↓ Skip to main content
Alden Vidal

Alden Vidal, Becoming a DevOps & Kubernetes Craftsman

Hi, I’m Alden. I’ve spent over a decade making websites faster and more reliable as a web developer and SEO specialist. Now I’m applying that same discipline to DevOps and Kubernetes as the KubeMonk.

This site is where I document my work, from homelab experiments to production infrastructure.

How I Got Here
#

I’ve always been the person who automates tedious work and won’t leave problems half-solved. That mindset carried me through years of diagnosing web performance issues, and I eventually realized I was already doing DevOps work. I just wasn’t calling it that.

What hooked me was GitOps and Kubernetes. You write a Terraform module, apply it, and infrastructure exists. You define a Kubernetes manifest, deploy it, and a service is running. There’s something deeply satisfying about codifying infrastructure so it’s repeatable and version-controlled.

What Drives the Work
#

A few principles I keep coming back to:

  • Automate by default. If I’m doing something twice, I’m writing a script or a pipeline for it.
  • Make it observable. Systems should tell you what’s happening before you have to ask.
  • Document as you go. If it’s not written down, it doesn’t scale.
  • Build to understand. The best way to learn a tool is to ship something real with it.

Current Focus
#

I’m currently working through Mischa’s KubeCraft Career Accelerator, building and breaking Kubernetes clusters, writing CI/CD pipelines, and solving the kinds of problems that show up in production.

I design systems that are clean, scalable, and reliable by default. The tools matter, but the thinking behind them matters more.

I’m focused on Kubernetes, CI/CD, and cloud infrastructure, and I’m building a body of work that reflects that.

Discipline in the Age of AI
#

AI can speed things up, but someone still has to understand what’s being built and whether it’s actually correct. That’s something I practice daily. I use AI to move faster while staying hands-on with every layer of the stack.

Writing and Projects
#

I’m building a homelab where I document my experiments with Kubernetes deployments, Terraform modules, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure decisions as I break things and figure them out. If something taught me a lesson worth sharing, it ends up here.

If you want to follow along, the posts are the best way. You can also find me on GitHub, X, or TikTok.

I’m always open to connecting with other practitioners — reach out at [email protected].