DevOps Engineer Common Mistakes Checklist

Use this checklist to avoid common pitfalls in your DevOps workflow. Regularly reviewing and addressing these items can help improve efficiency, security, and reliability.

✅ Process & Workflow

☐ Document Everything – Ensure scripts, infrastructure, and deployment processes are well-documented.

☐ Use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Properly – Avoid manual changes that create configuration drift.

☐ Keep CI/CD Pipelines Simple – Minimize unnecessary complexity in automation.

☐ Test IaC Locally – Validate Terraform, Ansible, and Helm changes before pushing.

☐ Plan for Rollbacks – Automate rollback mechanisms for failed deployments.

✅ Security & Access Management

☐ Use Secure Secret Management – Avoid hardcoded credentials; use AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, etc.

☐ Apply Least Privilege IAM Policies – Restrict access to only what’s necessary.

☐ Enable Security Logging & Auditing – Ensure visibility into access logs and security events.

☐ Regularly Review Access Permissions – Audit IAM roles and permissions periodically.

✅ Monitoring & Incident Response

☐ Set Up Meaningful Alerts – Avoid alert fatigue by prioritizing actionable notifications.

☐ Prepare an Incident Response Plan – Document and test your response process for outages.

☐ Check Log Retention Policies – Ensure logs are stored long enough for troubleshooting.

☐ Monitor System & Application Health – Use Prometheus, Grafana, or CloudWatch to track key metrics.

✅ Cost & Resource Management

☐ Delete Unused Cloud Resources – Regularly clean up old instances, databases, and volumes.

☐ Enable Autoscaling Where Possible – Use dynamic scaling to optimize cloud costs.

☐ Tag Resources for Cost Allocation – Ensure proper cost tracking for better budgeting.

☐ Optimize Storage & Compute Usage – Right-size instances and storage volumes.

✅ Kubernetes Best Practices

☐ Set Resource Requests & Limits – Prevent runaway resource consumption.

☐ Use Readiness & Liveness Probes – Ensure proper pod health monitoring.

☐ Version Helm Charts Correctly – Always bump the chart version with updates.

☐ Monitor Kubernetes Cluster Health – Use tools like Lens, K9s, or kubectl top.

✅ CI/CD & Deployment

☐ Version Artifacts & Images Properly – Avoid overwriting by using unique version tags.

☐ Test in Staging Before Production – Implement blue/green or canary deployments.

☐ Monitor CI/CD Failures – Investigate build failures instead of ignoring them.

☐ Automate Deployments with Rollbacks – Have a rollback plan for bad releases.

✅ Collaboration & Mindset

☐ Break Silos & Collaborate Early – Work closely with developers and security teams.

☐ Ask for Help When Needed – Use internal knowledge-sharing and community support.

☐ Avoid Overengineering – Keep automation as simple as possible.

☐ Communicate Changes Clearly – Keep teams informed of new deployments and processes.

☐ Maintain Work-Life Balance – Avoid burnout by setting boundaries.

Final Thoughts

DevOps is an evolving practice, and mistakes are part of the learning process. Regularly reviewing this checklist can help ensure you stay on track. Which areas do you need to improve on most?