DevOps AMA: AI Agents, External Secrets, and Career Advice

In this solo AMA session, Viktor fields a wide range of questions from the DevOps and platform engineering community. The discussion covers practical tool comparisons like External Secrets versus Vault agents, with Viktor expressing his preference for solution-agnostic approaches. He breaks down the distinction between SRE and DevOps roles, explaining how AI fits differently into each—SREs using AI to help with operational analysis and remediation, while DevOps engineers focus on building AI-powered interfaces and agents for their users.

The conversation dives deep into AI tooling recommendations, with Viktor enthusiastically endorsing Claude Code for terminal-based development and Code Rabbit for automated PR reviews. He shares insights on agent frameworks, suggesting Vercel's AI SDK for serious development work and K agent for quick prototyping, while cautioning about the limitations of each. Viktor also discusses his experimental work on dynamic AI-driven UIs that can render unpredictable outputs based on natural language queries, moving away from traditional static dashboards.

Additional topics include GitOps considerations for ephemeral environments, getting started with Kyverno for Kubernetes policy management, Crossplane for infrastructure control planes, and essential advice for first-time KubeCon attendees. Viktor addresses concerns about AI replacing engineers, arguing that while short-term disruption is real, the long-term trend will see the same number of people doing more work rather than fewer people doing the same work—emphasizing that those who embrace AI tools will be best positioned to thrive.

▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⏱ Timecodes ⏱ ▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Intro (skip to first question)
06:22 External Secrets vs Vault Agent for secrets management
07:52 What should DevOps/SRE learn about AI?
11:51 Simplest and cheapest way to deploy website with backend and database
13:12 Migrating Java EAP to OpenShift advice
15:32 Does Upbound platform support operators other than Crossplane?
16:55 Getting started with Kyverno on EKS
18:51 Best framework for creating deployment agents
21:11 GitOps for ephemeral preview environments - Argo CD PR generator
26:08 Getting started with Kyverno - is it safe to just start?
27:07 Tool for automated PR review approval for Terraform/Atlantis
28:55 Thoughts on ToolHive for MCPs
32:04 Most interesting tool you've used in 2025
36:33 What type of agents can DevOps provide to dev teams?
39:40 Can static portals handle fast-changing APIs or need AI UI?
44:46 Should DevOps engineer with 4 years experience switch to AI?
46:34 Code Rabbit review tool discussion
47:52 Tips for first KubeCon EU attendance
51:57 Differences between US and EU KubeCon
53:46 Core tools to know for breaking into DevOps/SRE role
55:46 Prediction for AI replacing platform engineers
59:01 Is DevOps AI-proof?
1:01:57 Future of job security in today's AI world
1:03:10 What skills should DevOps engineers focus on to stay relevant?
1:04:05 Thoughts on using Crossplane as central control plane
1:04:38 MacBook Pro recommendation
1:05:05 Where are you from?
1:05:46 CEO misconceptions about AI solving everything
1:11:26 When should operations engineers start writing clean code?
1:12:50 Thoughts on Microsoft Foundry (Azure Foundry)