From Commerce to the Command Line: My Journey Into Cloud & DevOps

Hi, I’m Adwaith Pavithran — a full-stack developer turned aspiring Cloud Engineer, based in Kerala, India.

Where I Started

My path here wasn’t the “usual” one. I hold a Bachelor of Commerce degree from SN College, University of Calicut, finished in 2023. Somewhere between balance sheets and business case studies, I found myself pulled toward something completely different: building things with code, and eventually, building the systems that keep code running.

Finding My Footing in Linux

It started with antiX Linux — a lightweight, non-systemd Debian-based distro — and some early experimenting with VMware. That hands-on curiosity turned into a real foundation across multiple distributions: antiX, Rocky Linux, and eventually RHEL.

Moving from a non-systemd world like antiX to RHEL’s systemd-based architecture was a genuine shift in how I thought about Linux — and it’s what pushed me to go deeper into proper system administration rather than just tinkering.

Where I Am Now

Today I’m a Cloud & DevOps Intern at IPSR Solutions, Cyber Park, Kozhikode, and I’m actively studying for the RHCSA certification. My study list reads like a Linux admin’s greatest hits:

• systemd
• SELinux
• LVM
• Networking
• Podman containers

Alongside that, I’ve been building out real infrastructure skills rather than just theory:

• Configured Apache virtual hosting and user directories on a RHEL EC2 instance
• Automated virtual hosting with Ansible playbooks
• Set up LAMPP for dynamic web hosting
• Configured an FTP/SFTP server with VSFTPD and SSH chroot jails
• Deepened my understanding of reverse proxies, HTTP status codes, firewalld, and web hosting fundamentals

Building in Public (Sort Of)

One of my favorite ongoing projects is my personal portfolio site — a single-page site with a dark navy/violet, Linux-themed aesthetic. I didn’t just want to build it; I wanted to deploy it properly. So I explored hosting it on RHEL with both Nginx and Apache HTTP Server, and ultimately shipped it on an AWS EC2 RHEL instance, later extending it with PHP.

It’s a small project, but it’s taught me more about real-world hosting than any tutorial could.

What’s Next

I’m currently aiming for entry-level roles as a Cloud Engineer, DevOps Engineer, or Linux System Administrator. My focus right now is simple: pass the RHCSA, keep sharpening my hands-on infrastructure skills, and keep documenting what I learn along the way.

If there’s a theme to my journey so far, it’s this: I didn’t come from a traditional CS background, but I’ve built one — one lab, one playbook, one deployed server at a time.

---

Want to connect? Find me on LinkedIn.