged Octopus Deploy.
The response from Octopus Deploy was awesome. They said thanks and offered to send me a free sweatshirt and some stickers.
If you know me at all, you know that 90% of my wardrobe is made up of tech t-shirts and hoodies. The other 10% is suits and button downs, which... I try my best not to wear often.
Once I received the free swag message from Octopus Deploy, I messaged Paul Stovell (our CEO) with the screenshot below.
I didn't know what could come out of it, so hey... I might as well try, right?
interestingly enough, something great came out of it!
The Chat
Once I sent that message, I ended up getting some communication from Octopus Deploy. I forget how long afterwards it was, but it definitely wasn't long.
Originally, I was chatting with them about a role on the Advisory Team. The Advisory Team at Octopus Deploy is very customer focused and very technical. They do things like help customers from a hands-on perspective with Octopus Deploy, write blogs, conduct webinars, and play with really cool tech.
During that call, I was told about a new team that was forming at Octopus Deploy. The Developer Relations team (which is where I am now).
I was excited about both opportunities.
Developer Relations, if you don't know what it is, is a team of engineers at heart that also love creating content. They write code, even for the product itself (like I do). They also speak at conferences, write blog posts, create videos, webinars, and any other type of content.
Essentially, it's a dream job for me. I get to write code, still be a developer, play with the latest and greatest technologies, and create content.
I'm in
After chats, interviews, the global pandemic, and 2020 being... 2020, I was in!
I'm at my dream job. I get to be a developer and share with the world all of the cool stuff not only Octopus Deploy is working on, but how Octopus Deploy integrates with many other platforms and cloud technologies.
So far I've done anything from contributing to writing a Terraform provider (which is where my love for Go came into play), creating a custom GitHub Action, and many other integrations.
I've also been able to create a ton of awesome content in the form of blogs, conferences, videos, and webinars.
You Never Know What Will Happen
If you looked at the code base for the open-source project I created, it's quite small. It's nothing special. It's some PowerShell code whipped up to get a few jobs done. It's not like I created the next Twitter.
However, that project got communication going. It got eyes on me and the other work I do.
You never know what will happen when you share what you do. My passion and drive got me in the door.
Octopus Deploy
If you're interested in Octopus Deploy, feel free to reach out to me! Let's chat. I can get you set up with Octopus 100% free and show you around the platform.
Heck, I can even get you up and running with Octopus in a Docker container on your localhost to play around with.
